The Gilded Age

Following the conclusion of the civil war, what happens to the population of the United States

It surges due to rising birth rates and immigrants

Explain the election of 1868

The union party would end with the resumption of the two main political rivals, democrats and republicans.

Goals for each side:

Reconstruction:

Republicans: Continued military reconstruction

Democrats: An end to military reconstruction

Payment of bonds:

Rich eastern delegates: Wanted bonds to be paid back in gold even though they were issued as greebacks

Poor Midwestern delegates: Put forth the Ohio Idea: paying bonds with Greenbacks to keep currency in circulation and keep inflation low - supported by poor agrarian democrats. This plan was rejected by the democratic candidate, Horatio Seymour

Democratic Candidate: Horatio Seymour

Republican Candidate: Ulysses S. Grant

Outcome: The Republican party would win, mostly thanks to Grants wartime popularity and emancipated African Americans being thankful for the republicans freeing them from slavery

What does “waving the bloody shirt” mean

A slogan used by the republicans that called on civil war times and victory, supporting Grant

What were examples of corruption that were present during the Grant administration

Jubilee Jim and Jay Gould, Gold Market plan: They raised the price of gold so they could later profit from it. However, the bubble burst when the treasury had to release gold. The ensuing plunge led to many going bankrupt.

Tweed Ring: Burly Tweed used bribery and fraud to siphon over 200 million dollars from New York and used intimidation to silence any opposition, but was exposed by Samuel S. Tilden

The Dents: The in-laws of Ulysses S. Grant, who profited from the presidency

Credit Mobilier Scandal: Union Pacific Railroad insiders formed the Credit Mobilier construction company, then hired themselves at inflated prices, helping them earn high dividends. Following a congressional investigation, it was revealed that two congressmen and the Vice President had taken bribes.

Whiskey Ring: Millions was robbed from the treasury from the Whiskey Excise tax

Bribes from Indian suppliers: Secretary of War, William Belknap resigned after receiving bribes

Explain the Election of 1872

Following the rampant corruption during the first Grant term, some republicans broke away and formed the liberal republican party

Goals:

Liberal Republican Party: Wanted an end to corruption and an end to military reconstruction

Democrats: Wanted a return to office and an end to military reconstruction so threw their lot in with the liberals

Republicans: Continued military reconstruction

Nomination:

Republicans: Ulysses S. Grant

Liberal Republicans: Horace Greely

Democrats: Horace Greely

Result: Ulysses S. Grant and the republicans would win

What were changes enacted by the republican party following their victory and the liberal republican revolt

• General Amnesty Act - all but 300 confederates granted amnesty

• Reduced high civil war tariffs

• Civil service reform

Explain the panic of 1873

Reason: Enterprises had made too much (too much railroad track, sunk too many mines, erected too many factories) that the market couldn’t support it. Bankers had made to many loans and when they couldn’t be paid, the American economy tanked

Results:

• 15,000 Americans lost their jobs

• Riots erupted in major cities

• Black Americans suffered the most

• Debtors wanted inflationary policy to alleviate economic stress

Explain the debate between inflationary policy v hard money policy

Greenbacks, which had been printed during the Civil War, led to rising prices and cheaper money. While many were happy with this, the treasury began to withdraw 100 million dollars’ worth of Greenbacks from circulation. However, following the panic of 1873, many debtors and agrarian groups advocated for Greenbacks to remain and be printed at a greater rate because it loans are cheaper to pay off. Creditors heavily opposed this policy as they didn’t want to be paid with cheaper money.

Result: The hard money advocates would win the day, with Grant Vetoing a bill which included the printing of more Greenbacks, as well as the passage of the Resumption Act of 1875: All Greenbacks withdrawn from circulation by 1879, and paper money would return to its previous value.

Explain inflationary policy v Hard Money: Silver

Debtors, in an attempt to push inflationary policy higher, wanted to raise the standard of silver to the higher silver market price. However, this would fail when new silver was discovered leading to lower silver prices

What is contraction

The accumulation of Gold Stocks and the reduction of Greenbacks led to less money in circulation, but restored the government credit, worsening the impact of the panic of 1873.

