Unit 6: Period 6: 1865–1898

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6.1 The age of invention and economic growth

Thomas A. Edison's Workshop

• Built in 1876 in Menlo Park, New Jersey
• Produced important inventions of the century
• Edison's greatest invention was the light bulb
• Pioneer work in power plant development was immensely important

Light Bulb and Power Plants

• Allowed for the extension of the workday (previously ended at sundown)
• Wider availability of electricity
• Created new uses for electricity for industry and home

Age of Invention

• Last quarter of 19th century known as Age of Invention
• Many technological advances made (e.g. Edison's)
• Advances generated greater opportunities for mass production

Economic Growth

• Economy grew at a tremendous rate
• People known as "captains of industry" (or "robber barons") became extremely rich and powerful
• Owned and controlled new manufacturing enterprises

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Industrialization: introduction of faster machines in manufacturing leading to economies of scale and decreased cost per unit.

• Assembly line production: employees performing repetitive tasks leading to increased efficiency but also dangerous working conditions and long working hours.
• Corporate Consolidation: large businesses resulting from economies of scale and lack of government regulations, leading to monopolies and holding companies.
• 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 and bank failures, public resentment, and government response in the form of antitrust legislation.
• Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890: law forbidding "restraint of trade" combination, ambiguous wording leading to pro-business Supreme Court interpretation.
• U.S. v. E. C. Knight Co. 1895: Court ruled that E. C. Knight, controlling 98% of the sugar refining plants, did not violate the Sherman Antitrust Act.
• Gospel of Wealth: idea that wealth should be used for the betterment of society and not just for personal gain, advocated by Andrew Carnegie.

Factories and City Life

• Factories were established in cities in the 19th century to reduce labor costs and maximize profits
• Women and children were hired, as well as newly arrived immigrants in search of work
• As a result, the cities suffered from poverty, crime, disease, and a lack of livable housing
• Factories were dangerous, and there was no insurance or workmen's compensation
• Middle class moved away to nicer neighborhoods, leaving mostly immigrants and migrants in the city
• Majority of immigrants arrived from Southern and Eastern Europe starting from 1880
• Ethnic neighborhoods, tenements were common, and minorities faced prejudice and limited job opportunities
• Municipal governments were practically nonexistent, and services for the poor were provided by churches, private charities, and ethnic communities, or by corrupt political bosses
• Bosses helped the poor find homes, jobs, apply for citizenship, and voting rights but at a high cost of criminal means
• William "Boss" Tweed of Tammany Hall in New York City was a notorious political boss who embezzled millions of dollars through corruption
• Widespread misery in cities led to the formation of labor unions to improve treatment of workers
• Labor unions were considered radical and faced opposition from the government, businesses, and the courts
• ==Knights of Labor was one of the first national labor unions, founded in 1869==
• Goals of the Knights of Labor included an 8-hour workday, equal pay for equal work, child labor laws, safety and sanitary codes, federal income tax, and more.

Knights of Labor

• Advocated arbitration over strikes
• Became increasingly violent in efforts to achieve goals
• Popularity declined due to violence and association with political radicalism
• Terrence Powderly, failed strikes, and Haymarket Square Riot contributed to decline
• Public saw unions as subversive and violent

Homestead Steel Strike

• Workers protested wage cut, refusal to form a union
• Factory manager Henry Clay Frick locked out workers, hired replacements, and called in Pinkerton Detective force
• Clash between Pinkertons and workers led to deaths and retreat of Pinkertons
• Pennsylvania state militia ended strike, Frick hired new workers

Pullman Palace Car Factory Strike

• Workers faced wage cut, increased housing costs
• American Railway Union joined the strike, 250,000 railway workers walked off job, shutting down rail travel in 27 states
• ARU president Eugene Debs refused to end strike despite court order
• Debs convicted and jailed, became leader of American Socialist Party after release

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

• Samuel Gompers, focused on bread and butter issues, higher wages and shorter workdays
• Excluded unskilled workers, confederation of trade unions
• Refused to accept immigrants, Black people, women among membership

Charitable Middle-Class Organizations

• Lobbied local governments for building safety codes, better sanitation, public schools
• Founded and lived in settlement houses in poor neighborhoods
• Community centers providing schooling, childcare, cultural activities
• Jane Addams, Hull House in Chicago, awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 1931

Improvement of Life

• Wealthy and middle class improved while poor suffered
• Access to luxuries, leisure time, popular diversions like sports, theater, vaudeville, movies
• Growth of newspaper industry with Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst
• Sensational reporting, yellow journalism became popular.

