US History - Chapter 12

The Gilded Age

Gilded Age

• 1870s-1900

• a period of prosperity and innovation in America that hid the growing corruption within

Ellis Island

• the largest port of entry in America for European immigrants

• located in New York Harbor

Chinese-Exclusion Act

• passed by congress in 1882 due to the influx of Chinese immigrants

• prohibited Chinese workers, with few exceptions, from entering the United States for ten years

• extended in 1892 and again in 1902

Stalwarts

• a faction in the Republican Party led by Roscoe Conkling

• favored high tariffs, hard money, and the spoils system

Half-Breeds

• a different faction of the Republican Party; known as the Moderate Republicans

• favored civil service reform

James Garfield

• Half-breed nominated by the Republicans for president

• won the election of 1880, but was assassinated four months later by Charles Guiteau

Chester Arthur

• Republican candidate for vice president in 1880

• Stalwart

• Became president after the death of James Garfield

Pendleton Act

Established an independent Civil Service Commission, made up of three presidential appointees who were responsible for seeing that only those who scored well on civil service exams held office

Grover Cleveland

• Democratic candidate for the election of 1884

• noted for his honesty and fighting the corruption of Tammany Hall

• first Democratic presidential victory in 28 years

Benjamin Harrison

• Republican candidate of the Election of 1888

• grandson of former president William Henry Harrison

• won the Election of 1888 against Cleveland

The 51st Congress

• occurred during Harrison’s presidency (1889-1891)

• aka the “Billion-Dollar Congress” because the annual budget exceeded one billion dollars

McKinley Tariff

• lowered revenue by radically decreasing trade

• imposed higher prices on imports than any previous tariff in history

• caused the Treasury’s reserves to reduce significantly

Charles Darwin

• wrote On the Origin of Species (1859) and The Descent of Man (1871)

• caused a societal age in the area of religion

Social Darwinism

• argued that humans and society improved through competition where only the fittest survived

• “survival of the fittest”

• applied Darwin’s theory of natural selection to human society

Dwight L. Moody

• a great evangelist who led the urban evangelistic movement during the Gilded Age

• began a Sunday school that grew under his leadership to more than one thousand students

• worked with the YMCA

• “Water runs downhill, and the highest hills in America are the great cities, if we can stir them we shall stir the whole country”

• preached to millions in the US, Canada, the British Isles, and Mexico

Why was there industrial growth in America?

1. the nation itself grew (in population)

2. new machines and methods enhanced industrial expansion

3. America had an abundance of natural resources

Alexander Graham Bell

• a Scottish immigrant

• founded American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T)

• transmitted his first message by phone on March 10, 1876

Thomas Edison

• the most prolific inventor of America

• established an “invention factory” at Menlo Park, New Jersey

• invented the incandescent light bulb, motion-picture projector, and the phonograph

George Westinghouse

invented the air brake for trains in 1869

George Pullman

developed a railroad sleeping car which provided luxury and services including meals and entertainment to wealthy railroad passengers

Cornelius Vanderbilt

• developed a successful steamship line on the Great Lakes

• built a vast railroad empire from the Great Lakes to New York City

• purchased railroads of his competitors and became known as “Commodore”

James J. Hill

• a railroad entrepreneur

• founded the James J. Hill Company (1865), providing railroad tracks directly from the warehouses to the rail line

• built the Great Northern Railroad without any government land grants or funds

Corporations

• receive a legal charter from state and can raise large amounts of capital quickly

• sold stock (shares of ownership) to individual investors

• the stockholders receive a share of the profit

• if the business fails, the stockholder’s risk is limited to the amount of their investment

Andrew Carnegie

• born in Scotland but immigrated to western Pennsylvania in 1848

• had humble beginnings and eventually became one of the wealthiest people in America

• founded the Carnegie Steel (corporation)

• used vertical integration

vertical integration

the control of every aspect of production in an industry

John D. Rockefeller

• founded Standard Oil Company in 1870

• America’s first billionaire

• used horizontal integration

• Standard Oil controlled 90% of American oil refining by 1879

horizontal integration

the control of one aspect of production

trust

a legal device by which a board of trustees is empowered to make decisions and control the operations of a whole group of companies

holding companies

did not produce anything but owned stock in companies that did produce goods

J.P. Morgan

• the leading investment banker in America during the Gilded Age

• bought large amounts of the stock of a corporation and then find investors and sell the stock at a profit

• formed the first billion-dollar corporation, the United States Steel Corporation, in 1901

capitalism

an economic system in which a nation’s businesses are privately owned and operated

Interstate Commerce Act

the first act which provided for federal regulation of commerce

1. railroad rates must be “reasonable and just”

2. railroad companies must publish all rates and make financial reports

3. provided for the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), which would investigate and stop alleged abuses

monopoly

a single company would control an entire industry

Sherman Anti-Trust Act

• made monopolizing illegal

• declared “Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce…is hereby declared to be illegal”

• was difficult to enforce because it offered no specific definitions of contract, combination, or restraint of trade

5 Impacts of Industrialism on America

1. Higher standard of living - a new class of wealthy Americans were created

2. Global trade

3. Urbanization - people populated cities

4. More leisure time - less work

5. Women and children in the workforce

H.J. Heinz

• a leader in producing bottled and canned foods such as horseradish, ketchup, and pickles

• a devout Christian who gave liberally to Christian works, particularly Sunday school organizations

Karl Marx

• German philosopher and critic of capitalism

• co-wrote The Communist Manifesto and published the first volume of Das Kapital

• said that history was the story of class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie

• believed that eventually the workers would revolt against owners and against government and would take control of society

Knights of Labor

• formed in 1869 as a union for skilled and unskilled workers from various occupations

• welcomed women and African-Americans

• called for an 8-hr workday, laws prohibiting child labor, equal pay for men and women, worker-owned factories, and compensation for loss due to injuries on the job

• led by Terrence Powderly who favored boycotts and arbitration

American Federation of Labor

• formed in 1866

• confederation of several national trade unions for skilled laborers

• led by Samuel Gompers

• did not allow women or African Americans to join

• called for 8-hr workdays, recognition of a union’s right of collective bargaining, and factories that hired only union members

Haymarket Riot

• supporters of an 8-hr workday called for a nationwide strike and on May 3, 1886, a fight broke out on the picket line in Chicago, and police who were called to intervene opened fire, killing four strikers

• the next day, a large group met at Haymarket Square to protest the shooting

• Eight people accused of being anarchists were convicted, including a member of the Knights of Labor, and four were executed

Great Railroad Strike

• the B & O workers walked off due to the announcement that their wages would be cut for the third time

• over 80k railroad workers nationwide joined in

Homestead Strike

• Henry Frick threatened to lower wages by 20% in order to break up the steel workers’ union

• the workers threatened to strike, but then Frick closed the plant

• Frick hired guards to subdue picketers and protect replacement workers who were brought in

• the Pinkerton agents (guards) were forced to surrender and the crowd abused many of the agents

Pullman Strike

• occurred in 1894

• began when the Pullman Palace Car Company slashed wages by 25% but did not also reduce the rent on houses it provided to its employees or the cost of goods in the company stores

• workers retaliated by striking, but the Pullman Company withdrew the strikers’ credit from the company stores