Political, Economic, and Social Change 1
Political, Economic, and Social Change
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Why a Gilded Age?
Mark Twain
From a satirical novel written with Charles D. Warner, The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today 1873.
Meaning the prosperity and culture that is seen is only on the surface
major problems lurk beneath the surface.
Golden “cow paddy”
Politics
In the Gilded Age
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Series of weak presidents
Party bosses ruled.
Presidents should avoid offending any factions within their own party.
Few significant issues separated the major political
parties
Lifeblood of both parties was
PATRONAGE(or the “spoils system”)—disbursing jobs
by the bucketful in return for VOTES! 5
After the Civil War
Boss Tweed
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Cartoonist Thomas Nast
will take down Tweed.
Along the way, he will
create the party symbols
and modern version of
Santa!
NYC Party Boss over
Democratic political
machine of Tammany
Hall
Two-party stalemate
1869-1877 Ulysses S. Grant
1877-1881 Rutherford B. Hayes
1881 James A. Garfield
1881-1885 Chester Alan Arthur
1885-1889 Grover Cleveland *
1889-1893 Benjamin Harrison
1893-1897 Grover Cleveland *
1897-1901 William McKinley
*Democrat
Election of a President
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Civil Service- refers to government jobs other than
legislative, executive, or judiciary
Two Republican groups differed over civil service reform. Half-breeds (for reform) Supported by Garfield
Stalwarts (against)
A disappointed and mentally deranged “office seeker,” Charles J. Guiteau, shot President Garfield in the back at a Washington railroad station.
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Civil Service Reform
Senator Roscoe Conkling
(Stalwart)
Charles Guiteau: “I Am a Stalwart, and Arthur is President now!”
Assassination of a President
Read excerpts from the Pendleton Act to determine changes brought by the legislation.
Activity
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Garfield's assassination spurs its passage
the “Magna Carta” of civil-service reform which called examinations for potential office seekers, outlined appropriate behavior, and created a Civil Service Commission.
Pendleton Act (1883)
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Economics
In the Gilded Age
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Industrialization
Industrialization
New inventions helped the growth of industry, including the Bessemer process, electric bulb, telegraph, and telephone.
For example, better steel created by the Bessemer process led to “big business” as demand for steel increased construction, for example, railroads and skyscrapers.
Other inventions allowed factories to produce more faster.
Rapid immigration provided more factory workers.
Growth of Railroads
Technology and industry enabled the growth of railroads.
Industry used railroads for shipping products.
Railroads were needed because of increased demand with settlement and economic development of the west.
Meeting of the Union Pacific and
Central Pacific at Promontory Point in
southern Utah in 1869
Rise of Entrepreneurship and Free Enterprise
Adam Smith Herbert Spencer
Rise of Entrepreneurship and Free Enterprise
Entrepreneur- someone who organizes, manages, and takes on the risks of a business.
Many new businesses sprung up in the U.S. including many begun by immigrants using their trade skills.
Free enterprise-business can operate with little government influence. “laissez-faire”
The U.S. promoted this idea during the Gilded Age.
What do
you see in
the
political
cartoon?
Big Business
Industrialists reduced competition through monopolies and trusts.
Monopoly-control of one group over service or product
Trust-companies come together and agree to control aspects of a business
They used vertical and horizontal integration to control industries.
Vertical-group controls many parts of the “supply chain”
Horizontal-groups monopolizes a portion of an industry
Important Industrialists
Andrew Carnegie-steel
Cornelius Vanderbilt-
railroads
J.P. Morgan-banking/finance
John D. Rockefeller-
oil
Captains of Industry vs. Robber Barons
Some people viewed them as great assets to the growth of American industry
Others saw them as ruthless men only interested in their profit
Either way…the gap between rich and poor widened as industry grew
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20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
$ billions $
Rockefeller
Carnegie
Vanderbilt
Bill Gates
Jay Gould
JP Morgan
James H. Hill
How rich were the “robber barons” compared to
Microsoft founder Bill Gates?
