Unit 6 1865-1898

Unit 6 makes up 10-17% of the exam

AP Notes:

  • Edison → made the light bulb
  • power plants & the light bulb → extension of workday
    • workdays would end at sundown
  • Age of Invention
    • technological advances
    • advances create greater opportunities for mass production
  • economy grew → owned & controlled new manufacturing enterprises
  • industrialization - introduction of faster machines in manufacturing leading to economies of scale & decreased cost per unit
  • industrialization
    • assembly line
    • employees perform repetitive tasks → increased efficiency
      • dangerous working conditions & long working hours
    • Corporate Consolidation
    • large businesses resulting from economies of scale & lack of government regulations
    • horizontal integration
    • combining smaller companies within the same industry to form a larger company through legal buyouts or illegal practices
    • vertical integration
    • one company buys out all the factors of production from raw materials to finished product
      • still allowing competition in the marketplace
    • problems with consolidation
    • required large amounts of money leading to financial panics & bank failures, public resentment, & government response in the form of antitrust legislation
    • Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890
    • forbidding “restraint of trade” combination, ambiguous wording leading to pro-business Supreme Court interpretation
  • Factories and City Life
    • factories establish to reduce labor costs & maximize profits
    • women, children, and new immigrants hired
    • cities suffered from poverty, crime, disease, and lack of livable housing as a result
    • factories were dangerous and there was no insurance or compensation
    • majority if immigrants from Southern & Eastern Europe
  • misery in cities led to labor unions
    • purpose to improve treatment of workers
  • Knights of Labor was one of the first national labor unions, 1869
    • goals
    • 8 hour workday
    • equal pay for equal work
    • child labor laws
    • safety and sanitary codes
    • federal income tax
  • wealthy & middle class improved while the poor suffered
  • majority of Southerners remained farmers
  • Jim Crow Laws
    • discriminatory laws attempting to give black their rights
  • Booker T. Washington
    • promoted economic independence to improve black lot
    • refused to press for immediate equal rights
    • Booker VS. W.E.B. Du Bois
    • attacked Washington's acceptance of racial segregation, arguing that this only encouraged whites to deny African Americans the right to vote and to undermine black pride and progress
  • Transcontinental Railroad
    • railroad construction paid by public
    • companies drove off buffalo ALMOST leading to extinction
    • causes conflict with Natives
  • Homestead Act was passed by the federal government to attract settlers
  • Gilded Age
    • era between Reconstruction & 1900
    • wealth built on poverty
    • political machines ran cities
    • workers had little protection from employer greed
  • Regulating Business and Government
    • imposed railwoad regulations
  • Women’s Sufferage
    • led by Susan B Anthony
    • bill introduced to Congress
    • American Suffrage Association fought for state suffrage amendments
    • Women gained right to vote with 19th Amendment in 1920 (50 years after male suffrage)
  • Post-Civil War Era:
    • Increased production in both industrial and agricultural fronts
    • Drop in prices due to greater supply
    • Farmers faced trouble due to fixed payments in long-term debts
    • Farmers supported increased money supply for easier payments and inflation
    • Banks opposed the plan, preferring gold-backed money supply
    • Farmers' plan called for the liberal use of silver coins (supported by western miners and midwestern/southern farmers)
  • Farmers' Alliances:
    • Cooperatives for farmers to buy machinery and sell crops as a group
    • allowing women's political activism
    • Grew into political party People's Party
    • 1896 Populists backed Democratic candidate William Jennings Bryan
    • Bryan ran on platform of free silver, loosening control of northern banking interests
    • Republicans allied with big businesses, McKinley received huge contributions from large companies
    • Bryan lost election, Populist movement declined with improved economy
  • Before the Civil War
    • Most Americans earned their living through farming
    • No federal income tax until 16th Amendment in 1913
    • Tariff was a huge controversy
  • Tariff after Civil War
    • Tariffs dominated national politics
    • Industrialists demanded high tariffs to protect domestic industries
    • Farmers and laborers hurt by high tariffs
    • Democrats supported lower tariffs
    • Republicans advocated high protective tariffs
  • Theodore Roosevelt
    • Assistant Secretary of Navy in 1898 during Spanish-American War
    • Ordered U.S. Pacific Fleet to Philippines, then led volunteer regiment in Cuba
  • Expansionism & Imperialism
    • American businesses developed markets and production in Latin America, and gained political power in the region
    • Expansionism (business in regions) is supported by most Americans, imperialism (control of another country) more controversial
  • U.S. Interest in Hawaii
    • American involvement began in 1870s with American sugar producers trading with Hawaiians
    • Hawaii economy collapsed in 1890s due to U.S. tariffs and dependence on trade with U.S.
    • US annxed Hawaii
    • Cuban natives revolted against Spanish control, instigated by U.S. tampering with the Cuban economy
    • U.S. drove Spain out of Cuba and Philippines in the Spanish-American War
    • Senate voted to annex the Philippines by a close margin, but Filipino nationalists responded with a guerrilla war
    • The U.S. granted the Philippines independence in 1946