13. garfield, arthur, cleveland, harrison, cleveland 1881-1897 “the gilded age”

13. Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, Harrison, Cleveland 1881-1897

“The Gilded Age”

Knights of LaborWorker tools: slow down; strike1869 – skilled workers form Knights of Labor

Meeting in secret…

American Federation of LaborSamuel Gompers, 1886, Columbus, OH = new union “AFL”

Umbrella union connecting little unions

Wanted: higher wages, shorter hours, better working conditions; collective bargaining

Most powerful 1886-1910 – still existsLimited to skilled, male, white workers

WomenMother Jones – esp eliminate child labor

Garment workers uniteTragedy at Triangle Shirtwaste factory 1911

Hard Times for LaborEconomic booms and busts – why??Overproduction = layoffs1870-1900 2 major depressions and 2 recessions

Many violent strikes, esp miners and RR workers

Westward Expansion

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Farmers move west

• Exodusters– African Amer– Around 60K move to

Kansas by 1881• Los Mexicanos

– Already lived there– Spanish-speakers– Whites push out Spanish

speakers



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Farmers move west

• Oklahoma Land Rush– Last one … free land– Forced natives out– Noon 22 Apr 1889 … lined

up at border– “Sooners” and “boomers”



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Hard Life on the Plains

• Sodbusting• 1877 iron plough strong

enough• Windmills• Reapers• Threshing machines• Dry!



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• Grass fire• Grasshopper swarms• Super Deep snow



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• Women did lots: doctors, schoolteachers, all home crafts etc (no stores!)

• Thriving! Huge harvests… crop prices go way down

• Had borrowed $$ for machinery… couldn’t repay… made less than cost to plant… Yikes!



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Land loss

• Native American land loss was often accompanied by battles and conflict

• The Homestead Act was one way government helped farmers settle the Plains

• The transcontinental railroad connected east and west



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Westward Expansion• Whites move west

– Mining– Railroads– Land

• Pattern:– Treaty signed giving Indians

land– Something valuable found

on that land that whites want

– Conflict, new treaty, Indians move – given poor land



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Native Americans in Retreat

• Cheyenne, Colorado, 1860s, gold

• Navajos, southwest, 1860s, raided settlers’ farms

• Sioux Wars, Dakota Territory, 1870s

• Nez Perce Resistance, northwest, 1870s

• Apaches, Arizona-New Mexico Territory, 1880s



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End of the Buffalo

• Disease• Drought destruction of

grazing lands • Marker for buffalo robes

= increase white hunting• Indians hunt more

efficiently• Sport for rich whites



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Indian Way of Life Ends

• Ghost Dance– 1889 prophet “Wovoka”

among Paiute, So. Plains– “Great Spirit will make new

world w/o whites”– Ghost dance will bring

about new world



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• Settlers React– Thought they were

preparing for war, dance outlawed

– 1890 – police enter Lakota reservation – arrest Sitting Bull, accused of Ghost Dance… accidentally shot



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• Massacre at Wounded Knee 1890– Upset by Sitting Bull’s

death, Lakotas flee– Army pursues to Wounded

Knee Creek (SD) – 29 Dec, Indians prep for

surrender – nervous army troupes accept their guns

– Shot rings out – massacre of 300, 25 soldiers dead

– End Ghost dance religion

Reformers Fail

• Reformers Speak Out–Susette LaFlesche – daughter Omaha

chief – wrote & lectured against destruction of native way of life

–Helen Hunt Jackson Century of Dishonor 1881 = history broken treaties

Reformers Fail

• New Federal Policy–Dawes Act 1887 = land; be

farmers–Land often sold away cheaply

to whites



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Results

• Cheyenne 1860s – war, massacre, reservation

• Navajos 1860s – “Long Walk” 1864

• Sioux Wars 1870s-90s – defeat, revolt, massacre, reservation

• Nez Perce Resistance 1870s – long chase, reservation

• Apaches 1880s – chase, defeat, reservation



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In the end…

• 1890 – frontier “closed”• Realization of manifest

destiny• Some questioned

treatment of Native Americans

• Some well-intentioned reforms

“The Gilded Age”



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This is one example…

• … of dishonesty and corruption common at every level of American politics during the Gilded Age.

Gilded Age



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Tammany Hall & the Tweed Ring

• Tammany hall = Democratic Party political machine 1790s to the 1960s

• Irish immigrant base• Worst phase – 1870s

– Bribery– Embezzlement– Contract fraud– Election control

Gilded Age



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Tammany Hall & the Tweed Ring

• 1860s-1871• Ward bosses• Patronage machine• Graft • Some benefits

– Increase pay for teachers, doctors

– Increase charitable giving– Assistance for immigrants

Gilded Age

Thomas Nast

created the popular American icons of the Republican Elephant, the Democratic Donkey, Uncle Sam, Santa Claus…

Gilded Age

Thomas Nast • Drew Boss Tweed as a corrupt politician• Tweed sent his thugs with instructions

to, "Stop them d**** pictures. I don't care what the papers write about me. My constituents can't read. But, d*** it, they can see the pictures.“

• End 1871. • Tweed escaped jail - fled to Spain 1876• recognized and arrested by a customs

officer who couldn’t read English but had seen Nast's cartoons of Tweed.