What characterised the political polarisation of the democrats and Republicans during the Gilded age

They were hardly different in their economic, civil service, currency, and other national stances, but highly antagonistic and commanded ultra loyal bases leading to high voter turnout

Why were the Republicans and Democrats so contested if they agreed on most national matters

Religious and Social tones

Republicans:

• Strict code of morality

• Puritanic

• The government should play a role in restoring economic and social order

Democrats:

• Immigrants

• Lutherans and Roman Catholics

• Toleration of differences

• Rejected government efforts for social uniformity

Where were the support bases for Democrats and Republicans

Republicans:

• Midwest

• Rural Northwest

• African Americans

Democrats

• The south

• Northern industrialist cities

• Immigrants

How was patronage rampant in the republican party

Conklings V Half Breeds - James G. Blaine

Explain the election of 1876

Nominations:

Democrats: Samuel J Tilden

Republicans: Rutherford B. Hayes was selected as a compromise candidate between the Blaineites and Conklingites

Result: The election looked like a Tilden victory. However, four states were contested. The three Southern states submitted both a Republican and a Democratic return. Therefore, no one could agree which returns were legit, with clashes looking imminent a compromise was struck.

Explain the compromise of 1877

The Electoral College Act (1877): Set up a committee of men from the House, Senate, and Supreme Court. The disputed documents were then sent to this committee, where Florida was ruled Republican. This outraged democrats but a deal was struck:

• Hayes would win the election

• Federal soldiers would be withdrawn from Louisiana and South Carolina

• Democrats were ensured patronage

• Republicans would subsidise the building of a railroad from Texas to the Pacific - this was broken

What was the compromise of 1877’s impact on African Americans

Saw the death of the republicans’ fight for civil equality for African Americans and the end of Reconstruction. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 (which guaranteed racial equality in jury selection) was largely struck down by the Supreme Court.

Following the end of reconstruction how do the white redeemer democrat governments limit African American freedoms

• Sharecropping: Storekeepers and landlords would leave out land and rent it to freedmen, but their pay was so bad that they couldn’t pay of their debts, leading to a perpetual debt, and in turn slavery

• Jim Crow Laws: Black Americans were excluded from all facets of daily life, ensuring they were second-class citizens

• Plessey V Ferguson (1885): Deemed segregation as constitutional and coined the term separate but equal

• Whites used violence, especially lynchings, to intimidate African Americans into submission

• Voters were disenfranchised through poll tax, literacy tests, and the grandfather clause

How did conflicts within the United States change following the end of the civil war

Regional conflicts were replaced by class conflicts

What was the Great Railroad strike (1877)

Following the four largest railroad companies cutting wages by 10%, workers struck, however, Hayes would call in the army and quell the disruption, leading to greater working class solidarity but ultimately failure

Why did labour movements usually fail

Government intervention and Ethnic Division

Explain Chinese immigration to the United States

Following the discovery of Gold in California, many Chinese men travelled to the U.S to make their fortune. However, following the end of the gold rush and the end of the laying of railroad track, many Chinese immigrants returned to China with their small earnings, while the rest who remained had to compete for poor-paying jobs, primarily against the Irish, who were discriminatory towards the Chinese

Who was Denis Kearney and the Kearnyites

They were anti-Chinese advocates, who used violence to deter the Chinese from settling and taking jobs

What was the Chinese exclusion Act (1882)

Halted almost all Chinese immigration due to prejudices from Americans, especially immigrants

What was U.S V Wong Kim Ark (1898)

Protects birthright citienship of Chinese Americans

Explain the election of 1880

Nomination:

Republicans: James A. Garfield

Democrats: Winfield Scott Hancock

Outcome: Republican James A. Garfield won the election.

Explain the assassination of Garfield and its effects

As the Republican faction (Congliaites and Blainietes) continued to quarrel, Garfield was assassinated by Charles Guietteau

Result: Reform was enacted as the assasination of Garfield by a disgrunted man who wanted office led to the Republicans, now led by Chester A. Arthur, introducing the Pendleton Act (1883)

What was the Pendleton Act (1883)

• Campaign Contributions from federal employees were illegal

• Established civil service commissions to make appointments based on an exam

What was a negative effect of the Pendleton Act

It drove politicians from the purses of one another to big corporations

Explain the election of 1884:

Republican Nomination: James G. Blaine

Democratic Nomination: Grover Cleveland

Differences in this election: This election and ensuing elections became elections of personality, not principles, with each side using insults, dirt, and strategies to win the election

