APUSH Quiz 1/31

📖 American Pageant (pp. 483-491, 496-521)

These sections focus on Gilded Age industrialization, labor movements, urbanization, and political corruption in the late 19th century.

1. The Rise of Big Business & Monopolies

• Industrial Titans ("Robber Barons" or "Captains of Industry")

  • Andrew Carnegie (Steel) → Used vertical integration (controlling all aspects of production).

  • John D. Rockefeller (Oil) → Used horizontal integration (monopolizing the oil industry through the Standard Oil Trust).

  • J.P. Morgan (Finance) → Bought Carnegie Steel in 1901, forming U.S. Steel (first billion-dollar company).

• Key Economic Theories

  • Laissez-Faire Capitalism → Government should not interfere with business.

  • Social Darwinism → Herbert Spencer’s idea that business success follows "survival of the fittest."

  • Gospel of Wealth → Carnegie’s argument that the rich should use wealth for the public good.

• Government Action on Business

  • Interstate Commerce Act (1887) → First attempt at federal regulation; aimed at railroads but was weakly enforced.

  • Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) → Outlawed monopolies that restricted trade, but often used against labor unions instead of corporations.

2. Labor Struggles & Strikes

• Working Conditions

  • Long hours (12+ per day), low wages, unsafe factories (e.g., Triangle Shirtwaist Fire).

  • Child labor was widespread, with little regulation.

• Major Labor Unions

  • Knights of Labor (1869, led by Terence Powderly) → Open to all workers, but declined after Haymarket Riot (1886).

  • American Federation of Labor (AFL, 1886, led by Samuel Gompers) → Focused on "bread and butter" issues (wages, hours, working conditions); only skilled workers.

• Key Strikes & Labor Conflicts

  • Great Railroad Strike (1877) → First nationwide strike, put down by federal troops.

  • Haymarket Riot (1886) → Chicago labor rally turned violent after a bomb exploded; hurt labor’s reputation.

  • Homestead Strike (1892, Carnegie Steel) → Violent clash between Pinkerton detectives and steelworkers.

  • Pullman Strike (1894, led by Eugene V. Debs) → Federal troops crushed the strike after it disrupted railroads.

3. Urbanization & Immigration

• Growth of Cities

  • Skyscrapers made possible by Bessemer steel process.

  • Mass transit (streetcars, subways) allowed for city expansion.

  • Overcrowding led to tenements (cramped, unsanitary housing for the poor).

• New Immigration

  • Old Immigrants (before 1880s) → Mostly from Northern & Western Europe (Germany, Ireland, Britain).

  • New Immigrants (after 1880s) → Mostly from Southern & Eastern Europe (Italy, Russia, Poland, Greece).

• Nativism & Anti-Immigrant Sentiment

  • Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) → First law restricting immigration based on race/nationality.

  • American Protective Association (APA, 1887) → Anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant organization.

  • Literacy tests proposed to limit immigration but not fully enacted yet.

4. Gilded Age Politics & Corruption

• Political Machines & Patronage

  • Boss Tweed & Tammany Hall (NYC) → Used corruption to control votes.

  • Pendleton Act (1883) → Established civil service exams to curb the spoils system.

• Farmers' Movement & Populism

  • Granger Movement & Farmers' Alliance → Organized rural farmers against railroad abuses.

  • Populist Party (1892)

    • Demanded bimetallism (free silver) to help debt-ridden farmers.

    • Omaha Platform: Wanted direct election of senators, graduated income tax, government ownership of railroads.

• Election of 1896: Gold vs. Silver Debate

  • William Jennings Bryan (Populist/Democrat) → "Cross of Gold" speech for free silver.

  • William McKinley (Republican) → Supported the gold standard (won the election).

📜 Carnegie’s "Gospel of Wealth" (1889)

Key Ideas

• Inequality is Necessary for Progress

  • Wealth concentration is natural in an industrial society.

  • Competition drives economic efficiency and innovation.

• Three Ways the Rich Can Use Wealth

1.                Leave it to family (Carnegie opposes this—creates lazy heirs).

2.                Donate it after death (inefficient—government mismanages charity).

3.                Philanthropy during life (Carnegie’s preferred method).

• Moral Duty of the Wealthy

  • The rich must use their wealth to help society (e.g., libraries, schools, museums).

  • Government redistribution is dangerous; instead, the rich should fund institutions that help people help themselves.

• Impact

  • Inspired philanthropy (e.g., Carnegie libraries, Rockefeller Foundation).

  • Justified the growing wealth gap in the Gilded Age.

📜 Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address (March 4, 1865)

Context

• The Civil War was nearing its end.

• The Thirteenth Amendment (abolishing slavery) was about to pass.

• Lincoln wanted national reconciliation rather than revenge.

Key Themes & Quotes

• War as Divine Punishment

  • Lincoln suggests the war is God’s way of punishing America for slavery.

  • "If God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, so still it must be said 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.’”

• No Malice, Only Unity

  • Calls for forgiveness and national healing.

  • "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds.”

• Moral Responsibility & Reconstruction

  • Lincoln sets the tone for Reconstruction: not punishment but rebuilding.

  • Urges Americans to work together to ensure lasting peace.