Download - I. Gilded Age
I. Gilded Age
Grant elected 1868 thanks to Black Republican vote.
Mark Twain’s term “gilded age” for corruption such as Jim Fisk, Jay Gould tried to corner the Gold Market with help from Treasury Dept.
Gilded Age Boss Tweed/Tweed
Ring – NY bribery, graft, and fraudulent elections, making $200 million; jailed by Tilden and Nast.
Credit Mobilier – construction company run by Union Pacific RR, paid itself to build rr.
More scandal
Whiskey Ring – govt workers stealing excise tax revenue, including Sec. War Belknap.
Grant defeated NY Tribune editor Horace Greeley (D) through mud-slinging: free-loving vegetarian, too soft on South.
review
Bloody Shirt Gilded Age Fisk/Gould Boss Tweed Thomas
Nast/Samuel Tilden
Credit Mobilier Whiskey Ring Horace Greeley
Newspaper editor lost to Grant
Reason to vote Republican
Corner gold market RR paid itself to build NY political boss Cartoonist, attorney
who put away Boss Tweed
Stole tax money
II. Gilded Age economics, politics Panic of 1873 – too
many loans for railroads, mines, factories, farms.
Debtors wanted greenbacks printed for inflation, formed Greenback Party; hard-money advocates won over Grant.
Passionate, purposeless politics Parties agreed on
issues; high turnout (80%) based on patronage.
GOP – midwest, rural NE - strict morality, govt involved in ec. and values; Democrats – South and Big Cities – Catholic, Lutheran immigrants, easier going morality
Stalwarts v. Half-Breed Republicans Stalwarts – led by
Roscoe Conkling (NY), pro-patronage and spoils system.
Half-Breeds – James Blaine (MN), flirted with civil service reform; real fight over who controlled patronage
review Panic of 1873 Greenbacks Hard money Why high turnout? Republican support Democratic support Stalwarts Half-Breeds Stalwart leader Half-Breed leader
James Blaine Roscoe Conkling Too many loans Patronage all the way Some civil service
reform Midwest, rural NE South, big cities Patronage Helps creditors Helps debtors
I. Election of 1876 and Jim Crow Rutherford Hayes
(R-OH) v. Tilden (D-NY), who won popular vote 184 electoral votes (185 needed).
3 disputed Southern states – FL, SC,LA – two sets of returns.
Compromise of 1877 Electoral Count Act –
Commission of 15 would count, 8-7 GOP; Compromise 3 days before inauguration: Hayes President, troops out of La/SC.
Civil Rights Cases (1883) – Civil Rights Act 1875 applied to govt, not individuals
Jim Crow South Jim Crow (segregation)
laws passed by Redeemer Southern governments, upheld in Plessy v. Fergeson 1896, enforced through record lynching.
Debt: sharecroppers and tenant farmers; no voting: literacy tests, poll taxes, grandfather clause, white primaries
Election of 1876/compromise of 1877/Rutherfraud B. Hayes - explain
review Who ran in 1876? How close did Tilden come to winning? What were the disputed states? What were the terms of the Compromise of
1877? What did the Supreme Court rule in the Civil
Rights Cases of 1883? What court case enshrined segregation laws? How was segregation enforced in the 1890s? How did African-Americans suffer
economically? Politically?
III. More politics
Nativism – Chinese came to California (“Chinatown in S.F.) to work mines and railroads, mostly male
Irish demagogue Stephen Kearney and others pushed Chinese Exclusion Act 1882, in place until 1943.
2nd assassination
1880 GOP ticket Garfield (Ohio)/Arthur instead of Hayes.
Stalwart Charles Guiteau shot Garfield (2nd shortest presidency): “I am a Stalwart. Arthur is now President.”
Pendleton Act, 1882
Stalwart Arthur signed Pendleton Act – civil service reform/merit system
By promoting good government, Arthur ruined his political career, and died in 1886.
Make your own document Everybody make a
document/cartoon that explains the importance of Garfield’s assassination.
review
Who came to China to work mines and railroads?
What law, pushed by whom, was passed in response?
Who was the second President assassinated? Who killed him and why?
What law did President Arthur sign? How did this affect his political fortunes?
I. Grover “the good” Cleveland Blaine – “Burn this
letter” – the 1884 GOP nominee – pushed mugwumps (sanctimonious) to vote Democrat
Democrat Cleveland, so honest he admitted an illegitimate son
Personal politics
“Burn, burn, burn this letter!” “Ma, ma, where’s my pa?” “Gone to the White House, ha, ha, ha!”
Republican insult of Democrats of “Rum, Romanism, and rebellion” pushed NY Irish to vote Democrat
Laissez-faire (hands off) Cleveland Vetoed Texas farm
bill: “people support the govt; govt doesn’t support the people.”
