GILDED AGE Flashcards
What was the gilded age
1877-1901 (not set in stone)
Era of social problems mashed by a thin of gold gilding
Presidents during the gilded age (preferably in order)
Hayes
Garfield
Arthur
Cleveland
Harrison
Explain briefly Hayes presidency
1877-1881
President after 1877 compromise - weak as narrowly won
Kept promise of 1 term presidency
Ends Reconstruction
Begins civil service reform - split party. Hayes sacked Arthur- 1 of Conklings main supports
Reforms currency
Opposed by powerful republicans called Stalwarts - leader by NY
Explain briefly Garfield’s presidency
1881
Won narrowly
Respected for his honest and quality of men appointed to high positions
But ASSASSINATED in 1881- by upset spoils man- Charles Guietaeu
Briefly explain Arthur’s presidency
1881-85
Vice President- became president after Garfield was assassinated
Arthur was responsible for the Pendleton Civil service act
Briefly explain Cleveland’s presidency
1885-1889 AND 1893-97
1st Democrat President since 1868
Conflicts between business and labour
Formation of labour unions
Haymarket riots
Pullman strike
Interstate commerce act - 1887
Tariff 1894
Briefly explain Harrison’s presidency
1889-93
4 major laws passed
- Sherman Anti trust act
- Sherman Silver Act
- McKinley Tariff
- Dependent Pension Act
Where did republicans get support from
Freedmen
Midwest and both east
Protestants
Puritan influence
Where did democrats get there support from
Catholic
South
What did the Republican Party stand for
Party of the union
Favoured big business
High tariffs
Values of native born Americans
What did he democrat party stand for
States rights
White supremacy in the south
Limited role for the federal government
Low tariffs are
What was laissez fairs
Non intervention by the gov
All presidents in the gilded age believed in this
Why was the south democrat
Poll tax
Literacy test
Grandfather clause
Violence
White supremacy
What was the spoils system and what did it cause
The practice of a successful party giving public office to its supporters
2 groups developed on their views of the spoils system
- STALWARTS- republicans who favoured the spoils system (led by Roscoe Conklin of NY)
- HALF-BREEDS- republican who favoured reforming the spoils system (James G Blaine of Maine)
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY WAS FRACTURED
What is a tariff
Tax on imports and exports
What is Manifest Destiny
Belief of wasps- God gave them the right to settle on mid west land—> led to westward expansion (take land from native Americans)
How much did America’s economy grow between 1860-1900
400%
What in general fuelled America’s economy 6
Technological advances
Expanding pop
Improved transportation
Financial innovation
New business practices
Laissez fairs
Affect of civil war on south
Loss and destruction
Affect of civil war on the north
Stimulated business and industry
1860 total wealth
1900 total wealth
1860- $16 billion
1900- $88 billion
1869 manufacturing sector wealth
1900—
1869- $3 million
1900- $13 billion
America’s labour force 1865-1890
13 million- 19 million
USA economic growth compared to other countries
Largest increase compared to Britain, France and Ger
US coal growth compared to Britain
Coal more than tripled 1870-1890
More than 10X from 1870-1913
Britain- slow increase- and was ahead of US in 1890- but had just over half in 1913
US population growth compared to Britain
US population almost tripped 1870-1913
Around double of Britain in 1890 and 1913
US relative share of world manufacturing output in 1999
20%
What 7 factors led to US economic expansion
Workforce
Westward expansion
Industrial and agricultural technology
Growth of urban markets
Growth of railroads
Finance and business org
Gov attitude
How did the workforce help the US economy
US pop grew from 35.2 mill in 1865- to 98.8 million in 1915
(almost 3X)
Central and Eastern Europeans 1901-1920=44% of all immigrants
MORE WORKFORCE AND PRODUCTION AND FAST- revenue
Manufacturing jobs were dirty, dangerous etc- immigrants - driving force
How sig was the workforce in US economic expansion
Substantially
How did westward expansion lead to US economic expansion
Exp closing the frontier too
Westward expansion- more natural resources like coal, natural gas, oil- exploited
Natural resources exploited
Farmers shop keepers etc settles on land and made money
