Life in the Gilded Age
Bellwork Why is the Gilded Age called the Gilded
Age? What are inventors? Which inventions do
you think have had the biggest impact on our lives? Why? How does technology affect our lives?
Gilded Age Term is coined by Mark Twain
Famous author of the time Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn
End of the frontier Indians pushed into reservations Wild West is tamed and settled
The Expansion of Industry Changes in
technology Fuel
Kerosene Oil Coal
Iron and steel Bessemer process
Steel Steel is used for:
Railroads Plows, reapers, farm tools Food cans
Edison
Thomas Edison Made power plant/light bulb With electricity factories can work
more hours and be anywhere.
Other inventions Typewriter
Telephone (1876) by Alexander Graham Bell
"Mr. Watson—Come here—I want to see you"
Bellwork-Answer these if you were not here on Friday. The rest of you BE QUIET OR YOU WILL GET BELLWORK!!!!
Why do we have time zones? What is a union? What is the benefit of
having unions? What are some negative effects of unions?
The Age of Railroads 1890=more than 200,000 miles of track 1888=more than 2,000 railroad workers die
and 20,000 are injured. Built by immigrants (Asians in the West
and Irish in the East) also African-Americans Earn very little
Joining the nation Railroads link the nation together Travel and industry increases Time zones are created to keep railroad
schedules.
Industry grows Railroads cause industry to grow George Pullman invents a sleeping car
known as a Pullman car
Corruption Railroads were usually corrupt Charged high prices Bribed government officials Made millions through trickery
Congress Acts Congress tries to combat corruption Supreme Court says they can regulate
interstate trade Congress passes the Interstate
Commerce Act to regulate trade Not strong enough to control the railroads
Big Business Emerges Businesses consolidate into big
industries These are run by businessmen who
become very wealthy and become known as robber barons.
Government practices Government supported laissez-faire
economics Means hands off Government does very little regulation Result=very wealthy businesses and lots of
corruption and little competition
Social Darwinism Idea that the best individuals will succeed The survival of the fittest Government should do very little
Robber barons Andrew Carnegie
Built a giant steel firm Bought out competition
and provides of raw materials and transportation of his goods
Known as vertical consolidation
Vertical consolidation Buying out companies for every stage of
the productive process from raw materials to marketing.
John D. Rockefeller Another robber baron Controlled Standard Oil Bought other oil
companies This is horizontal
consolidation=controlling competition at one step in the process of a product.
Other robber barons Cornelius Vanderbilt: RR
monopolist J. P. Morgan: banking
monopolist
Robber barons did philanthropy work
JDR philanthropy was attacked as "tainted money"; 1910 Puck cartoon shows him purifying it through a foundation
Monopolies and trusts
Robber barons created monopolies Where a firm controls
all the competition
Also created trusts Companies agree to
work together
What’s wrong with this? What’s wrong with having monopolies and
no competition?
Sherman Anti-trust Act Congress passed the Sherman anti-trust
act to outlaw trusts and monopolies Difficult to enforce
Working conditions Conditions were
terrible Long hours Dangerous conditions Poor living conditions Child Labor To improve conditions
formed labor unions
Development of Labor unions Labor Movement: unions illegal until
1840's for interfering in commerce, black lists Federal Government kept unions weak
Unions
Knights of Labor: unskilled/skilled workers demanded reforms in child labor, safety, hours (8 hr day), equal pay for women
American Federation of Labor: skilled workers demanded higher pay, shorter work weeks.
Strikes Strikes resulted and usually ended in
violence. Government usually sent in troops against the unions
Notable Strikes Great RR Strike of 1877: RR shut down, Hayes
used army to end strike Haymarket Square Riot: bomb killed 7 policeman,
police fired on strikers Homestead Strike: Carnegie hired Pinkertons to
violently end strike Pullman Strike: RR shut down, federal troops
brought in and people get hurt and lose their jobs.
Business leaders react Unions were prevented by:
Not hiring union workers Banning union meetings Using the courts and troops to stop unions
Bellwork On a piece of paper, in 50 words, answer
the following questions: Why do people leave their homelands? Why do people immigrate to the US? What problems do immigrants face?
Bellwork On a half sheet of
paper answer the following question:
Is America a melting pot or a salad bowl? Explain your answer.
Immigration Change from:
Western and Northern Europe
Germany, Ireland, and Great Britain
To Southern and Eastern Europe
Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Russia
Ellis Island Europeans enter through Ellis Island See Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island Usually stay 5 hrs Undergo mental and health tests Requirements to enter: pass health tests,
literacy test, prove they can work, and have at least $25
20% are detained for a day or more 98% allowed to stay in the US
Asian Immigrants Chinese and Japanese come to the US Chinese come to California during gold
rush and work on railroad. Japanese went to Hawaii to work and
gradually went to the west coast (California).
