Mush/Gilded Age and Progressive Era review

Reconstruction

This was one of the most dynamic, inspiring, heart-rending, and transformative periods in American history. Americans destroyed slavery and struggled earnestly-if not always successfully-to build a nation of free and equal citizens.

13th Amendment

It abolished slavery, forcing Southern states to transition from a labor system based on enslavement to one based on wage labor

14th Amendment

Grants U.S. and state citizenship to "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof," officially extending citizenship to formerly enslaved African Americans.

15th Amendment

It extended voting rights to all Black American men but excluded women and allowed states to impose voting restrictions

Gilded Age

A period of rapid industrialization, massive economic growth, and extreme social inequality

Industrial Revolution (19th Century)

A period of scientific and technological development in the 18th century that transformed largely rural, agrarian societies into industrialized, urban one.

Adam Smith

wealth of nations, invisible hand laissez faire

Wealth of Nations

Promoted free market economics

“Invisible Hand”

The natural self-regulation of free markets through supply and demand

“Laissez-Faire”

Limited government interference in economic affairs

Capitalism

Free enterprise, the private ownership of means of production, and lack of government inference

Industrialization

Post-Civil War: Rapid growth of factories and mass production in the United States after the Civil War (1865), leading to more manufactured goods and urban growth.

Mass production/mass consumption

Factories produced large quantities of goods at lower costs, making products more affordable and allowing more Americans to buy and use them.

1862 Pacific Railway Act

authorized the construction of a transcontinental railroad

Transcontinental Railroad

was the first railroad to connect the East and West coasts of the United States. Chinese laborers provided much of the labor force for building the transcontinental railroad's western portion

How was this funded?

federal government bond through land grants

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

Was the first law to ban immigration based on specific nationality

Railroad - Impact on Business

Their vast national operations demanded the creation of innovative new corporate organizations and vast sums of capital. Their huge expenditures spurred countless industries and attracted droves of laborers. Created national markets and standardized time zones.

Railroad - Impact on Culture

Created a national culture. Standardization of time across the country.

Immigration Changes in Late 19th Century

Emigrated from?

Southern and Eastern Europe

Immigrate to?

US

Change in settlement patterns?

showed growth of industrial urban centers

Angel Island

Located in San Francisco, processed immigrants from 80 different countries 33% of immigrants were denied entry

Paper Sons & Daughters

system where immigrants bought papers from a Chinese American citizen and pretended to be the parent of the citizen to gain entry

Ellis Island

served as a major immigrant processing center

Urbanization

transformation of rural agrarian societies into industrialized urban ones

Tenements

Small rental units that often consisted of only 1 room

Jacob Riis

immigrated to the US from Denmark. He accompanied the police to some of NYC’s most impoverished and crime ridden neighborhoods, which gave him a first hand look at the living conditions in the tenements. His experiences convinced him that something needed to be done to improve the living conditions of the poor, and he became a housing reformer in NYC, supporting efforts to change the city’s housing and law policies. Used flash photography

“How The Other Half Lives”

an article for the widely read magazine that described urban poverty and slum conditions. Helped spawn the progressive era.

Ethnic Enclaves

neighborhoods, usually in big industrial cities, where immigrants from the same country or region settled together

Muckrackers

Journalists who exposed business practices, poverty, and corruption—labeled “muckrakers”—aroused public demands for reform

Nativism

favoring native-born or long-term resident inhabitants over immigrants

Monopolies

a market structure in which a single company controls an entire industry

Robber Baron/Captain of Industry

A pejorative label for a wealthy businessman who built a massive fortune through exploitative, unethical, and monopolistic practices. OR A complimentary title for a visionary business leader whose ingenuity, management style, and risk-taking built the modern economy.

Sherman Antitrust Act

aimed to limit anticompetitive practices, such as those institutionalized in monopolistic corporations. Declared that not all monopolies were illegal

Clayton Antitrust Act

prohibits anti-competitive mergers, predatory and discriminatory pricing, and other forms of unethical corporate behavior.

Collective Bargaining

combination of workers to achieve goals (labor organizing strategy)

Economies of Scale

When businesses lower the cost of producing goods by making large amounts at once.

Progressivism

l philosophy and reform movement that seeks to improve the human condition and advance society through active government intervention, social reform, and public policy.

Homestead Act (1862)

encouraged farming on Great Plains by offering 160 acres of land available to eligible settlers who met residency and improvement requirements (designed to accelerate westward expansion)

Battle of Little Bighorn (1876)

US troops were sent to interact with Sioux warriors, but were quickly overwhelmed with the amount of Sioux warriors, ultimately facing death. Led to US public outrage.

Wounded Knee Massacre (1890)

Lakota men, women, and children were killed by US troops, who attempted to disarm Lakota.

Sand Creek Massacre (1864)

group of Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes were attacked by Colorado military

Dawes Act (1887)

a federal law that sought to break up tribal lands into individual allotments, giving White settlers more land.