closing the frontier- 1872 Yellowstone National Park creates to protect some wilderness
- no frontier left by 1890s Miners, ranchers and farmers swelled the pop
-1889- gov let settlers settle in Oklahoma
This was laid out within a day and 6000 lived there by the end of the year
How sig was westward expansion for the Us economy
Largely
How did industry and agricultural technology lead to US economic expansion
Pos- faster production and sales
Business didn’t need to pay as much wages
Farms- steam tractors etc
By 1900- 15 man hour per acre to raise wheat
A century earlier = 56 man hours
FARMERS LOST JOBS AND THERE WAS OVERPRODUCTION ETC
Steel making-Bessemer blast furnace and Siemens-Martin open hearth process
Great Lakes Region became leading steel producer
-STEEL PRODUCTION INC TO OVER 11 MILL TONNES BY 1900 (had less than one million in 1865)
Typewriters, cash registers changed the game
Telephone 1876- Bell
Electricity - Edison
How sig was industrial and agricultural growth to US economy
Partially
How did the growth of urban markets lead to US economic increase
Increase in migrants - bigger market
30 million city dwellers in 1900
40% were immigrants
During 1880s- 5 mill came from overseas
1890- immigration slowed by still 3.7 mill from abroad
PUSH AND PULL FACTORS
How sig was growth of urban markets in inc us economy
Partially
How did the growth of railroads lead to inc in the US economy
By 1900- die to railroads small number of big businesses dominated markets
Bigger nationwide markets
1865-1900
35000 miles of track - 242000
Pullman palace sleeper cars made travel more comfortable
and refrigerated boxcars enabled meat vegetables and fruit to be transported across country
Standardised time
TrasnCONTINENTAL railway complete (1st to cross entire continent)
Pacific Railway Act 1862- extended railways across US
How sig was railroads in growth of us eco
Arguably - most
How did finance and business org lead to us economy inc
Big business eventually absorbed competition
1897-69 mergers
1898- 303
1899-1208
Commercial banks, saving banks, and insurance companies all provided new vehicles for accumulating and dispensing the capital needed to fuel American economic growth
Industrialists began forming pools or cartels
Informal gentlemen agreements on production level and prices
These turned into ‘trusts’ and ‘holding companies’-they avoided state laws forbidding monopolies while gaining benefits of unified control over entire industries
How sig was finance and business org in us economic expansion
Largely
But
Neg effects
How did gov attitude lead to us economic growth
Laissez faire- business can do whatever to generate wealth
Sherman Act (congress passed 1890)- way to reduce concerns large business interests dominated industry Private parties may sue So many sections were so broad that anyone could find any business activity illegal (no restraint of trade and cannot monopolies or attempt to)
Sherman Anti trust Act (passed by Congress 1890)
Purpose was to stop B.B. from abusing customers and taking advantage of people but instead stopped workers forming unions
During last decades of 19th century- courts strengthened laissez fairs
State courts stopped restrictions of work hours and safety req as it stopped right of workers to enter contracts freely
Courts weakened unions insisting employers had a right to replace striking workers while at the same time denying that strikers has a right to boycott
How sig was government attitude to us economic growth
Significantly
Explain the process of when immigrants come to the US
Greeted by Statue of Liberty
And processed Ellis Island
Immigrants purchased tickets and boarded trains at the CRRNJ terminal- taken to their new homes
1861-1870 immigrants
2.3 million
1871-1880 immigrants
2.9 million
1881-1890 immigrants
5.2 million
European and Italian immigration stats
EUROPEAN
(1880-1889)-(1900-1909)- more than 150% increase
(1910-1919) - decreased
ITALIAN - sig less Doubled from (1881-1890)- (1891-1900) almost doubled again from (1901-1910)
By 1890 how many immigrants were there in the US
9 million
Where did Irish immigrants stay predominantly
Boston
NY
Where did Scandinavians predominantly live
Great Lakes
Where did Chinese’s immigrants predominantly stay
East coast
What region did many immigrants come from in 1890