How did the Democrats target Blaine: They used corruption regarding a southern railroad

How did the Republicans target Cleveland: Used information of his illegitimate child

Why did Blaine lose the election:

• Many reformer Republicans couldn’t handle corrupt Blaine as their leader and fled to the democrats - they were called Mugwumps

• Blaine blundered in New york when didn’t repudiate a phrase that targeted the Irish

Cleveland won the election

Who were the Mugwumps

A portion of the republican party who hated corruption

How did Cleveland run the government

• Advocated for laissez-faire principles, he believed the government shouldn’t interfere with the economy

• While initially favouring reform to civil service, he would come to office deprived of democrats in civil service roles and cleared out 80,000 republicans

• Cleveland laboured over military pensions lobbied by the Grand Army of the Republic. However, these petitions didn’t always include military veterans

• Advocated for a lower tariff

Why and how did Cleveland want to lower the treasury surplus

Cleveland, who was fiscally orthodox, was embarrassed to have such a high surplus and wanted to reduce it. To lower the surplus, he:

• Lowering the tariff

• Spending on military pensions

Why was Cleveland convinced to lower the tariff

Convinced by the argument that lower prices and less protection on monopolies

What happened when Cleveland submitted his proposal for a lower tariff

Following Cleveland's submission of a proposal to Congress for a lower tariff, it sparked a heated debate. Republicans thought it was blunt and uneducated, while Democrats were exasperated but went along with it. The debate over the tariff would also be the first polarising issue in the upcoming 1888 election in a long time.

Explain the Election of 1888

For the first time, a real issue divided the Republicans and Democrats: The Tariff

Democratic Nomination: Grover A. Cleveland

Republican Nomination: Benjamin Harrison

Stance:

Democratic: Lower tariff

Republican: Maintenance of the tariff

Result: Republicans would win the election of 1888, due to support from big businesses who feared the lowering of the tariff

Explain the Billion Dollar Congress and Thomas B Reed

While losing the election of 1888, the democrats were going to stand strong, due to the republicans not having an outright majority in the house, however, due to the dominating nature of Reed, the house would be intimidated into following his movement. Therefore, the billion dollar congress would do the will of the republicans

What was the McKinely tariff (1890)

Raised the tariff to 48.5%

What was the impact of the McKinely Tariff

• More money for industrialists

• Came at the expense of the farmers who were already debt-burdened; they now had to buy goods at even higher prices and sell their goods into an unprotected competitive market. This continued farmers discontent would swing the house to the democrats in 1890

Who were the Farmers alliance

A militant group

Who were the populists

Based upon the farmers of the west and south, they demanded a series of things:

• Inflation through free and unlimited coinage of silver at the rate of 16 ounces of silver to one ounce of gold

• Income tax

• Government ownership of railroads, telegraphs, and telephones

• Direct election of senators

• Adoption of referendum and initiative for more of a direct say

• Eight-hour workday

• Immigration Restriction

• Free and unlimited coinage of silver

• Subtreasury: Allowed farmers to store non-perishable crops in government-run warehouses and receive low-interest federal loans up to 80% of the crop's value.

• An end to the Pinkerton police force

Nominated James B. Weaver as their candidate for the election of 1892

What were the Homestead strikes (1892)

Strikes by steelworkers at the Carnegie Steel plant, who were angry over pay cuts. Pinkerton detectives were hired to put down the strike, but failed, leading to the army being called to crush the strike.

What were the Cour d’Alena Strikes

Federal soldiers destroyed a strike in the silver mines in Idaho

Explain the election of 1892

Republican Nomination: Benjamin Harrison

Democratic Nomination: Grover A. Cleveland

Populist: James B. Weaver

Outcome: The democrats would win the election of 1892 due to divisions among the populists and the republicans’ damaged reputation due to the McKinely tariff

What was the populist performance at the election of 1892

Secured 22 electoral votes and a million popular votes but mostly confined to the midwest

Why did the populists fail in the election of 1892

• Failed in the north because Industrial labourers didn’t rally behind the cause

• Failed in the South because of racism: It seemed as if whites would overcome their prejudices over shared economic problems. One of these men was Tom Watson. It seemed as if African Americans would join the populists after becoming disillusioned with the republicans. However, the South played up historical racism, leading to the end of collaboration between blacks and whites in the South.