Gilded Age

Gilded Age

Civil Service Exams

• Spoils system• Patronage• Civil service examination• Pendleton Act 1883

Gilded Age



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James Garfield

• 1880 [R]• 200 days• In favor of Civil Service

Reform• Shot 1881

– Took July- Sept. to die

Gilded Age



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Charles Guiteau

• Lawyer• Assassinated Garfield• Worked hard to get Garfield

elected– Felt he deserved ambassadorship

• Lined up every day to get job– Told to go away

• Thought God told him to kill Garfield

• Caught & Hanged

Gilded Age



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Chester Arthur• "The Father of Civil Service"

• "No man ever entered the Presidency so profoundly and widely distrusted, and no one ever retired... more generally respected.“

• Publisher Alexander K. McClure

Gilded Age



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Civil Service Exams

• 1883 – Pendleton Act– Civil Service Commission– By 1900, covered 40% Fed

jobs

Gilded Age



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Laissez-Faire Economics

• Laissez-faire = French “hands off” or “leave alone”

• Government should not regulate business

• Thomas Jefferson, Adam Smith

• “Best government is government that rules least”

Gilded Age



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Laissez-Faire Economics

• Libertarianism• Low taxes• Caveat emptor• Big companies deserve

their size• Wealthy deserve their

wealth

Gilded Age

“Immigration”

Immigration

Old New

• 1840-1860• Northern and Western

Europeans• Faced discrimination • Settled on frontier / west

• 1880-1900• Southern and Eastern

Europeans • and Asians

• Had it tougher---they did not know the language-had

different cultures• Frontier was closed settled in

cities

Immigrants

Immigration

Immigration

PUSH PULL

1.Land scarce in home country2. Political and/or religious

persecution3. Revolutions4. Poverty

• Plentiful and cheap land in the West (until the frontier

was closed)• Jobs and opportunities

• Religious freedom• Political freedom

• Hope for a new life • Land

• “Streets paved with gold”

Why Emigrate / Immigrate

Immigration

Ellis IslandUsed - 1892 to 1954

Immigration

Adjusting to America

• Many lived in ghettos (community of one culture of ethnic group)–Spoke native language–Celebrated holidays with foods from the “old

country”• Being with their “own people” made life in

America easier• Needed jobs

–Many lived off the land–Took low paying jobs– Seen as a threat—willing to work less– Workers afraid immigrants would take all of the jobsImmigration

Adjusting to America

• Had to learn English–Children in school (learned the easiest)–Workers

• Children wanted to be seen as Americans–Helped family learn English–Played American games–Wore American clothing

Immigration



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Living in Tenements

Immigration

Immigration

Nativism

• Anti-Immigrant Feelings: • Americans feared immigrants would not

assimilate–Language/religion/customs too different

• Many American workers resented the new immigrants---took jobs for low pay

• People on the West Coast worked to end immigration from China–Chinese immigrants worked on the RR-- Looked for

other jobs after RR completed–Many people did not want to hire them-did not

understand the Chinese culture• Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in

1882–Barred Chinese workers for 10 years–Renewed several times–Repealed in 1943

Immigration

Immigration

“Panics”

Economics Review

• “Panic”, “Recession”, “Depression”–Business practices affect everyone, not

just business• Law of Supply and Demand• How banks work… the basics• New: raising capital through a

corporation

Panics

Technological Advances…

• Communication – connect consumer and producer more efficiently (advantage to producer with best communication)

• Transportation – same effect – the sale goes to the producer who gets to the consumer first.

Panics

Months it lasted…

Panics

Causes Panic of 1873

CAUSES

• Germany stops using silver in coins (thaler)

• USA – Coinage Act of 1873 – dollars used to be backed by silver and gold – now just gold

• Panics (aka Depressions and Recessions) happen when a

bubble bursts• One bubble in 1873 was the

railroad boom• Banks fail when the bubble

bursts because they cannot collect on loans

Panics



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Panic of 1873, continued

• Panics (aka Depressions and Recessions) happen when a bubble bursts

• One bubble in 1873 was the railroad boom

• Banks fail when the bubble bursts because they cannot collect on loans

Panics



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Panic of 1893

• Railroad overbuilding continues!

• USA starts using silver again for money briefly, causing loss in money’s value, then repeals Sherman Silver Purchase Act

• Bank runs• Credit crunch

Panics



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Panic of 1893, cont’d• 15,000 companies failed• 500 banks failed • 17%-19% of the

workforce was unemployed at the Panic's peak.

• Unemployment + loss of life savings kept in failed banks = middle-class could not meet their mortgage payments– Many walked away from

recently built homes as a result

Panics



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Panic of 1893, cont’d• collapse of railroad

overbuilding • shaky railroad financing • set off a series of bank

failures• run on the gold supply • Over-poduction in

western mines• Until the Great

Depression, the Panic of '93 was considered the worst depression

Panics

Panics

EFFECTS of 1873 & 1893

1873

• Massive business failure• Unemployment reaching

14%• Construction halted• Wages cut• Banks failed – savings lost• Real estate value falls• protectionism

1893• Severe strikes

– Pullman Strike 1894• Farmers in trouble

• Marches on Washington• Mines close in west– Mining towns collapse

• Many abandon homes & move west

• Policy moves toward gold standard and protectionism

Panics



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Farmers’ Troubles

• Increased food production leads to decrease in food prices

• High railroad rates• Debt• Expensive machinery

necessary to farm the Plains

• Loans dry up in recessions



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Solutions to Farmers’ Troubles

• The Grange– 1867– “Cooperatives”– Election organizing

• The Farmer’s Alliance– 1870s– Join with factory workers and

miners

Farmers Take Action

• The Grange–1867 organization–Boost farm profits and reduce RR freight rates–Cooperatives (pool money to buy machinery, seeds,

etc = wholesale)–Voting in blocks

Farmers Take Action

• Farmer’s Alliance–1870s–Texas & So

Populists

• 1892 • Farmers and labor unions• Demands:

–Raise prices for farm produce–Regulate RR rates–Income tax–8-hr workday–Free silver



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Free Silver Pro & Con• Mint Western silver

into money to increase supply

• Increase money supply would make it easier for farmers to repay debts because farm prices would go back up.

• Increase money would decrease its value and lead to inflation

• Favored the Gold standard

The Gold standard

• Each dollar back then = stood for certain amt of actual gold backed by gov’t

• Since supply of gold limited, less money in circulation, which should prevent inflation

Election 1896

• Populists support political candidates and almost win

• Party broke up in 1896 when Democrats adopted some of their ideas



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The Populist Party

• 1892• Farmers + Workers• Demand gov help raise

farm prices• Income tax• 8 hour day• Limit immigration• “free silver”



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Election of 1896

• Bad Depression 1893• Election affected by

Populists– William Jennings Bryan– “Great Commoner”– Bryan carries south & west,

McKinley wins northeast, so wins presidency

– Broke up after ‘96– Dems adopt some ideas– prosperity



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Social Darwinism

• Herbert Spencer– Lamarck instead of Darwin

but inspired by the latter• “Survival of the Fittest”

applied to society (coined by Spencer)

• Believe that the rich are better so they deserve it; earned it; better bred (racism)



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Antitrust Efforts

• Interstate Commerce Act 1887– Interstate

Commerce Commission

• Sherman Antitrust Act 1890

“Progressives and Muckrakers”

“President Wilson and Envoy Root [American statesman Elihu Root]. . .say ‘We are a democracy. . .’We women of America tell you that America is not a democracy. Twenty million women are denied the right to vote. . . .Tell our government that it must liberate its people. . . ”—Leaflet written and distributed by Alice Paul outside of the White House 1917

“Everybody counts in applying democracy. And there will never be a true democracy until every responsible and law-abiding adult in it, without regard to race, sex, color or creed has his or her own inalienable and unpurchasable voice in government.”—Carrie Chapman Catt upon the establishment of the League of Women Voters, 1920



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Muckrakers

• reform-oriented journalists

• popular magazines• investigative journalism

reporting

Progressive Political Reforms

Or“How to make the US more

Democratic”



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Lawmaking problems

• Lawmakers were hand-picked to run by political bosses and stuck to the directions their supporters gave them. What the people wanted often came last.

• The only influence over lawmaking by “the people” was voting



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Lawmaking solutions

• Initiative – voters could force the legislature to debate a bill

• Referendum – voters could pass laws over the legislators’ heads



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Elections problems

• Big party bosses and wealthy connected businessmen chose who could run in elections to become legislators. (Sometimes it didn’t even matter who won!)

• State legislators chose state senators

• Only men could vote



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Elections solutions

• Primary – voters select their candidate in a special ‘election before the election”

• Recall – lawmakers who do not do as they promised can be voted out of office

More democracy?

• Republic = rule by elected representatives• Democracy = rule by the people• Progressives made our Republic more

democratic by giving more people more influence in lawmaking and electing representatives.



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Settlement House Movement

• Community center offer svcs = poor

• Jane Addams• 1889 Hull House



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Settlement House Movement

• Idealistic young women from wealthy or middle class families

• Volunteers• Pressing for gov’t reform

13. garfield, arthur, cleveland, harrison, cleveland 1881-1897 “the gilded age”

Documents

boomerswestward expansionclick

strike1869 skilled workers

esp miners

knights of labormeeting

recessionsmany violent

laboreconomic booms

major depressions

rr workershard times