The Gilded Age: Key Debates and Conflicts (PPT)

 BIG QUESTION: What were the major debates and conflicts during the Gilded Age? THE INFAMOUS BOSS TWEED Led Tammany Hall in political machine NYC in favor of the Democratic Party Made over $200 million by securing bribes and manipulating the government through embezzlement, f...

 BIG QUESTION: What were the major debates and conflicts during the Gilded Age? THE INFAMOUS BOSS TWEED Led Tammany Hall in political machine NYC in favor of the Democratic Party Made over $200 million by securing bribes and manipulating the government through embezzlement, fake leases, padded bills, etc. Schemes uncovered by cartoonist Thomas Nast of the New York Times Boss Tweed sent to prison WORKER UNREST & GOVERNMENT RESPONSE Panic of 1873 - after collapse of major railroad co. → Grant unable to stop downturn & unemployment reached 14% Great Railroad Strike 1877 - protesting low wages & gained sympathy from other citizens → Hayes sent federal troops to end the strike Set stage for future unrest: Haymarket Square, Homestead Steel Strike & Pullman Strike ANTI-CHINESE SENTIMENT Arrive during Gold Rush (worked menial jobs) & worked on building the Transcontinental Railroad (1869) Kearneyites - irish immigrants who resented cheap labor competition attacked Chinese Chinese Exclusion Act 1882 prohibited immigration from China until 1943 THE POPULISTS Grew from Farmers Alliance and Granger Movement rooted in midwest Supported inflationary monetary policies (silver coinage), graduated income tax, government ownership of railroads, telegraphs & phones; direct election of senators, shorter workday & immigration restrictions Strikes led some to fear white urban workers would join the movement Racial tension fragmented the Populists PRO-SILVER & WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN Supporters: owners of silver mines “If they dare to come out in the in the West, farmers who believed open field and defend the gold that an expanded currency would standard as a good thing, we shall increase the price of their crops, and fight them to the uttermost, having behind us the producing masses of debtors who hoped it would enable the nation and the world. Having them to pay their debts more easily. behind us the commercial interests Divergence in interests between and the laboring interests and all Eastern manufacturing/banking the toiling masses, we shall answer their demands for a gold standard and Western farmers by saying to them, you shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.” THE HOMESTEAD STRIKE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS DURING THE GILDED AGE DEMOCRATS BOTH REPUBLICANS Agreed on tariff & Puritan Lutheran & Catholics civil service reform strict codes of personal morality More recent immigrants Strong, loyal and believed that government following who voted should play a role in regulating Opposed government efforts to on party line (80% both the economic and the moral impose a single moral standard on voter turnout) affairs of society. the entire society Midwest and the rural and small- South and in the northern town Northeast industrial cities Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)—a politically potent fraternal organization of several hundred thousand Union veterans of the Civil War. Large manufacturers THE COMPROMISE OF 1877 PLESSY V. FERGUSON  JIM CROW & DISENFRANCHISEMENT Sharecropping & Crop liens - kept newly “freed” blacks in debt to white landowners Black Codes/Jim Crow - banned blacks from serving on juries, banned gathering in large, unauthorized groups, and even punished blacks for “idleness.” Disenfranchisement - literacy tests and poll taxes to deny blacks the ballot. The notorious “grandfather clause” exempted from those requirements anyone whose ancestors had voted in 1860 DEBATES OVER CURRENCY & THE TARIFF Industrialists supported high tariffs like McKinley Tariff → Poor farmers had to buy high-priced manufactured goods but sell goods on competitive, unprotected global market Democratic Party favored bimetallism while Republicans supported adherence to the Gold Standard Sherman Silver Purchase Act required the Treasury to increase its purchases of silver but concern about the US abandoning the gold standard drove up the demand for gold, which drained the Treasury’s gold (people exchanging silver currency for gold) Depression of 1893 → JP Morgan loaned the government money as Gold drained from the treasury  What is the message of this cartoon?  THE GILDED AGE: Mark Twain called the late 19th century the "Gilded Age." By this, he meant that the period was glittering on the surface but corrupt underneath. 