2 - The Guilded Age ('77-'90) -- Completed* Flashcards
Guilded Age - Westward Expansion Legislation/Events
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The Dawes Act ‘87 - authorised federal government to break up tribal lands and reservations,
Only NAs who accepted this were allowed to become US citizens- aimed to assimilate NAs into mainstream US society
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The Turner Essay - the fronteer was closed, but essential to development of self-reliance culture in US
- big influence on US culture, but also critisized for ignoring factors e.g. NAs, immigrants, promoted provincialism
Guilded Age - Industrial & Other Legislation/Events
- Interstate Commerce Act ‘87 - enables Congress to regulate railroads and freight rates (cost of transporting goods)
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Railroad strike of ‘77 - owners of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad announced a pay cut
- Largest industrial disturbance to date
- Worst in Pittsburgh: 5k workers fought 650 federal troops, $10M worth of property damage
- 25 killed
- Military force restores order
- Haymarket Bomb ‘86
___ - Immigration
- Jim Crow laws in South
Guilded Age - Presidents
1T - Hayes, ‘77-‘80
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0T - Garfield, ‘81
1T - Arthur, ‘81-‘84
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T1(/2) - Cleveland, ‘85-‘88
T1 - Harrison, ‘89-‘93
Hayes ‘77-‘80 Strengths & Weaknesses
- Hayes compromise ‘77 brought more stability, but ended Rec.
- Pushed for merit-based civil service system rather than the spoils system (Gov.’s supporters given jobs)
- Economic stability focus after Panic of ‘73; opposed inflationary measures like silver-backed currency
- Less corruption than under Grant
___ - Backed Big Buisness during Railway Strike ‘77 & his use of force to quell Labour unrest hurt his popularity
- Lacked the support of Congress; RRs & Dems, thus made little legislation
- Achieved very little
- Hayes Compromise ‘77, abandoning Southern Republicans, such as AAs
Garfield ‘81 Strengths & Weaknesses
- Committed to reform/introducing a merit-based system
- appointed pro-reform ppl in significant positions, such as W. H. Robertson
- Strong speaker & leader w/ a strong understanding of the nation’s issues
- Decent progress for a short time in office
- Efforts to unite the divisions of the Rep.s; appointed Arthur as VP (a Stalwart/anti-reformist) while pursuing reform himself
___ - Presidency cut short by assassination after 200 days in office
- Political infighting against Stalwarts hurt his efforts to enact reform, triggered by his removal of Conkling (significant Stalwart)
- The Pendleton Civil Service Act only passed in ‘83, after his death
Arthur ‘81-‘84 Strengths & Weaknesses
- Pendleton Civil Service Act ‘83 - estabished a merit based system for Gov. employees, though limited in scope - the 1st Civil Service reform legislation
- Strong FP approach
- laid the groundwork for the “New Navy”; constructed steel warships & promoted naval modernisation
- Blaine-Arthur treaty ‘84 - reciprocal tariffs agreed w/ Mexico; began growing US influence in Latin America
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- Achieved very little
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Passed 2 anti-immigration laws
- Chinese Exclusion Act ‘82 (though he initially vetoed it & ultimately reduced the ban from 20yrs to 10yrs)
- Immigration Act ‘82 - prevented the poor, mentally ill or disabled & criminals from immigrating to the US
- Conkling & other Stalwarts felt betrayed by his support for reform; growing split in the Rep.s
Harrison ‘89-‘92 Strengths & Weaknesses
- Strong FP approach
- Helped organise the Pan-American Conference ‘89 which allowed for later closer tires w/ Latin America, though little was achieved at the conference itself
- Expanded US naval prescence; moved towards more interventionist FP
- Spoke out against racial violence & discrimination in the South, though failed to enact his proposed anti-lynching legislation
___ - McKinley Tariff ‘90 - Protected some industries & manufacturera from foreign competition w/ high tariffs, but farmers & consumers suffered the consequences & lead to lowering Rep. popularity
- Limited Domestic legislation, e.g. limited tariff reform & pension legislation
- Harrison’s presidency wnded w/ the Panich of ‘93, which he failed to respond effectively to
Cleveland strengths & weaknesses
- Began to enact Civil Service reform
- Beat corrupt Rep. candidate Blaine in ‘84 election & strongly opposed corruption & the patronage system
- vetoed “pork-barrel” spending bills (extra money politicians gave to their supporters)
- His support of the Gold-backed currency slightly stabalised the economy after the Panic of ‘93
___ - Refusal to introduce silver-based currency to ease farmer & labourer debt (as it would cause inflation); led to rise of populist movement
- vetoes Bland-Allison Act, would have required the Gov. to buy silver
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Believed Congress should have less power
- abused power of veto; vetoed hundreds of private pension bills for CW veterans
- did not cooperate with Rep. Congress (Dem. Pres.)
