CHAPTER 16: AMERICA'S

GILDED AGE, 1870-1890

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SECOND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

• 1865-1905: THE U.S. HAD A SURGE OF INDUSTRIAL GROWTH WHICH BECAME KNOWN AS THE SECOND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

• ASTOUNDING PACE AND MAGNITUDE

• EMERGENCE OF FACTORY AS FOREMOST REALM OF INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION

• EMERGENCE OF CITY AS CHIEF SETTING FOR MANUFACTURE

• LEADING INDUSTRIAL CITIES

• NEW YORK

• CHICAGO

• PITTSBURGH

• SINGLE-INDUSTRY CITIES

THOMAS EDISON

• THOMAS A, EDISON INVENTED THE INCANDESCENT LAMP (OR LIGHT BULB) WHICH COULD BE USED FOR BOTH STREET AND HOME LIGHTING

• EDISON AND OTHERS DESIGNED IMPROVED GENERATORS AND BUILT LARGE POWER PLANTS TO FURNISH ELECTRICITY TO WHOLE CITIES

THOMAS A. SCOTT

• UNDER THE AGGRESSIVE LEADERSHIP OF THOMAS A. SCOTT, PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD- FOR A TIME THE NATION’S LARGEST CORPORATION- FORGED AN ECONOMIC EMPIRE THAT STRETCHED ACROSS THE CONTINENT AND INCLUDED COAL MINES AND OCEANGOING STEAMSHIP

• WITH ANY ARMY OF PROFESSIONAL MANAGERS TO OVERSEE IT FAR-FLUNG ACTIVITIES, THE RAILROAD PIONEERED MODERN TECHNIQUES OF BUSINESS ORGANIZATION

ANDREW CARNEGIE

• ANDREW CARNEGIE, WHO EMIGRATED WITH HIS FAMILY FROM HIS NATIVE SCOTLAND AT THE AGE OF THIRTEEN AND WAS A TEENAGER WORKED IN A PENNSYLVANIA TEXTILE FACTOR

• 1873, CARNEGIE SET OUT TO ESTABLISH A “VERTICALLY INTEGRATED’ STEEL COMPANY

• 190O’S; HE DOMINATE THE STEEL INDUSTRY AND HAD ACCUMULATED A FORTUNE WORTH HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS

• THE RAILROAD PIONEERED MODERN TECHNIQUES OF BUSINESS ORGANIZATION

• BY THE 1890S, CARNEGIE DOMINATED THE STEEL INDUSTRY

• VERTICAL INTEGRATION

• CARNEGIE'S LIFE REFLECTED HIS DESIRE TO SUCCEED AND HIS DESIRE TO GIVE BACK TO SOCIETY

• INDUSTRIAL GIANT

• BORN IN SCOTLAND AND IMMIGRATED TO US IN 1848

ANDREW CARNEGIE• WHERE

• PENNSYLVANIA

• WHAT  

• STEEL

• WHEN

• 1873-1900S

• IMPACT

• CARNEGIE DOMINATED THE STEEL INDUSTRY

• RAILROAD PIONEERED MODERN TECHNIQUES OF BUSINESS ORGANIZATION

VERTICAL INTEGRATION

• CONTROLLED EVERY PHASE OF THE BUSINESS FROM RAW MATERIALS TO TRANSPORTATION, MANUFACTURING, AND DISTRIBUTION

• COMPANY’S AVOIDANCE OF MIDDLEMEN BY PRODUCING ITS OWN SUPPLIES AND PROVIDING FOR DISTRIBUTION OF ITS PRODUCT

JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER• JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER DOMINATED THE OIL INDUSTRY

• BEGAN WITH “HORIZONTAL” EXPANSION BUYING OUR COMPETING OIL REFINERIES

• 1880S, HIS STANDARD OIL COMPANY CONTROLLED 90% OF THE NATION’S OIL INDUSTRY

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERS WERE CONSIDERED EITHER "CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY" OR "ROBBER BARONS."