Who were the Coloured Farmers National Alliance

Coloured farmers who joined with the populists

What was the result of many black farmers voting for the populists in the election of 1892

It reminded many in the south of the strength of the black vote, therefore worrying many in the south, leading to the implementation of harder literacy tests, grandfather clause, Jim Crow laws, and segregation, leading to the elimination of the black vote.

What were the causes of the Depression of 1893

• Overbuilding and over speculation

• Labour disorders

• Agricultural depression

• Free silver agitation destroyed American credit abroad

• Europeans called in American loans

What were the results of the depression of 1893

• 8,000 American businesses collapsed in 6 months

• Soup kitchens for the unemployed

• Tramps roamed the nation

• The treasury dropped below 100 million dollars

• Agricultural crisis

Explain the treasury crisis that occurred following the depression of 1893

• Bland-Alison act (1878): Required the federal government to buy 2-4 million dollars worth of gold

• Gold reserves fell below $100 million, then to $41 million by February 1894.

• Caused by redemption of notes for silver under the Sherman Silver Purchase Act.

• Cleveland repealed the Act, alienating Democrats but failing to stop gold outflow.

• JP Morgan arranged a $65 million gold loan, stabilising reserves but sparking backlash.

• Cleveland was criticised as a “sellout” to Wall Street

What was the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Bill (1894)

While democrats had pledged to lower the tariff, there were so many special attachments to this tariff bill that, effectively, the tariff wasn’t lowered. It also included a 2% tax on income higher than 4,000 dollars, but was struck down by the court. Cleveland, who was outraged by the bill, reluctantly signed it.

What was the result of the tariff debacle and the depression of 1893

The republicans got a huge upsurge in the midterms

What happened to the role of the president in the gilded age

It was severely diminished

Why did the best of men not enter politics in the late 19th century

Because they were attracted by the profits that the industrial giants promised

How did railroad track change from 1865 to 1900

It boomed from 35,000 miles of track to 192,556 miles of track

What was the process of building railroads

It was a rather unprofitable business, requiring government subsidies. Therefore, loans and generous land grants were given out to railroads. With each square mile of land given to the railroad to be sold (at $3), and the other given to the federal government to be sold (looking like a checkerboard). However, railroads could keep all the land and see which was most profitable by delaying construction.

What were the benefits of granting railroads to corporations to build

• The government didn’t have to raise any more taxes

• The land surrounding the railroad shot up in price and importance leading to burgeoning metropolises in the west without government efforts

What was the Union Pacific Railroad charter

A charter to the Union Pacific Railroad to build a railroad from Chicago to the West Coast, which began in 1865, and a charter for the Central Pacific Railroad which would then meet with the union pacific railroad in Utah

What were the terms of building a railroad west

• For each mile of track laid, the company received 20 square yards, alternating in 640 square sections on either side

• Builders received federal loans from $16,000 for flat land and $48,000 for mountain land

Who pocketed most of the profits from the building of the union pacific railroad

insiders of the credit Mobilier scandal and promoters

Who laid most of the railroad track for the union pacific railroad

Cheap immigrant labour

What was life like building railroads

It was tough, the work was tiring and brutal and Indian raids were constant

Explain the Central Pacific railroad

Headed from California to Utah, where it would meet with the Union Pacific Railroad. It was backed by the Big 4. It received heavy government subsidies, and most of its cheaper labour was provided by Chinese immigrants.

Who were the Big 4

• Leland Stanford

• Collis P. Huntington

• Mark Hopkins

• Charles Crocker

What impact did the new transcontinental railways have on cities

Many boom towns emerged with others fading into obscurity

What were the other four transcontinental railroads

Southern Pacific, Northern Pacific, Santa Fe, and the Great Northern

The first was just the Pacific railroad

What were the two improvements that facilitated the railroad growth

• Switch from iron to steel track

• The westing house air brake - increased efficiency

What were the impacts of the railroad industry

• America was connected

• It employed the most people

• Received the most investment

• America became a heavily interconnected market, and raw materials would be carried to factories from the west, then transported back for sale

• Farmers sold their produce at a larger scale and established settlements near railroad tracks

