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BRIDGE TO THE 20 TH CENTURY The Gilded Age
BRIDGE TO THE 20TH CENTURY
The Gilded Age
SETTLERS PUSH WESTWARD (1860’s & 1870’s)
• Different views– Native Americans: land cannot be owned– White settlers: owning land & a house, starting a
business, etc… gave them status• Reasons for push:– 1) Manifest Destiny– 2) Lure of Gold & Silver– 3) Homestead Act (1862)• Gave 160 acres of land free to anyone who would live on and
cultivate it for five years (1862-1900, 600,000)
HOW THEY MOVED WEST
• Pacific Railroad Act (1862)– Gave government loans
and huge tracts of land to the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads• Both companies hired
many immigrants (including Chinese)
CLASHES WITH NATIVE AMERICANS
• Sand Creek Massacre– November, 1864– Sand Creek, Colorado– John Chivington, militia colonel, attacked and killed
around 200 Cheyenne• Red River War (1874-1875)– Kiowa & Comanche– U. S. Army responded
CLASHES (contd)
• Little Bighorn (“Custer’s Last Stand”)– Colonel George Armstrong Custer• Seventh Cavalry
– Sitting Bull & Crazy Horse• Sioux and Cheyenne combined force
– June 25, 1876 Montana• Custer’s mistakes:
– 1) underestimated the enemy (2,000-3,000)– 2) men were tired– 3) split his regiment (attacked w/200 men)
CLASHES (contd)
• Battle of Wounded Knee– December, 1890• After Sitting Bull’s death
– Seventh Cavalry• Rounded up 350 Sioux & demanded that they give up
their weapons• One Sioux fired on the soldiers & the soldiers returned
fire killing all
– Significance Ended Indian Wars
ASSIMILATION
• Assimilation a plan under which Native Americans would give up their beliefs and way of life to become part of white culture– Dawes Act (1887)• Meant to inspire Native Americans to own property• Broke up reservations • Distributed land to each head of family• Result lost land
– Education• Off-reservation boarding schools
CATTLE INDUSTRY
• Great Plains & The West– Buffalo eliminated– Cattle ranching introduced
• Spanish brought horses and cattle w/them to the New World
• Railroads & Demand– After CW, a large market for beef skyrocketed, especially in
the cities, and the railroads made it possible to transport it there• Sedalia, MO 1866, provided route to Chicago• Abilene, Kansas 1867, trails & rail lines converge
– Chisholm Trail major cattle route from San Antonio, TX through OK to KS
COWBOYS• Btw 1866-1885, 55,000 cowboys • Reality vs. Myth– Reality
• Worked 10-14 hours per day (ranch), 18 hours (trail)• Roundup (Spring), Long Drive (Summer)• Most likely to die in a riding accident
– Two Legendary “Cowboys” • James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok
– CW scout & spy, marshal in Abilene, KS– “Dead Man’s Hand” shot and killed while holding two pair (aces
and eights) in a poker game• Martha Jane Cannary (“Calamity Jane”)
– Markswoman, dressed like a man, may have been scout for Custer
End of the “Wide-open West”
• Series of hardships hurt the cattle industry– 1883 drought– January, 1887 worst blizzard in American history– Ranchers turned to smaller herds of high-grade
stock• Care and feeding throughout the year
– Bought land for cattle to graze– Barbed wire kept cattle from straying
» Joseph Glidden, 1874» “Wide-open” to “fenced-in”
TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD
• 1867– Central Pacific eastward from Sacramento– Union Pacific westward from Omaha– Both hired CW veterans, Irish and Chinese
immigrants, African Americans, and Mexican Americans
• May, 1869– Both companies meet in Promontory, Utah
• East and West Coasts connected
GOVERNMENTAL ENCOURAGEMENT
• Examples of how the government encouraged settlement of the West & Great Plains?