• 1863: HE OPEN HIS FIRST OIL REFINERY

• ROCKEFELLER BEGAN WITH HORIZONTAL INTEGRATION-BUYING OUT COMPETING OIL REFINERIES

JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER• WHEN

• 1800S

• WHAT

• OIL

• IMPACT

• DOMINATED THE OIL INDUSTRY

• 1863: HE OPEN HIS FIRST OIL REFINERY

• ROCKEFELLER BEGAN WITH HORIZONTAL INTEGRATION-BUYING OUT COMPETING OIL REFINERIES

ROBBER BARONS

• UNSCRUPULOUS FEUDAL LORDS WHO AMASSED PERSONAL FORTUNES BY USING ILLEGAL AND IMMORAL BUSINESS PRACTICES, SUCH AS ILLEGALLY CHARGING TOLLS TO PASSING MERCHANT SHIPS

• MODERN-DAY BUSINESSPEOPLE WHO ALLEGEDLY ENGAGE IN UNETHICAL BUSINESS TACTICS AND QUESTIONABLE STOCK MARKET TRANSACTIONS TO BUILD LARGE PERSONAL FORTUNES.

• THE 19 CENTURY TERM FOR A BUSINESSMAN OR BANKER WHO DOMINATED A RESPECTIVE INDUSTRY AND AMASSED HUGE PERSONAL FORTUNES TYPICALLY BY ANTI-COMPETITIVE OR UNFAIR BUSINESS PRACTICES

SUNSHINE AND SHADOW IN NEW YORK

• 1886: MATTHEW SMITH’S BEST-SELLER SUNSHINE AND SHADOW IN NEW YORK, WAS PUBLISHED

• IT OPENED WITH AN ENGRAVING THAT CONTRASTED DEPARTMENT STORE MEAN GATE ALEXANDER T. STEWARTS’S TWO MILLION DOLLAR MANSION WITH HOUSING IN THE CITIES SLUMS

 HOMESTEAD ACT

• OFFERED 160 ACRES OF LAND IN THE WEST TO ANY CITIZEN WHO WOULD SETTLE AND FARM THE LAND FOR 5 YEARS

• 600,000 FAMILIES TOOK ADVANTAGE OF THIS GOVERNMENT OFFER

• MANY HOMESTEADERS WERE SOUTHERNERS BOTH WHITE AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN

NAVAJOS’ LONG WALK

• “LONG WALK” WAS THE TERM USED TO DESCRIBE THE 1864 EMIGRATION OF THE NAVAJO INDIANS AND OTHER TRIBES TO THE BOSQUE REDONDO RESERVATION ALONG THE PECOS

• FIFTEEN HUNDRED NAVAJO ORIGINALLY SENT TO THE RESERVATION AND MORE FOLLOWED

• ALTHOUGH THE NAVAJO WERE STARVING AND EXHAUSTED, THE INDIANS WERE SENT BY THE U.S. ARMY ON A LONG JOURNEY BY FOOT TO THE RESERVATION IN THE EAST CENTRAL PORTION OF THE TERRITORY

• MANY INDIANS DIED GOING TO THE RESERVATION AND EVEN MORE DIED AT THE RESERVATION

• THEY STAYED AT THE RESERVATION UNTIL 1864

• WERE ALLOWED TO RETURN TO THEIR HOMELAND

• FACED WITH A SHORTAGE OF WOOD, THE NAVAJOS AT BOSQUE REDONDO BUILT HUTS OF STICKS, COWHIDES AND OLD CANVAS

• INTENSIVE CAMPAIGN TO ROUND UP THE NAVAJOS, KIT CARSON AND THE HIS SOLDIERS SWEPT THROUGH CANYON DE CHELLY IN THE WINTER OF 1864

NEZ PERCE

• NEZ PERCE RESERVATION ,FOR EXAMPLE, 172,000 ACRES WERE DIVIDED INTO FARMS FOR IDIANS, BUT WHITE RANCHERS AND LAND SPECULATORS PURCHASED 500,00 ACRES

• NEZ PERCÉ WERE CHASED OVER 1,700 MILES BEFORE SURRENDERING IN 1877

CHIEF JOSEPH

• CHIEF JOSEPH SPOKE OF FREEDOM BEFORE A DISTINGUISHED AUDIENCE IN 1879

LITTLE BIG HORN

• MOST FAMOUS INDIAN VICTORY TOO PLACE IN JUNE 1876 AT LITTLE BIGHORN, WHEN GENERAL GEORGE A. CUSTER AND HIS ENTIRE COMMAND OF 250 MEN PERISHED

DAWES ACT

• 1887

• PASSAGE OF THE DAWES ACT, NAMED FOR SENATOR HENRY L. DAWES OF MASSACHUSETTS, CHAIR OF THE SENATE’S INDIAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE.