Angel Island Asian immigrants came through Angel Island Different from Ellis Island Harsh questioning Long detention Filthy, ramshackle buildings Confined like prisoners More sent back
Problems for Immigrants Culture shock
Confusion and anxiety from being in a new culture they didn’t understand
Jobs Housing
Survival Settle in neighborhoods
with people from their culture
Little Italy, China, etc. Good: makes transition easier Bad: excluding themselves,
slows down assimilation Americanization movement:
use schools and volunteers to teach immigrants English and how to be American.
The Great Melting pot Melting pot: theory that US is a mixture
of people of different cultures and races who blend together to become American.
Truth-many do not give up their customs Might be more like a salad bowl
Nativism and xenophobia Anti-immigration feelings grow Nativism-idea that native-born
Americans are better Xenophobia-fear of foreigners
Nativism ideas Wanted immigration from the right
countries: Britain, Germany, Scandinavia Not wrong: Slav, Latin, Asian Natives: Anglo Saxon and Protestant New Immigrants: Jewish, Catholic, and
Slav and Asian
Anti-Asian Sentiments Chinese look different: physical features,
hair, dress Feared they were taking jobs away from
Native born Americans
Limiting Immigration 1882 passed the Chinese Exclusion Act-
banned all entry of Chinese except students, teachers, merchants, tourists, and government officials
1902-banned all Chinese immigration until 1943. Asians went to segregated schools 1907-08 Gentlemen’s Agreement-limits
Japanese immigration
Urbanization Immigrants moved to the cities this
produced urbanization: rapid growth of cities
People also moving from the country to cities
Urbanization problems Housing
Row housing-houses built so that they are connected and share walls
Dumbbell houses-housing that is shaped like a dumbbell (includes air vents in the middle)
People use air vents to dump sewage Crime increases
Dumbbell tenements
Transportation Need public transportation for everyone
Horses create a mess in the street 10lbs of manure per horse per day
Create street cars and later subways for cities
Sanitation Need clean drinking water Trash is in the street
Not uncommon to see a dead horse in the street Children play in the street
Start insisting on indoor plumbing
Fires Water shortage, houses built together and
of wood=big chance for a fire Both Chicago and San Francisco had huge
devastating fires
Reform movements Settlement houses-community
centers in slums that provide assistance, especially to immigrants. Provided: educational, cultural, and social
services
Jane Addams founded Hull house in Chicago An important settlement house.
Social Movements Women's Movement: worked for suffrage,
temperance (no alcohol), insane, poor E. C. Stanton/S. B. Anthony pushed for
suffrage amendment Lucy Stone pushed suffrage state by state Wyoming: 1st state to allow women's voting West more democratic: Colorado (1893),
Idaho/Utah (1896)
Racial Equality Booker T. Washington: self-
improvement before racial equality Racism will end if African Americans prove
useful to society
WEB Dubois: established NAACP for work for racial equality
Dubois Washington
Racial Inequality Plessy v. Ferguson:
established “separate but equal” clause in 1896 Made segregation
legal Jim Crow laws
develop-separates public and private facilities
The Emergence of the Political Machine
Political machine was an 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.
Organization of the machine Machine was run by a boss It was like a pyramid At the top was the city boss who controlled
jobs in police, fire, and sanitation, and controlled the city government.
They tried to help immigrant problems and so won immigrant votes and loyalty.
Corruption It was like the mob You had to go through the
boss to get things in a city: new businesses, licenses, inspections, money for schools, hospitals, etc.
The machine then got paid for providing these governmental services
More corruption To keep the machine running they falsified
elections Put in names of dog, children, and dead people Had more votes than registered voters
Used kickbacks Machine would chose a worker that
contracted for a government job, the worker would charge more than necessary and kick back a fee to the political machine
Boss Tweed William “Boss”
Tweed became one of the most powerful bosses
He headed Tammany Hall in New York Democratic party in New
York
William “Boss” Tweed
Tweed-le-dee and Tilden-dumA Harper's Weekly cartoon depicts Tweed as a police officer saying to two boys, "If all the people want is to have somebody arrested, I'll have you plunderers convicted. You will be allowed to escape, nobody will be hurt, and then Tilden will go to the White House and I to Albany as Governor."
Tweed ring pocket $200 million from the city in kickbacks and payoffs
Newspapers and cartoonists attacked him
Finally arrested and died in jail
Politics in the Gilded Age Grant Administration (1869-1877): symbolizes Gilded Age corruption Hayes Administration (1877-1881) end of Reconstruction allowed “Jim Crow” laws such as grandfather
clauses, poll taxes, literacy tests to restore white dominance Garfield Administration (1881) shot by disappointed “spoils system” patron Charles Guiteau Arthur Administration (1881-1885) Pendleton Act: required competitive test to fill certain federal jobs
and made it illegal to force current federal job holders to contribute to campaigns
Politics in the Gilded Age Cleveland Administration (1885-1889) only president elected to non-consecutive terms Harrison Administration (1889-1893) great grandfather signed D of I, grandfather was President
WH Harrison
Cleveland Administration (1893-1897) Depression of 1893: severe financial crisis, government
responded laissez faire