US History Lecture Review: Gilded Age to Clinton Administration

Do Now and Themes of Independence

• Theme for independence and the right of sovereignty was highly noticed during the mid and late $1700s$.

• Notable focus on America since it gained independence from Great Britain in $1776$.

Chapter 1: The Gilded Age ($9/17 - 9/27$)

• The era marked a shift from an agrarian domestic economy to an industrial international economy.

• Entrepreneurs (Millionaires):     * Captains of Industry: Modern examples include Elon Musk and Steve Jobs. Characteristics include innovation, economic growth, job creation, and charitable giving (philanthropy).     * Robber Barons: A term coined by Matthew Josephson. Characteristics include gaining wealth from workers, little to no innovation, running a state similar to a feudal lord, exploiting the workforce, using wealth to influence politics, and ruthlessly eliminating competition to create a monopoly.

• John D. Rockefeller (Oil):     * Viewed as both a Captain of Industry and a Robber Baron.     * Increased oil production and lowered oil prices.     * Facilitated the expansion of railroads, which grew the American economy.     * Gave away half of his wealth ($\$500,000,000$ approx.) to charity, specifically for libraries and schools.     * Leader of the Standard Oil Company (Trust). Utilized a "Join or Die" mentality to wipe out competition. Controlled $90\%$ of refined oil in the nation. Companies like Exxon and Mobil were part of this trust.     * Utilized Horizontal Integration, where a company grows by buying its competitors (e.g., independent steel mills combining into one integrated company).     * Justified his actions through Social Darwinism.

• Andrew Carnegie (Steel):     * Captain of Industry who utilized the Bessemer process (developed by Bessemer and Kelly) to create strong, durable, and cheap steel.     * Leader of Carnegie Steel; oversaw a production boom while prices plummeted.     * Acted as a Robber Baron by crushing worker attempts to form unions, notably during the Homestead Strike involving Frick.     * Developed a monopoly through Vertical Integration, controlling all steps of production: iron mines, limestone quarries, coal mines, shipping facilities, and steel mills.     * The public was generally more accepting of vertical integration monopolies compared to the "bottleneck" of Rockefeller.     * Believed in the Gospel of Wealth, contrasted with Rockefeller's belief in Social Darwinism.

• J.P. Morgan (Finance):     * Financier and founder of J.P. Morgan & Co. Led the merger movement resulting in giant industrial corporations.     * Formed U.S. Steel by merging $8$ companies, including Carnegie's former company.     * Formed General Electric.     * Worth approximately $\$1,000,000,000$ (world’s first billionaire). Controlled assets totaling approximately $\$22,245,000,000$.

U.S. Economy and Politics in the Gilded Age

• Factors for Industrial Growth:     * New technologies in agriculture, steel, telephone, and electricity.     * Growing cities provided markets and workers; population grew despite a decreasing birthrate due to immigration and rural displacement.     * Steel production allowed for the construction of skyscrapers.     * Improved Rail Transportation: The number $1$ factor causing a ripple effect across all industries. Required telegraphs for communication. The government provided funding and land to railroad companies, often displacing Native Americans. Exploited Chinese labor.     * Financial innovations and institutions (like J.P. Morgan) allocated capital efficiently.     * New forms of business organization and a supportive culture of business.     * "New" wave of immigration helped limit the labor movement.

• Key Supreme Court Cases: Including Slaughterhouse, Munn, Wabash, Pollock, and In re Debs.

• Political Landscape:     * Mark Twain described the era as a "gold coin": good on the outside (renaissance-like changes) but bad on the inside (inferior metal/political corruption).     * Political Parity: Little difference between Democrats and Republicans. Both were pro-business, avoided controversy, and used "carnival-style" campaigning.     * Power Shift: Congress gained control after the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. Under the Reconstruction Act of $1867$, the South was under military control. The Tenure of Office Act prohibited the President from removing cabinet members; Johnson's firing of Edwin Stanton showed the shift in power.

• Corruption and Scandals:     * Political Machines: Operates where the machine does the work and the President is a figurehead. Notable "Bossism" at Tammany Hall under William "Boss" Tweed.     * Ulysses S. Grant: Campaigned by "waving the bloody shirt" (war veteran status). Scandal-ridden administration despite personal integrity.         * Black Friday Scandal: Gould and Fisk tried to bribe Grant; led to a million-dollar gold-spend and a temporary recession.         * Whiskey Ring Scandal: Bribes to senators and Grant’s personal secretary to remove whiskey taxes.         * Credit Mobilier: Government gave a $\$75,000,000$ contract for a $\$50,000,000$ railroad.     * Tammany Hall: Boss Tweed used political patronage to gain votes. Thomas Nast's cartoons exposed the corruption. Tweed eventually fled to Cuba but was returned. Approximately $\$70,000,000$ to $\$230,000,000$ stolen.