- Failed to resolve the panic of ‘93 & subsequent depression, as 500 banks closed & unemployment reached roughly 20% at its peak in ‘93
- Used federal troops to break up strikes, such as in the Pullman Strike ‘94, loosing the support of Unions
Guilded Age - Key Aspects of the North
- fears of socialist revolution
- Haymarket bomb
- Railway strike ‘77
- class divisions
- no trade union movement
- big buisness always had support of Gov. during strikes
- ‘60s to ‘80s saw 10M more Immigrants
- ‘districts’ of immigrants
- ‘Nativism’ - protection of ‘traditional’ US values from Immigrants
- ‘Yellow Peril’ - discrimination against Immigrants from China & Japan; non-english speaking, hard working labourers
- Urbinisation
- cramped poor conditions in cities
Guilded Age - Key Aspects of the South
- Little land redistribution
- struggling Cotton market - Britain made other arrangements for cotton during the Civil War, USA’s market share in ‘67 smaller than ‘57, Lack of cash in the economy
- Black education - Government education fell through very quickly when money ran out, Prevented black leadership in business or politics
- Industrialisation - Encouraged by the growth of railroads, Focused on cotton industry (I.e textile factories in the South)
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Black rights -
- ‘73 Slaughter House cases (14th Amendment did not prevent states setting their own citizens rights rules)
- ‘75 US vs Cruikshank (State could not set own rules but did not have to prevent infringements of rights by others)
- ‘83 the Supreme Court struck down the ‘75 Civil Rights Act
- Jim Crow laws
- Rise of racial violence and populism; ‘82-‘99, 2,500 people lynched
Guilded Age - Industrialisation: 4 main ‘Robber Barrons’
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Vanderbilt (railroads)
- Used profit from Steamboat operations to take over rail companies in the East
- Established a standard track gauge, one of the first to replace iron rails with steel
- Handled strikes brutally
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Carnegie (steel)
- Self-made millionaire immigrant
- Sold iron during Civil War, invented the Bessemer converter for better & faster steel production
- Monopolised through Vertical Integration
- Socialist & Philanthrapist, but exploited workers and ruthless to rivals
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J.P. Morgan (finance)
- Inherited $12M
- Major force behind creation of large companies (eg US steel corporation), ‘71, began his own private banking company
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Rockefeller (oil)
- Set up Standard Oil company in ‘70
- In ‘80s owned 85% of all US oil production
- World’s 1st Billionaire, donated to medicine, AA education, Baptist church
Guilded Age - Causes of Industrial status quo
- Robber Barons
- Railroads
- Westward Expansion
Guilded Age - Economic & Tech Effects of Industrialisation
Economic effects
* Expansion of major industries & Big Buisness
* Carnegie (steel) & Rockefeller (oil) controlled vast sectors of the economy in the ’80s; Standard Oil controlled 90% of US oil industry in the ’80s, & US Steel grew to become the worlds first B$ corporation in ‘01
* Railroad growth
* Completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad in ‘69 led to an expansion of railroads across the US; 4 transcontinental railroads built ‘83-‘93
* Railroads became a key driver of economic acrivity, trade (linked farms, cities & markets), transport & settlement
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Tech Advancements
* Manufacturing & mass production
* The “Bessemer Process” made steel prodcution much faster & cheaper, allwoing for construction of skyscrapers, railroads, bridges (including the Brooklyn Bridge ‘83)
* Communication & Energy
* Telephones 76 & Electric Light Bulb ‘79 connected buisnesses, improved industrial productivity & facilitated the rise of Big Buisness
Guilded Age - Social Effects of Industrialisation
- Industrial working class grew; over 25M lived in cities by ‘90
- long hours, low wages, dangerous & unhealthy conditions
- factory work & manual labour in mines, mills etc. became the main dource of employment
- Urbinisation –> rapid growth of city pop, overcrowding, slum housing & disease
- NYC’s pop growth from ‘70-‘00: 1.2M-2.5M
- Immigration boomed, providing industries with cheap workforce
- Immigrants to US from ‘80-‘90: 5M, mainly Italians, Poles, Jews & other Eastern EUs - facing discrimination aswell
