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