• Compromise of $1877$ and Aftermath:     * Known as the "Stolen Election." Ended the Civil Rights movement until the $1960s$.     * Legalized segregation through Jim Crow Laws and the "separate but equal" doctrine.     * Redeemer Governments: Former Confederates in power who denied voting rights through poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses, and intimidation, creating the "Solid South."

Agrarian Discontent and Civil Service Reform

• Civil Service Reform: Aimed to end the spoils system and patronage. Republicans were divided into Stalwarts (led by Roscoe Conkling, favored spoils system), Half-Breeds (favored merit system), and Mugwumps (joined Democrats).

• Presidencies:     * Hayes believed in the gold standard.     * Cleveland (Democrat) wanted to reduce tariffs. Signed the Bland-Allison Act requiring silver circulation.     * $1880$: Garfield defeated Winfield Scott Hancock. Garfield was assassinated by Charles Guiteau, who wanted a political job.     * Chester A. Arthur signed the Pendleton Act (Civil Service Reform Act) establishing a merit system.

• Farmers' Struggles: High tariffs, unfair shipping rates, deflation, expensive technology, high land prices (railroads owned much land), high taxes, and overproduction leading to crop price drops.

• Farmer Organizations:     * The Grange ($1866$): Pressured states to regulate railroad rates. Created cooperatives. Led to "Granger Laws."     * Farmers Alliance ($1875$).     * Populists: Represented Westerners and farmers. Platform included a graduated income tax, free silver (bimetallism), pensions, $8$-hour work day, and government ownership of railroads and communication systems.

• Elections and the End of Gilded Age:     * $1896$: William Jennings Bryan (Democrat/Populist), the "Great Commoner," gave the "Cross of Gold" speech. William McKinley (Republican) advocated for the gold standard and the "full dinner pail." McKinley won, leading to the destruction of the Populist party.

Chapter 2: Progressivism ($10/8$)

• Progressive Belief: Society can move forward with a strong, active government. Rooted in the Social Gospel Movement (Protestant Christian belief in emulating Jesus to help the poor, against Social Darwinism).

• Origins of Reform:     * Socialism: Henry George ("Progress and Poverty") and Edward Bellamy ("Looking Backward").     * Populism: Grangers, Farmers, and Unions.

• Muckrakers: Investigative journalists exposing wrongs.     * Upton Sinclair: "The Jungle," exposure of meatpacking led to the Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act ($1906$).     * Ida Tarbell: "History of Standard Oil."     * Jacob Riis: "How the Other Half Lives" (photography).     * Lincoln Steffens: "The Shame of the Cities."     * David G. Phillips: "The Treason of the Senate," led to the demand for direct election of senators.

• Social Institutions: YMCA (libraries, pools), Salvation Army (soup kitchens, slum brigades), and Settlement Houses (run by women like Jane Addams).

• Moral and Social Reform:     * Margaret Sanger: Advocated for birth control; founded the Birth Control League (Planned Parenthood).     * Prohibition: WCTU (Carrie Nation) and Anti-Saloon League. $18th$ Amendment ($1917$) banned alcohol.     * Mann Act ($1910$): Made prostitution a federal crime.     * Muller v. Oregon: Upheld $10$-hour work day for women but reinforced weak-female stereotypes.

• Economic and Efficiency Reform:     * Taylorism: Scientific management for task efficiency.     * Labor Reforms: Push for safety codes after the Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire ($1911$) killed over $100$ workers.

• Government Reform: Wisconsin Idea (Robert LaFollette). Initiative, Referendum, Recall, Direct Primary. $17th$ Amendment (Direct election of senators).

• Women's Suffrage: Alice Paul and the "Iron Jawed Angels." $19th$ Amendment ($1920$).

• Civil Rights Leaders:     * Booker T. Washington: Atlanta Compromise. Argued for economic contribution and vocational education (Tuskegee University) over political activism.     * W.E.B. DuBois: Demanded classic education for the "Talented Tenth" and immediate civil rights. Founded the Niagara Movement and NAACP.

Progressive Presidents and Foreign Policy

• Theodore Roosevelt (TR):     * Square Deal (Three Cs): Control of Corporations (Trustbuster, Northern Securities suite), Consumer Protection (Meat Inspection Act), and Conservation ($150$ million acres for national parks, Newlands Act).     * Failures: Progressivism for whites only; dishonorably discharged black soldiers after the Brownsville Riot.

