The Gilded Age (1877 - 1890) Flashcards
Name some key events from the presidency of Hayes
- Created a special cabinet committee to draw up new rules for federal appointments (move against the spoils system)
- Railroad Strike of 1877
Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of Hayes presidency
Strengths:
- Won support of big business during railway strike
- Attempted Civil Service reform which paved the way for later legislation
Weaknesses:
- Lacked the support of Congress
- Faced strong opposition from the ‘Stalwarts’ (a faction of Republican Party led by Senator Conkling)
- Achieved very little
Name some key events from the presidency of Garfield
- Supported Civil Service reform and took down Roscoe Conkling
- Continued reform of the Post Office and forced the resignation of one of the ringleaders of the ‘Star routes’ conspiracy
- Was shot on the 2nd July 1881 and died 19th September 1881
Describe how Garfield took down Roscoe Conkling
- Strengthened federal authority over the New York Custom House, stronghold of Conkling
- Appointed Conkling’s arch-nemesis Robertson to run the Custom House
- Conkling and a fellow senator resign, confident their legislature would vindicate their stand and re-elect them
- In fact, 2 other men were elected and it was a victory for Garfield
Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of Garfield’s presidency
Strengths:
- Usurped Conkling, victory for Civil Service reform
- Forced resignation of Star Routes leader
- Decent progress for a short time in office
Weaknesses:
- Failed to make large scale change
- Presidency cut short by assassination
Name some key events from the presidency of Arthur
- Pendleton Act of 1883 was the creation of the first Civil Service Commission
- First federal immigration law, excluding paupers, criminals and the mentally ill
- Chinese Exclusion Act 1882
- Tariff Act of 1883 reduced tariffs by an average 1.47%
Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the Presidency of Arthur
Strengths:
- Made first legislative Civil Service reform
- Managed to weaken the initial Chinese Immigration Act
Weaknesses:
- Made little change to tariffs
- Passed two anti-immigration laws
Name some key events from the Presidency of Cleveland
- 1884 Presidential Campaign
- Over time he replaced Republican office holders with democrats but more chosen by merit alone than in previous administrations
- Vetoes
Describe the 1884 Presidential election
- The Republican candidate, James G Blaine, was charged with corruption involving railroad interest as well as being accused of anti-catholic bias and fathering an illegitimate child
- Republicans against corruption (‘Mugwumps’) abandoned Blaine and became known as ‘goo-goos’
- Cleveland won with a narrow margin of 37 electoral votes
Describe Cleveland’s abuse of vetoe
- Believed Congress should have less power
- Democratic President facing a Republican senate, used lots of vetoes
- Vetoed hundreds of private pension bills for American Civil War veterans
- Vetoed bill granting pensions for disabilities not caused by military service
- Vetoed Texas Seed Bill in 1887 ($10,000 to purchase seed for farmers in several Texas counties whose crops who had been ruined by drought)
Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of Cleveland’s presidency
Strengths:
- Began to enact Civil Service reform
- Beat corrupt Republican candidate Blaine
Weaknesses:
- Abused power of veto
- Did not cooperate with Congress
Describe some key aspects of the North
- Home of banking and commerce
- Railroads connected national trade
- Urbanisation fuelled by immigration and industrial expansion
- 1860’s to 1890’s = 10 million immigrants
- Fears of a socialist revolution
- No/few trade unions
List some reasons for division within the North
- Immigration
- Railroad tensions
- Urbanisation
- Disunity of working class
- Radical fringe
Describe how immigration caused divisions in the North
- Between ‘districts’ of immigrants
- Between ‘new’ and previous generation immigrants
- Divisions immigrants brought with them (eg Orange Riots, Irish Catholics vs Irish Protestants , New York 1870 and 1871)
- ‘Nativism’ = protection of ‘traditional’ American values from foreign influence
- ‘Yellow Peril’ = immigrants from China, didn’t speak English, hardworking and cheap labour; Chinese Exclusion Act 1882
Describe how railroad tensions caused divisions in the North
- ‘Freight rates’ (the amount charged by the railroad corporations to move goods)
- Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, enables Congress to regulate railroads and freight rates
Describe how urbanisation caused divisions in the North
- Overcrowding, poverty, poor housing and poor hygiene
- Immigrants from all over forced to live in close quarters
Describe how disunity of the working class caused divisions in the North
- No trade union movement
- Serious divisions due to immigration and competitive labour prices
Describe how the radical fringe caused divisions in the North
- Fears of a socialist revolution
- Haymarket Bomb 1886
List some key aspects of the South
- Post-reconstruction governments = Redeemers/ Bourbons
- Little land redistribution
- Cotton market
- Black education
- Industrialisation
- Black rights
Describe the cotton market in the South
- Struggling
- Britain made other arrangements for cotton during the Civil War
- USA’s market share in 1867 smaller than 1857
- Lack of cash in the economy
Describe black education in the South
- Government education fell through very quickly when money ran out
- Prevented black leadership in business or politics
Describe industrialisation in the South
- Encouraged by the growth of railroads
- Focused on cotton industry (I.e textile factories in the South)
Describe black rights in the South
- 1873 Slaughter House cases (14th Amendment did not prevent states setting their own citizens rights rules)
- 1875 US vs Cruikshank (State could not set own rules but did not have to prevent infringements of rights by others)
- 1883 the Court struck down 1875 Civil Rights Act
- Jim Crow laws
- Rise of racial violence and populism
Describe the divisions within the South
- Black vs White
- Black vs government/law enforcement
- Landowners vs the poor
Who were the 4 main robber barons and their specialist areas?
Vanderbilt and the railroad
Carnegie and steel
Morgan and finance
Rockefeller and oil
Describe Vanderbilt and the railroad
- Cornelius and son William Vanderbilt = railroad tycoons
- Originally made fortune through steamboat operations (worth $11 million by 1962)
- Used profit to buy out and consolidate rail companies in the East
- Established a standard track gauge and one of the first to replace iron rails with steel
- Cornelius Vanderbilt died in 1877, richest man in America
- Fortune passed to his son William who expertly manipulated capital and handed strikes brutally
- William Vanderbilt died in 1885, the richest man in world
Summarise Andrew Carnegie and steel
- Arrived in American as a poor Scottish immigrant
- Started work in a railroad company where he sold iron during the Civil War and invested the profits in iron works
- He used Bessemer Converters to make better and cheaper steel from iron
- Made Homestead Steelworks in Pennsylvania which brought all processes of steel manufacturing together
- Initially manufactured rails but moved into bridges, machinery, wire and armour plaiting for the US Navy
- In 1900, sold it all to J.P Morgan for $480 million
Describe the practices of Andrew Carnegie
- Rarely bought out competitors
- Sold steel at competitive prices
- Monopolised through vertical integration
Describe Andrew Carnegie’s philanthropy
- Self-made millionaire
- Donated to unis, hospitals, free libraries, parks, swimming baths and churches
- Set up Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Describe why Andrew Carnegie attracted criticism
- For being a socialist and philanthropist
- Exploiting workers (low pay & long hours) and being too ruthless to rivals
Describe J.P Morgan and finance
- Inherited $12 million but increased his fortune through his skills as a financier
- Major force behind creation of large companies (eg US steel corporation)
- 1871, began his own private banking company
- Criticised for creating monopolies and flaunting wealthy
Describe John D Rockefeller and oil
- Bought his first oil refinery in 1862
- 8 years later set up Standard Oil Company in Ohio
- 1880’s = owned 85% of all American oil production
- World’s first billionaire
- Gave $550 million to medicine, African-American educational institutions and the Baptist Church
Describe the National Railroad Strike
- 1877
- Owners of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad announced a pay cut (the 4th in as many years)
- Largest industrial disturbance to date
Worst in Pittsburgh:
- 5,000 workers fought 650 federal troops
- Workers burnt 500 cars, 104 locomotives and 39 buildings
- 25 killed
- $10 million worth of property damage
- Military force restores order
What were the key effects of the National Railroad Strike 1877?
