Unit 5/6 APUSH- The Gilded Age, Industrialization, and U.S. Expansion
The Gilded Age, Industrialization, and U.S. Expansion
I. The Age of Invention & Industrial Growth (Late 19th Century)
The Age of Invention
Last quarter of the 19th century
Period of rapid technological innovation
New inventions fueled mass production and economic expansion
Thomas A. Edison
Built workshop in *Menlo Park, New Jersey (1876)
Produced many major inventions
Most famous invention: the light bulb
Pioneer in electric power plant development
Light Bulb & Power Plants
Extended the workday beyond sundown
Increased availability of electricity
Created new uses for electricity in homes and industry
Industrialization & Big Business
Industrialization
Introduction of faster machines in manufacturing
Led to economies of scale (lower cost per unit)
Increased efficiency and production
Assembly Line Production
Workers performed repetitive tasks
Increased efficiency
—> Resulted in:
Long working hours
Dangerous working conditions
Economic Growth
Economy grew at a tremendous rate
Wealth concentrated in hands of:
“Captains of Industry” / “Robber Barons”
These individuals controlled major manufacturing enterprises
Corporate Consolidation & Government Response
Corporate Consolidation
Large businesses formed due to:
Economies of scale
Lack of government regulation
—Resulted in:
Monopolies
Holding companies
Types of Integration
Horizontal Integration
Buying out competitors in the same industry
Used legal and illegal practices
Vertical Integration
Company controls raw materials → production → distribution
Competition still technically allowed
Problems with Consolidation
Required massive capital. Led to:
Financial panics
Bank failures
Public resentment
—> Prompted government intervention
Antitrust Laws & Court Cases
Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)
Banned “restraint of trade”
Vague wording favored big business
U.S. v. E. C. Knight Co. (1895)
Company controlled 98% of sugar refining
Supreme Court ruled it did not violate the Sherman Act
Gospel of Wealth
Advocated by Andrew Carnegie
Wealth should be used to benefit society
Rich had a moral responsibility to help others
Andrew Carnegie – Steel magnate who used vertical integration and the Bessemer Process; promoted the Gospel of Wealth.
Factories, Cities, and Urban Life
Growth of Cities
Factories located in cities to reduce labor costs
Workers included:
Women
Children
Immigrants
Urban Problems
Overcrowding and poverty
Crime and disease
Poor housing (tenements)
Dangerous factories
No insurance or workers’ compensation
Immigration & City Life
Majority of immigrants after 1880 from:
Southern and Eastern Europe
Ethnic neighborhoods formed
Immigrants faced:
Prejudice
Limited job opportunities
Political Machines
Municipal governments were weak
Political bosses provided services:
Housing
Jobs
Citizenship help
—> Cost: corruption and crime
Boss Tweed of Tammany Hall embezzled millions
Labor Unions & Worker Resistance
Rise of Labor Unions
Formed due to widespread worker misery
Faced opposition from:
Government
Businesses
Courts
Knights of Labor (Founded 1869)
One of the first national labor unions
Goals:
8-hour workday
Equal pay
Child labor laws
Safety regulations
Federal income tax
Preferred arbitration over strikes
Declined due to:
Violence
Haymarket Riot
Failed strikes
Public fear of radicalism
Major Labor Conflicts
Homestead Steel Strike
Wage cuts and anti-union policies
Henry Clay Frick hired Pinkertons
Violent clashes
* State militia ended strike
Pullman Strike
Wage cuts + high housing costs
Led by American Railway Union
250,000 workers walked out
Eugene V. Debs jailed → became Socialist leader
American Federation of Labor (AFL)
Led by Samuel Gompers
Focused on:
Higher wages
Shorter hours
Excluded:
Unskilled workers
Immigrants
Women
Black workers
Social Reform & Quality of Life
Middle-Class Reform Efforts
Pushed for:
Building safety codes
Sanitation
Public education
Settlement houses:
Community centers in poor neighborhoods
Education, childcare, cultural programs