6.2 Jim Crow Laws and Other Developments in the South

Advances in the Machine Age

• Primarily affected northern cities

South During Machine Age

• Agriculture continued as main form of labor
• Textile mills and tobacco processing plants emerged
• Majority of Southerners remained farmers

Postwar Economics in the South

• Many farmers forced to sell land
• Wealthy landowners bought and consolidated into larger farms
• Landless farmers (Black & white) forced into sharecropping
• Crop lien system designed to keep poor in debt
• Unscrupulous landlords kept poor in virtual slavery

Booker T. Washington’s Atlanta Compromise Speech

• Outlined hope for drawing near to white race
• Pledge for patient, sympathetic help of Black race
• Call for higher good (blotting out of racial animosities)
• Desire for absolute justice and law obedience

Jim Crow Laws

• Federal government exerting less influence
• Numerous discriminatory laws passed by towns and cities
• Supreme Court ruled Fourteenth Amendment did not protect Blacks from private discrimination
• 1883 - Court reversed Civil Rights Act of 1875
• 1896 - Supreme Court ruled “separate but equal” facilities were legal

Integration and Equal Rights

• A far-off dream for most Black people
• Booker T. Washington: Born into slavery, no illusions of white society accepting Blacks as equals
• Promoted economic independence as means to improve Black lot
• Founded Tuskegee Institute for vocational and industrial training for Black people
• Accused of being an accommodationist
• Refused to press for immediate equal rights
• Reality of his time set his goals

Booker T. Washington vs. W. E. B. Du Bois

• Washington's Atlanta Exposition speech
• Washington viewed as submissive by Du Bois
• Du Bois referred to speech as "The Atlanta Compromise"

The Railroads and Developments in the West

• Ranchers and miners were growing industries in the western frontier
• Ranchers drove their herds across the western plains and deserts, disregarding property rights and Native American rights to the land
• Miners prospected for rich mines and sold their rights to mining companies when found
• Lincoln challenged America to have a Transcontinental Railroad connecting the country within a decade (1863-1869)
• Railroad construction was paid for by the public but the rail proprietors resisted government control of their industry
• Railroad companies organized massive buffalo hunts, which nearly led to extinction of the species and caused conflict with Native Americans
• Rails transformed depot towns into cities and facilitated faster travel, contact with ideas and technological advances from the East, and contributed to the Industrial Revolution
• Rails also brought standardization of time telling through "railroad time" and time zones
• ==Statehood of North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho was achieved by 1889==
• The result of the 1890 census prompted Turner's Frontier Thesis, which argued that the frontier shaped the American character, spirit, democracy, and provided a safety valve for urban areas
• In the Great Plains, farming and ranching were the main forms of employment, aided by new farm machinery and mail-order retail
• The Homestead Act and Morrill Land-Grant Act were passed by the federal government to attract settlers and develop the West
• Agricultural science became a large industry in the US
• The Nez Perce tribe in Oregon was forced to migrate to a reservation in Idaho, leading to resistance by Chief Joseph
• With families and corporations heading West, government and conservation groups sought added protection of natural resources
• U.S. Fish Commission was established to protect fish species, which led to the creation of National Parks and Forest Services.

National Politics

Gilded Age of American Politics:

• Era between Reconstruction and 1900
• Dubbed by Mark Twain
• America appeared prosperous but wealth built on poverty of many
• Shiny exterior of politics hiding corruption and patronage
• Political machines, not municipal governments, ran cities
• Big business bought votes in Congress and fleeced consumers
• Workers had little protection from employer greed
• Presidents were generally not corrupt but weak
• Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, Chester A. Arthur focused on civil service reform
• Grover Cleveland believed in minimal government intervention
• Benjamin Harrison and allies passed major legislation (meat inspection act, banning lotteries, battleships)
• Activism led to public discomfort and return of Cleveland to White House

Regulating Business and Government:

• First attempts at regulation in response to widespread corruption
• States imposed railroad regulations due to price gouging
• 1877 Supreme Court upheld state law regulating railroads in Munn v. Illinois
• Precedent for regulation in public interest established
• 1887 Congress passed first federal regulatory law (Interstate Commerce Act)
• Set up the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to regulate railroad activities
• ICC was active until deregulated by Reagan administration in 1980s

