❤️❤️CH 16 Gilded Age Notes

Introduction

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 marked a new era of labor conflict in the U.S.
Triggered by wage cuts on rail lines amidst an economic downturn following the bursting of the railroad bubble in 1873.
Workers protested from Baltimore to St. Louis, disrupting the nation's economic activity.
Business leaders and political officials deployed state militias to suppress strikes and restore rail service.
Strikers destroyed rail property, leading to violent clashes. In Baltimore, the militia killed 11 striking workers.
In Pittsburgh, 20 strikers were killed by the militia, resulting in widespread destruction of property by strikers.
A general strike in St. Louis led to the seizure of rail depots, demanding an eight-hour day and the abolition of child labor; federal troops suppressed the strike, killing 18.
Federal troops were deployed across northern rail lines to suppress protests and reopen rail lines.
Nearly 100 Americans died, and approximately $40 million$ worth of property was destroyed during the strike.
The strike led to the rise of institutionalized unions, increased political influence of businesses, and a half-century of labor conflict in the U.S.

The March of Capital

Growing labor unrest accompanied industrialization, particularly in the railroad industry due to its consolidation of capital, government support, and bureaucratic management.
Workers felt increasingly powerless as skills became less valued in the industrialized economy.
Long hours, dangerous working conditions, and meager wages led to labor organizing and battles against powerful capital.
Post-Civil War era saw revolutions in American industry with technological innovations and national investments reducing production and distribution costs.
New administrative frameworks supported large firms, and national credit agencies facilitated capital movement.
Reduced transportation and communication costs led to national advertising and product standardization.
Corporate leaders embraced scientific management (Taylorism) to increase efficiency by subdividing tasks.
Taylorism increased manufacturing scale and allowed for mass production.
Mass production techniques advanced with interchangeable parts in industries like sewing machines, meatpacking, and cigarette rolling.
Henry Ford's assembly line increased automobile production and reduced costs.
McCormick's mechanical reapers initially relied on skilled labor, making them expensive.
In 1880, McCormick hired a production manager to transform production using new machines that made precise, interchangeable parts.
Production increased from twenty-one thousand machines in 1880 to over one hundred thousand by 1889.
By 1900, the United States became the world’s leading manufacturing nation, surpassing Britain, Germany, and France.
By 1913, the U.S. produced one-third of the world’s industrial output.
Firms like McCormick's achieved economies of scale, leading to increased profits with higher production volumes.
Retailers and advertisers sustained markets for mass production, while corporate bureaucracies managed new firms.
Managers acted as a "visible hand" between workers and owners, ensuring efficient operations.
Corporations became legal mechanisms to marshal capital and limit shareholder liability.
Investors flooded corporations with capital, but competition threatened profit margins.
Economies of scale could be undermined by cutthroat competition, leading to unstable profits.
Firms formed pools, trusts, price-fixing agreements, and merged into consolidations to avoid competition.
Between 1895 and 1904, "the great merger movement" saw the consolidation of approximately 20% of the American economy into rival firms.
Consolidated firms like General Electric and DuPont dominated their markets. J. P. Morgan formed United States Steel in 1901, the world’s first billion-dollar company.