• BOOMER SOONER– KS Gov. John P. St. John– 1889 less than 24 hours, 2 million acres were settled
• Much of the land that was settled was possessed before it was officially open settlers claimed it SOONER than they were supposed to OK = Sooner State
• Morrill Land Grant Acts (1862 & 1890)– Government gave federal land to states to help finance agricultural
colleges (30,000 acres for every member of Congress)– OSU, 1870
• Many of these colleges eventually developed other fields as well
FARMERS FACE PROBLEMS
• Deflation– Less money in circulation– Value of every dollar in circulation increases (Supply &
Demand)– Cost of goods & services (including crops) decreases
• Debt/Mortgages/Price Gouging • Inflation– More money in circulation– Value of every dollar decreases (Supply & Demand)– Cost of goods & services increased
FARMERS RESPOND
• Farmers’ Alliances– 4 million men & women, mostly in the South &
West– Oliver Kelley & The Grange (1867)• Organized isolated farm families• Fought the railroads
– Southern Alliance (largest)– Colored Farmers’ National Alliance• 250,000 African Americans
POLITICAL RESPONSE• Populism
– “movement of the people”– Populist Party (1892)
• Economic Reforms– 1) increase in money supply– 2) graduated income tax– 3) federal loan program– 4) free silver or bimetallism
• Political Reforms– 1) direct election of U. S. Senators– 2) single terms for president and vice-president– 3) secret ballot to end voting fraud
• Labor Reforms– 1) eight-hour workday– 2) immigration restrictions
– Much of these reforms eventually became the platform of the Democratic Party, and all but one were enacted. Which one was not?
DEPRESSION & BIMETALLISM
• 1893 Panic– Economy grew too fast & people overextended themselves
w/debt & loans they could not pay back– Depression, 1894
• 1/5 of the workforce was unemployed• Free Silver & Bimetallism– Republicans & Democrats split over which metal should be
the basis of the nation’s monetary system– Populists favored bimetallism
• Government would give people either gold or silver in exchange for paper currency or checks
• Silver was more plentiful than gold, thus backing money w/both would make more currency available
ELECTION OF 1896• William McKinley, (OH)
– Republican• Favored gold standard
• Democratic Party decided to adopt bimetallism as part of platform– William Jennings Bryan
• “Cross of Gold” speech @ Democratic convention wins him the nomination
• Populists nominate Bryan as well but different VP (Thomas E. Watson)• Election of 1896
– McKinley had high funding & campaigned from his porch in Canton– Bryan tried to make up for it by campaigning vigorously– McKinley won the election and Populism collapsed
• Populism’s legacy– Downtrodden could organize & have a political impact– Many of their reforms were enacted in the 20th century
EXPANSION OF INDUSTRY
• Second Industrial Revolution (1870-1914)
• Reasons for industrial boom:– 1) Wealth of Natural
Resources– 2) Explosion of
Inventions– 3) Growth of Urban
Population
NATURAL RESOURCES• Black Gold
– (1859) Edwin L. Drake• Used steam engine to drill for oil in Pennsylvania• Started oil boom
– Kerosene & Gasoline
• Coal & Iron– Bessemer process (1850)
• Transformed iron into steel by injecting air into the iron to remove carbon• (1886) replaced with open-hearth process
– Uses for Steel• Railroads, barbed wire, & farm machines• Brooklyn Bridge (1883)• Skyscrapers
INVENTIONS
• Electricity– Thomas Edison (1880) & George Westinghouse• Edison power plants• Westinghouse applications
– (1890)• Streetcars, printing presses, home appliances• More convenient for power plants
• Telephone– Alexander Graham Bell & Thomas Watson (1876)
RAILROAD INDUSTRY
• May, 1869• Harsh conditions for workers– (1888) 2,000 killed; 20,000 injured
• Railroad Time– Professor C. F. Dowd’s proposition• Earth (1884) 24 time zones• U. S. (1883 & 1918) 4 time zones
EXPANSION• New Towns & Markets
– Cities specialized in products– Pullman, Illinois (1880)
• George M. Pullman– Factory for manufacturing sleepers and railroad cars– Provided for employees but also controlled them– Strike (1894)
• Opportunists– Credit Mobilier (1864)
• Construction company formed by stockholders of the Union Pacific Railroad
• Donated shares to members of Congress in exchange for their blocking of legislation that would regulate the Union Pacific.– VP Colfax, SOH Blaine, & Rep. James Garfield implicated
• Jim Crow– 1881, Tennessee became the first southern state to expand Jim Crow laws to
the railroad industry• Segregated railroad coaches• Will lead to Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896
THE GRANGE & THE RAILROADS