16 CONNECTING AMERICA: THE RAILROAD ◦ By 1864, Vanderbilt transferred millions from steamboats to railroads ◦ Transcontinental Railroad (1869) - Union Pacific from East & Central Pacific from West ▫ Government provided land grants ◦ “Pittsburgh Plus Pricing” - gave price breaks to northern manufacturers ▫ Interstate Commerce Act 1877 - nominal restrictions but set precedent for gov to protect public interest against private enterprise ◦ Created an enormous domestic market & made true westward expansion possible but at the cost of 18 19 The Last Spike, 1869 20 FUN FACT: STANDARD TIME Although the railway systems in U.S. and Canada adopted standard time at noon on November 18, 1883, it was many years before such time was actually used by the people themselves. The use of standard time gradually increased because of its obvious practical advantages for communication and travel. Standard time was established by U.S. law with 21  1900 Political Cartoon - The Trust Giant’s Point of View: “What a Funny Little Government” STANDARD OIL TREASURY REFINERY DEPT WHITE HOUSE 22 VANDERBI Made his fortune in steamboats then built a railway between Chicago and LT New York. He popularized the use of steel rails in his railroad and consolidated control using coercion and threats. ROCKEFEL Created Standard Oil Company which controlled 95% of all of the refineries LER in the US by 1877. Used “Horizontal Integration,” buying out or controlling a majority of stock in competitors to avoid competition. CARNEGIE Used "Vertical Integration" to control every step of the steel-making process; his goal was to improve efficiency and controlling the quality of the product at all stages of production by eliminating competition and the middle man. Sold Carnegie Steel to JP Morgan & engaged in philanthropic endeavors (“Gospel of Wealth”). MORGAN Banker and investor who played a role in the consolidation of a number of industries, including the creation of General Electric & the buyout of 23 “CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY” OR “ROBBER BARONS”? ◦ Laissez-Faire gov policies led to immense wealth for business owners but poor conditions for workers ▫ Manipulated 14th Amendment to avoid corporate regulation by the states by deeming corporations the status of legal “persons.” ◦ Social Darwinism - “survival of the fittest” though more influenced by classical economists than Darwin ▫ American Dream - “up by your bootstraps” ◦ Combinations became common business practices: 24 THE GOSPEL OF WEALTH “This, then, is held to be the duty of the man of Wealth: First, to set an example of modest, unostentatious living, shunning display or extravagance; to provide moderately for the legitimate wants of those dependent upon him; and after doing so to consider all the surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which is called upon to administer, and strictly bound as a matter of duty to administer in the manner which, in his judgment, is the best calculated to produce the most beneficial results for the community – the man of wealth thus becoming the mere agent and trustee for his poorer brethren, bringing to their service his superior wisdom, experience, and ability to administer, doing for them better than they would or could do for themselves…” 25 THE GOSPEL OF WEALTH KEY TAKEAWAYS: ◦ Carnegie and other industrialists believed that the poor should be supported and aided in a way that the wealthy saw fit → rather than giving handouts to the poor, the wealthy would fund institutions that would uplift the poor (like schools) ◦ They believed their wealth was a manifestation of God’s will but it was not a mere consequence of faith, piety, or belief in God ◦ Social Darwinists often opposed the ideas of the Gospel of Wealth as they believed the poor remain poor through a lack of personal initiative or other character flaws ◦ In many ways, this Gospel of Wealth was patronizing in that the wealthy looked down on the lower classes and deemed them unfit to determine for themselves what kind of aid they CARNEGIE’S STEEL ROCKEFELLER & EMPIRE STANDARD OIL 27 28 dollars (2006) How wealthy were they… ? Billions of 29 TACKLING THE TRUSTS CONTEXT: Big business had gone mostly unchecked by the government: industrial giants formed monopolies that drove out competition. Price fixing, pools, and cartels were common. The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 was the first measure passed by Congress to prohibit trusts. ◦ reflected a growing concern by the American public that the growth and expansion of monopolies were detrimental to the free market WORKER UNREST & SETBACKS ◦ 1877 Railroad Strikes over wage cuts quelled by federal troops → over 100 deaths ◦ 1886 Haymarket Square - labor demonstration turned violent as a bomb was thrown, killing 12 incl. police → Radical anarchists blamed ◦ 1892 Homestead Steel Strikes - battle with Pinkerton guards & ultimately federal troops who crushed the strike ▫ Carnegie increased hours and decreased wages ◦ 1894 Pullman Strike - Eugene Debs led over 125,000 workers to strike – disrupts railroad