Europe
Where in the 1900 did most immigrants come from
Southern and Eastern Europe —
What is the melting pot theory
Nationalities would become fused together into one nation
The vast majority of Natives had rejected the Gov’s attempt to create a national identity
This rejection continues into the 20th century
Jay Gould
Tried to corner marker on Gold
Business man who came to personify the robber baron in late 19th century America
Known as ruthless business tactics
War to be in control of Eerie railroad w Fisk against Cornelius
Eventually he got it and Fisk was the public face
Tried to corner gold 24 sept 1869- made millions and was not prosecuted
Fisk died- Gould deposed as head of Erie Railroads
Died - Dec 1892- wealth at more then $100 mill
Jay Cooke
Prominent banker in the US and a principal financier of the Union military effort during the US civil war
Started work for banking brokerage company 1839
1861- formed his own banking firm
Helped develop a fiscal policy that provide the gov w necessary capital to win war
‘Financier of Civil war’
After war- inv other industries, coal, iron mining, life insurance and railroads
Played major role in financing to build transcontinental railroad
1873- investments dried up
Sept 18 1872- Cooke and Co shut doors - led to panic 1873
Andrew Carnegie
Utilising newest technologies-
eg Bessemer blast furnace and Siemens Martin open hearth,
he built the largest steel com in US - Carnegie Steel
Wrote of unions in essay- ‘The gospel of wealth’
By time he retired holdings- huge pig iron works, Coke refineries, line of steamships and steep works
Built near monopoly thru vertical intergration
2nd richest man ever in America
4th wealthiest man in recorded history of world
John Pierpoint Morgan
Leading financier, founded of JP Morgan and co
Led merger movement
Pursued monopoly like control over his sector of the economy
Civil war- sold defective guns to union army @ inflated prices
Had goal to monopolising railroads
Morgan also built General Electric into great industrial conglomerate by merging Edison General and Thompson Houston Elecrric Companies
1901- forged a merger between Carnegie Steel and more to form US Steel.
Rockafellar
Built a monopoly over the oil business in less than a decade and bought order to chaotic industry (violent jags in production and prices and overproduction)
1868- formed Standard oil - processed 5% of nations oil
- business grew- demand ‘drawbacks’ from railroads that wanted his business
Mid 1880- refined 90% of nations oil - had virtual monopoly over entire industry and could shape price structure
Horizontal intergration
Causes of 1873 panic
Wheat business became flooded by thousands of startups which pushed supply far above demand
Overproduction put farms in solvency 1890
The value of silver / gold dropped
Jay crooks and co were unable to market several million dollars
Name all panics
1873
1893
1907
Consequences of 1873 panic
Nov 1873- 55 Nation railroads failed and 60 went bankrupt by Nov 1874
18,000 businesses failed between 1873 - 75
Unemployment in 1875 = 8.25%
3 million in the US lost their jobs
Led to populist movement
Collapse in food prices- rural poverty
Causes of 1893 panic
Overproduction of railroads
People questioned the stability of the gov and so rushed to redeem notes for gold
US began to run out of gold
Cleveland borrowed $65 mill in Gold from JP Morgan
Farmers suffered droughts- value of land went down
Free silver movement arouse- tried to get inflation to occur
Demand for silver
Consequences of 1893 panic
16,000 businesses failed by the end of 1893
156 railroads and nearly 500 banks failed
1/6 of Americans lost their jobs
Strikes in 1884 led to violence
Pullman strike- led to shutdown of nations transport system July 1894
Causes of 1907 panic
SAN Fransisco EQ
Anti trust policies of Roosevelt
Augustus Heimes Morse- associated with banks and trusts on Wall Street - took a speculative investment in United Copper, a copper mining company and lost
Oct 15- stock prices fell
Knickerbocker Trust company collapsed
Consequences of 1907 panic
New York stock exchange fell almost 50% from peak previous year
Unemployment- 8%
Immigration dropped
Production fell 11%
Imports fell 26%
How many panics were there and when were they
1873
1893
1907
Reasons for urbanisation