• Granger Laws– State & local candidates & pressed for regulatory laws
• (1871) Illinois set up a commission to prohibit discrimination– Munn v. Illinois (1877)
• Railroads challenged constitutionality of regulatory laws• Supreme Court upheld Granger laws
– States gained right to regulate railroads– Federal government’s right to regulate private industry for public’s interest established
• Interstate problem– (1886) Supreme Court ruled that a state could not set rates on interstate
commerce• Interstate Commerce Act (1887)
– Reestablished the right of the federal government to supervise railroad activities– Set up ICC (finally gained power under TR, 1906)
• 1893 & The Dawn of Big Business– 7 companies held sway over 2/3 of the nation’s railroads
AN AMERICAN STORY—ANDREW CARNEGIE
• “Rags to Riches”– Scottish, came to America in 1848, at age 13– Worked 12 hours a day, six days a week– Hired as private secretary to Thomas A. Scott, local
superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad• Scott offered Carnegie stock• By 1865, he was able to leave the Pennsylvania Railroad
– 1873, entered the steel business– By 1899, Carnegie Steel Company manufactured
more steel than all the factories in Great Britain
SECRET TO CARNEGIE’S SUCCESS• Management– 1) Better products @ cheaper business costs• New techniques• Detailed accounting system allowed him to track the
precise cost of each item and process
– 2) Hired new talent• Encouraged competition to increase production and cut
costs
• Business Strategies– 1)Vertical Integration– 2) Horizontal Consolidation
VERTICAL VS. HORIZONTAL• Vertical Integration– Company’s avoidance of middlemen by producing
its own supplies and providing for distribution of its product• Coal & iron mines, ore freighters, steel factories, &
railroad lines
• Horizontal Consolidation– Merging of companies producing similar products – 1901, Carnegie Steel was producing 80% of the
nation’s steel
SOCIAL DARWINISM• Application of Charles Darwin’s theory to society and
business– Origin of Species, 1859
• Natural Selection only the strongest survive– Application to business and the economy
• Laissez Faire (“allow to do”)– Free competition in the marketplace, like natural selection in biology,
would ensure survival of the fittest (like Carnegie)
• Social Beliefs– Reinforced Protestant work ethic—hard work is rewarded
(poor must be lazy)– Horatio Alger, 135 novels, reinforced “rags to riches” &
“pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps”
GROWTH & CONSOLIDATION• Oligopoly only a few sellers provided a particular
product– Achieved through mergers
• Monopoly complete control over one’s industry– Achieved through holding company
• A corporation that did nothing but buy out the stock of other companies– J. P. Morgan & United States Steel
– Trust• Like a merger, but the stock of a company was turned over to a
group of people (trustees) who ran the separate companies as one large corporation– John D. Rockefeller & Standard Oil
ROCKEFELLER & ROBBER BARONS• Rockefeller, Standard Oil, & Trusts– Participants turned their stock over to trustees– Trustees ran the separate companies as one large corporation– Companies received certificates that entitled them to dividends
on profits earned by the trust• By 1880, Standard Oil controlled 90% of the refining business
• Price Wars– Lower price until competition defeated and control of market
gained, then raise prices to make up difference
• Robber Barons name given to industrialists due to their ruthless business tactics
CONGRESS RESPONDS• Sherman Antitrust Act– 1890– First law to restrict monopolistic trusts and
business combinations• (extended by the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914)
– Language was vague/hard to enforce• Point/Counterpoint, p. 260
WORKERS’ RESPONSE—UNIONS• Long Hours & Danger– 6-7 day workweeks, upwards of 12 hour shifts– 1888, railroad—2,000 killed; 20,000 injured– Women & children find jobs
• Unionization– Knights of Labor (1868)
• Individual workers• Strikes as last resort, preferred arbitration
– American Federation of Labor (1886)• Samuel Gompers, craft unionism (skilled workers from different
industries)• Collective bargaining & strikes
– Industrial Unionism (1890’s)• Eugene V. Debs• All workers, skilled or unskilled from a particular industry• Socialism government control of business, property, and distribution of
wealth Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or Wobblies)
VIOLENT STRIKES• Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (1877)– Wages cut, riots throughout midwest to San Francisco– John Garret requested that President Hayes help stop the riots
• Why?
