APUSH Reconstruction and Industrialization

Force Acts

1870, 1871, intended to stop Southern resistance to Reconstruction, mostly the KKK -- sent federal troops

Civil Rights Act of 1875

guaranteed equal access to public spaces + right to serve on juries, rarely reinforced and overturned by Supreme Court 1883

Compromise of 1877

Virtually ends federal reconstruction efforts, after contested Election of 1876, Dems agree to recognize Hayes as POTUS under the conditions that federal troops will be removed from South, federal funding will go to Transcontinental RR in South, and Southerners will be provided with political patronage (positions)

Ulysses S. Grant

Republican POTUS, Johnson's successor, holds office from 1868-76
Lots of Black voters boost Republican party (temporary social and political revolution)

Credit Mobilier

Grant administration VP and congressmen involved in RR stock scandal

Whiskey Ring

Grant's personal secretary found to be stealing fed funds for tax scheme

"Grantism"

corruption in politics

Boss Tweed

Ultimate symbol of Gilded Age Political Corruption, NYC "Tammany Hall" corrupt Democratic political machine, employed graft, bribery, illegitmate elections to steal from NY taxpayers - run by "Boss Tweed,"
exposed by Thomas Nast

Panic of 1873

Severe economic depression, banks and businesses fail, rampant unemployment, further distraction from Reconstruction
Causes: Overproduction in industries like banking, RR, and mining, and overspeculation by bankers -- meaning too much money loaned --- panic is hardest on debtors and farmers, they protest monetary policies (gold money vs paper)

Election of 1876

Dem=Samuel Tilden, Rep= Rutherford B. Hayes -- 3 southern state vote reports are contested, who will be president? Solved by Compromise of 1877 - Hayes becomes Pres.

Civil Rights Cases of 1883

Supreme Court rules Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional, claims 14th Amendment only protects from government discrimination, individuals can freely discriminate

Jim Crow Laws

Segregation introduced to South, enabled by the withdrawal of fed. troops after Compromise of 1877 and the 1896 SC case Plessy v. Ferguson, ruling racial segregation legal if separate but equal

"New South"

Promoted by Southerners, rebuild, industrialize, build economy - in reality, sharecropping and agriculture are still dominant

15th Amendment

Black male suffrage (controversial, Women's Movement upset) - disenfranchisement in South through literacy tests, violence and intimidation, poll taxes, property requirements, white people excluded bc of Grandfather Clauses (didn’t have to fulfill requirements if you voted in 1860)

"Redeemer Governments"

Racist, white governments reestablished in South, designed to maintain racial hierarchy - took over once Reconstruction ends in 1877, because the systematic disenfranchisement of Blacks ends the Republican voting trends of Southern states

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

Masses of Asian immigrants, mostly Chinese, move to U.S. in industries like mines and RR, leads to massive spike in nativism, particularly west coast, all of this hostility leads to this legislation, banning further immigration of Chinese workers, 1st immigration restriction based on race

Grover Cleveland

Democrat, non-consecutive two terms, 1884-88 and 1892-96

Laissez Faire

Huge value during Gilded Age, meaning prioritization of free market without federal intervention, politicians of both parties ignored social and political problems caused by industrialization

RR consolidation

The new practices of eliminating competition and a few large companies dominating a nationwide industry lead to standardization of industry (steel rails and standard gauge sizes)

Pacific RR Act

1862, Repubs in Congress (more power bc Civil War) pass act outlining route for 1st Transcontinental RR, divided task between Union Pacific, Omaha, Nebraska to west (Irish workers) and Central Pacific, Sacremento through Sierra Nevada (Chinese workers), meet in Utah at Promontory Point, 1869 -- this promotes mass production and consumption, as well as steel+coal industries, immigration, urbanization, time zones created

Cornelius Vanderbilt

RR Tycoon, super wealthy+powerful

Rebates

Differing RR rates for favored companies, one example of corruption -- small farmers often given higher rates, contentious

Pools

RR corruption example, secret agreements between companies to fix rates and share profits

Grange Movement

Farmers call for gov intervention in corrupt RR, leads to SC case Munn v Illinois, 1877, ruled state could regulate business -- OVERTURNED by Wabash v Illinois case, ruled interstate commerce is federal domain

Interstate Commerce Act, 1887

In response to public outcry for reform for corrupt RR, result of Wabash v Illinois SC case, established Interstate Commerce Commission (only helped nominally), outlawed pooling, rebates, rate fixing, and required rates to be publicly published

John D. Rockefeller

Head of Standard Oil Company, invented trusts, oil monopoly, horizontal integration = controlling all competitors of a particular industry, merging all competing oil companies into one company to monopolize market

Andrew Carnegie

Carnegie Steel, vertical integration, controlling all aspects of product manufacturing -- philanthropists, wrote "Gospel of Wealth," believed rich had a moral duty to better society

Social Darwinism

Key person is Herbert Spencer, belief in business "survival of the fittest," rich deserve to be rich bc they are simply built different, encourages contempt for "lazy" poor

Sherman Anti-Trust Act

outlawed trusts and other monopolies that fix prices and restrain trade, more concerned with bigness than badness -- ineffective, actually goes against labor unions

Yellow-Dog Contracts

Employment contracts stipulating that employees could not join unions

National Labor Union

1866, first organized labor attempt, wanted higher wages and 8 hour work day

Knights of Labor

Terrence Powderly, 1869, skilled and unskilled labors but very anti-Chinese, supported Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, allowed women and Black people, declined with Haymarket Riot in 1886 when conflated with anarchists, wanted end to child labor, more in favor of arbitration than strikes - more social issues

