Gilded Age Notes

Racial Segregation and Resistance

Following Reconstruction, racial segregation of society occurred.
Expansive Jim Crow laws segregated every part of southern society by race.
This made it difficult for black southerners to maintain gains made during Reconstruction.
They faced increased violence in the form of lynch mobs and terrorist organizations like the KKK.
Resistance existed in the South; Ida B. Wells, a newspaper editor, eloquently editorialized against lynchings and Jim Crow laws.
Wells faced violence and had to move north to continue her efforts.

Technological innovation created the occasion for the rise and expansion of industrial capitalism.
Westward expansion provided greater access to natural resources.
Technological innovations like the Bessemer process, which created stronger steel, were crucial.
Steel was fundamental to American industry, marking the beginnings of the U.S. as a major industrial power.

Large-scale industrial production transformed the American economy during the Gilded Age.
Vertical integration, championed by Andrew Carnegie, involved acquiring all industries required for manufacturing.
Example: If making chairs, acquire land with trees, trucks/trains to haul trees, and factories to make chairs.
Horizontal integration, associated with John D. Rockefeller, meant buying out all competitors to dominate an industry.
The goal was to become a monopoly or a trust.
Laissez-faire policies of the federal government allowed these large titans of industry to thrive without regulation.
Some industrialists adopted social Darwinism, believing the strong should dominate the weak in business, mirroring nature.
Andrew Carnegie's Gospel of Wealth suggested the rich had a moral obligation to better society with their riches.

While some Americans' standard of living improved, many in the labor sector found their lives unsustainable and fought for better treatment.
The rise of the middle class and white-collar work emerged.
New industries required middle managers (white-collar workers) to manage operations, distinguishing them from blue-collar workers in factories and mines.
Labor unions began to rise due to dangerous factory work, exhaustion, and low pay.
Individual workers lacked bargaining power, so labor unions formed to bargain collectively.
Examples: Knights of Labor (disappeared after the Haymarket Square Riot) and the American Federation of Labor.
These unions wanted better wages, shortened workdays, and safer working conditions, though reforms largely came later.

The industrial workforce expanded and became more diverse through internal and international migration.
Significant immigration occurred during the Gilded Age, with Europeans and Asians arriving (Irish, German, Scandinavian, and Chinese immigrants).
Reasons for moving included escaping poverty, religious persecution, and seeking social mobility and economic opportunity.
Immigrants settled in urban areas, creating ethnic enclaves to preserve their culture and language, influencing the receiving society to varying degrees.
Internal migration also occurred, such as the Exoduster movement, where black people migrated from the South to the Midwest to establish homesteads and escape Jim Crow persecution and violence.

As immigration increased during the Gilded Age, immigrants faced opposition from nativists and labor unions but found help through private welfare programs like settlement houses.
Labor unions opposed immigrants because they worked for very cheap, undermining efforts to raise wages.
Nativists sought to protect the rights and culture of native-born people, leading to anti-Catholic sentiments (due to Irish immigrants) and the Chinese Exclusion Act.
The Chinese Exclusion Act restricted immigration from China due to concerns about job competition and social Darwinism (degrading the gene pool).
Jane Addams created settlement houses (like Hull House) to help assimilate immigrants into American society by teaching them English and helping them find jobs.

Various groups sought to reform American society and economics into a more equitable reality.
The Social Gospel movement pushed for applying gospel principles to societal ills, advocating for reducing poverty.
Increasing interest in socialism arose due to the massive gap between the wealthy and the poor; Eugene V. Debs championed socialism and founded the Socialist Party of America.
The Populist Party, mainly representing farmers, aimed to correct the concentration of economic power held by trusts and banks.
The Omaha Platform included demands for the direct election of senators, initiative and referendum, and the unlimited coinage of silver.
Women pushed for suffrage (the right to vote), forming organizations like the National American Woman Suffrage Association.
Women were also involved in the temperance movement to stop alcohol consumption, such as the Women's Christian Temperance Movement and the Anti-Saloon League.

Politics in the Gilded Age continued to resemble party divisions lingering from the Civil War, contending on the proper place of government in American life.
The Gilded Age had a thin layer of wealthy individuals, but underneath, there was corruption and issues.
The Democratic and Republican parties had battles over patronage for civil service jobs.
The Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1881 replaced the patronage system with competitive civil service examinations.
Republicans and Democrats fought over the gold standard; farmers and entrepreneurs wanted silver coinage and more paper currency due to financial troubles.
Protective tariffs supported American industry but made imports expensive, benefiting industrialists but burdening farmers.
Government corruption proliferated through urban political machines like Tammany Hall in New York, led by Boss Tweed.
These machines exchanged community help for votes, buying elections. They were not looked down upon until a little bit later.