Women's Suffrage:

• Became an important political issue
• Led by Susan B. Anthony
• Bill introduced to Congress every year
• Fight began in earnest
• American Suffrage Association fought for state suffrage amendments
• Partial successes achieved in gaining the vote on school issues
• ==Women gained right to vote with 19th Amendment in 1920 (50 years after male suffrage)==

6.3 The Silver Issue and the Populist Movement

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 liberal use of silver coins (supported by western miners and midwestern/southern farmers)
• Issue had elements of regionalism and class strife

Grange Movement and Farmers' Alliances:

• Grange Movement founded in 1867, with over a million members by 1875
• Cooperatives for farmers to buy machinery and sell crops as a group
• Political endorsement and lobbying for legislation
• Replaced by Farmers' Alliances, allowing women's political activism
• Grew into political party People's Party (political arm of Populist movement)
• Other groups formed by minority farmers (e.g. Las Gorras Blancas, Colored Farmers' Alliance)

People's Party:

• 1892 convention, with platform called the Omaha Platform
• Call for silver coinage, government ownership of railroads and telegraphs, graduated income tax, direct election of senators, shorter workdays
• 1892 presidential candidate James Weaver received over 1 million votes
• Populist goals gained popularity during the financial crisis of 1893-1897

Granger Laws:

• Granger laws regulated the railroads in the 1870s and 1880s

Populist Movement:

• 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

6.4 Foreign Policy: The Tariff and Imperialism

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 of Abominations & Nullification Crisis

• Tariff of Abominations (1828) caused Nullification Crisis during Jackson's first administration

Tariff after Civil War

• Tariff 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

Tariff Laws

• McKinley Tariff (1890) raised duties on imported goods almost 50%
• Wilson-Gorman Tariff (1894) resembled McKinley Tariff
• Tariff issue dominated congressional debate and had impact on foreign relations

Spanish-American War

• Wilson-Gorman Tariff considered one of the causes of the Spanish-American War

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

Machine Age and American Production

• American production capacity grew rapidly
• America looked overseas for new markets due to increased nationalism and search for new markets

Expansionism & Imperialism

• William H. Seward set precedent for increased American participation in Western Hemisphere
• American businesses developed markets and production in Latin America, gained political power in region
• Expansionism (business in regions) supported by most Americans, imperialism (control of another country) more controversial

Influence of Sea Power

• Book by Captain Alfred T. Mahan, "The Influence of Sea Power Upon History" (1890) popularized idea of the New Navy
• Successful foreign trade relied on access to foreign ports, colonies, and strong navy
• After upgrading ships, U.S. turned attention to foreign acquisitions

U.S. Interest in Hawaii

• Search for port along trade route to Asia attracted U.S. to 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.
• White minority overthrew native government, U.S. annexed Hawaii, angering Japan (40% of Hawaii's residents were Japanese descent)
• Cuban natives revolted against Spanish control, instigated by U.S. tampering with the Cuban economy
• Cuban civil war followed and reported in detail by the Hearst newspaper
• The explosion of American warship Maine in Havana harbor led to war with Spain
• U.S. drove Spain out of Cuba and Philippines in the Spanish-American War
• Spain ceded the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam to the U.S. in the Treaty of Paris
• U.S. claimed it wouldn't annex Cuba through Teller Amendment, but troops stayed and made Cuba include Platt Amendment in its new constitution
• Platt Amendment granted U.S. control over Cuba's foreign affairs, U.S. troops eventually left in 1934 during FDR's administration
• Control of the Philippines raised the question of annexation or independence
• Arguments for annexation: Europe would conquer Philippines, U.S. moral obligation to "Christianize and civilize" Filipinos
• Arguments against annexation: promote independence and democracy, U.S. no better than British tyrants they overthrew
• Senate voted to annex the Philippines by a close margin, but Filipino nationalists responded with a guerrilla war
• U.S. used brutal tactics to subdue the revolt and inflicted casualties on the civilian population
• The U.S. granted the Philippines independence in 1946
• The question arose as to the legal status of the native population in newly acquired territories, "Does the Constitution follow the flag?"
• Supreme Court ruled through Insular Cases that the Constitution didn't follow the flag and Congress could administer each overseas possession as it chose
• America hoped to gain entry into Asian markets through McKinley's Open Door Policy

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