Part 2: The “Gilded Age”

Immigration Act 1882

regulating immigration, imposing a 50-cent "head tax" on immigrants to fund inspections Immigration Act 1882

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

to ban a specific ethnic group, suspending Chinese laborer immigration for 10 years

Civil Rights Act of 1875

law that banned discrimination in public facilities and transportation

Supreme Court overturns Civil Rights Act of 1875

african sue buissness that did not serve them

court overturned it

Interstate Commerce Commission

regulated railroads

ensure "reasonable and just" rates and eliminate rate discrimination

Sherman Antitrust Act

First federal action against monopolies. However, it was initially misused against labor unions

Department of Commerce and Labor

Department established by Roosevelt to deal with domestic economic affairs. Later split into two departments for better management.

In addition to inventing things, how else did Edison and his company contribute to technological progress?

improving on others' inventions.

What innovation greatly expanded the usefulness of electricity? How?

carbon filaments for light bulbs, which reduced the price for lighting and development of alternating current.

What factors give large corporations an advantage over small businesses?

size allowed them to spread fixed costs, like factories and machinery, across production, lowering the cost per unit.

let them sell goods more cheaply, making it difficult for small firms to compete.

What is the purpose of a holding company?

create a large enterprise by owning stock in a variety of companies.

Besides opening new markets, how did the construction of railroads stimulate the economy?

stimulated the economy because they provided jobs and spent large amounts of money on materials.

Why did robber barons bribe people in Congress?

they could make a lot of money selling the land they got for free from the government.

What specific concerns led Roosevelt to take on trusts such as railroad companies?

monopoly power of some trusts hurt public interests. The lack of competition in railroads could result in higher shipping rates.

How did the Northern Securities case broaden the interpretation of the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution?

that buying stock in companies across state lines constituted interstate commerce and thus fell under the Sherman Antitrust Act.

How did working conditions encourage workers to form unions in the late 1800s?

low pay and labored long hours under difficult and dangerous conditions. Workers wanted unions so they could bargain for higher wages and better working conditions.

What factors made it difficult for workers to form unions?

strikebreakers, injunctions, and the use of federal troops made strikes less effective.

Why did women need to form their own trade unions?

they were excluded from most male-dominated trade unions.

How did immigrants in the late 1800s change American society?

increasing cultural and ethnic diversity and greatly contributing to the labor force.

What were some "push" and "pull" factors that prompted European and Asian immigration into the United States?

push factors

poverty, war, and religious oppression,

pull factors

economic and social opportunities.

Why did nativists oppose immigration?

religions other than Protestant Christianity, like Catholicism and Judaism, to be threatening, while others feared immigrants would undermine labor unions. And hella Racism!

What were living conditions like for most of the urban working class?

living in tenements in crowded, unhealthy, and dangerous neighborhoods.

What types of problems developed due to the rapid growth of urban areas?

increased crime, disease, and pollution.

How did Social Darwinism differ from individualism?

Social Darwinists believed in natural selection, in which only the fittest achieved wealth and position.

Individualists believed that anyone could rise in society with talent and determination.

How did advocates of the Social Gospel Movement differ from Social Darwinism?

rejected laissez-faire policies favored by Social Darwinists and believed that the government and reformers should work to create a more just society.

Why was civil service reform necessary?

necessary because the patronage system was not based on merit, led to poor governance, and incited too much anger.

What impact, if any, did the Populists have on American politics?

establishing the eight-hour workday, immigration restrictions, and a graduated income tax.

What principle was held to be constitutional in the Supreme Court's 1895 Plessy v. Ferguson decision?

"separate but equal."

How did African American community leaders respond to legalized segregation?

pushing for equality.

Booker T. Washington - achieving economic goals rather than legal and political ones.

W.E.B. DuBois - protecting legal and voting rights.

Ida B. Wells and March Church Terrell - against lynching and mob violence.

Telephone invented by? what sig fig

Alexander Graham Bell in 1876

human voice could be transmitted across wires

Electric Light Bulb what sig fig who made sig fig

Lewis Latimer made carbon filament

improved the lifespan and cost-effectiveness of light bulbs,

Automobile ford how make

assembly line production -> commercially viable

what sig fig about assembly line prod

This new manufacturing method significantly lowered costs, allowing car ownership for many Americans.

Wireless Telegraphy sig fig

This technology allowed messages to be sent without physical wires via Morse's Code, allowing communication across oceans and remote areas.

Laissez-faire

Idea that government should play as small a role as possible in economic affairs.

Transcontinental Railroad

built by?