Fought pension-grabbers and the tariff, which caused a surplus (Oh, no!!!), and he lost to Harrison in 1888
Explain the cartoon and the context
review
Blaine Mugwump “Burn, burn, burn this letter!” “Ma, ma, where’s my pa!” What response to this? Laissez-faire Support the government Pensions tariff
II. populism Republicans under
Harrison and House Speaker Thomas Reed passed McKinley Tariff, hurting farmers and losing elections – Cleveland again, only time ever.
Populists – People’s Party – met Omaha, Nebraska and nominated Greenback James Weaver, getting 22 electoral votes
Populist proposals
Free, unlimited silver
Graduated income tax
Govt owned railroads
Direct election of Senators
1 term Presidency Initiative,
referendum Shorter workday Immigration
restriction
Challenges to Populism
Georgia’s Tom Watson first wanted interracial populism, but became race-baiting , vociferous segregationist.
Panic of 1893; huge debt; Cleveland got loan from JP Morgan and Wall Street
review
How did Republicans hurt farmers? Populists: where and what
candidate? Name 8 Populist proposals. Who was Tom Watson and how did
he change?
I. Railroads 1865 – 32,000 miles
of rr; 1900 – 192,500; government subsidized building – 200 million acres given to railroads
Transcontinental RR begun by Union Pacific 1869
Irish workers: low pay, dangerous , “hells on wheels” towns
Wedding of the Rails Central Pacific –
10,000 Chinese laborers; ex-California Governor Leland Stanford; blasting through mountain (many explosion deaths)
1869 wedding of the rails; Stanford drove a golden spike with silver hammar
Railroad revolution Innovations: steel rail,
standard gauge track, Westinghouse air brake, Pullman Palace car, standard time
Economics: Vanderbilt $100 million Markets for raw materials, manufactured goods; source of steel industry
review
How fast did rrs grow? When was transcontinental rr begun? What two companies? What two groups of laborers? What hazards? Where was the wedding of the rails? Name 6 railroad innovations. What economic significance did the
rrs have?
II. Captains of industry/robber barons Vanderbilt – shipping,
then railroads: “The law/the public”
Rockefeller (Reckafellow)– Standard Oil (for lighting first), used trusts; Social Darwinism
Carnegie , then banker JP Morgan– U.S. Steel – vertical integration, stock watering
2 famous cartoons
legislation
Interstate Commerce Act, over Cleveland’s veto, created Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate railroads.
Often railroad men on the commission, but stabilized system
Inventors/inventions
Kelly/Bessemer – Steel process – cold air blown on hot iron
Bell – telephone; had been a teacher of the deaf
Edison – phonograph, mimeograph, dictaphone, moving picture, lightbulb
review
Rockefeller Carnegie Vanderbilt JP Morgan Edison Bell Bessemer/Kelley ICC
Regulate railroads US Steel Shipping/railroads/
public be damned Telephone Steelmaking Lightbulb,
phonograph Standard Oil
III. Gospel of Wealth
Rockefeller, – God made me rich; Carnegie – Gospel of Wealth – altruism/responsibility.
Social Darwinism – survival of the fittest; Spencer, Darwin
change Interstate commerce,
14th amendment protected corporations; 1890 Sherman Antitrust Act was originally ineffective.
New South – Henry Grady Atlanta Constitution; Duke – cigarette production; cotton mills with cheap labor and company store
conditions
Women, children doing factory work; inequality and wage labor up.
Regimented, repetitive factory an adjustment for farm workers.
review
Gospel of wealth Social Darwinism Why were corporations hard to
regulate? Sherman Antitrust Act Grady/New South Name 2 successful Southern
industries 4 Problems of industrialization
I. unions 1881-1900 23,000
strikes; ½ successful. Challenges: 1. scabs 2. Bought lawyers,
press, judges, politicians, and hired thugs (Pinkertons)
3. Lockout, yellow dog contracts, and blacklist
First two National Labor Union
– 1st; skilled and unskilled; struggled to unite racially; hurt by Depression
Knights of Labor – skilled and unskilled; led by Irish Terence Powderly; fought for 8 hour day; utopian, ruined by Haymarket Square Strike
American Federation of Labor (AFL) Led by Jewish
Samuel Gompers; skilled only
Shunned politics; wanted better hours, pay, conditions
Used long strike, closed shop
review
Union challenges National Labor
Union Knights of Labor American
Federation of Labor (AFL)
Terence Powderly Samuel Gompers
Leader of AFL Leader of Knights
of Labor 1st union; hurt by
bad economy Skilled worker only
union; practical goals
Skilled and unskilled; utopian goals
II. urbanization
1870-1900 – population doubled, but city population tripled.