industry 31  “The Monopoly of Labor” 1880s 32 ADVOCATING FOR THE WORKERS ◦ 1892 Populist Party est. - demanded inflationary coinage, graduated income tax, government ownership, of infrastructure, immigration restrictions, one term presidency, etc. ◦ National Labor Union - excluded Chinese, women, & blacks ◦ Knights of Labor - the “one big union:” allowed skilled, unskilled, men, women, white and black workers ◦ AFL - Led by Samuel Gompers, an association of unions pursuing “bread & butter issues”: higher wages, shorter working hours & better conditions ◦ Public began to concede the right of workers to unionize → Labor Day 33 Monopolies had a clear advantage over labor 34 1892 Presidential Election: Populist candidate James Weaver won over a million votes… however both in this election & the Election of 1896, the interests of Big Business triumphs 35 SPOTLIGHT: “THE FORGETTABLE PRESIDENTS” 1869 - 1877: ULYSSES S. GRANT 1877 - 1881: RUTHERFORD B. HAYES 1881 : JAMES A. GARFIELD 1881 - 1885 : CHESTER A. ARTHUR 1885 - 1889 : GROVER CLEVELAND 1889 - 1893 : BENJAMIN 36 AMERICA MOVES TO THE CITY INDUSTRIAL JOBS DRAW MIGRANTS FROM COUNTRYSIDE & IMMIGRANTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD 38  CITY LIFE At the end of the 19th century, the price of goods decreased & workers’ real wages increased, providing new access to a variety of goods & services + Glittering city lights, department stores, telephones, skyscrapers & feats of engineering like the Brooklyn Bridge + standards of living improved, while the gap between rich and poor grew - Issues of waste disposal highlight new consumer culture & lack of urban planning - Urban slums - dumbbell tenements poorly ventilated with a shared toilet 39  “ How the Other Half Lives by Jacob Riis (1890) - photojournalism documenting the conditions of New York City slums 41 42 43  OLD IMMIGRANTS VS. NEW CONTINUIT IMMIGRANTS CHANGE Y → Political machines provide → New definitions of aid to immigrants for their votes “undesirables”: from → Nativism & opposition to Irish/Germans to S/E Europeans immigrants: Know-Nothings & → Laws passed: Chinese American Protective Exclusion Act of 1882; attempts Association campaigned for to pass literacy tests vetoed by laws to restrict immigration. Cleveland → immigrants worked lowest → “Old immigrants” assimilated paying jobs more quickly while “New CHANGE & immigrants” tried to preserve their Old Country culture in CONTINUITY America by creating ethnic enclaves 44 →New Immigrants poorer and 45  EDUCATION & CONTEXT: increased literacy: growth of tax- LITERATURE supported (public) schools (Morrill Act 1862 gave land grants to public schools). Private universities grow (Gospel of Wealth → Carnegie Mellon & Vanderbilt University) rise in newspapers (“yellow journalism”) & dime novels (often about the Wild West) Major theme in literature: Adventure, candid portrayals of life & social critiques ○ Henry George - Progress and Poverty on maldistribution of wealth ○ Edward Bellamy - Looking Backward - injustices melted away in the future as government nationalized big business ○ Mark Twain - Huck Finn & Tom Sawyer 46 47  REFORM CONTEXT: 1830s & 1840s were also an age of S reform: Second Great Awakening, temperance, public education, prison reform, abolitionism, suffrage, etc. Settlement Houses - women (like Jane Addams & Hull House) lived among immigrant poor and educated/Americanized them, provided childcare, etc. Social Gospel - Protestant ministers used religion to demand better housing and living conditions for the urban poor Temperance - to outlaw consumption of alcohol which plagued urban poor communities - Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), Anti-Saloon League & Carrie Nation “Comstock Law” to promote sexual purity 48 CONTEXT: Seneca Falls WOMEN’S RIGHTS Charlotte Perkins Gilman - author of Women & Economics who advocated cooperative cooking and child care to promote women's economic independence and equality NAWSA - est. in 1890 - Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony “old guard” members Carrie Chapman Catt - used a traditional view of women’s sphere to argue for the vote--to help weigh in on public health, school boards, etc. Wyoming set example of allowing women to vote (1869) & by 1890 most 49 states 50  DEBATES ON W.E.B. Booker T. DuBois AFRICAN Washington advocated politicalAMERICAN action philosophy of self- and a civil rights agenda help, racial solidarity PROGRESS (helped found the NAACP) and accomodation argued social change → accept could be accomplished by discrimination developing the small group temporarily and of college-educated blacks concentrate on he called “the Talented elevating themselves Tenth” through hard work. Editor of The Crisis Education in the magazine & Wrote The crafts, industrial and 51  LET’S REFLECT: What were the major debates and conflicts during the Gilded Age?