• ACT BROKE UP THE LAND OF NEARLY ALL TRIBES INTO SMALL PARCELS TO BE DISTRIBUTED TO INDIAN FAMILIES, WITH THE REMAINDER AUCTIONED OFF TO WHITE PURCHASERS

• IN THE HALF CENTURY AFTER THE PASSAGE OF THE DAWN ACT, INDIANS LOST 86 MILLION OF THE 135 MILLION ACRES OF LAND IN THEIR POSSESSION IN 1887

• BY 1900, ROUGHLY 53,000 INDIANS HAD BECOME AMERICAN CITIZENS BY ACCEPTING LAND ALLOTMENTS UNDER THE DAWES ACT

GHOST DANCE

• A RELIGIOUS REVITALIZATION CAMPAIGN REMINISCENT OF THE PAN-INDIAN MOVEMENTS LED BY EARLIER PROPHETS LIKE NEOLIN AND TENSKWATAWA

• LEADERS FORETOLD A DAY WHEN WHITES DISAPPEAR, THE BUFFALO WOULD RETURN, AND INDIANS COULD ONCE AGAIN PRACTICES THEIR ANCESTRAL CUSTOMS

• DECEMBER 29,1890, SOLDIERS OPENED FIRE ON GHOST DANCERS ENCAMPED NEAR WOUNDED KNEE CREEK IN SOUTH DAKOTA, KILLING BETWEEN 150 AND 200 INDIANS, MOSTLY WOMEN AND CHILDREN

GHOST DANCE• WHO

• NEOLIN

• TENSKWATAWA

• WHEN

• DECEMBER 29,1890

• WHERE

• SOUTH DAKOTA

• WHAT

• RELIGIOUS REVITALIZATION CAMPAIGN REMINISCENT OF THE PAN-INDIAN MOVEMENTS LED BY EARLIER PROPHETS LIKE NEOLIN AND TENSKWATAWA

• LEADERS FORETOLD A DAY WHEN WHITES DISAPPEAR, THE BUFFALO WOULD RETURN, AND INDIANS COULD ONCE AGAIN PRACTICES THEIR ANCESTRAL CUSTOMS

• IMPACT

• DECEMBER 29,1890, SOLDIERS OPENED FIRE ON GHOST DANCERS ENCAMPED NEAR WOUNDED KNEE CREEK IN SOUTH DAKOTA, KILLING BETWEEN 150 AND 200 INDIANS, MOSTLY WOMEN AND CHILDREN

WOUNDED KNEE

• DECEMBER 29,1890

• WOUNDED KNEE MASSACRE MARKED THE END OF FOUR CENTURIES OF ARMED CONFLICT BETWEEN CONTINENT’S NATIVE POPULATION AND EUROPEAN SETTLERS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS.

• BY 1900, THE INDIAN POPULATION HAD FALLEN TO 250,000, THE LOWEST POINT IN AMERICAN HISTORY

WOUNDED KNEE

• WHAT

• WOUNDED KNEE MASSACRE MARKED THE END OF FOUR CENTURIES OF ARMED CONFLICT BETWEEN CONTINENT’S NATIVE POPULATION AND EUROPEAN SETTLERS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS.

