History: The glided age Flashcards
- Describe the poor labor conditions workers had to endure as a result of industrialization
Low wages, dangerous environments, unsanitary environments, long hours. Chinese workers and immigrants faced these conditions
- Explain the forces in place during the industrial age that were obstacles to worker’s gaining rights
Workers tried to go on strike for what they want, but managers took away their food and took away resources that were necessary for the survival of these workers, so the workers were basically forced to work long hours with low wages
- Describe the earliest unions in terms of goals, types of workers and leaders. How did the public feel about Unions?
Public did not like labor unions because it disrupted their daily activities such as sending mail and the public could not get their things done if laborers stopped working.
national labor union → any male workers could join, fought for work conditions and wages
american federation of labor → only skilled workers could join, striked by negotiation/collective bargaining, found by samuel gompers, latest union
pullman strike → women could work, company cut wages, workers striked which resulted in company not giving them food, workers starved and began protesting, but those workers were killed or arrested.
- Describe the three earliest confrontations between labor and management: Homestead Strike, Haymarket Riot, and Pullman Strike.
Homestead strike → steel company lowered wages, union workers striked, many people died, government involved, violence,
Haymarket bombing → police came to stop chaos of protesting, someone threw bomb at police, people get arrested, few workers hanged because they were supporting labor unions and they were accused of planning the bomb with no evidence
pullman strike → women could work, company cut wages, workers striked which resulted in company not giving them food, workers starved and began protesting, but those workers were killed or arrested.
- What events prior to the Civil War helped set the stage for the closing of the frontier?
After mining occurred in the frontier and there was nothing to mine after all resources were taken it was left alone and isolated and turned into a ghost town
- What factors encouraged western settlement?
Exodusters: african americans who exited or left the south
New life far from war
More freedom
- How did the US attempt to encourage assimilation among the Native American groups?
The US did this by removing them from their tribe and cultural ideas and forcing christianity onto them. Many native children were sent to boarding schools and taught to forget native culture
- Explain how the cowboy, Exodusters, mining, immigrants, and the railroad influenced the development of the last west.
exoduster influenced west because they were basically african americans who left the south and went to the west for opportunities to flourish
cowboys influenced west by having businesses through cattle drives, which was herding cattles
immigrants influenced development by working as laborers, such as the chinese who helped build railroads.
- Why did the Railroads emerge as the first great industry? What role did the federal government play in that emergence?
because they were made from cheap labor which made a rapid growth for the US economy and the US had a surplus of wealth. The government gave cash to those railroad companies which helped them survive
- How did the ideas of Social Darwinism and Laissez Faire economics justify the enormous concentrations of wealth?
wealth was classified by social darwinism and darwinists believed that people who were rich were better than others. Laissez faire helped the economy flourish by having no government interference
- What were practices employed by the Robber Barons that helped to eliminate their competitors?
robber barons showed off the wealth they had and lived in the same cities as the immigrants and the poor. They corrupted officials to get what they want and took advantage of their workers. They didn’t donate to the poor, but gave things to public places (universities, libraries etc.)
- What legislation or laws were passed to restrict the arrival of new immigrants and why?
chinese exclusion act of 1882 → restricted chinese from coming to the US because americans though they were destroying american culture by introducing theirs
contract labor law of 1885 → only skilled workers were allowed to become hired by businesses
- What challenges did New Immigrants face on the voyage over and once they arrived in the US? How did the experiences differ between Europeans and Asians?
immigrants came to US on steamships that had the worst accommodations and immigrants stayed in unsanitary conditions in whcih disease spread and many died. Once they arrived to the US, they had to go through angel island, which was for asians, and ellis island which was for europeans. Angel island was more discriminatory and made asian immigrants wait longer and refused entry to them by a higher percentage than the europeans at ellis island.
- Identify examples of the new metropolitan cities of the US and their industries what were their major issues and how were those issues addressed?
Denver, san francisco, sacramento: Immigrants moved to the east coast of the US but the Chinese moved to the west. No one came to the south because it was basically struck with poverty. The suburbs that these immigrants moved into were unsanitary, crowded, polluted, filled with diseases, and filled with crime. Issue was addressed by society changing and laborers and people were taking a stance against these problems
chicago = businesses, immigration, skyscrapers, pollution, complain about immigration, lots of foreigners
- What was the “melting pot” what forces promoted it and which forces prevented it?
Melting pot was when the US became a country of where people from different cultures came together. Nativists prevented this because they believed the immigrants would steal jobs and destroy american culture