- Worker resolve to organise
- Employers resolve to suppress
Describe the Knights of Labour
- Founded in 1869
- Campaigned for the initiative and referendum and sought to build more cooperative labour management relations
- Lobbied for 8 hour day and child labour restrictions
Describe the Wabash Railroad Strike
- 1885
- When Wabash Railroad tried to break a local Union, the knights walked out in sympathy
- The entire Southwest System was paralysed and Wabash was forced to negotiate
- Within a year of this, Knights 3/4 million members
Describe the decline of the Knights of Labour
- Lots of newly joined members attempted industrial action but were rarely supported by others
- Haymarket Bomb Outrage 1886 was blamed on the Knights
- Within a year, membership halved; within a decade, all but extinct
Describe the Haymarket Bomb Outrage
- 1886
- Strike at McCormick Harvester Works, Chicago
- Police fired into crowd killing several
- Black International organise rally in Haymarket Square the following evening
- Someone threw a bomb - 1 policeman killed instantly, 60+ injured (6 of whom died later)
- Police retaliated, fired into crowd, some fatalities
Aftermath:
- Seven arrested, all found guilty, several executed
- Contributed to the failure of the 1886 eight-hour day movement
Describe the American Federation of Labour
- Set up in 1885
- Only skilled white men
- Limited objectives
Learned from Knights mistakes:
- Recognised the autonomy of each trade
- Executive Council could not interfere in the internal affairs of member unions
- Taxed member unions to create a strike fund and maintain a secretariat
- Formed central and state federations
Describe some push factors for immigration to America
- Industrial and agricultural revolutions
- Increasing population
- Agricultural and industrial depression in Britain, Norway and Sweden
- Agricultural mismanagement in Ireland
- Persecution of the Jews in Russia
- Revoked ban on emigration in Japan
- Devastation from Taiping Rebellion in China
Describe some pull factors for immigration to America
- Adverts in guidebooks, pamphlets and newspapers
Railroads:
- Reduced fairly land and sea
- Loans with low interest
- Classes in farming
- Building of churches and schools
Describe the reaction to immigration
Initial reaction:
- Allowed industrial development
- Welcomed
Economic fear bred ethnic intolerance:
- Drain on American resources
- Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882
- Racist jokes and stereotypes
- Antisemitism
Nativism:
- Native plutocracy (wealthy, white Americans in control of the government) vs foreign working class
- Protestants vs Catholics
- Nativism = Protecting the interests of native-born/established inhabitants against immigrants
Describe how employment for African Americans progressed
- 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
Describe how employment for African Americans was set back
- 1870-1900 African American population doubled from 4 million to 7.9 million
- Many remained in the South
- Most were tied to farming (sharecropping had low wages and allowed for continued ‘masters’)
- Boll weevil caused depressions and living standards deteriorated after 1892
Describe how the standard of living for African Americans progressed
- No legal segregation in the North
- Greater possibility of franchise for black people in the North
- Strong black culture emerging
Describe how the standard of living for African Americans was set back
- Black ghettos formed after migration North was met negatively
- Frequently barred from trade unions
- Poor quality housing
- Limited access to employment, education and housing
Describe how franchise for African Americans progressed
- 15th Amendment outlaws voting discrimination
Describe how franchise for African Americans was set back
- After reconstruction the number of black people in politics decreases
- Southern states introduce rules to stop black voting and by 1910 there is near elimination of the black vote in the South
Describe how equality for African Americans progressed
- Separate facilities were supposed to be equal (in practice they were not)
Describe how equality for African Americans was set back
- Jim Crow laws introduced 1887
- AA were perceived as an underclass
- Social Darwinism introduced a hierarchy of races and was used as a justification for segregation
- Court denies ‘The Civil Rights Cases’
- 1882-1899, 2500 people lynched
- Southern governments and police force did nothing to combat white violence and even when perpetrators were taken to court, all white juries meant there were rarely convictions
Describe how education for African Americans progressed
- 1877-1887, the number of back schools doubled
Describe how education for African Americans was set back
- 1882 Senator Blair’s bill to provide millions to all black schools, rejected by Congress
- By 1887, sill only 2/5 eligible black children enrolled in schools
- White schools had longer terms and better funding
