Reconstruction and the Gilded Age

• Reconstruction (1865–1877) was the post-Civil War period focused on rebuilding the South, integrating formerly enslaved people, and restoring Southern states to the Union.

Issues Addressed During Reconstruction

• How to readmit former Confederate states to the Union

• Establishing civil and political rights for formerly enslaved people, including voting and legal protections

• Addressing the devastated Southern economy and reforming land distribution and labor systems

• Combating opposition from Southern whites, including the Ku Klux Klan, aimed at undermining Reconstruction efforts

• Reconstruction officially ended in 1877 with the Compromise of 1877.

• The Gilded Age (1870s–1900) was a period marked by rapid economic growth, industrialization, and wealth accumulation in the U.S.

• The Gilded Age saw technological advancements, urbanization, and the rise of powerful business magnates.

• Political corruption, worker exploitation, income inequality, and poor living conditions also characterized this era.

Transportation Changes During the Gilded Age

• The transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, leading to expanded railroad networks and more efficient transportation.
• Cities developed electric streetcars and subways to improve urban transportation.
• Innovations in internal combustion engines laid the groundwork for the automobile industry.
• Improved shipping methods facilitated faster movement of goods and people, nationally and internationally.

Communication Changes During the Gilded Age

• The telephone (1876) revolutionized personal and business communication.
• Telegraph networks expanded, allowing near-instant messaging over long distances.
• Advances in printing increased newspaper circulation, spreading news and political ideas more quickly.

Notable "Robber Barons"

• John D. Rockefeller: Dominated the oil industry with Standard Oil.

• Andrew Carnegie: Controlled steel production with Carnegie Steel.

• Cornelius Vanderbilt: Made his fortune in railroads and shipping.

• J.P. Morgan: Was a dominant figure in banking and finance.

• Jay Gould: Speculated in railroads and finance.

• A trust is a business arrangement where multiple companies in the same industry are controlled by a single board, reducing competition and leading to monopolies.

• A monopoly occurs when a single company dominates an entire industry, eliminating competition.

How Monopolies Hurt the Market

• By allowing increased prices.
• By reducing innovation.
• By exploiting workers.
• By controlling supply to manipulate markets and inflate prices.

Tactics Used by "Robber Barons"

• Predatory pricing to eliminate competition.

• Bribery and corruption to influence politicians.

• Exploitation of workers through low wages and suppression of labor unions.

• Forming trusts and monopolies to eliminate competition.

• Horizontal integration involves a company buying or merging with competitors in the same industry to increase market share, demonstrated by Rockefeller’s Standard Oil acquiring multiple oil refineries.

• Vertical integration involves a company controlling all stages of production to lower costs and increase efficiency, as seen with Carnegie Steel controlling mines, railroads, and steel mills.

How Industries Affected the Political Process

• They used lobbying and bribery to influence lawmakers.

• Through regulatory capture, industries manipulated government agencies meant to regulate them.

• Governments often sided with businesses in labor disputes, suppressing strikes.

• Legislation such as high tariffs favored industrialists, hurting workers and consumers.

• The Progressive Era (1890s–1920s) was a period of social and political reform in response to problems caused by industrialization, urbanization, and corruption.

• Progressives aimed to address issues like poverty, labor exploitation, corporate power, political corruption, and social injustice through government regulation and activism.

Notable Progressive Era Reformers

• Theodore Roosevelt: Advocated for trust-busting, conservation, and food safety regulations.
• Woodrow Wilson: Pushed for banking and antitrust reforms.
• Jane Addams: Founded Hull House, a settlement house for the poor and immigrants.
• Upton Sinclair: Author of The Jungle, which exposed unsanitary conditions in the meatpacking industry.
• Ida B. Wells: Journalist and activist against lynching.
• W.E.B. Du Bois: Civil rights leader, co-founder of the NAACP, and advocate for racial equality.
• Jacob Riis: Photographer and journalist who exposed tenement conditions in How the Other Half Lives.

Labor Issues Addressed During the Progressive Era

• Child labor in dangerous conditions for little pay.
• Long hours and low wages for workers, often 12+ hour shifts.
• Unsafe working conditions highlighted by factory fires such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911
• Suppression of workers' rights and violent suppression of strikes.

Laws Passed During the Progressive Era

• Sherman Antitrust Act (1890): Outlawed monopolistic business practices.

• Clayton Antitrust Act (1914): Strengthened antitrust laws and protected labor unions.

• Pure Food and Drug Act (1906): Regulated food and medicine safety.

• Federal Reserve Act (1913): Created the Federal Reserve System to stabilize the economy.

• Interstate Commerce Act (1887): Regulated railroads and prevented unfair pricing.

• Jim Crow refers to a system of racial segregation and discriminatory laws enforced in the Southern U.S. from the late 19th century until the Civil Rights Movement (1960s).

• These laws mandated racial separation in public spaces, schools, transportation, and employment.

