Unit 2: Freedom’s Boundaries (1877–1900)
Core Question: How did Americans redefine freedom after Reconstruction — and who was left out?
This period (1877–1900) was a time of enormous contradiction:
America called itself the “land of liberty” but limited who that liberty applied to.
It was the Gilded Age — booming industrial wealth for a few, and crushing inequality and exclusion for many.
Matching: Key People
James B. Weaver
Who: Former Union general; leader of the People’s Party (Populists); ran for president in 1892.
What he stood for: Wanted the government to protect farmers and workers against banks and railroads.
Why he matters: His campaign united rural and working-class Americans and brought attention to issues like income inequality, corporate monopolies, and monetary reform.
William Jennings Bryan
Who: Democratic and Populist presidential candidate in 1896, from Nebraska.
What he stood for:
Wanted bimetallism — money backed by both gold and silver — to expand the money supply.
Famously declared: “You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold!”
Why he matters:
Spoke for farmers, debtors, and “common people.”
His loss marked the end of Populism and a victory for industrial capitalism.
William McKinley
Who: Republican candidate who defeated Bryan in 1896.
What he stood for:
Pro-business and pro-gold standard (only gold backs the dollar).
Supported the McKinley Tariff (1890), which raised import taxes to protect U.S. manufacturers.
Why he matters:
His election represented the triumph of urban industrial power over rural populism.
Solidified the Republicans as the party of big business.
Henry Grady
Who: Southern journalist (from Georgia) who coined the phrase “New South.”
What he stood for:
Wanted to modernize the South’s economy — more industry, less dependence on cotton.
Appealed to northern investors by emphasizing cheap Black labor and white control.
Why he matters:
His “New South” promised progress but preserved racial hierarchy and economic exploitation.
Booker T. Washington
Who: Born enslaved; became an educator and founder of Tuskegee Institute (Alabama).
Philosophy (Atlanta Compromise, 1895):
Blacks should focus on economic self-help, vocational training, and hard work.
Avoided confrontation with segregation; believed rights would come gradually.
Quote: “We can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand.”
Why he matters:
Appealed to whites as moderate and practical, but many Black intellectuals thought he accepted second-class citizenship.
W.E.B. Du Bois
Who: Harvard-trained sociologist; first Black man to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard.
Philosophy:
Criticized Washington for being too accommodating.
Believed in political activism, higher education, and leadership by the “Talented Tenth.”
Wrote The Souls of Black Folk (1903), exposing how racism crippled democracy.
Why he matters:
Co-founded the NAACP (1909).
Pushed the idea that true freedom required social, political, and economic equality.
Ida B. Wells
Who: Journalist, teacher, and civil rights crusader.
What she did:
Investigated lynching and exposed it as not about justice, but a tool to terrorize and control Black communities.
Published Southern Horrors (1892).
Helped found the NAACP.
Why she matters:
One of the first to use data and journalism to expose systemic racism.
Showed that violence upheld white supremacy and economic exploitation.
Short Answer Terms
People’s Party (Populists)
A political movement formed in 1892 to represent farmers, workers, and “producing classes.”
Wanted the government to regulate railroads, telegraphs, and banks, and create economic fairness.
Platform: income tax, direct election of senators, shorter workdays, and bimetallism.
Goal: Unite poor whites and Blacks around class issues — but race divisions weakened them.
Convict Lease System
After Reconstruction, southern states used the 13th Amendment loophole (“except as punishment for a crime”) to re-enslave Black men.
States leased prisoners to companies (railroads, mines, plantations).
Prisoners were forced to work under deadly conditions, unpaid, for profit.
Crimes like “vagrancy” or “loitering” criminalized unemployment, ensuring a constant Black labor force.
Purpose: Restore the labor system of slavery under a new name.
Paper Sons / Daughters
After the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) banned Chinese immigration, some Chinese claimed fake U.S.-born family ties to enter legally.
The 1906 San Francisco earthquake destroyed city birth records, making this possible.
Called “paper sons” because they had papers claiming citizenship or family relations.
Shows: Resistance to racist laws and creativity of Chinese immigrants to preserve families.
IDs (Choose 1)
Election of 1896
Background:
The Panic of 1893 (severe depression) crushed farmers and workers.
Debate over the money supply — should the U.S. base money on gold only, or include silver?
Candidates:
Bryan (D/Populist): Bimetallism → inflation → easier to pay debts.
McKinley (R): Gold standard → stability → business confidence.
Results: McKinley won by appealing to urban, industrial voters and corporate donors.
Significance:
Ended Populism as a national force.
Cemented the U.S. as an industrial capitalist democracy, not an agrarian one.
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
Facts: Homer Plessy (⅛ Black) challenged Louisiana’s law segregating train cars.
Supreme Court ruling: Upheld segregation under “separate but equal.”
Impact:
Legalized Jim Crow segregation in the South.
Black facilities were never equal — institutionalized racial inequality.