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Deforestation, pollution & recource depletion begins effecting the US, cities such as Pittsburg became heavily polluted
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Labour Unions
- Immigrants to US from ‘80-‘90: 5M, mainly Italians, Poles, Jews & other Eastern EUs - facing discrimination aswell
- The Knights of Labour & American Federation of Labour - sought to improve wages, working conditions & hours for industrial workers (8hr day campaign),
- Pullman Strike ‘94 demonstrated teh growing discontent of the working class in the North
- Knights fell apart after they were balmed for the Haymarket Bomb ‘86, & AFL only included white, skilled workers & were less ambitious
Guilded Age - Causes of Westward Expansion
- Transcontinental lines: 4 transcontinental railroads built ‘83-‘93
- Federal funding - 70M hectares of land grants
- State funding - $200M, 19M hectares of land grants
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- New agriculture inventions
- Dry farming methods
- Reapers, threshing machines, binders, combined harvesters, barbed wire, deep-drilled well and steel windmills
Guilded Age - Effects of Westward Expansion
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Railroad Expansion:
- More people in, more raw goods out
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Stimulated the growth of iron, steel, lumber and other industries, creating many jobs
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Agricultural Expansion:
- Wheat production: tripled (211M-599M) (‘67-‘90)
- Wheat exports: 6M-102M bushels/year (‘67-1900)
- Time to produce 15 bushels of wheat: 35-15 labour hours (‘40-1900)
- Cattle & ranching boom, leads to profits and many land disputes involving vigilante systems
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Agricultural Collapse:
- ‘70s ‘glut’
- Corn prices: 78-31 cents a bushel (‘67-‘73)
- Farmers with loans went bankrupt
Guilded Age - Industrial Unrest
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Railroad strike of ‘77 - owners of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad announced a pay cut
- Largest industrial disturbance to date
- Worst in Pittsburgh: 5k workers fought 650 federal troops, $10 million worth of property damage
- 25 killed
- Military force restores order
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Haymarket Bomb ‘86
- Police fired into crowd killing several
- Rally the following evening, someone threw a bomb
- 7 policemen kiled
- Police retaliated, fired into crowd
- Aftermath: 7 arrested & found guilty, some executed
- Contributed to the failure of the ‘86 8-hour day movement
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Knights of Labour
- After walking out and forcing negotiations for the Wabush Railroad Strike ‘85, gained 3/4 of a Million members
- Campaigned for: more cooperative labour managment relations, 8-hour working days and child labour protections
- Haymarket Bomb blamed on them, membership dropped
- Replaced by American Federation of Labour, exclusive to skilled white men & had more limited objectives
Guilded Age - Causes of Immigration
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Push Factors
- Industrial & Agricultural revolutions
- Increasing population
- Agricultural and industrial depression in Britain, Norway & Sweden
- Agricultural mismanagement in Ireland
- Persecution of Jews in Russia
- Revoked ban on emigration in Japan
- Devastation from Taiping Rebellion in China
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Pull Factors
- Adverts in guidebooks, pamphlets and newspapers
- Railroads:
- Loans with low interest
- Classes in farming
- Building of churches and schools
Guilded Age - Effects of Immigration
Economic & Workforce Expansion
* Major source of cheap labour; by ‘90, ~60% of factory workers in cities such as NYC & Chicago were foreign born
* Particularly Chinese & Irish immigrants constructed the first Transcontinental Railroads
* Created demand for housing, services & infastructure
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Social Changes
* Nativism (protecting the interests of established inhabitants against immigrants):
* Native plutocracy (WASPs) vs foreign working class
* Job competition, cultural & religous diff.s; Chinese Exclusion Act ‘82
* “Ethnic neighbourhoods”/”Ghettos” in industrial cities