Native American Boarding Schools

aimed to break connection between the children and their cultures/traditions

Carlisle Indian School / Captain Richard H. Pratt

cut their hair, made them change clothes and jewelry, forced them to stop using their language, mentally, emotionally, and sexually abused the children

De Facto Segregation

Separation of races that happens in practice, not because of laws

De Jure Segregation

Separation of races that is required by law (ex: Jim Crow laws).

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

The doors of the factory had been chained shut to prevent employees from taking unauthorized breaks. A rickety fire ladder on the side of the building collapsed immediately. Women lined the rooftop and windows of the ten-story building and jumped, landing in a “mangled, bloody pulp.Convinced many Americans of the need for reform.

Jim Crow Laws

Laws that white southerners passed to take control of the state government and disenfranchise African Americans. They segregated schools, transportation employment, and public/ private facilities.

Plessy v. Ferguson

The Supreme Court upheld segregation in this and established the principle of “separate but equal” - but it was not equal. Segregation and disenfranchisement in the South rejected Black citizenship and relegated Black social and cultural life to segregated spaces. Black Americans lived divided lives, acting the part demanded of them in public, while maintaining their own world apart from Whites.

Ida B. Wells

An african american women who lost three friends to a lynch mob. She worked to outlow lynching and published southern horrors.

WEB DuBois

First Black American to receive a PhD from Harvard in 1895. Worked in political organizing with NAACP. Disagared with Washington’s stance on Jim Crow resistance and urged Black Americans to concede nothing, make no compromises, and advocate for equal rights under the law.

Booker T. Washington

Born into slavery in Virginia in 1856. Washington imagined that Tuskegee would contribute to the improvement of life for Black Americans by providing industrial education and vocational training, which would help Black Americans accomplish economic independence, sense of self-worth, and pride of accomplishment, despite living under Jim Crow. “Atlanta Compromise” Speech

Wealth Inequality

There was an extreme concentration of wealth among a few industrialists.

Labor Union

an organization of workers in a trade, industry, or company that is created to represent the workers in negotiations with management over issues of pay benefits and working conditions.

Knights of Labor

the first major national labor union in the USA who successfully organized skilled and unskilled workers.

“Eight Hour Workday”

It established the modern standard workday

Strikebreaker/Scab

unemployed persons desperate for jobs

Lockout

closing a factory or workplace to prevent workers from going to work and breaking a labor movement before it could get organized

Strike

Protesting wage cuts and poor working conditions

Blacklist

names of pro-union workers circulated among employers, making it difficult for those workers to find employment

Yellow Dog Contract

A contract promising not to join a labor union

Pullman Strike of 1894

A strike by railroad workers in the pullman palace car company, which manufactured sleeping cars for trains. Triggered because of Wage cuts without rent reductions in the company town.

Haymarket Riot

violent 1886 Chicago clash that erupted during a strike for an eight-hour workday and a protest against recent police#e brutality; a bomb blast and gunfire killed multiple officers and civilians, leading to the execution of four activists

Backlash of haymarket riot?

resulted in a massive crackdown on immigrant workers, the unfair execution of labor leaders, and the temporary crippling of the American labor movement.

American Federation of Labor

Improved wages and working conditions

Samuel Gompers

founder of american federation of labor

Government Reaction to Labor Movements -Laws?

Government sometimes passed laws to limit unions and strikes, but later passed reforms to protect workers, such as child labor laws and workplace safety regulations.

Government Reaction to Labor Movements- Court?

Courts often ruled against labor unions and in favor of businesses during the Gilded Age, sometimes declaring strikes illegal.

Government Reaction to Labor Movements- Force?

Government used troops and state militias to break up strikes, such as the Pullman Strike of 1894, when federal troops intervened.

National Child Labor Committee

Worked to Document and prevent exploitation of child workers

Lewis Hine

hired by NCLC to take photographs of child workers in the hopes that the images of the working conditions would convince the public to support their cause.

Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938

set 14 as the minimum age for all non-farm work

Cornelius Vanderbilt

A successful businessman who used his fortune from the steamboat industry to merge local railroads into the NY central railroad. Steamboats → Railroad

Andrew Carnegie

Steel industry titan -Steel

JP Morgan

Carnegie's chief competition in federal steel- U.S. Steel Corporation

John D. Rockefeller

absorbed/destroyed competitors in the oil industry

Standard Oil

controlled about 90% of the countries entire oil refining capacity

Vertical Integration

The control of multiple stages of production and distribution within a single company. This can include control over raw materials, manufacturing, and distribution of a product.

Horizontal Integration

The integration of an industry in which former competitors were brought together under a single corporate umbrella. This can include control of multiple factories or retail outlets within a specific region,

Trusts

A legal entity in which a group of companies or assets are placed under the control of a small group of individuals or a holding company. Its purpose is to reduce competition and increase market control within an industry,

Holding Company

A company that owns the stock of other companies, giving it control over the operations of those companies.

Social Darwinism

the belief that Sarwin’s ideas of natural selection and survival of the fittest should be applied to the marketplace.

Gospel of Wealth

John d rockefeller wrote this advocating that the wealthy had a moral obligation to use their money to improve society