Labor Conditions
Labor leaders criticized companies for
reducing competition,
paying low wages, and
unsafe working conditions
child labor
Growth of Unions
Factory workers formed and joined labor unions to engage in collective bargaining.
Knights of Labor-formed in 1869, Terrence Powderly led national union of skilled and unskilled workers
American Federation of Labor (AFL)-formed in 1881, founded by Samuel Gompers and included a series of different unions of skilled workers
In opposition to business practices, many workers went on strike during the 1880’s.
In the late 19th century, government favored business and opposed unions.
Haymarket Square
Clash between police and a mob of labor activists and anarchists on May 4, 1886, in Chicago’s Haymarket Square.
Farmers React to Big Business
Farmers’ problems in the late 19th century leads to a call for change.
Farmers tried to keep big businesses from fixing prices and further hurting their profits.
Populism
By 1890, farmers react to McKinley Tariff which hurt farmers who sold their harvests on unprotected markets but were forced to buy expensive manufactured goods
Many farmers wanted government control of transportation and communication to protect farm industry.
Other concerns-8 hour workday, free silver, graduated income tax, direct election of senators…
Early Legislation
Interstate Commerce Act (1887):
Prohibited unfair railroad practices and created the Interstate Commerce Commission to enforce the act. First time that Congress stepped in to regulate business in America.
Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890):
Aimed was to break up large monopolies and trusts designed to restrain trade.
Initially not successful because it was vague and lacked any means of enforcement.
Clayton Act (1913) passed to strengthen the Sherman Act.
Social Issues
In the Gilded Age
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NEW INVENTIONS MADE RAPID URBAN GROWTH POSSIBLE
CITIES NEAR NATURAL
RESOURCES GREW THE FASTEST.
REQUIRED MORE LABOR,
ATTRACTING MANY IMMIGRANTS
1800-1880s
Immigration Changes
Northern and Western Europe Eastern and Southern Europe
AFTER 1880s
NEW IMMIGRATION, MILLIONS ARRIVED, CATHOLICS AND
JEWS FROM EASTERN AND SOUTHERN EUROPE
COMING TO AMERICA
WHY?
WHAT WERE THE
PUSH/PULL FACTORS
PAPER READS: “MAFIA IN NEW ORLEANS, ANARCHISTS IN CHICAGO, SOCIALISTS IN NEW YORK”
Nativism
NATIVISM CHINESE
EXCLUSION ACT
AMERICAN PROTECTIVE
ASSOCIATION
INCREASED IMMIGRATION
REACTIONS TO INCREASED
IMMIGRATION ANTI-CATHOLIC GROUP THAT HAD
OVER A MILLION MEMBERS BY 1894.
Idea of protecting the
interests of native-born
people against those of
immigrants.
It was the first significant law
restricting immigration into the
United States
CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT OF 1882
The act barred
Chinese immigration
for 10 years
Prevented the
Chinese in the U.S.
from becoming
citizens.
*It was not repealed until
1943.
Problems of Urban Growth
Tenements-poor housing
Sanitation and disease
Low wages
Child Labor
Immigrant challenges Isolated, scared
Unable to speak language
Used by politicians
Women’s Rights Women were working for
greater rights,
More women working but often for low wages and sometimes poor conditions Triangle Shirtwaist factory for
example
Especially suffrage (the right to vote)
Notable people, pioneers in women's’ suffrage, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
1948 Seneca Falls Convention
Rights of African- Americans
The majority were poor and lived for the most part in the southern states.
They worked as tenant farmers.
Jim Crow Laws-were enacted in many Southern areas to promote segregation of Blacks from Whites
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)-court case that established ”separate but equal”
Blacks had little political control.
Faced the brutality of mob violence and lynching, Ku Klux Klan.
Notable people: Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, and Ida B. Wells