NY (3.5m) , Philly, Chicago, all over 1 million people.
Pull factors
Came for jobs, electricity, plumbing, telephones (1880 – 50,ooo; 1900 – 1 million), department stores (Sister Carrie)
Congestion addressed by skyscrapers (Sullivan), subways
Urban problems
Crime (police invented)
Trash invented; nothing thrown away on farm; Baltimore smelled like “a million polecats.”
Dumbbell tenements and flophouses for urban poor/slums
leisure
Circus – PT Barnum – “sucker born every minute – Barnum and Bailey
Wild West shows – Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley
Sports – baseball, basketball/Naismith, football/Walter Camp
review
Population 3 cities with a million 4 pull factors 2 solutions to congestion 3 city problems
I. New Immigrants
S and E Europe – Italians, Jews, Russians, Greeks, Polish, Croats, Slovaks
Darker skin, Orthodox Christian, parochial schools, for. Language newspapers
Esp. in NY, Chicago
Push pull
Failed European farms, failure in European cities
Letters home, advertisements about unlimited opportunity in U.S.
Italians
From South; 4m came; ½ went back
Worked in construction and as longshoremen
1% graduated high school; raised chickens and vegetables in cities
review
Where? Assimilation issues Push and pull The Italian experience
II. Reactions to New Immigrants Party Bosses
controlled local governments, which built schools, parks, and hospital in immigrant communities.
Acres of Diamonds v. Social Gospel – Rauschenbusch, Gladden, Salvation Army
Women helpers and workers Jane Adams –
settlement houses – Hull House – aid and train new immigrants.
White women: phone operators, social workers, secretaries, Dept store clerks; immigrants – factories; African-Americans - maids
nativism
Nativists feared high birthrates, labor scabs, “mongrelization,’ and radicalism formed American Protective Association.
Statue of Liberty 1886, gift from France, Emma Lazarus poem
review
Party bosses Christians Settlement houses/Jane Addams Women workers and race Name 4 nativist fears Emma Lazarus
question
If you’re in a bad situation, do you try to make the best of it, or change it?
Interpret a line from the song.
I. Thought Christian Science –
Mary Baker Eddy (not scientology) faith makes you healthy
Evolution – Darwin and accomodationists
Public high schools increased; illiteracy halved
Fact/value, public health improved – Lister and Pasteur
Washington v. Du Bois Booker T. Washington
– Tuskegee Institute – self-help, segregation, agriculture (Carver) and trades, “Uncle Tom?”
W.E.B. Du Bois – talented 10th, NAACP, Niagara Movement, Harvard PhD
Ida B. Wells - antilynching
Higher ed
Black colleges – Howard, Morehouse
Hatch Act (1887) extended Morrill Act for agricultural colleges – Cal, Ohio State, Texas A&M
Philanthropists – Stanford, U of Chicago
Review – match ‘em
Christian science Evolution Public health Trades and
segregation NAACP Black colleges Pragmatism Hatch Act/Morrill
Act
Mary Baker Eddy – pray for healing
Agricultural colleges
Pasteur/Lister WEB Du Bois Booker T.
Washington Howard, Atlanta U Truth as
consequence
II. Writing
Pragmatism – John Dewey, Oliver Wendell Holmes, William James – evaluate truth of idea by consequences
Yellow journalism – Hearst, Pulitzer – sensationalism, v. AP, New York Times
writers
Mark Twain – Huck Finn, The Gilded Age
Emily Dickenson – no fame poetry
Stephen Crane – Red Badge of Courage
Jack London – Call of the Wild
Theodore Dreiser – Sister Carrie
Women
Divorce rate up, birthrate down
Carrie Chapman Chatt – suffrage (Wyoming first ) is good for urban motherhood
WCTU – Francis Willard, Carrie Nation
matching
Pragmatism Yellow Journalism Mark Twain – Emily Dickenson Stephen Crane Jack London Theodore Dreiser Sister Carrie Women’s issues
no fame poetry Call of the Wild James, Dewey,
Holmes – truth of idea in consequence
sensationalism Divorce, suffrage,
antilynching Sister Carrie Huck Finn, The Gilded
Age Red Badge of Courage
III. Frontier and Native Americans Plains Tribes:
Comanche in Texas, Sioux in Dakotas, Apache in AZ and NM, Cheyenne in Wyoming
Horses, buffalo (1865 – 15 million; 1885 < 1000) key to hunting and warfare
Treaties
Treaty of Fort Laramie, 1851; Fort Atkinson, 1853 tribal territory in Oklahoma, Dakotas
Problems: 1. illegit. Signers 2. broken promises 3. defective
provisions 4. corrupt agents
2 massacres 1864 Sand Creek,
Colorado – Chivington massacred 400, including women and children
1866 William Fetterman and 81 others killed by Sioux in Wyoming Mountains, defending Bozeman Trail
review
Name 4 tribes of Plains Indians, with their location
2 key animals 2 treaties 2 reservations 4 problems with treaties 2 massacres
IV. Indian Wars
US army – many immigrants , 1/5 African-American “Buffalo soldiers”
Bozeman Trail abandoned in 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, but 1874 Gen. Custer discovers gold in SD Black Hills
Little Bighorn
Battle of Little Bighorn, 1876 Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and 2500 Sioux killed Custer and 264
Chief Joseph and Nez Perce were chased 1700 miles, just short of Canada: “I will fight no more forever.”
