Gilded Age Flashcards
Knights of Labor (1869-1896)
*Led by Terrence Powderly
*Tried to create “one big union” included skilled workers, unskilled workers, and women
*Goal- create “cooperative system” that allows laborers to own business= improve their own working conditions
*Declines due to:
+Association with anarchists at the Haymarket Square riot
+ Failed strikes in railroad industry
+ Panic of 1893 (workers are reluctant to risk job by joining union during depression)
*Labor union battled management for control of workplace and labor conditions
Molly Maguires (1874-1876)
*Secret organization of Pennsylvania miners who use terror and intimidation to gain better working conditions and better pay from mine owners
*Mine owners hire Pinkerton detectives to infiltrate organization
*Outcomes
+ 24 leaders arrested and 10 hanged by local government
+ Wage reduction for the miners and the destruction of their union
+ Public associates unions with radical anarchists
*Example of how local government siding with business over labor
*Labor unions battled management for control of workplace and labor conditions
The Great Railroad Strike (1877)
*Due to the Panic of 1873, railroad companies cut wages of workers by 10%
*Workers strike and begin burning railroad property in West Virginia
*Violence spreads to other states and railroad traffic stops in the east (1st major interstate strike in US history)
*Federal and state troops called in to stop violence
+Over 100 people killed in violence and millions of dollars of railroad property destroyed
*Example of hoe the government sided with business over labor
*Labor unions battled management for control of workplace and labor conditions
National Labor Union (1866-1872)
*Founded in 1866 by William H. Sylvis
+ First organization to move beyond local unions
*Attempts to create a large union that will unite workers
+ women (usually excluded bc they were unskilled and drove down wages ) and African Americans
+combine skilled and unskilled workers
+ Excluded Chinese (due to nativism)
*Goals- 8 hour day, equal pay, and “greenbackism” (print more paper money to help debtors)
+Hope to use gov. legislation to attain goals rather than strikes
*Success- attain 8 hour days for federal employees
*Declines due to Panic of 1873 (workers reluctant to join union or go on strike due to poor economy) and death of founder
*The 2nd industrial revolution leads to low pay, long hours, and unsafe working conditions- workers come together to improve these conditions and confront large corporations
American Federation of Labor (1886-Present)
- Led by Samuel Gompers
- Focused on organizing skilled workers into separate unions (craft unionism). Individual unions will join together loosely into a large umbrella organization to promote the needs of skilled workers
- Goals- use collective bargaining to demand higher wages, shorter hours, and better working conditions, or strike
- Opposes women and immigrants in the workforce (unskilled workers drive down wages)
- Labor unions battled management for control of workplace and labor conditions
Mother Jones (1888-1903)
- Mary Harris Jones
- Female activist who helps lead fight for improved working conditions and higher wages
- In 1903, organized a march of child workers from Pennsylvania to New York to call attention to the evils of child labor
- Repeatedly jailed for defying injunctions against strikes and her association with the socialist party
- Women gained increased opportunities to lead reform movements in the struggle between labor and owners over control of workers lives
Homestead Strike (1892)
- Andrew Carnegie and H.C. Frick attempt to break the steel workers union at their Homestead plant by locking out workers
- Workers surround the plant and fight a battle with Pinkerton detectives who try to bring in replacement workers
- Pennsylvania governor will send state militia in to protect the strike breakers
- Steel workers union is destroyed
- Example of the government siding with business rather than labor
- Labor unions battled management for control of the workplace and labor conditions
International Workers of the World (1893-19170
*Communist party led by “Big Bill” Haywood, known as the Wobblies
*Advocate “industrial unionism” = all workers (skilled and unskilled) organized into large union
*Goal- workers will take over control of the gov. = workers will have power to create better life for themselves
*Strong among miners and lumberjacks in the west who faced dangerous working conditions and periodic layoffs
+Violent strikes in west (Ludlow Massacre) create image of communists as violent radicals
*Decline after opposition to WWI results in gov. persecution
*Communist belief that big business was in control of the gov. led to their demand for greater public control of the gov. and an overhaul of the capitalist system
Pullman Strike (1894)
*Workers at the Pullman Palace Car Company strike after the company cuts their wages 25-40%, but not the rent and grocery prices they have to pay at the company store
*Eugene V. Debs organizes a sympathy strike of railway workers who refuse to handle Pullman cars = railway traffic stops in 27 western states
*Gov. response:
+Attach US mail cars to Pullman cars to force railroad workers into handling Pullman cars
+US Attorney General issues an injunction to stop strike
+President Cleveland sends federal troops to break up the strike
*Debs goes to jail for violating the injunction- example of gov. using the Sherman Anti-trust Act against labor unions
*Example of the gov. siding with business
*Labor unions battled management for control of workplace and labor conditions
Socialist Party (1897-1917)
*Political Party led by Eugene V. Debs
+Dominated by immigrants (German), intellectuals, laborers, and farmers in the southwest (need gov. ownership of water resource)
*Goals
+Demand gov. control over “key” industries workers need to survive (transportation, health care, utilities, housing, etc.)