• William Howard Taft:     * Handled $90$ antitrust suits. Formed the Bureau of Mines and pushed for the $16th$ Amendment (Income Tax).     * Split with TR over the Payne-Aldrich Tariff and the Ballinger-Pinchot Affair.

• Woodrow Wilson:     * New Freedom: Attack on the "Triple Wall of Privilege" (Tariff, Banks, Trusts).     * Established the Federal Reserve Act, Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Clayton Act.     * Signed the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act and the Adamson Act ($8$-hour day for rail workers).

• U.S. Foreign Policy Patterns: Neutrality ($1793$), Monroe Doctrine ($1823$), Manifest Destiny ($1840s$), and Imperialism.

• American Rationale (The $4$ Ps): Profit (new markets), Patriotism (Great White Fleet), Piety (White Man's Burden), and Politics (Yellow Journalism).

• Imperialist Acquisitions:     * Samoa: Negotiation over Pago Pago coaling stations.     * Venezuela: Invoking the Monroe Doctrine against Britain.     * Spanish-American War ($1898$): Sparked by the DeLome Letter and the USS Maine incident ($266$ deaths). Resulted in the Platt Amendment (Guantanamo Bay) and control of the Philippines.     * Hawaii: Overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani by Sanford Dole. Annexed in $1898$.     * Puerto Rico: Peaceful takeover; Insular Cases determined the Constitution does not follow the flag.     * Philippines: Annexation led to the Philippine-American War.     * China: Open Door Policy for equal trading rights.     * Panama Canal: US supported Panama's secession from Colombia to secure the canal zone.

Chapter 3: World War I ($1914 - 1918$)

• Five Causes for WWI: Nationalism, Economics (market competition), Imperialism (Moroccan Crisis), Militarism, and Alliances (Balkan Powder Keg).

• The Spark: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Bosnia by Gavrilo Princip (Blackhand group).

• U.S. Entry:     * Neutrality initially maintained by Wilson.     * Sinking of the Lusitania ($1915$) killed $128$ Americans. Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare violated the Sussex Pledge.     * Zimmerman Telegram: Germany proposed a Mexican invasion of the U.S.     * Wilson: "We must make the world safe for democracy."

• Homefront and Agencies:     * Food Administration (Herbert Hoover): Rationing and Victory Gardens.     * War Industry Board (Bernard Baruch): Production coordination.     * Fuel Administration: Daylight savings and gasless days.     * Financing: Liberty Bonds and the War Revenue Act.     * Great Migration: $500,000$ African Americans moved North for industrial jobs.     * Committee of Public Information (George Creel): Propaganda via "Minute Men."     * Schenck v. U.S.: Upheld the Espionage and Sedition Acts; established the "clear and present danger" test.

• The End and Peace:     * Armistice signed $11/11/1918$.     * Treaty of Versailles: The Big Three (Clemenceau, Lloyd George, Wilson). Germany forced into the War Guilt Clause and $1,000,000,000$-mark reparations ($31$ billion USD).     * Wilson’s $14$ Points included the League of Nations. Blocked in the U.S. Senate by Reservationists (Henry Cabot Lodge) and Irreconcilables.

Chapter 4: The Roaring $20s$ and Great Depression

• Politics of the $20s$: Return to "Normalcy."     * Warren G. Harding: Administration marked by scandals (Teapot Dome, Ohio Gang). Died in office.     * Calvin Coolidge: "Silent Cal"; Laissez-faire approach. "The business of America is business."     * Herbert Hoover: Won in $1928$. Faced the onset of the Depression.

• Causes of the Great Depression:     * Overspeculation in the bull market; buying on margin.     * Maldistribution of wealth.     * Hawley-Smoot Tariff resulted in a $66\%$ decrease in imports.     * Banking failures ($9,000$ banks closed); personal savings lost.     * Drought conditions (Dust Bowl).

• The Crash ($1929$): Black Thursday (Oct $24$) and Black Tuesday (Oct $29$). The DJIA dropped from $381.17$ to virtually nothing; unemployment reached $25\%$.

• Hoover's Response: Initially focused on confidence. Established the Reconstruction Finance Corp (RFC) to loan to big businesses. Opposed direct relief, leading to "Hoovervilles."

• Bonus Army: Veterans demanding pensions were forcibly removed by the U.S. Army.

Chapter 5: The New Deal

• FDR's First $100$ Days: Passed $15$ major laws. Emergency Banking Relief Act and "Fireside Chats."