- Few state subsidies for black students
Describe the Dawes Act
- 1887
- Authorised federal government to break up tribal lands and reservations into individual plots
- Only Native Americans who accepted these individual allotments were allowed to become US citizens
- The object was to assimilate Native Americans into mainstream US society
Describe the Massacre at Wounded Knee
- December 29th, 1890
- US 7th Cavalry Regiment surrounded a camp of Sioux Indians near Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota
- While attempting to disarm the Sioux, a shot was fired and the soldiers began to open fire
- Hundreds of Native Americans killed
Describe the Ghost Dance movement
- Spiritual movement
- According to the teachings, the Ghost Dance ceremony would reunite the spirits of dead and living for a successful battle with the White Americans, restoring the Native American way of life
Describe how railways developed life in the West
Transcontinental lines:
- The Southern Pacific (1883)
- The Northern Pacific ( 1883)
- The Atchison (1884)
- The Great Northern (1893)
- 4 transcontinental railroads built 1883 to 1893
Help:
- Federal - 70 million hectare land grants
- State - $200 million, 19 million hectare land grants
Benefits:
- People in, raw goods out
- Stimulated the growth of iron, steel, lumber and other industries
- Land next to the railroad fetched 2x the normal amount but government traffic on land grant lines had a 50% discount
Describe how agriculture developed life in the West
New inventions
- Dry farming methods
- Reapers, threshing machines, binders, combined harvesters, barbed wire, deep-drilled well and steel windmills
Expansion:
- 1867 to 1890, wheat production = 211 million bushels to 599 million
- Wheat exports = 6 million bushels (1867) to 102 million bushels (1900)
- 1840 to 1900, the time to produce 15 bushels of wheat = 35 labour hours to 15 labour hours
Collapse:
- 1870’s glut
- Corn prices = 78 cents a bushel (1867) to 31 cents a bushel (1873)
- Farmers with loans went bankrupt
Describe how cattle and ranching developed life in the West
Cattle trails:
- At the end of the Civil War, ranching based in Texas
- 1867, McCoy devises the Long Drive Route
- 1866 to 1885, 5.71 million cattle are taken North by the Long Drive Route
Meatpacking:
- Starts with Armour in 1868
- Much exploitation
Cattle-ranching:
- Replaced cattle drives
Disputes over land and water:
- Very common
- Vigilante systems
Boom:
- Large-scale corporate enterprise
- 1883 = British own 8 million hectares of Western grazing land
- 1880’s Eastern and European investment in ‘Beef Bonanza’
Describe how cowboys developed life in the West
- 40,000 cowboys 20 years after the Civil War
Background:
- 1/3rd were Mexican, AA, Asian or Native American
- Many were ex-confederate soldiers
Life:
- 18 hour day
- Weather and dangerous animals
- $25 to $30 a month
Describe how the end of the open range changed life in the West
Disaster:
- Summer of drought
- Severe winters 1885 - 1887
- Up to 90% western cattle die
The end:
- By 1890, open range and cowboys were over
- American shift from eating pork to eating beef
Describe the Turner Essay
- 1893, Frederick Turner, presented a conference paper called the ‘The Significance of the Frontier in American History’
He claimed:
- The key to America was ‘the existence of an area of free land’
- The excess of land acted as a safety valve against social discord and violence
- The harshness of the frontier created self-reliant individuals
- America was different in social structure to Europe
- The US had a unique form of democracy
It attracted much criticism:
- 1942, ‘The Frontier & American Institutions: A Criticism of the Turner Thesis’
- 1949, ‘Westward Expansion, a History of the American Frontier’
- General thoughts = ignored women, hasty generalisation, ignores immigrants and Native Americans, promoted provincialism
Describe the Navy during this period
- ‘an alphabet of floating tubs’
- 1882, Secretary of the Navy (Hunt), advocated for expansion
- Of the 140 ships, only 42 were operational
- Only 17 steamships and 14 were from the Civil War
- Captain Thayer advocated and published ‘The influence of Sea Power Upon History’ (1890) and ‘The Influence of Sea Power Upon the French Revolution and Empire’ (1892)
Describe Hawaii during this period
- 1875, US begins to import Hawaiian sugar duty free
- In return the Hawaiian gov must refuse concessions such as importing manufactured goods to other countries
- 1887, Bayard expands the treaty with Hawaii
- Now have permission to build a naval base at Pearl Harbour
Describe Latin America during this period
- 1881, Blaine begins to advocate for a Pan-American conference
- Delegates from 18 countries met in Washington, Oct 1889
- Only achieved reciprocity agreements and a weak arbitration system signed by less than half and with an opt-out clause
- Did set up the Pan-American Union to organise future conferences