• Cities took off with people purchasing food from across the American market

• Immigration boomed with more workers needed for laying track and more opportunities to travel for work

• The railroad tore through the natural environment, destroying it, and the buffalo almost went extinct

• Time zones were created to standardise time for railroads

• A new class of aristocracy emerged

How was corruption present in the new railroad industry

• Jay Gould - fleeced millions from multiple railroad corruptions

• Stock workers - railroad stock promoters advertised inflated stock and sold stocks and bonds at high prices

• Railroad kings bribed judges and got there officials elected into office

How did railroad companies collaborate to secure and protect profit

• Established a pool that agreed to divide businesses

• Gave rebates and kickbacks to shippers, shippers slashed rates in return, leading to large customers paying smaller fees than smaller customers

Why were Americans slow to realise the injustice of big corpartions

• Strong belief in limited interference with business, keeping competition high

• The belief in the American dream, that anyone could get rich

What was the Grange

The Grange was an organised agrarian group that emerged following the depression of 1873, which attempted to regulate railroad monopolies primarily in the Midwest

What was the Wabash, St. Louis, and Pacific Railroad Company vs. Illinois (1886)

It struck down the attempt to regulate railroad monopolies, citing the interstate commerce clause, therefore implying only the federal government could only deal with monopolies

What was the interstate commerce act (1887)

• Forbade unfair discrimination against shippers and outlawed charging more for a short haul than a long haul

• Banned rebates and pools

• Required railroads to publish there rates

• Established the interstate commerce commission

What was the Interstate Commerce Commission and its significance (Interstate Commerce Act)

• Nominal control of the federal government, which the railroads could use to their advantage

• Allowed business to work out their problems in an orderly manner\

• Significance: Represented the first attempt by Washington to regulate the private market to benefit society as a whole. This would lead to further government intervention in the future

Why was industrial capital and wealth skyrocketing

• Liquid capital was now abundant due to the new millionaire class that had emerged following the Civil War

• Investors from abroad lent more money to America

• Innovations in transportation allowed natural resources and raw goods to be transported across the nation

  • Rich Iron deposits were transported from the Mesabi range to Chicago and Cleveland

  • Steel, zinc, and copper gave rise to new industries

• With the American market contributing to development at a rapid rate, allowing a high level of consumption coupled with cheap and reliable transportation, and new products being sold in high quantities, facilitated the rise in consumerism

• New machines were invented to cheapen the rise of labour and remove skilled expensive labourers

• Innovations took off, with patents skyrocketing

  • Cash register

  • Typewriter

  • Refrigerator car

  • Electric railroad - Sped up urbanisation

  • Telephones

  • Perfection of the light bulb

How did corporations circumnavigate competition

• Carnegie and vertical integration: Carnegie owned the entirety of the steel production, from its miners in the Mesabi region to being welded into steel. He did this to improve efficiency by controlling all stages of product, therefore eliminating the middleman

• Rockefeller and horizontal integration, and the trust: Rockefeller would ally with competitors to monopolise a market, primarily oil, and establish a trust. The trust saw stockholders in the smaller companies assigned to the board of directors of the Standard Oil Company. Therefore, consolidating control of friendly companies. This allowed Standard Oil to control almost the entire oil market, forcing competitors to the wall

• J.P. Morgan and interlock in directories: During the depression of 1890, Morgan would welcome competitive businessmen and ensure future harmony and consolidate control by placing officers of his syndicate on these various businesses.

What was the Bessemer - Kelly process

The process of making cheap steel led to America leaping to the forefront of steel production by 1900, making steel a dominant industry in America

Explain Carnegie sale of his steel company to Morgan

After Carnegie built up his steel empire, he produced a quarter of the nation's steel due to his ruthless mindset, yet cooperative nature. However, in 1900, Carnegie attempted to sell his steel company to J.P. Morgan, a Wall Street stockbroker. Morgan would pay up to 400 million dollars, after Carnegie convinced him he was going to enter the steel pipe industry, which Morgan had begun to dabble in

What was the United States steel corporation

Following Morgan's purchase of Carnegie's steel empire, Morgan would establish the United States Steel Corporation, where he watered down the stock, eventually leading to the rise in value to 1.4 billion dollars

Explain the foundation of the oil industry

Oil became important in the 1870s, primarily for kerosene (derived from petroleum and used to light lamps), which slowly replaced whale oil and spelled doom for the New England industry. However, kerosene would decrease in importance following the light bulb, leading to the almost collapse of the oil industry. However, with the invention of oil, transportation, oil became much more important due to its reliability

What was the Standard Oil Company

In 1870, Rockefeller would organise the company. He was ruthless (used spies, extortion, and bribes) and squeezed the market of competitors, and by 1877, controlled 95% of oil refiners in the nation

What were Trusts?