• Agencies:     * FDIC: Insures bank accounts (Glass-Steagall).     * AAA: Raised food prices by lowering supply.     * TVA: Dams and electricity.     * WPA/NYA: Job creation.

• Criticism and Court Packing: Conservatives felt the government was too large; Liberals felt it didn't do enough. The Supreme Court struck down NIRA and AAA. FDR proposed the "Court Packing Bill" to add justices.

• Social Security Act: Provided a safety net for the elderly and disabled.

Chapter 6: World War II ($1939 - 1945$)

• Rise of Fascism: Mussolini in Italy (Blackshirts, March on Rome) and Hitler in Germany (Nazi Party, Third Reich). Both focused on militarism and dismantling post-WWI treaties.

• Appeasement: Germany took the Rhineland ($1936$), Austria (Anschluss, $1938$), and the Sudetenland (Munich Conference). World War II began with the invasion of Poland on September $1, 1939$.

• The War in Europe:     * Fall of France ($1940$) and the Dunkirk Evacuation ($335,000$ saved).     * Battle of Britain: The Blitz failed to make the British quit.     * Operation Barbarossa: Germany attacked Russia ($1941$); eventually halted at Stalingrad.     * D-Day ($6/6/1944$): Operation Overlord, led by Eisenhower, liberated Paris.     * Battle of the Bulge: Last major German offensive.

• The War in the Pacific:     * Pearl Harbor ($12/7/1941$): $2,400$ dead; US entry into the war.     * Battles: Midway (Turning point), Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa (bloodiest).     * Manhattan Project: Development of the atomic bomb. Dropped on Hiroshima (Little Boy) and Nagasaki (Fat Man).

• The Homefront: Rationing, Victory Gardens, Scrap Drives, and War Bonds. Executive Order $9066$ led to Japanese-American Internment; Kusomatsu v. U.S. upheld it.

• African Americans in WWII: Tuskegee Airmen and Executive Order $8802$ banning industry discrimination. Dorie Miller’s heroism at Pearl Harbor.

Chapter 7: The Cold War ($1944 - 1991$)

• Origins and POV: US distrusted Stalin’s manipulation at Yalta; Russia resented the delay of the second front and the termination of Lend-Lease.

• Containment: George Kennan’s "Long Telegram" and the Truman Doctrine ($400$ million for Greece/Turkey).

• Marshall Plan: Economic aid to rebuild Europe.

• Berlin Airlift: Operation Vittles provided resources to West Berlin for $11$ months during a Soviet blockade.

• Korean War ($1950 - 1953$): Conflict at the $38th$ Parallel. MacArthur was fired by Truman for insubordination.

• Domestic Anti-Communism: McCarthyism and the HUAC "witch hunts." Execution of the Rosenbergs for passing nuclear secrets.

• Eisenhower Era ($1953 - 1961$): Pushed for the Federal Highway System. Faced the Sputnik launch and U-2 spy plane incident. Advised on the "Military-Industrial Complex."

Chapter 8 - 11: Civil Rights and the $1960s-1970s$

• Civil Rights: De Jure vs. De Facto segregation. Brown v. Board of Ed overturned "Separate but Equal." Little Rock Nine integration required the $101st$ Airborne.

• JFK and the New Frontier: Bay of Pigs failure and the Cuban Missile Crisis (Brinksmanship). Assassinated in Dallas in $1963$.

• LBJ and the Great Society: Civil Rights Act of $1964$ and Voting Rights Act of $1965$. Medicare/Medicaid established. War on Poverty.

• Vietnam War: Escalation via the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Guerilla warfare using Napalm and Agent Orange. The Tet Offensive ($1968$) turned public opinion. Withdrawal completed under Nixon in $1973$.

• Nixon: Visited China and Russia (Detente). SALT I treaty. Resigned due to the Watergate Scandal (abuse of power/obstruction of justice).

• Ford and Carter: Ford pardoned Nixon. Carter faced stagflation and the Iran Hostage Crisis ($444$ days).

Chapter 13 - 15: Reagan, Bush, and Clinton

• Ronald Reagan: Reaganomics (Supply-side). Increased military spending and the Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars). Handled the Iran-Contra Scandal.

• George H.W. Bush: Oversaw the end of the Cold War and the Persian Gulf War (Desert Storm) to liberate Kuwait.

• Bill Clinton: "New Democrat" moderate. Oversaw record economic expansion and the NAFTA agreement. Impeached in $1998$ for perjury and obstruction of justice but acquitted by the Senate.