Unit 5 1877-1896

Andrew Carnegie

Founded Carnegie Steel, pioneered the use of Bessemer steel, helped modernize U.S. manufacturing, philanthropist, wrote gospel of wealth, used vertical integration, poor Scottish immigrant

Cornelius Vanderbilt

Railroads, Shipping

Railroads, Shipping, Built the New York Central Railroad, revolutionized the transportation system, Vanderbilt uni, “commodore”

JP Morgan

Banking, Founded J.P. Morgan & Co., centralized banking, helped stabilize the economy during crises

Henry Ford

automobiles, Revolutionized mass production with the assembly line, making cars affordable

John D. Rockefeller

Oil, Founded Standard Oil, monopolized oil refining, revolutionized the petroleum industry, used horizontal integration

captain of industry/robber barons?

Rockefeller, Carnegie, Vanderbilt, JP Morgan, Ford, Jay Gould, Armour, Frick, Stanford

jay Gould

Railroads, telegraph, Controlled the Erie Railroad, expanded the telegraph network, helped shape the stock market

Leland Stanford

Railroads, Politics, Founded the Central Pacific Railroad, served as governor of California, founded Stanford

Henry Clay Frick

Carnegie right hand man, Partnered with Carnegie to build Carnegie Steel, expanded U.S. steel production

PHilip Armour

Meatpacking, Founded Armour & Co., revolutionized meatpacking and food distribution

Gustavus Swift

Meatpacking, Innovated in refrigerated railcars, helped revolutionize the meat industry

what was Chicago known for

Meatpacking, steel industry, transportation, World’s Columbian Exposition

Turner’s frontier thesis

• The closing of the frontier troubled Turner. He saw the frontier as a safety valve for releasing discontent in American society. The frontier had always held the promise of a fresh start.

• prompters of railroads + westward expansion

pacific railroad acts and homestead act 1862

transcontinental railroad built?

1869

homestead act

1862: law granted potential migrants 160 acres of free land out west on the condition that they would farm it and settle it

Reservation system

• indian populations were assigned to live on tracts of land called reservations with strict boundaries-- this didn’t suit many indians who had organized their lives around following buffalo herds throughout the plains

  • Had to stay here until they assimilated into american society

Dawes act

1887 A federal law that abandoned the reservation system and intended to turn Native Americans into farmers and landowners by providing cooperating families with 160 acres of reservation land for farming or 320 acres for grazing--  dissolve tribal lands and assimilate Native Americans into US society.

Sharecropping

• system where ex-slaves without enough money to buy/rent land of their own could sign on to work the fields of the plantation; was basically worse than slavery because now landowners were not financially responsible for slaves

plessy vs ferguson case

1896 case ruled that racial segregation was constitutional as long as the facilities were equal -- “seperate but equal”

what happened to black ppl during the gilded age?

• Black ppl had lost many of the gain they had made from reconstruction

  • Lynch mobs, no political representation 

• W.E.B Du Bois

well educated, Believed Black people should challenge segregation and disfranchisement 

• Advocated for political action and civil rights, Was a leader in the Niagara Movement and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

booker t Washington

“Uncle Tom”, liked by white people, former slave, Believed in accepting the social and political status quo of Black Americans 

• Urged Black people to focus on economic improvement through hard work 

• Co-founded the Tuskegee Institute to train Black people in agriculture and industry

• How were industrialists able to build their industry?

Government laissez faire policy (free market), little government intervention and regulation over business practices, underpaid laborers (immigrants, women, children)

application of social darwinism to economics?

• Strong companies should eat small companies so that the world’s wealth be concentrated into the hands of those who were deemed fittest

Great railroad strike

1877: first major labor uprising in the US, The violent strike was a response to wage cuts and poor working conditions, president hayes sent in federal troops to squash it

Pullman Strike

•  led by the American Railway Union (ARU) under Eugene V. Debs. President Grover Cleveland sides with Pullman. Forcing ARU back to work. Debs refuses. Debs is jailed. 

National Labor Union

1866: first major national labor union, skilled and unskilled workers (no black tho)

Knights of Labor

• 1869: founded by terrence V powderly, skilled and unskilled workers+women+blacks+immigrants (no chinese) , falsely associated with anarchy (haymarket square bombing), “ An injury to one is the concern of all”, end child labor, equal pay for men and women, 

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

1886: samuel gompers, skilled white male workers, opposed socialism and avoided politics, federation of unions (individuals couldn’t join)

IWW

•  Eugene V Debs, socialist, against WW1

Nativists

•  policy of protecting the interests of native born folks over against the interests of immigrants 

  • Anti catholics, anti chinese, anti black, anti southern europeans 

  • APA (American protection association)

why did labor unions oppose immigrants

• Immigrants undermined workers ability to negotiate with manufacturers for higher pay because immigrants would do the same work for cheaper wage

Jane Addams Hull House

1889: help immigrants assimilate to american society to find better economic opportunity

• Exoduster movement 

• • Mass migration of southern black people to the west

  • Colored relief board and the kansas freedman’s aid society

industrial cities largely made up of

•  working class and the urban poor (the rich moved out to the suburbs and worked in the city)

reform movement led by women

• temperance movement by women

  • Total abstinence from alcohol

  • Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in 1874.