Jane Addams
Founded Hull House in Chicago
Nobel Peace Prize (1931)
Improvement of Life
Wealthy and middle class benefited most
Access to:
Leisure
Sports
Theater
Movies
Rise of mass media
Yellow journalism
Joseph Pulitzer
William Randolph Hearst
The South & Jim Crow Laws
Southern Economy After the Civil War
Agriculture dominated
Textile mills and tobacco factories emerged
Many farmers lost land
Sharecropping and crop lien system kept farmers in debt
Jim Crow Laws
Federal government reduced involvement
Local governments passed segregation laws
Supreme Court rulings:
1883: Civil Rights Act of 1875 overturned
1896: “Separate but equal” upheld
Booker T. Washington
Born into slavery
Founded Tuskegee Institute
Advocated:
Economic independence
Vocational education
Atlanta Compromise:
Cooperation with whites
Delayed push for equal rights
Criticized by W. E. B. Du Bois as too submissive
The West & the Railroads
Western Expansion
Ranching and mining grew
Ranchers ignored property and Native American rights
Miners sold claims to corporations
Transcontinental Railroad (1863–1869)
Funded by public money
Railroads resisted regulation
Led to:
Growth of cities
Faster travel
Spread of ideas
Standardized time zones
Impact on Native Americans & Environment
Buffalo slaughter nearly caused extinction
Native American displacement
* Resistance:
* Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce
* Conservation efforts:
* U.S. Fish Commission
* National Parks and Forests
Frontier Closing
1890 Census declared frontier closed
Turner’s Frontier Thesis
Frontier shaped American democracy and character
National Politics of the Gilded Age
Gilded Age Politics
Term coined by Mark Twain
Politics appeared prosperous but were corrupt
Political machines dominated cities
Presidents were generally weak
Reform Efforts
Civil service reform under:
Hayes
Garfield
Arthur
Cleveland favored limited government
Harrison passed significant legislation
Business Regulation
Munn v. Illinois (1877)
States could regulate businesses
Interstate Commerce Act (1887)
First federal regulatory law
Created ICC
Women’s Suffrage
Led by Susan B. Anthony
Long fight through states
19th Amendment (1920) granted women the vote
The Populist Movement & Silver Issue
Farmer Struggles
Overproduction lowered prices
Fixed debts hurt farmers
Supported silver coinage to increase money supply
Grange & Farmers’ Alliances
Grange founded in 1867
Cooperatives for farmers
—> Evolved into People’s Party
People’s Party (Populists)
Omaha Platform (1892)
Goals:
Free silver
Government ownership of railroads
Income tax
Direct election of senators
Supported William Jennings Bryan (1896)
Declined after Bryan’s defeat and economic recovery
Tariffs, Imperialism, and Foreign Policy
Tariffs
* Major political issue after Civil War
* Republicans favored high tariffs
* Democrats favored low tariffs
* McKinley Tariff (1890) raised duties nearly 50%
Expansionism vs. Imperialism
Expansionism: business influence abroad
Imperialism: political control of other nations
Influenced by:
Nationalism
Economic interests
Alfred T. Mahan’s naval theories
Spanish-American War
Causes:
Cuban rebellion
Yellow journalism
Explosion of the *USS Maine
Results:
U.S. gained Puerto Rico, Guam, Philippines
Cuba under U.S. influence (Platt Amendment)
The Philippines
Debate over annexation
U.S. suppressed Filipino resistance
Independence granted in 1946
Insular Cases ruled Constitution did not automatically apply to territories
Open Door Policy
U.S. sought access to Chinese markets
Avoided formal colonization in Asia
Theodore Roosevelt
At 42, he became the youngest
president when McKinley was
assassinated
• First president to become a national
personality and used “bully pulpit” to
advance his policies
• Believed government was for the
national welfare and promised a
Square Deal
Believed in “righteousness” and the activist use of
government power to achieve that goal
Taking on Big Business
• In the 1902 Coal Strike, Roosevelt forced both sides into
federal arbitration rather than send in the troops.