Business needed unskilled labour- rockafellar carneugie etc needed unskilled labourers to work an average of 60 hours a week for 10 cents an hour
Capital poured into manufacturing plants - accompanied by blue and white collared workers JOB OPP
Many farmers found selves obsolete
30% lived in urban setting 3 decades after civil war
40% in 1900
American dream
Museums and theatres
Promotion of good wages
Mechanisation of farmers - also meant women could work
Freedom
Industrial workers jumped from 800,000 to 3.2 million
Positives of urbanisation and industrialisation
Wealth- upper class
American dream
Some skilled workers obtained high wages
Brick layers and black smiths earnt more than $3
Negatives of urbanisation and industrialisation
+1 mill in NY dumbbell tenements
Over crowded- poorly ventilated air traps- cholera and typhoid spread— 1879 building codes- windows but people used it for rubbish
Philadelphia- city water supply replenished daily w 13,000 gallons of untreated sewage
The richest 1% had same income at bottom 50% and more property than remaining 99%
Average industrial worker earned $460-$500 and a family of 4 needed $600 to live comfortably
Minimum wage and child labour
1900-35,000 workers killed and million injured
Triangle shirt waste factory fire - 1911-146 dead
No infrastructure for worker safety
Corruption
Disabled didn’t receive benefits
Segregation
Child labour
People lived in warehouses- not enough housing
Coal pollution
Everyday 1/2 million pounds of manure of NY STREETS
Causes of railroad strike
1877- northern railroads cut salaries
-May, the Pennsylvania Railroad- the largest railroad cut wages by 10% and in June another 10%
Other railroads followed
On July 13th the Baltimore and Ohioline cut the wages of all employees, making more than $1 a day - Also cut work week to 2/3 days
Causes of Homestead strike
Henry Clay Frick- the superintendent of Carnegie Steel company proposed to cut worker wages arguing efficiency inc inflated salary
He also wanted to eliminate the Amalgamated Associated of Iron and Steel Workers Union from the plant
Causes of the Pullman strike
4 year depression
Pullman responded by laying off several thousands of his 5800 employees
and cutting pay 25-50%
while refusing to declare rents charged at employees who lived in the company town of Pullman near Chicago
Consequences of great railroad strike
Native born Americans blamed labour violence of foreigners
Violent strikes on Kansas, Chicago etc
40 killed in violence in Pittsburgh and across country- hundreds dead
Workers blocked freight trains near Baltimore in West Virginia allowing only passenger traffic through
Briefly paralysed country’s commerce and led governors in 10 states to mobilise 60,000 militia members to reopen rail traffic
Violence in 1850+90 inc- Haymarket Square Bombing in Chicago
Consequences of homestead strike
Armed confrontation at Homestead
July 6- guards confronted by hundreds of workers and townfolk in often battle- 7 workers and 3 Pinkerton guards were killed
8500 members of National Guards took control of the plant—> this was 44 years before the steel industry become unionised again)
Assassination attempt on Fisk- wounded
Nov- union broken and mill reopened as a non-union plant using AA and Eastern European workers
Union leaders were blacklisted from the Steel industry for life
Consequences of Pullman strike
May 11 1894- 90% of his workers went on strike-
spread nationwise when American Railway Union refused to move trains w Pullman cars
Within a month- more than 1/4 million other railroad employees joined strike
Steel mills shifted from 8-12 houes a day, 6 days a week TO 24 hour shift followed by a day off every 2 weeks (44 years till Steel industry unionised again)
Congress established a national working day
14,000 federal troops and marshals despatched—
Political impact of mass immigration
WASPS POLITICAL POWER
Tammany Hall- provides immigrants w social safety net- helped w jobs, welfare network- had political control in NY
- Democratic Party relies on it- voters
WAR- usually segregated
Intense tension
Economic impact of mass immigration
Inc workforce- faster production inc wealth
Racial / social impact of mass immigration
Segregation- immigrants often cling together in localised communities- little Italy