The Rise of Inequality

Industrial capitalism brought advancements in efficiency and productivity, leading to unprecedented profits and fortunes, but also low-paid, unreliable jobs with dangerous working conditions.
The Gilded Age, named after Mark Twain’s satirical novel, highlighted the contrast between wealth and social inequities.
Extreme wealth of industrial and financial leaders alongside poverty shocked Americans.
Economist Henry George noted the enigma of poverty amidst progress.
Robber barons like Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Morgan accumulated vast fortunes.
In 1890, the wealthiest 1% of Americans owned one-fourth of the nation’s assets; the top 10% owned over 70%.
By 1900, the richest 10% controlled around 90% of the nation’s wealth.
Social Darwinism emerged, applying Darwin’s theories to society, with Herbert Spencer popularizing the phrase "survival of the fittest."
Spencer argued that economic success demonstrated superiority, opposing welfare and charity.
H. L. Mencken advocated for complete surrender to natural selection and the strengthening of the strong.
Social Darwinism promoted the idea that inequality was natural and signified progress.
Herbert Spencer’s Synthetic Philosophy sold approximately four hundred thousand copies in the U.S.
Industrial elites like Carnegie, Edison, and Rockefeller followed Spencer's ideas.
William Graham Sumner echoed these ideas, asserting that individuals have no inherent rights beyond their ability to maintain their existence.
Inequalities were not welcomed by all, and the growth of the U.S. economy alongside disparities in living conditions troubled many Americans.
The Republican Party, initially an anti-slavery faction, became a supporter of American business.
Abraham Lincoln, a corporate lawyer, and the Republican government supported a pro-business agenda during the Civil War.
The Republican Congress provided land and money to railroad companies.
Republicans dominated American politics during the Gilded Age, maintaining high protective tariffs.
These policies supported American businesses, and social Darwinism provided moral justification for limited government interference in the economy.

The Labor Movement

Social Darwinism had little support among American industrial laborers, who faced difficult jobs, long hours, and little pay.
Mechanization and mass production led to unskilled positions and economic instability.
Industrial workers faced unemployment, long hours, and incomes below the poverty line, pushing wives and children into the labor market.
Overcrowded cities and rising rents trapped families in slums.
Strikes occurred throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 highlighted the need for workers to organize, leading to increased union memberships.
The Knights of Labor united skilled and unskilled workers, welcoming women but excluding lawyers, bankers, and liquor dealers.
By 1886, the Knights had over seven hundred thousand members, envisioning a cooperative society.
In 1886, Jay Gould’s rail company fired a Knights of Labor member, triggering a strike involving approximately two hundred thousand workers.
Gould hired strikebreakers and the Pinkerton Detective Agency, with political leaders and state militias supporting Gould’s companies.
Workers countered by destroying property, leading to negative press and justifying the use of strikebreakers and militiamen.
The campaign for an eight-hour day culminated in a national strike on May 1, 1886, with approximately three hundred thousand to five hundred thousand workers striking.
Police killed several workers in Chicago, leading to the Haymarket Riot, where a bomb killed seven policemen.
The Haymarket Riot was sensationalized, associating unionism with radicalism, leading to the arrest and conviction of eight Chicago anarchists.
Membership in the Knights declined after Haymarket, and the movement for an eight-hour day collapsed.
The American Federation of Labor (AFL) emerged as a conservative alternative, focusing on practical gains through conservative approaches.
In 1892, the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers struck at a Carnegie steel mill in Homestead, Pennsylvania, leading to a battle with Pinkerton detectives.
The Pennsylvania governor called the state militia, broke the strike, and reopened the mill.
In 1894, workers in George Pullman’s Pullman car factories struck when wages were cut, but rents remained constant.
The American Railway Union (ARU), led by Eugene Debs, launched a sympathy strike, halting national railroad traffic.
President Grover Cleveland sent federal troops to break the strike, and Debs was arrested and imprisoned, radicalizing him.
In 1905, industrial labor conditions sparked strikes across the country.
The late nineteenth century saw over twenty thousand strikes and lockouts in the U.S.