• Trustbusting – sued “bad” trusts in federal court under the
Sherman Antitrust Act (e.g. Standard Oil, DuPont)
• Northern Securities case (1904) – Supreme Court ordered
railroad trust dissolved set precedent
• Elkins Act (1903) – made it illegal for railroads to give
rebates or change prices without public notice
• Hepburn Act (1906) – made it illegal to give free railroad
passes as bribes
• Roosevelt: not anti-business, just anti-abuse
The Food Industry
• Prior to Roosevelt, there were no regulations for labeling
or ingredients
• Medicines or beverages contained opium, alcohol or even
cocaine
• Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle exposed unsanitary
conditions in Chicago’s meatpacking plants
• Meat Inspection Act (1906) – government could inspect
meatpacking plants and products
• Pure Food & Drug Act (1906) – punished companies for
selling contaminated foods and required truth in labeling
Conservation
• Prior to 1900, the U.S. paid no attention to how it used its
natural resources
• Roosevelt et aside 148 million acres of forest reserve, 1.5
million acres for water power sites and created several
national parks (three times what predecessors did
• Gifford Pinchot appointed head of the U.S. Forest
Service in 1905; shared Roosevelt’s “multiple-use”
doctrine
• Newlands Act (1902) – paid for large-scale irrigation
projects in the West by selling land (created dams)
• Debate: preservation vs. conservation
William Howard Taft
• Known more for his size (350 lbs.)
than being an effective president
• Continued trust busting – filed 90
lawsuits in four years – but was
cautious with other reforms
• Passed Payne-Aldrich Act, raising
the tariff protectionism
• Pinchot-Ballinger Affair (1910)
• Under his presidency the Republican Party split between
conservatives, who controlled the party, and progressives who
followed Roosevelt (personal feud over U.S. Steel case)
Roosevelt’s “New Nationalism”
• Human welfare vs. property rights
• Property had to be controlled “to whatever degree public
welfare might require it.”
• Government: “the steward of the public welfare”
• Social justice
• Federal child labor law
• Minimum wage for women
• Consolidation of trusts and union, controlled by parallel
government agencies regulation rather than break-up
Election of 1912
• Progressive Republicans split and form the Bull Moose Party,
nominate Roosevelt
• Democrats nominate reform governor of New Jersey named
Woodrow Wilson
Four-way race:
• Eugene Debs (Socialist) – 0 electoral votes
• William Howard Taft (Republican) – 8 electoral votes
• Theodore Roosevelt (Bull Moose) – 88 electoral votes
• Woodrow Wilson (Democratic) – 435 electoral votes
Woodrow Wilson
• Pious and scholarly man who was
born and raised in the South but
served as president of Princeton
University and N.J. governor
• Called for “New Freedom” which
contrasted with New Nationalism as
a choice between collectivism
(Roosevelt) and preserving political
and economic liberty (Wilson)
• Believed in breaking up trusts rather than just regulating them
• Lower tariffs, better antitrust laws, and banking reform
Wilson’s Campaign Against Big Business
• Underwood Tariff (1913) – significantly lowered tariffs for first
time since 1860s, from 40% to 25% in an effort to spur
competition and lower consumer prices
• Clayton Antitrust Act (1914) – made it illegal for corporations to
create monopolies by buying each others stock and legally
recognized labor unions
• Federal Trade Act (1914) – created the Federal Trade
Commission which could investigate and issue cease-and-
desist orders to corporations violating the law
Income Tax
• 16th Amendment (1913) – created the legal basis for a
graduated income tax to replace revenue lost from tariffs; now
government’s major source of income
• Income tax was supported by Roosevelt and Taft, passed by
Congress in 1909, and finally ratified by states in 1913
Federal Reserve System
• Wall Street wanted a unified system run by bankers;
Progressives wanted government control
• Created a system of 12 regional federal reserve banks controlled
by member banks that could lend money and issue currency to
national banks, but ultimately regulated by independent Federal
Reserve Board
I. Railroads, Big Business, & Industrial Leaders
James J. Hill – Railroad builder of the Great Northern Railroad; known for efficient management and building without heavy government subsidies.
Cornelius Vanderbilt – Dominated shipping and railroad industries; symbol of early railroad consolidation.
Andrew Carnegie – Steel magnate who used vertical integration and the Bessemer Process; promoted the Gospel of Wealth.
John D. Rockefeller – Founder of Standard Oil; used horizontal integration and trusts to dominate oil refining.
J. P. Morgan – Powerful banker who financed and consolidated major industries; created U.S. Steel.
Philip Armour – Meatpacking leader who used assembly-line techniques to lower costs.