American Federation of Labor

1886, Samuel Gompers, only skilled labor, wanted "more," better wages+working conditions, largest labor union by 1900

Great Railroad Strike of 1877

Hayes sends troops to disrupt, response to 10% pay cut bc of Panic of 1873, wide rioting, results in more fear of unions, Baltimore and Ohio RR

Homestead Strike

1892, Carnegie Steel plant in Pittsburgh, lockout and scabs used to end strike

Pullman Strike

1894, response to layoffs and pay cuts, ended in arrest of Eugene Debs, 10,000 workers went on strike, Cleveland sent troops, caused more rioting, Chicago

Lester Frank Ward

opposed social darwinism, argued intelligence separates us from animals, solution should be gov. social planning

J.P. Morgan

most prominent banker, interlocking directorates, eventually buys out Carnegie Steel

Lincoln's Plan

Wartime plan, lenient on south, 10% of voters in election of 1860 must pledge allegiance, forgiving to most confederate leaders if oath of loyalty taken, rejected by Rad Repubs in Wade-Davis Bill

Freedmen's Bureau

1865, Primitive fed. welfare agency for freedmen, most successful in education, Johnson attempted to veto its renewal but Congress overturns, never adequately funded

Johnson's Plan

Abolition of slavery, repeal ordinance of secession, repudiate war debts, disenfranchised confed leaders but generously granted pardons, looked down upon by congressional republicans

Wade-Davis Bill

Congressional rebuttal to Lincoln, 50% of voters must pledge allegiance and slavery must be abolished

Civil Rights Bill of 1866

everyone born in U.S. is citizen regardless of race or former slavery, later 14th amendment to prevent its repeal by Southerners

Reconstruction Act

1867, Rad. Repubs Sumner and Stevens, replaced South gov with military rule, South=5 military districts. Requirements: new state constitutions protecting black male enfranchisement, ratification of 14th, if failed to do so by 1869 must ratify 15th

Scalawags and Carpetbaggers

Scalawags = poor whites in support of blacks in government and reconstruction social reform, carpetbaggers = northerners who came south for personal profit or to help with reform

Tenure of Office Act (1867)

Purpose: Congress tries to prevent Johnson from removing Republicans from their congressional seats in order to protect Radical Reconstruction

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Stipulations: Senate must approve any presidential decision to fire a cabinet official or general

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Impact: Johnson violates, removes Sec. of War Stanton, he is #impeached by congress, barely not removed

Patronage

Huge form of corruption during Gilded Age, civil service jobs given to loyal political supporters - think Jacksonian spoils

half-breeds (James Blaine) want reform, Stalwarts (Roscoe Conkling) oppose

effect: calls for civil service reform

Key concept: tariffs

Gilded Age had very high tariffs+lots of them, bc Presidents favored big business and capital - opposed by dems and bitching farmers

Pendleton Act (1883)

Purpose: Civil service reform

\-Chester Arthur’s response to Garfield’s assassination

-established a commission that tested people to ensure they were qualified for civil service jobs

Results of industrial revolution

\-U.S. becomes leading industrial nation (1900)

\-Mass migrations

\-Urbanization

\-Agriculture replaced by industry as most profitable industry

Inventions create new jobs (women as secretaries, etc.)

New inventions

\-Telephone (Alexander Graham Bell)

\-Lightbulb (Edison)

RR shaping industry

RR consolidates to control competition, leads to standardization (size of tracks, etc)

Pacific Railroad Act (1862)

Establishes route for first transcontinental RR

\-Omaha to west = Union Pacific, Irish workers

Central Pacific - Sacramento to Sierra Nevada, Chinese workers

meet at Promontory Point

\-Unifies market, coast to coast transport of goods, mass production and consumption, promotes coal and steel industries, cities sprout up, immigration increases, time zones introduced

Cornelius Vanderbilt

RR tycoon

RR corruption

Speculative bubbles from overbuilding, rebates/different rates common (farmers suffer) and lacked transparency, laissez-faire + gov in general favored RR (think land grants)

Impact: farmers demand gov regulation

Grange Movement

Farmers call for gov regulation of RR

Munn V. Illinois

Ruled state could regulate business

overturned by Wabash case - states cannot regulate interstate commerce

Interstate Commerce Act

Establishes ICC, fed gov can regulate interstate commerce, bans rebates, pooling, mandated published rates - not very effective, lacked teeth

Bessemer Process

Innovation that made steel production much cheaper, enables the construction of skyscrapers and RR

Typewriters + telephones

Create new jobs for urban women, sense of independence

Dumbbell Tenement

One model of tenement halls, crowded slums that had inhumane living conditions like dirty water and rampant disease -- huge wealth gap , urban areas segregated by race, class, and ethnicity

Political machines

control urban politics, vote for one party and they will give you jobs / basic welfare to poor and immigrants -- lots of fraud, exposed by Thomas Nast -- Boss Tweed/Tammany hall

New Immigrants

Southern and Eastern Europe - majority not Protestant (contrasts old immigrants) lots of Catholics and Jews, many illiterate and unskilled, perceived as reluctant to assimilate, viewed as socialist, anarchist, or communist, many poor, come to U.S. for factory jobs or to escape religious persecution in Russia → these perceptions lead to Nativism, seen as unfair competition for jobs and often excluded by labor unions

American Protective Association

Protestant Anti-Catholic group in Gilded Age, anti-immigration

Literacy tests

proposed throughout Gilded Age and passed in 1917, to keep illiterate immigrants from entering U.S.

Social Gospel

Walter Rauschenbusch →Christians are obligated to help those in poverty

Salvation Army

promotes christian values, poverty relief