6.3 THE GILDED AGE

time period of gilded age?

1865 - 1898

what was it?

Mark Twain first to describe as “Gilded Age” in 1873.

referred to superficial glitter of new wealth

It was a period of weak presidents, change in immigration, the development of industry and urban areas

Samuel Morse

1844 telegraph

Alexander Graham Bell

1876 telephone

Henry Bessemer (William Kelly)

1850s - Bessemer Steel process

Thomas Edison

lightbulb, motion picture camera, phonograph

George Westinghouse

electric motor

Nation’s first big business

Railraods

What did railroad industry promote

growth of other industries like coal and steel

Cornelius Vanderbilt

NY Central Railroad 1867

Andrew Carnegie

1890s dominated steel industry

JP Morgan

banker; 1894 led bankers to merge railroads and eliminated comp (1900 - US Steel)

John D. Rockefeller

1880s Standard Oil Company

controlled 90% of nation’s oil industry

vert integration

company controls both the production and distribution of its prdocuts

EX: CARNEGIE AND US STEEL

horizontal integration

company controls over other companies that produce same product

EX: ROCKEFELLER AND STANDARD OIL

trust

legal affairs of several rival companies managed by a single board of directtors

mmonoploy

control over an entire industry

Adam Smih (Wealth of nations 1776)

economy better of with less govt intervention

Gospel of Wealth

Promoted idea of protestant work ethic.

hard work + success = signs of god’s favor

Duty of wealthy to help poor

National Labor Union 1866

first attempt to organize against working conds

won 8 hour day for federal workers

leader of Knights of Labor 1869

Terrence v Powderley

Were all ppl allowed?

yes; colored, unskilled, skilled, women and men, white ppl

what did knights of labor goal?

eliminate conflict btwen labor and management

What were the knights of labor associated with

blamed for Haymarket riot

violence and anarchists

American federation of labor (AFL) 1886

led by Samuel Gompers

alliance of skilled workers

Goal of AFL

Higher wages and improved working conds

Great railroad strike of 1877

1st national labor strike

pres Hayes called in troops

Haymarket Bombing 1886

bomb thrown at rally

7 police killed

7 sentenced to death

kol blamed

Homestead strike 1892

steel plant cut wages

16 people died

Carnegie crushed strikers with Pinkertons

Pullman Strike 1894

during a depression

company cut wages

union leader Euguene v Debs encouraged and arresed

pres Cleveland called in troops

The Boss system

a political organization where a leader (“boss”) is in control of organized groups of politicians

The boss system did what?

helped immigrants find job, apartments, and food in exchange for votes

did so some good: helped build Parks, playgrounds, paved streets, public facilities

who was William “Boss Twead” of Tammany Hall NYC

boss of local Democratic party

stole up to 200 mul from taxpayers before caught