Democrats

• mainly southerners, championed states rights and racial segregation, voters include big city political machines and growing immigrant population 

Republicans

• mostly northerns, more industrial party, counted on votes from black people, middle class businessmen, and protestants

• Spoils system/patronage

presidents awarded government positions to political supporters

• Assasination of james garfield 

1881: Garfield was caught in the Republican Party feud between the Stalwarts, who supported patronage (government jobs given as political rewards), and the Half-Breeds, who wanted civil service reform. His assassin was a stalwart. 

Pendleton Act,

1883:  a landmark civil service reform law that ended the spoils system by requiring government jobs to be awarded based on merit rather than political connections, establishing the Civil Service Commission to oversee fair hiring practices through competitive exams.

Chinese Exclusion Act,

1882 the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was a U.S. federal law that banned Chinese labor immigration for 10 years, denied Chinese immigrants U.S. citizenship, and marked the first major restriction on immigration in American history.

Interstate Commerce Act,

1886 The Interstate Commerce Act of was a federal law that aimed to regulate the railroad industry by prohibiting unfair rates, requiring reasonable and just pricing, and establishing the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to enforce these rules.

effects of gilded age presidents

unrestricted business growth, economics inequality and labor struggle, rise of populism and progressivism, imperial expansion

characteristics of federal govt

centralized, republican dominance, laissez-faire economic approach, limited federal intervention in economy, expansion of RR and industry

characteristics of state government

widespread corruption and patronage systems in many states, state legislatures influenced by big businesses

local gov’t

dominated by political machines (machine politics-tammany Hall in NYC) corruption, controlled elections, rise of immigrant political power

duties of government during the gilded age

deliver the mail, maintain a national miltiary, collect taxes and tariffs, conduct a foreign policy

divisions between republic party

halfbreeds vs stalwarts, election of 1880 (Garfields election), assassination of Garfield

half breeds

led by Blaine, supported civil service reform, “half” committed to republican ideas, supported Garfield in 1880 prez election

stalwarts

led by Roscoe conkling, supporters of spoils system, opposed civil service reform

who replaced Garfield and why was it controversial

Arthur, was a stalwart but surprisingly supported civil service reform which led to the downfall of stalwarts

first democratic president in this era?

Cleveland, elected in 1856, laissez fare presidency

NAWSA(Women Suffrage)

The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), founded in 1890, was a leading organization in the women’s suffrage movement, advocating for voting rights through state campaigns, lobbying, and grassroots activism, ultimately contributing to the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920.

Sherman Anti-Trust Act

1890: The Sherman Anti-Trust Act was the first federal law aimed at prohibiting monopolies and anti-competitive business practices, making it illegal to restrain trade or form monopolies, though it was initially weakly enforced and often used against labor unions.

Populists Platform

The Populist Party platform, outlined in the Omaha Platform of 1892, called for economic reforms including the free coinage of silver, a progressive income tax, government ownership of railroads and telegraphs, direct election of Senators, and policies to support farmers and laborers against big business and corruption.

homestead strike

1892:  a violent labor conflict between steelworkers and the Carnegie Steel Company in Pennsylvania, resulting from wage cuts, leading to a deadly clash with private security forces, weakening the labor movement and union influence in the steel industry.

Election of 1896

The 1896 United States presidential election was a pivotal contest between Republican William McKinley and Democrat William Jennings Bryan, centered on economic issues like the gold standard and tariffs. McKinley’s victory marked a realignment in American politics, leading to Republican dominance in national politics for decades.

political machines and example

• Groups who knew how to secure votes for their parties, run by a boss 

• Tammany hall run by boss tweed

inventions of the gilded age

bessemer steel process, refrigerator, transcontinental RR, telephone, telegraph, RRC, transatlantic cable

railroad builders

• Union Pacific use Irish, Central Pacific use Chinese

why were timezones created

• Time zones were created to enable consistent railroad schedules

Munn v. Illinois

• (1877)

  • Supreme Court says government can control private business if public interest in involved

  • Allows for future government regulation of business

poverty in the city

poor working class, ellis island, tenement housing, Jacob Riis (How the other half lives 1890)

square deal

Theodore Roosevelt's domestic program, which reflected his three major goals: conservation of natural resources, corporate law, and consumer protection. These three demands are often referred to as the "three C's" of Roosevelt's Square Deal.

Pure Food and Drug Act

1906:first federal law to protect the health of consumers. It was a response to public outrage over the unsanitary conditions in Chicago's meatpacking plants, as revealed in Upton Sinclair's 1906 novel The Jungle.