+Use the gov. to pass legislation that will improve working conditions
*Success: Debs polls over 900,000 votes for president in 1912, 33 major cities have socialist mayors
*Decline
+Resistance to US involvement in WWI leads gov. to persecute them
+Members leave party for more radical communist party
*Socialist belief that big business was in control of gov. led to their demand for greater public control of the gov. and an overhaul of the capitalist system.
New Immigration
1880-1917
-Beginning in 1880, immigration patterns switch from old immigration (Western and northern Europe) to new immigration (eastern and Southern Europe)
+Eastern and southern European countries have not experienced an industrial revolution, but their populations had increased = move to America to find jobs
+new immigration will decrease as a result of World War I = travel across Atlantic not safe
- immigrants tend to live and ethnic enclaves (neighborhoods) within cities = provides community and familiarity (ex little Italy or Chinatown) and helps them preserve their culture
- immigrants also strove to assimilate to US culture by changing their names to be less “ethnic”, learning English, and adopt their dress to WASP culture
- Island detention centers are created on both coasts to process and inspect immigrants before they can enter America (Ellis Island in New York, Angel Island in San Francisco)
-as immigrants increased from eastern and southern Europe, immigrants sought to both Americanize and protect their traditional cultures
Urbanization in the gilded age
-causes
+better farm technology (McCormick Reaper) allows fewer farmers to feed more urban people
+new technology (cheaper steel allows for skyscrapers, streetcars, elevators invented) helps cities grow out and up
+2nd industrial revolution = factory jobs (attract workers to cities)
+ internal (farmers) and external immigration (new immigration)
- by 1920 census- majority of Americans live in urban areas
- significant urban growth in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco
-increased internal and external migrations resulted in urbanization
Urban problems in the gilded age
-rapid growth results in:
+ lack of housing and overcrowding in dumbbell tenements (increased spread of diseases)
+ inadequate public services such as sewer systems, fire protection, police, trash removal
-pollution caused by:
+ factories burning coal (ash) and dumbing chemicals or waste products in environment (no gov. Regulation)
+humans and animal waste
- poverty of urban workers leads to crime and alcoholism
- corruption in city governments as political machines use control of government to gain personal wealth(graft)
-as cities grew in size, some segments of the population lived in poverty
Artistic movements
-Artist look to represent problems in society in their art = realism
+ Stephen crane - the red badge of courage, highlights the horrors of the civil war
+ ashcan school - artistic movement where painters use realism in their paintings to highlight urban problems
+ Jacob Riis- writes articles and takes pictures that demonstrate the plight of the urban poor
- artists challenge the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a few by highlighting the problems associated with poverty
Nativism in the Gilded Age
-new immigration leads to renewed nativism:
+WASP’s concerned about the impact of new immigrant groups on American culture
+Unions fear cheap labor of immigrants
+Protestants very large number of Catholic immigrants
+City residents fear immigrants are controlling and corrupting city government through political machines
+ immigrants are blamed for radicalism in politics (socialism and communism) and in unions (violent strikes)
+Immigrants are blamed for problems of cities - crime, alcoholism, overcrowding
-American Protective Association (1887) to limit immigration (esp. Chinese immigrants)
-Legislation passed to limit immigration
+Chinese exclusion Act (1882)- 1st legislation created to exclude one specific ethnic group
+no immigrant may enter if they are a criminal (1882), an alcoholic, insane, infectious, or illiterate
+outlaw business owners placing immigrants under contract before they arrive
Nativist movement sought to limit immigration or Americanize new groups of people moving to the US