Dissent (Justice Harlan): Warned it would create a “caste system.”
Significance: Justified 60 years of segregation and second-class citizenship.
U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark (1898)
Facts: Wong Kim Ark was born in San Francisco to Chinese parents who weren’t citizens.
After visiting China, he was denied reentry under the Chinese Exclusion Act.
Ruling: The Court upheld birthright citizenship (14th Amendment) — anyone born in the U.S. is a citizen, regardless of race or parents’ nationality.
Significance: Major victory for immigrant rights — but didn’t stop exclusionary immigration laws.
Source-Based Multiple Choice
Booker T. Washington — “Atlanta Compromise” (1895)
“In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.”
Meaning: Social separation is acceptable if Black people can still work and advance economically.
Context: Speech to white businessmen and politicians in Atlanta.
Goal: Convince whites to hire and invest in Black labor.
Criticism: Du Bois said this made Washington a “compromiser” who accepted segregation and inequality.
W.E.B. Du Bois — The Souls of Black Folk (1903)
“Can nine million men make progress if they are deprived of political rights, made a servile caste...?”
Meaning: Economic success is impossible without political and social equality.
Context: Written during the rise of Jim Crow laws and racial violence.
Philosophy: The “Talented Tenth” (the most educated Black leaders) must lead their people in demanding rights.
Criticism: Some thought Du Bois was elitist, but his ideas inspired civil rights activism.
Section 1: The Populist Challenge
1. The Farmer’s Struggle
Post–Civil War farmers faced falling crop prices, rising railroad fees, and crushing debt.
They felt ignored by politicians and exploited by monopolies.
2. The Grange & Farmers’ Alliances
The Grange (1867): Early organization for social and educational farmer support.
Farmers’ Alliances (1870s–1880s):
More political; created cooperatives to sell crops collectively.
Laid the groundwork for the Populist Party.
3. Early Federal Regulation
Interstate Commerce Act (1887):
First federal law to regulate railroads; banned unfair rates.
Created the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) but lacked power to enforce.
“Toothless” = courts often sided with business.
Sherman Antitrust Act (1890):
Supposed to ban monopolies.
Used more often against labor unions than big corporations.
4. Populist Party Goals
Wanted to unite farmers and industrial workers.
Populist Platform (1892):
Government control of railroads and telegraphs.
Graduated income tax.
Bimetallism (gold + silver).
Shorter workday.
Direct election of senators.
Restrictions on immigration (to protect labor).
Base: Rural South, Great Plains, and Western states.
5. Panic of 1893
Stock market crash and bank failures → economic depression.
Run on U.S. gold reserves led to fear about the dollar’s stability.
Gold standard defenders claimed silver would cause chaos.
This panic pushed moderate voters away from Populism.
Section 2: Post-Reconstruction South
1. The “New South”
Idea: modern, industrial, and less dependent on slavery.
In reality: industrial growth (textiles, coal, steel) relied on cheap, Black labor.
States lured northern investors with low wages, tax breaks, and no unions
2. Political Disenfranchisement
Southern states rewrote constitutions to eliminate Black political power.
“Color-blind” on paper but racist in effect:
Poll taxes: pay to vote.
Literacy tests: selectively applied.
Grandfather clauses: exempted poor whites if ancestors voted before 1867.
Black voter registration dropped from 90% (Reconstruction) to under 10% by 1900.
3. Racial Violence & Control
Lynching: Public murders by mobs; used to terrorize Black people.
Ida B. Wells’s research: Most victims weren’t accused of serious crimes — often “insulting a white person” or rumors of interracial relationships.
Spectacle lynchings: public events with crowds, photos, souvenirs — symbolized racial domination.
🌏 Section 3: Redrawing the Boundaries
1. Chinese Immigration
Chinese came during the Gold Rush (1849) and to work on the Transcontinental Railroad (1860s).
Filled labor shortages in the West but faced violence and racism.
2. Burlingame-Seward Treaty (1868)
Originally encouraged Chinese immigration and trade between U.S. and China.
Later reversed when anti-Chinese sentiment grew.
3. Anti-Chinese Racism
White workers feared job competition.
The Workingmen's Party of California (“The Chinese must go!”) led violent mobs.
Politicians used racism to gain votes.
4. Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)
Banned Chinese laborers; denied citizenship to those already here.
First federal immigration law targeting a specific race.
Families separated; only students and merchants could enter.
Renewed and expanded until fully repealed in 1943.
5. Old vs. New Immigrants
6. Rise of Nativism
Nativists wanted to preserve “Anglo-Saxon” culture.
Feared immigrants brought crime, disease, socialism, and lower wages.
Pushed for literacy tests and quota laws to limit immigration.
Big Takeaways
The Gilded Age expanded the economy but restricted freedom.
Populists challenged inequality but failed to unite across race.
The South rebuilt on racial oppression, not equality.
Immigrants faced new legal boundaries and exclusion.
The Statue of Liberty’s promise of freedom was contradicted by reality.