Railroad connecting the west and east coasts of the continental US

union pasific and cenral pasific

what did the railroad do

higher markets

land grants sold to settlers for money

time zome system

robber barons

industrialists or big business owners - huge profits - paying employees low wages.

drove competitors out of business - selling products cheaper than it cost to produce it.

controlled the market -> prices high above original price.

Sherman Antitrust Act

First federal action against monopolies, it was signed into law by Harrison and was extensively used by Theodore Roosevelt for trust-busting. However, it was initially misused against labor unions

what did roosevelt to do take on trusts

known as what?

what sig fig

1902, sued northern securities for violating sherman anti trust act

known as trust busting

fed gov can break up massive corperations

Coal Strike of 1902

Strike by the United Coal Workers of America, threatening to shut down the winter coal supply. Theodore Roosevelt intervened federally, and resolved the dispute

arbitration

settling a dispute by agreeing to accept the decision of an impartial outsider

Department of Commerce and Labor

Investigate business practices, assure fair trade, address labor issues, and aid commerce.

company gives files gov tell error silently

Great Railroad Strike of 1877

A large number of railroad workers went on strike because of wage cuts.

~$10m destory

100 killed

Terence Powderly

led the Knights of Labor, a skilled and unskilled union, wanted equal pay for equal work, an 8hr work day and to end child labor

Homestead and Pullman Strikes

Battles between corporations and labor unions; Ended with government intervention on the side of big business.

supreme court -> injunctions - req do refrain from doing an act

coal creek war

miner striked for no convict miners

ended use of prisioner as labor

American Federation of Labor

recgonize unions

only hired union members

8hr/day

International Ladies Garment Workers Union

one of the first U.S. unions to have a primarily female membership

Women's Trade Union League

8 hr / day

minimum wage

no child labor

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

(1882) Denied any additional Chinese laborers to enter the country while allowing students and merchants to immigrate.

Where immigrants come from

ellis island / angel island

Chinese Immigrants consist mainly from where

southern China

how chinese immigrant afford travel?

others?

debt agreements w high intrest rate

effectively indentured - passage for labor

immigrants settle in

ellis island / angel island settle in

William M. Tweed

Democratic boss of New York City in the 1860s; showed corruption in politics when stole $ millions

alien land act 1913

non citizens cannot own land

where did the poor live

tenements - mutifamily apartments

jacob rigs book 1890

how the over half lives

political machine

group to gain or maintain power

provided jobs/house/food/heat/protection for their vote

party bosses

control political machines

allowed ppl to get rich from fraud/graft

individualism

anyone can be successful

social darwinism

competition and natural selection

settlement house movement

establish settlement houses in poor neighborhoods

community center -> medical care and eng classes

1883 Pendleton Act

established a merit system of making appointments to office

Wabash v. Illinois

1886 - Stated that individual states could control trade in their states, but could not regulate railroads coming through them. Congress had exclusive jurisdiction over interstate commerce.

Interstate Commerce Act

Established the ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission) - monitors the business operation of carriers transporting goods and people between states - created to regulate railroad prices

populism

the political doctrine that supports the rights and powers of the common people in their struggle with the privileged elite

greenbacks

paper money

grange

an association formed by farmers in the last 1800s to make life better for farmers by sharing information about crops, prices, and supplies

Farmers' Alliance

A Farmers' organization founded in late 1870s; worked for lower railroad freight rates, lower interest rates, and a change in the governments tight money policy

people party ideas

federal own railroads

graduated income tax - tax on income

8hr work days

immigration restriction

unlimited coinage

although people party failed what idea stayed

8hr work

restriction on immigration

graduated tax

Plessy v. Ferguson

Separate but equal

Grandfather Clause

allowing people who do not meet registration requirements to vote if they or their ancestors had voted before 1867.

Homer Plessy

African American arrested for sitting in the "white only" section on a railroad car

Ida B. Wells

African American journalist. published statistics about lynching, urged African Americans to protest by refusing to ride streetcards or shop in white owned stores

W.E.B. DuBois

Co-founded the NAACP to help secure legal equality for minority citizens.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

mary church / jane addams / susan b anthony

made what

national association for the advancement of colored pepple

womens wage earers association

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams

1891 founded Provident Hospital and Training Institution in Chicago, the first black hospital run exclusively by African- Americans.

Atlanta Compromise

african postpone civil right for equality through education/emplymeny

nigeria movement

demand for complete political civil social rights

Ida B. Wells and March Church Terrell -

against lynching and mob violence.

Booker T. Washington

- achieving economic goals rather than legal and political ones.

W.E.B. DuBois

- protecting legal and voting rights.