Jay Gould – Railroad speculator known for stock manipulation and corruption.
Alexander Graham Bell – Invented the telephone, revolutionizing communication.
Thomas Edison – Inventor of the light bulb and electric power systems.
II. Railroad Practices & Corruption
Union Pacific Railroad – Built westward from Omaha using federal land grants.
Central Pacific Railroad – Built eastward from California, largely by Chinese immigrant labor.
Land Grant – Federal land given to railroad companies to encourage construction.
Credit Mobilier – Fake construction company created to steal government funds during railroad building; symbol of political corruption.
Stock Watering – Artificially inflating the value of a company’s stock.
Pool – Agreement between railroad companies to divide markets and fix prices.
Rebate – Special discount given to favored customers, often used unfairly.
III. Industrialization & Business Practices
Bessemer Process – Method for producing steel cheaply and efficiently, fueling industrial growth.
Vertical Integration – Company controls all stages of production from raw materials to distribution.
Horizontal Integration – Company buys out competitors in the same industry.
Trust – Legal arrangement allowing one group to control multiple companies.
Interlocking Directorate – Same individuals serving on multiple corporate boards.
Company Town – Town owned by a company where workers lived and shopped, often trapping them in debt.
IV. Economic Thought & Wealth
Herbert Spencer – Philosopher who applied Social Darwinism to society and economics.
William Graham Sumner – American supporter of Social Darwinism.
Social Darwinism – Belief that competition ensures survival of the “fittest.”
Gospel of Wealth – Carnegie’s idea that the wealthy should use their money to help society.
V. Immigration & Urbanization
Immigration – Movement of people into a country.
Migration – Movement of people within a country.
Irish Potato Famine – Crop failure that forced millions of Irish to immigrate to the U.S.
Ellis Island – Immigration processing center for Europeans.
Angel Island – Immigration station for Asians; more restrictive than Ellis Island.
Padrones – Labor agents who exploited immigrant workers.
“Lung Block” – Inspection area where immigrants were screened for tuberculosis.
Urbanization – Growth of cities due to industrial jobs.
VI. Nativism & Immigration Restriction
Nativism – Favoring native-born Americans over immigrants.
Know-Nothings – Political party opposed to immigrants and Catholics.
Anti-Catholicism – Prejudice against Catholics, common among nativists.
American Protective Association – Nativist organization opposing Catholic immigration.
Denis Kearney – Anti-Chinese labor leader in California.
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) – First law banning immigration based on nationality.
Immigration Restriction League – Group advocating limits on immigration.
Dillingham Commission – Studied immigration and promoted restrictions.
National Origins Act (1924) – Set strict immigration quotas favoring northern Europeans.
VII. Labor Movement
National Labor Union – Early labor union pushing for an 8-hour workday.
Knights of Labor – Broad labor union advocating reforms for all workers.
American Federation of Labor (AFL) – Union for skilled workers led by Samuel Gompers.
Samuel Gompers – AFL leader focused on wages and hours.
Terence Powderly – Leader of the Knights of Labor.
Haymarket Riot – Violent labor protest that hurt union support.
Anarchists – Radical activists associated with labor unrest.
Closed Shop – Workplace requiring union membership.
Yellow-Dog Contract – Agreement banning workers from joining unions.
VIII. Politics of the Gilded Age
Gilded Age – Period of wealth and corruption from Reconstruction to 1900.
Spoils System – Giving government jobs to political supporters.
Pendleton Act – Established civil service exams.
Tweed Ring – Corrupt political machine led by Boss Tweed.
Whiskey Ring – Tax fraud scandal under Grant.
Stalwarts – Supported patronage and spoils system.
Half-Breeds – Supported civil service reform.
Mugwumps – Reform Republicans opposing corruption.
IX. Money, Tariffs, & Populism
Hard Money – Currency backed by gold.
Soft Money – Paper money or silver-backed currency.
Crime of ’73 – Ended silver coinage, angering farmers.
Bland-Allison Act – Required limited silver purchases.
Sherman Silver Purchase Act – Increased silver purchases by the government.
McKinley Tariff – High tariff protecting U.S. industry.
Crop-Lien System – Farmers borrowed against future crops, trapping them in debt.