Large business combinations in which companies were joined under a single board of trustees. To control markets, reduce competition, and maximise profits.

What were some examples of Trusts

• Sugar Trust

• Leather Trust

• Harvest Trust

• Meat Industry

How did the rich use social darwinism to their advantage

A theory developed from Darwin's idea of evolution, that the rich had gained their wealth and success in life because of their natural talents. This was used in the justification for why the super-rich should exist. This often made reform difficult due to the rich gaining contempt for the poor due to the belief they weren’t willing to work as hard

What was the Gospel of Wealth

The belief among the new ultra-rich that the reason for their wealth was divine intervention (Carnage and Rockefeller)

What was Plutocracy

The idea that the nation was enslaved based upon wealth divisions

How did the Constitution protect monopolies and trusts

• The interstate commerce clause: heavily protected monopolies from the states

• The 14th Amendment: monopolies and corporations operated underneath the facade of a person, therefore, invoking that they couldn’t have their property revoked without due process

What was the Sherman Anti-trust law (1890)

Promoted market competition by outlawing monopolies, cartels, and restrictive business practices

What were the failures of the Sherman Anti-trust act

The law would be ineffective at targeting trusts and monopolies with easily exploitable loopholes. However, it was used to target labour unions, and it also established a precedent that the private need should be subservient to the public need

What was the economic makeup of the South following the conclusion of the Civil War, and why did it differ from the North

The South did not experience the same industrial ripple as the North and remained a backwater that relied on sharecropping

What industry and how did it propel Southern agriculture

Tobacco: with machine-made cigarettes entering the market the American Tobacco Company was founded, which saw the absorption of all the companies into one

Why did the South struggle to industrialise

Northern industries dominated the railroad, therefore making manufactured goods from the North, which were cheaper to transport, unlike the raw Southern goods which were expensive to transport

How was the Pittsburgh plus pricing system an example of Northern attempts to inhibit the Souths economic growth

Iron and Coal deposits in Alabama were worked by cheap Southern labour and were sent to Alabama steel manufacturers. But railways under pressure from the North shipped Alabama steel a fictional fee, therefore making it just as expensive as steel from Alabama as it was from Pittsburgh

Explain the role of cotton mills in the post Civil War South

Cotton mills brought some economic prosperity, as Northern manufacturers built cotton factories in the South to benefit from cheaper labour than in the North. Southerners would rush to the mills for work even though the pay was terrible. While looms kept popping up due to cheap labour, however, African Americans were not employed at looms

What were some changes to society from the Industrial Revolution

• Standard of living rose

• Urban centres grew as factories demanded more labour

• The federal government began expanding its power by restraining corporations

• Opportunities for women grew

  • The typewriter led to more social and economic opportunities

  • While the middle-class women were able to secure jobs for greater economic independence. The working class still toiled away in the factories

• The class divide continued to grow

  • socialists emerged

  • Wealth disparity increased

• Nation of wage earners

• International trade grew

• The factory system destroyed individualism, personalities, and interpersonal relations at work

• Employees were at the mercy of their employers as they always looked for cheaper labour

How did employers disrupt worker reform efforts

• Pool vast wealth together - used to purchase a lawyer, buy the press, in an attempt to manipulate the stories to their advantage

• Federal courts would often side with employers, forcing strikes to stop

• Federal and state authorities could be called to put down demonstrations

• Employers would lock workers out

• Use the company town to force workers into submission

Why was the middle class ignorant to the plight of the working class

Due to general apathy toward the plight of the working class and the belief that they could achieve and emulate the wealth of the rich. Additionally, strikes left a poor taste among the middle class due to nativism, as strikes were seen as a foreign import.

What was the National Labour Union and its makeup

The national labour union was a labour union that united workers and attempted to promote legislative reform.

They included:

• Skilled and Unskilled workers

• Farmers