• The color line described racial segregation and the division of society based on race.

• W.E.B. Du Bois discussed the color line in The Souls of Black Folk as the defining issue of the 20th century.

• Lynching was the illegal killing (usually hanging) of Black Americans and other marginalized groups to enforce white supremacy; these acts were rarely prosecuted.

• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) legitimized "separate but equal" and reinforced Jim Crow laws.

• Brown v. Board of Education (1954) struck down "separate but equal" as unconstitutional in public schools and led to the dismantling of segregation laws.

Tactics Used to Segregate and Disenfranchise Black Americans

• Poll taxes: Required payment to vote, disproportionately affecting Black citizens.
• Literacy tests: Unfair reading tests were given to Black voters.
• Grandfather clauses: Allowed only those whose grandfathers had voted before Reconstruction to vote, excluding most Black people.
• White primaries: Democratic primaries were restricted to white voters.
• Violence and intimidation: Groups like the Ku Klux Klan used violence to prevent Black political participation.

Segregation Differences

• Southern states: Segregation was legally enforced through Jim Crow laws.
• Northern states: Segregation was maintained through discrimination in housing, employment, and education (de facto segregation).

"Slavery by Another Name" after Abolition

• Sharecropping: Black families were trapped in a cycle of debt to white landowners.

• Convict leasing: Black men were arrested on minor or false charges and forced into unpaid labor.

• Black Codes: Laws restricted Black people's freedom, forcing them into labor contracts that resembled slavery.

• Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City.

• The Harlem Renaissance (1920s–1930s) was a cultural, artistic, and intellectual movement that celebrated Black creativity, identity, and social progress.

Notable Harlem Renaissance Artists

• Langston Hughes: Poet and writer known for works like The Negro Speaks of Rivers.
• Zora Neale Hurston: Author of Their Eyes Were Watching God.
• Duke Ellington: Jazz composer and bandleader.
• Louis Armstrong: Influential jazz musician.
• Bessie Smith: Blues singer.
• Aaron Douglas: Painter known for African-inspired art.

Significance of the Harlem Renaissance

• Celebrated Black culture and history.

• Helped shape the Civil Rights Movement by promoting racial pride.

• Led to the mainstream acceptance of jazz, literature, and Black art.

• Provided economic opportunities for Black artists and writers.

• The Great Migration (1916–1970) was the movement of millions of Black Americans from the rural South to Northern and Western cities to escape racial discrimination and seek economic opportunities.

Destinations During the Great Migration

• Northern cities: Chicago, New York (Harlem), Detroit, Philadelphia, Cleveland.

• Midwestern cities: St. Louis, Kansas City.

• West Coast cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle.

• Approximately 6 million Black Americans moved out of the South between 1916 and 1970.

• A debt society relies heavily on credit and loans for purchases and investments, often beyond means.

• The stock market boomed during the 1920s due to speculation, leading to rapid economic growth and overinflated stock prices and leading to the 1929 crash.

• Buying on credit meant purchasing goods or stocks by borrowing money with the promise to pay later.

• Credit was loosely regulated, and people overused it for cars, radios, appliances, and stocks.

• Credit is now more regulated, and people use it more cautiously due to financial awareness and past economic crashes.

• Prohibition (1920–1933) was the nationwide ban on alcohol, enforced by the 18th Amendment.

Consequences of Prohibition

• The rise of organized crime (Al Capone, bootlegging, speakeasies).
• Increased illegal alcohol consumption.
• The eventual repeal by the 21st Amendment (1933).

Immigration and Race Issues in the 1920s

• The Immigration Act of 1924 restricted immigration from Southern/Eastern Europe and banned immigration from Asia.
• The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) gained power, targeting immigrants, Black Americans, Catholics, and Jews.
• The Red Scare led to anti-communist hysteria and persecution of immigrants.
• World War I (1914–1918) ended in 1918, with the U.S. emerging as a global power.

Causes of the Stock Market Crash of 1929

• Over-speculation: People bought stocks on credit, assuming prices would keep rising.
• Buying on margin: Investors borrowed money to buy stocks, leading to a debt bubble.
• Bank runs: People panicked and withdrew their savings, causing banks to fail.
• Overproduction: Factories produced more than demand, leading to layoffs.
• Declining consumer spending: Wages stagnated, and people couldn't afford goods.

Effects of the Market Crash on Americans

• Unemployment soared as businesses collapsed.

• Bank failures wiped out people's savings.

• Homelessness increased, leading to the rise of Hoovervilles.

• The Great Depression (1929–1939) ensued, with widespread poverty.

• Herbert Hoover believed in rugged individualism and took minimal government action.

Hoover's Responses to the Crash

• Hawley-Smoot Tariff (1930): Raised tariffs but worsened the global economy.
• Public works projects: Such as the Hoover Dam, but they were insufficient.
• Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC, 1932): Loaned money to businesses, but too late to stop the depression.