Greenback Labor Party – Supported paper money and labor rights.
People’s Party (Populists) – Political party for farmers and workers.
William Jennings Bryan – Populist-supported candidate advocating free silver.
X. The South & Civil Rights
New South – Attempt to industrialize the South after the Civil War.
Booker T. Washington – Advocated vocational training and gradual progress.
W. E. B. Du Bois – Demanded immediate equality and civil rights.
Talented Tenth – Educated Black leaders who would uplift the community.
NAACP – Civil rights organization founded to fight discrimination.
XI. Reform, Culture, & Society
Jane Addams – Social reformer; founded Hull House.
Florence Kelley – Labor and child welfare reformer.
William James – Philosopher of pragmatism.
Pragmatism – Belief that ideas should be judged by practical results.
Horatio Alger – Writer promoting “rags to riches” stories.
Mark Twain – Coined the term “Gilded Age.”
Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) – Advocated temperance and women’s rights.
Trust-Busting – Government action against monopolies.
Progressivism (1900-1920)
General spirit of reform; faith in humanity to make the world better; tried to solve problems of Gilded Age, such as corruption in government, trusts,
urbanization, environment, working conditions, socioeconomic stratification; begins as private, middle class movement; ultimately prescribes a
greater role for GOVERNMENT
Democracy Efficiency Regulation of Trusts Social Justice
More power to the people
Citizens play a greater role in
making laws
STATE AND LOCAL
Initiative
referendum
recall
Progressive governors
(Hiram Johnson in CA,
Robert LaFollette in WI,
Grover Cleveland in NY)
FEDERAL
secret ballot
direct primary
17th amendment
Women’s suffrage
19th amendment
National Women’s Party
Alice Paul
NAWSA
Carrie Chapman Catt
Frederick Winslow Taylor
Scientific management
Henry Ford – assembly
line
Efficiency in government:
centralization
professional public
administrators
city-manager form of
government
commissioners
Eliminating corruption in gov’t
breakup of political
machines
MR – Lincoln Steffens
MR – Thomas Nast
Banking Reform
Federal Reserve Act of
1913 federal reserve
system
State laws (Granger Laws)
Shot down in Wabash
Interstate Commerce Act of 1887
Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890
Early opposition to reform from
Supreme Court and executive
Trustbusting
Ida Tarbell exposed Standard Oil
Teddy Roosevelt – trustbusters
Get rid of bad trusts
Northern Securities (gov’t
can break up bad trusts)
William Taft – BIGGER trustbuster
Busts Standard Oil
Woodrow Wilson’s Position
All trusts must die
Clayton Anti-Trust Act
Federal Trace Act
Federal Trade
Commission
Socialism
Gov’t control of economy
Eugene Debs
Muckraking:
Henry George
Realism as a literary movement
(Stephen Crane, Mark Twain, John
Steinbeck)
Realism in art (Ashcan Movement)
Private movements in Gilded Age
Social Gospel movement
(Walter Rauchenbach,
Catholic guy to look up)
YMCA
Salvation Army
Temperance Movement
(Carrie Nation, Women’s
Christian Temperance
Movement)
Settlement
houses/community centers
Jane Addams, Hull House
Florence Kelley
Victoria Woodhull
Jacob Riis exposed
tenements
Regulating the workplace
Child labor laws
Socialist Party
Populists gov’t control
of railroads
Progressive Party (Bull
Moose Party); New
Nationalism; election of
1912
Regulation
Elkins Act
Hepburn Act
Upton Sinclair, The Jungle
Meat Inspection Act
Pure Food & Drug Act
16th amendment income tax
fund bigger government
Muller v. Oregon
Follette Seaman’s Act
(regulates working
conditions on ships)
Adamson Act (eight-hour
workday for railroad
workers)
Organized labor
Anthracite Coal Strike
Clayton Anti-Trust Act
(1913)
American Federation of
Labor
Workmen’s Comp. Act
Prohibition
Temperance movements
18th amendment
Conservation
Conservation vs.
preservation
Pinchot vs. Muir
Teddy Roosevelt
Set aside land for national
parks
Newlands Act
For Farmers:
Regulation and busting for
railroad trusts
Warehouse Act
Federal Farm Loan Act