Gilded Age Continuing Problems 1875-1896

Question 1

African American continuing problems 1875-1896 (5)

Answer 1

• ‘Bourbon’ aristocracy (white planter class) in 1880s had political power - intimidation + violence
• Laws introduced requiring AA voters to pass literacy tests/ ‘Grandfather Clauses’
• Jim Crow Laws, lynching, sharecropping & Supreme Court decisions - AA = outsider
• 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson + Hayes-Tilden Compromise 1877
• Lynching happened every other day in this period

Question 2

Native American continuing problems 1875-1896 (5)

Answer 2

• By 1900 only 100,000/240,000 NA who inhabited the Plains in 1860 remained
• Monoculture economy - buffalo, destroyed
• Pre Dawes Act 150 million acres of land –> by 1900: 78 million
• ‘Americanisation’ meant freedom was lost & nothing gained
• Reservation Indians classed as dependent ‘wards of the state’

Question 3

Workers continuing problems 1875-1896 (5)

Answer 3

• Children aged 8+ working in coal mines
• 2000 railroad workers killed in accidents in 1889
• 2% of the population owned 30% of the wealth
• Pullman Strike 1894 - cut wages 25% in 1898, laid off 1/3 workforce
• Divisions due to immigration & skilled + unskilled workers

Question 4

Women’s continuing problems 1875-1896 (5)

Answer 4

• Women voting seen as ‘unnatural’ + distraction from domestic duties
• Few opportunities to advance beyond skilled labour - boom in prostitution in cities
• By 1900 only 2% of all trade unionists were women
• AFL less sympathetic to women + focused on skilled workers
• Little to no contraception or birth control.

Question 5

In paragraph 4 what factors do you need to comment on wether the interpretation has been oversimplified, exaggerated or ignored? [6]

Answer 5

• A specific time period (e.g. only 1890’s)
• Economic factors (position of a group)
• Political factors (who’s in power?)
• Social factors
• A specific group/movement/person
• A specific casual factor