* Poor conditions & increasingly hostile discrimination led the new arrivals to join Labour Union movements
* The “Boss System”
Guilded Age - Foreign Policy
US Navy
* ‘an alphabet of floating tubs’
* ‘82, Secretary of the Navy (Hunt), advocated for expansion
* Only 42/140 ships were operational
* Only 17 steamships
* Growing advocation for Navy expansion
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Hawaii
* ‘75, US begins to import Hawaiian sugar duty free
* In return the Hawaiian gov must refuse concessions such as importing manufactured goods to other countries
* ‘87, treaty with Hawaii expanded to build a naval base at Pearl Harbour
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Latin America
* ‘81, Blaine begins to advocate for a Pan-American conference; in ‘89 18 countries met in Washington
* Only achieved reciprocity agreements and a weak arbitration system signed by less than half and with an opt-out clause
* Allowed the organisation of future conferences
Guilded Age - African American Progress
Employment
* Could move between plantations and regions to find work
* Many wanted higher income jobs and so moved from border states to areas such as Georgia and Mississippi
* Some found employment in farming, building railroads, making turpentine and lumbering
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Standard of living
* No legal segregation in the North
Greater possibility of franchise for black people in the North
Strong black culture emerging
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Franchise
* 15th Amendment outlaws voting discrimination
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Equality
* Separate facilities were supposed to be equal (in practice they were not)
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Education
* ‘77-‘87, the number of black schools doubled
Guilded Age - African American Limitations
Employment
* ‘70-1900 AA population doubled from 4M to 7.9M
* Many remained in the South
* Most were tied to farming (sharecropping mostly maintained status quo)
* Boll weevil caused depressions; living standards deteriorated after ‘92
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Standard of living
* AA ghettos formed after migration North met negatively
* Barred from trade unions, Poor housing, Limited access to employment, education and housing
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Franchise
* After Rc, no. of AAs in politics decreases
* Southern states introduce rules to stop AA voting; near emilination of AA vote in South by ‘10
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Equality
* Jim Crow laws ‘87
* AA perceived as underclass
* Social Darwinism/hierarchy of races justification for segregation
* Court denies ‘The Civil Rights Cases’
* ‘82-‘99, 2,500 people lynched
* White violence unpunished due to police and all-white jurors
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Education
* ‘82 Sen. Blair’s bill to provide millions to all black schools, rejected by Congress
* By ‘87, 2/5 eligible black children enrolled in schools
* White schools had longer terms and better funding
Guilded Age - Native Americans
- Dawes Act ‘87
- authorised federal government to break up tribal lands and reservations,
- Only NAs who accepted this were allowed to become US citizens
- aimed to assimilate NAs into mainstream US society
- Massacre at Wounded Knee ‘90
- US Cavalry Regiment surrounded a camp of Sioux NAs near Wounded Knee Creek in S.Dakota
- While attempting to disarm the Sioux, a shot was fired and the soldiers began to open fire
- Hundreds of Native Americans killed
- Ghost Dance movement
- Spiritual movement that hoped to restore the world as it was before colonisation, people danced until they collapsed
Guilded Age - ‘76 Election
Hayes won despite loosing the popular vote against Tilden (1 electoral vote short of his needed majority) due to the compromise of ‘77, as the vote was too disputed
* Both were moderates within their own parties, Hayes was a departure from the scandal-wridden presidency of Grant
* The Electoral Commission was created to resolve the disputed votes, but was mostly made up of Rep.s, hence why Hayes was put forward, but at a cost
* Compromise of ‘77 ended reconstruction
* Southern Dem.s regained power; “Redeemer Gov.s” & disenfranchisement laws against AAs
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Very controversial, as it was decided by political compromise rather than the people