• Homestead Strike (1892)– Carnegie Steel Company’s Homestead plant, PA– Armed guards from Pinkerton Detective Agency protected
factory & scabs
• Pullman Strike (1894)– ARU boycott of Pullman cars– President Cleveland sent in federal troops– Blacklisted
IMMIGRATION• 1870-1920, 20 million Europeans
– Before 1890– 1890’s
• European– Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Russia
» Ellis Island, New York• Asian
– China & Japan» Angel Island
• Restrictions– Nativism
• Melting pot mixture of people of different cultures and races who blended together by abandoning their native languages and customs
– Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)• Banned entry to all Chinese except for students, teachers, merchants, tourists, and
government officials• Repealed in 1943
– Gentlemen’s Agreement (1907-1908)• Segregation in SF withdrawn in exchange for Japanese limits on emigration
URBANIZATION• Growth of cities
– Twice as many Irish in NYC than in Dublin
– World’s largest Polish population in Chicago, not Poland
• Problems– Housing, transportation,
water, sanitation, fire, & crime
• Response– Minimum standards– Social Gospel Movement
salvation through service to the poor• Settlement Houses
(community centers)– Jane Addams & Hull House
(Chicago, 1889)
POLITICAL MACHINES• Organized group that controlled the activities of a political party in
a city and offered services to voters and businesses in exchange for political or financial support– Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, etc…– Structure pyramid
• City Boss– Controlled activities of party throughout city– Controlled many important jobs (police, fire, sanitation department)– Gave money to build parks, hospitals, schools
• Ward Boss– Worked to secure the votes of his ward or precinct on election day– Gave jobs to supporters in return for votes
• Precinct workers and captains– Worked a particular block or neighborhood– Reported to ward boss
• Importance of immigrants
GRAFT, KICKBACKS, & SCANDAL• Election Fraud– Fake names– Philadelphia precinct 252 votes, 100 registered voters
• Graft & Kickbacks– Grant favors to businesses in return for cash & bribes– Grant a government contract to a business, instruct the business
to overestimate the cost, and kickback the earnings to the machine
• Boss Tweed (William Marcy) & Tammany Hall– New York City’s Democratic Political Machine– Btw 1869-1871, $200 million
• NY County Courthouse cost taxpayers $11 million (actual cost $3 million)• Thomas Nast cartoons turn public favor, indicted 1871 on 120 counts of
fraud and extortion
Civil Service Replaces Patronage• Patronage giving government jobs to political supporters
– Where did this start?• Reformers back merit based civil service
– Jobs in the govt. would go to the most qualified• Presidents take the lead
– Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881)• Independents in his cabinet• Investigated customhouses
– James Garfield (1881)• Neither Stalwart nor reformer (Mugwump or Half-breed)• Gave most jobs to reformers, assassinated
– Chester Arthur (1881-1885)• Turned reformer after assuming the presidency• PENDLETON ACT (1883) bipartisan civil service commission to make
appointments to federal jobs through merit system (1901, 40%; 2009, 90%)
THE PRESIDENCY & TARIFFS• Grover Cleveland (1885-1889, 1893-1897)– First Democrat to win White House in 28 years– Tried to lower tariff rates– Defeated in 1888, by Benjamin Harrison
• Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893)– McKinley Tariff Act 1890 raised tariffs
• Cleveland’s second term– Lowered McKinley Tariff Act (w/a bill passed without his
signature)• William McKinley (1897-1901)– Raised tariffs– S-A War, assassinated at Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo,
New York, succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt
