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…
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
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
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
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
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
Farmers move west
• Oklahoma Land Rush– Last one … free land– Forced natives out– Noon 22 Apr 1889 … lined
up at border– “Sooners” and “boomers”
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
Hard Life on the Plains
• Sodbusting• 1877 iron plough strong
enough• Windmills• Reapers• Threshing machines• Dry!
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
Hard Life on the Plains
• Grass fire• Grasshopper swarms• Super Deep snow
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
Hard Life on the Plains
• 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!
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
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
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
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
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
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
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
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
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
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
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
Indian Way of Life Ends
• Settlers React– Thought they were
preparing for war, dance outlawed
– 1890 – police enter Lakota reservation – arrest Sitting Bull, accused of Ghost Dance… accidentally shot
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
Indian Way of Life Ends
• 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
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
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
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
In the end…
• 1890 – frontier “closed”• Realization of manifest
destiny• Some questioned
treatment of Native Americans
• Some well-intentioned reforms
“The Gilded Age”
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
This is one example…
• … of dishonesty and corruption common at every level of American politics during the Gilded Age.
Gilded Age
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
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
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
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
Gilded Age
Gilded Age
Civil Service Exams
• Spoils system• Patronage• Civil service examination• Pendleton Act 1883
Gilded Age
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
James Garfield
• 1880 [R]• 200 days• In favor of Civil Service
Reform• Shot 1881
– Took July- Sept. to die
Gilded Age
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
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
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
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
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
Civil Service Exams
• 1883 – Pendleton Act– Civil Service Commission– By 1900, covered 40% Fed
jobs
Gilded Age
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
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
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
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
Immigration
Immigration
Immigration
Immigration
Immigration
Immigration
Immigration
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
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
Living in Tenements
Immigration
Immigration
Immigration
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
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
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
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
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
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
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
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
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
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
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
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
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
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
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
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
1896
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
The Populist Party
• 1892• Farmers + Workers• Demand gov help raise
farm prices• Income tax• 8 hour day• Limit immigration• “free silver”
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
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
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
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)
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
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
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
Muckrakers
• reform-oriented journalists
• popular magazines• investigative journalism
reporting
Progressive Political Reforms
Or“How to make the US more
Democratic”
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
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
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
Lawmaking solutions
• Initiative – voters could force the legislature to debate a bill
• Referendum – voters could pass laws over the legislators’ heads
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
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
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
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.
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
Settlement House Movement
• Community center offer svcs = poor
• Jane Addams• 1889 Hull House
Click to edit the outline text format
Second Outline Level
Third Outline Level
Fourth Outline Level
Fifth Outline Level
Sixth Outline Level
Seventh Outline Level
Settlement House Movement
• Idealistic young women from wealthy or middle class families
• Volunteers• Pressing for gov’t reform