Last resistance
Geronimo and Apaches fled to Mexico; finally surrendered in 1886
Wounded Knee Massacre 1890, result of Ghost Dance, last violence
review
Describe the U.S. army in Indian Wars
Where was gold discovered, by whom?
Where was Custer killed, when, by whom?
Where was Chief Joseph captured/what quote?
What Apache holdout? What happened at Wounded Knee?
I. End of wars
Why Indians lost: 1. rr – endless
supplies and settlers
2. disease 3.
alcohol/firewater 4. demise of
buffalo – 15m to < 1000 in 20 years; Buffalo Bill killed 4000
reservations 1880 Helen Hunt
Jackson – Century of Dishonor – bad treatment
Dawes Act – 160 acres, forced assimilation
1879 Carlisle Indian School (PA) – “kill the Indian and save the man”
1934 Indian Reorganization Act – tribes recognized
More gold
1858 – “paydirt” in Pike’s Peak, Colorado
59ers – Comstock Lode in Nevada; gold and silver, statehood 1864
Boomtowns/ghost towns, mines, suffrage
review
Why did the Indians lose (4 reasons)? What book was written about the
bad treatment of Indians? What did the Dawes Act do? What was the philosophy of the
Carlisle Indian School Where else was gold found? Where was the Comstock Lode?
II. Cowboys and Long Drive Cowboys - confed
vets, freedmen, Mexicans - in Texas took Longhorns on long drive, mainly to cattle towns in Kansas
Longhorns sent to NY, Chicago, other cities;
Cowboys to ranches
Long Drives ended because:
1. barbed wire 2. overgrazing 3. winters 1885-
1886 Cattle production
shifted to large ranches
Moving west Homestead Act of
1862 brought farmers (“Homesteaders, sodbusters”) west, given 160 acres for promise to farm five years; dry farming worked.
8 new western states 1893 – Turner Thesis –
closing of the frontier
Utah, Oklahoma special
review
Name 3 groups of cowboys. Where did the Long Drives go? Why did the Long Drives end? What law brought people west? What were the conditions? Name 8 new states. Which 2 were special?
III. Return of the Populists
New farmers problems:
1. one crop – wheat or corn
2. world market 3. deflation 4. interest rates 5. boll weevil 6. droughts and floods 7. property taxes 8. freight rates
Farmers’ organizations
1. Grange (Oliver Kelly), 2. Alliance – social activities – cooperative stores, warehouses, some political success
Mary Lease – Populist leader – “raise less corn and more hell!”
Populist proposals
Free, unlimited silver
Graduated income tax
Govt owned railroads
Direct election of Senators
1 term Presidency Initiative,
referendum Shorter workday Immigration
restriction
1890s fireworks
Panic of 1893 – Coxey’s army marched on DC, demanded public works jobs
Pullman strike – Eugene Debs, palace car workers protested lower wages; army called by Cleveland
review
Name 10 farmers problems Name 2 farmers organizations ID: Mary Lease Coxey’s army Pullman Strike
IV. Election of 1896
GOP - McKinley – pro-tariff, Gold Standard; Westerners walked out of convention
Democrats – William Jennings Bryan – Cross of Gold speech; free silver
Populist dilemma Push all reforms, stay
pure and lose; join Democrats for a chance to win; supported Bryan and free silver.
Bryan – 18,000 miles, 600 speeches, 5m listeners; McKinley front porch campaign more money
Realigning election
McKinley won 271-176; Bryan wound South and west, not urban workers.
Soon crop prices rose and more gold was found, inflating currency; farmers prospered, no need for Populists
Tell the story of the 1896 election What candidates? What third party? What issue? What speech? Why did Populists join Democrats? Why did McKinley win? Why was the election important?
IV. Election of 1896
Populists/Democrat William Jennings Bryan – cross of gold speech; unlimited silver purchase
McKinley and gold standard, business and workers won; 4th party system/realignment