6.11 Reform Movements in the Gilded Age

Refers to the massive change in the way America produced goods.
Shift from artisans/skilled laborers making goods by hand to factories mass-producing goods with unskilled labor.
Factories sprang up rapidly, employing tens of thousands and selling goods nationally and internationally.
Laissez-faire capitalism allowed businesses to flourish with minimal government intervention.
Wealth concentrated in the hands of the elite upper class.
Factory workers faced low wages, dangerous conditions, and long hours (12-14 hour days). This often resulted in a miserable existence for a large sector of society.

Artists and critics, including agrarians, utopians, socialists, and advocates of the social gospel, called for reform.

Politician and economist.
Believed it was foolish for a nation to generate so much wealth while many citizens lived in poverty.
Proposed a "single tax on land" to address this inequality.
Argued that landowners gained disproportionate wealth from the increasing value of their land and should be taxed more to level the playing field.

Edward Bellamy: An artist who challenged industrial capitalism through utopian art. Written in 1888, "Looking Backward" envisions America transformed into a socialist utopia where capitalism is crushed and everyone's needs are met.

Gained traction during this period as a challenge to capitalism.
Advocates for community ownership and regulation of the means of production to benefit everyone equally.
Some believed capitalism had failed in the late 19th century.
Eugene V. Debs: Head of a significant union, founded the Socialist Party of America in 1901.
Debs ran for president on the Socialist Party ticket, but the party eventually declined.

Advocates believed Christian principles should be applied to cure societal ills, not just individual souls.
Protestant preachers crusaded for social justice for the urban poor during the last 20 years of the 19th century.
Urged the middle class to address urban poverty as a Christian duty.

Movement for women's right to vote.
1890: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony founded the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA).
NAWSA worked to secure the franchise for women (though constitutional fruit won't come until 1920).

Fight against alcohol consumption.
Drunkenness was a significant problem among urban male factory workers, contributing to impoverishment.
1874: Women formed the Women's Christian Temperance Union.
Crusaded for total abstinence from alcohol.
Grew to around 500,000 members by 1898.
Worked through peaceful means like protest and lobbying.

A more radical figure in the temperance movement.
Known for hacking at liquor barrels in saloons with a hatchet.
Saw herself as doing the Lord's work, destroying alcohol because the lord didn't like alcohol.