Catholic Irish and polish immigrants were prominent in cities like Boston and Chicago
- no assimilation
Discrimination and conflict between New and old settlers
19th century sellers- Protestant
1900- Catholic
Turburculosis - social deprivation
Tenements
Extremist groups KKK
Asian exclusion act
Prohibition
Catholics drink as well as immigrants culture
WCTU - protest- women anti alcohol
Pull factors for immigration
Remittance
Bureau set up for cheap labour
American dream
Influenced by friends and family
Industrialisation- jobs
USA was land of opportunity- the economic expansion
Transition from sail to steam allowed many more people to journey across to the US
Push factors for immigration
Eastern Europeans and Russians were facing disruption to their traditional lifestyles
1885- Japanese exodus begin after emporer revoked a ban on emigration
Persecution from other countries
Poverty from Russia and Eastern Europe
High wages lured Chinese’s immigrants
Italy crop failures
Cholera and collapse of wonder industry in 1880s
Six features of industrialisation
Relentless drop in prices
Failure of the money supply to keep pace w productivity
Exploitation of immense coal deposits as a source of cheap energy
Rapid spread of technological innovation in transportation, communication and factory systems
Demand for workers who could be carefully controlled
Constant pressure of forms to complete tooth and nail by cutting costs and prices
How were the 6 features of industrialisation related
Coal deposits on Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky provided cheap energy to fuel railroad and factory growth
New technologies stimulated productivity and capitalised breathtaking industrial expansion
Technology also enabled manufacturers to dust costs and hire unskilled labour
Cost cutting enabled firms to undersell one another- remove competition
Cheap energy, cost reduction, new tech and fierce competition brought down price levels
Loads of consumer goods
Demand
Large output w machinery
Railroads exports consumers
ECONOMIC GROETH
What were War bonds
Seen as a way to remove money from circulation and decrease inflation
Issues by US WW2
War bonds are debt securities (loans) issued by a gov to finance military operations and other expenditures in time of war
Economic change US 1870-1920
Farming benefited from war- closing of frontier (high rainfall)
Upward growth
GNP- massive upward trend
Life expectancy inc
Employment in manufacturing
1870-1900-1920
*2 *2
Strikes in WW1
Increased
Steel and industrial production before and after WW1
Upward growth (w fluctuation) till USAS entry to war- then decrease
Industrial production also inc
Blip near end of WW1
Reactive after WW1
US public debt post civil war to ww1
Decreases post civil war
Inc during war Back to civil war levels after
US unemployment rates before after and during war
Unemployment rates fluctuate
Steady Dec 1918- WW1- negligible state
Inc significantly 1920 post war
Decrease and fluctuation 1929
Wholesale wheat prices post, after and during war
Fluctuates
During war- high
Post war- substanstial decrease
Dropped sig after 1920
(other markers recovering)
Never goes as high as during ww1
Lowest- Oct 1929- panic
When was First wave of immigrants and what were they
1865-1890
Most from Western Europe
Wasps
When was 2nd wave of immigrants and what were they
1890/1920
Eastern Europe and southern east etc
Migration before and after war
Sky rocket 1901-1910 at 8.7 mill but decreases sig after war
US imports and exports
Both grew
Exports sig inc than exports
Less reliant on other countries
Received lots of Wealth
US compared to other countries on inflation during WW1
Not as sig as other countries
France
Brit
Ger
What was the solid south
Dominance of the democrat party over stage and federal elections
Unchanged till 1960s - when many southerners deserted democrats after Johnson passed civil rights act
A REGION OF 1 PARTY GOV - democrat candidates certain to win all elections
What advantage did democrats have after 1877
Democrats gained control of the ‘unredeemed state legislatures’ -
Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina
Solid south- A REGION OF 1 PARTY GOV - democrat candidates certain to win all election
When was homestead riot
Pullman strike
Railroad strike
Triangle waiste thingy
1892 Cleveland
1894- Cleveland
187— Hayes
1911- Taft