The Populist Movement

Populist leader Mary Elizabeth Lease criticized Wall Street's control over the country.
Farmers, who remained a majority of the American population, were negatively impacted by industrialization.
Expanding markets and technological improvements decreased commodity prices.
Commercialization of agriculture placed farmers in debt to bankers and railroads.
Farmers lost land and entered the industrial workforce or became landless farmworkers, especially in the South.
Railroads, telegraphs, and credit connected rural Americans to financial centers, while machinery and consumer goods flooded the countryside.
Farmers faced financial insecurity due to rapid price swings and limited regulation.
Farmers organized through the Farmers’ Alliance and the People’s Party (Populists) to reshape the political and economic systems.
The Farmers’ Alliance was formed in 1877 in Texas to restore economic power to farmers.
The alliance spread across the South, Midwest, and Great Plains, promoting a "cooperative commonwealth."
The Farmers’ Alliance claimed 1,500,000 members in 40,000 local sub-alliances.
The alliance’s cooperatives aimed to negotiate higher prices for crops and lower prices for goods.
Alliance-backed Democratic candidates won governorships and congressional seats in the South in 1890.
Alliance members formed the People’s Party (Populists) to address flaws in American political economy.
The Populists nominated James B. Weaver as their presidential candidate in 1892 and adopted the Omaha Platform.
The Omaha Platform advocated nationalizing railroads and telegraphs, postal savings banks, subtreasuries, inflationary monetary policy, direct election of senators, and a graduated income tax.
In the 1892 election, Weaver received over one million votes and twenty-two electoral votes.
The Panic of 1893 increased the Populist movement's credibility.
Populist speakers blamed business elites and politicians for America’s widening inequality.
In the 1894 elections, Populists elected six senators and seven representatives to Congress.
The Populist movement faced obstacles, especially in the South, due to racial division and electoral fraud.
Southern Democrats used racial demagoguery to limit Populist gains.
By the mid-1890s, Populism had grown in popularity but faced challenges due to divided leadership.
Racial mistrust and division persisted, even among Populists.

William Jennings Bryan and the Politics of Gold

William Jennings Bryan (1860–1925) was a skilled orator, congressman, presidential candidate, Secretary of State, and lawyer.
He attacked the gold standard, promoted free silver, and advocated for policies benefiting average Americans.
Bryan was born in Salem, Illinois, in 1860, and developed a passion for law, politics, and public speaking.
He won recognition as a great speaker and worked within the Democratic Party to defend farmers.
Bryan launched a national speaking tour in 1895–1896 to promote the free coinage of silver, believing bimetallism could alleviate farmers’ debts.
In 1896, the Democratic Party nominated Bryan as their presidential candidate after his "Cross of Gold" speech.
The speech criticized the gold standard, stating it was "anti-American" and would "crucify mankind upon a cross of gold."
The Republicans ran William McKinley, who championed business interests and the gold standard.
Bryan campaigned extensively but could not defeat McKinley, who outspent Bryan fivefold.
In 1900, Congress passed the Gold Standard Act, ending the debate over monetary policy.
Bryan sought the presidency again in 1900 and 1908 but was defeated.
Bryan’s agrarian wing of the Democratic Party co-opted Populist issues, leading to a temporary "fusion" movement.
Populist energy shifted to the Democratic Party, and the Populist vision laid the groundwork for the progressive movement.

The Socialists

American socialists continued the Populist tradition by uniting farmers and workers to reorder economic life.
They argued that wealth and power were consolidated in the hands of too few, leading to low pay, long hours, and unsafe working conditions.
Karl Marx described the industrial economy as a class struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
Eugene Debs stated that socialists sought "the overthrow of the capitalist system and the emancipation of the working class from wage slavery."
Under a socialist cooperative commonwealth, the means of production would be owned collectively.
The socialist movement drew from a diverse constituency, with membership open to all regardless of race, gender, class, ethnicity, or religion.
Many prominent Americans became socialists, joined by factory workers, miners, railroad builders, tenant farmers, and small farmers.
Many united with William D. “Big Bill” Haywood to form the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).
The Socialist Party of America (SPA), founded in 1901, carried on the American third-party political tradition.
Socialist mayors were elected in thirty-three cities, and two socialists won congressional seats.
By 1913, there were 150,000 members of the Socialist Party, and Eugene V. Debs received almost one million votes in the 1912 presidential election.
The embrace of socialist policies by progressive reformers, internal disagreements, and government oppression weakened the party.
Like the Populists, socialists tapped into discontent, and their energy influenced American culture and politics.

Conclusion

The march of capital transformed American life, leading to unprecedented wealth for some and poverty for others.
Industrial capitalism created owners, investors, and employees.
All Americans reckoned with the new industrial world, whether winners or losers.