• WHEN

• DECEMBER 29, 1890

• WHERE

• SOUTH DAKOTA

• IMPACT

• BY 1900, THE INDIAN POPULATION HAD FALLEN TO 250,000, THE LOWEST POINT IN AMERICAN HISTORY

GILDED AGE• 1860-1890

• MARK TWAIN AND CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER’S 1873 NOVEL, THE TITLE OF WHICH BECAME THE POPULAR NAME FOR THE PERIOD FROM THE END OF THE CIVIL WAR TO THE RUN OF THE CENTURY

• MEANS LAYER OF GOLD, BUT IT ALSO SUGGEST THAT THE GLITTERING SURFACE COVERS A CORE OF LITTLE REAL VALUE

• TWAIN AND WARNER WERE REFEREEING NOT ONLY TO THE REMARKABLE EXPANSION OF THE ECONOMY IN THIS PERIOD BUT ALSO TO THE CORRUPTION CAUSED BY CORPORATE DOMINANCE OF POLITICS AND TO THE OPPRESSIVE TREATMENT OF THOSE LEFT BEHIND IN THE SCRAMBLE FOR WEALTH

• SLOGAN: “GET RICH, DISHONESTLY IF WE CAN, HONESTLY IF WE MUST.”

WILLIAM M. TWEED

• KNOWN AS BOSS TWEED

• WAS HEAD OF THE TAMMANY HALL, NEW YORK CITY’S POWERFUL DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL MACHINE

• BETWEEN 1869-1871, HE LED THE TWEED RING OF CORRUPT POLITICIANS IN DEFRAUDING THE CITY

• CONVICTED OF 120 COUNTS OF FRAUD AND EXTORTION, HE WAS SENTENCED TO 12 YEARS IN JAIL, BUT RELEASED AFTER ONE. REARRESTED, HE ESCAPED TO SPAIN

WILLIAM M. TWEED• WHERE

• NEW YORK

• WHEN

• 1869-1871

• WHO

• WILLIAM M. TWEED

• KNOW AS BOSS TWEED

• WHAT

• WAS HEAD OF THE TAMMANY HALL, NEW YORK CITY’S POWERFUL DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL MACHINE

• BETWEEN 1869-1871, HE LED THE TWEED RING OF CORRUPT POLITICIANS IN DEFRAUDING THE CITY

• IMPACT

• CONVICTED OF 120 COUNTS OF FRAUD AND EXTORTION, HE WAS SENTENCED TO 12 YEARS IN JAIL, BUT RELEASED AFTER ONE. REARRESTED, HE ESCAPED TO SPAIN

CREDIT MOBLIER

• 1872

• INVOLVED THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD AND THE CRÉDIT MOBILIER OF AMERICA CONSTRUCTION COMPANY (NO RELATION TO THE FRENCH CREDIT MOBILIER) IN THE BUILDING OF THE EASTERN PORTION OF THE FIRST TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD

WHISKEY RING

• INVOLVED HIGH OFFICIALS OF THE GRANT ADMINISTRATION, AND BY THE NEW YORK RING, CONTROLLED BY THE DEMOCRATS, WHOSE THEFT RAN INTO THE ENDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS

• WHISKEY RING OF THE GRANT ADMINISTRATION UNITED REPUBLICAN OFFICIALS TAX COLLECTORS, AND WHISKEY MANUFACTURERS IN A MASSIVE SCHEME THAT DEFRAUDED THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS

GOLD STANDARD

• POLICY AT VARIOUS POINTS IN AMERICAN HISTORY BY WHICH THE VALUE OF A DOLLAR IS SET AT A FIXED PRICE IN TERMS OF GOLD (IN THE POST –WORLD WAR TWO ERA, FOR EXAMPLE 435 PER OUNCE OF GOLD)

CIVIL SERVICE ACT OF 1883

• THE PENDLETON CIVIL SERVICE REFORM ACT OF UNITED STATES IS A FEDERAL LAW ESTABLISHED IN 1883 THAT STIPULATED THAT GOVERNMENT JOBS SHOULD BE AWARDED ON THE BASIS OF MERIT

INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION

• REACTING TO THE U.S. SUPREME COURT’S RULING IN WABASH RAILROAD V. ILLINOIS (1886), CONGRESS ESTABLISHED THE ICC TO CURB ABUSES IN THE RAILROAD INDUSTRY BY REGULATING RATES

• 1890

• FIRST LAW TO RESTRICT MONOPOLISTIC TRUST AND BUSINESS COMBINATIONS

• EXTENDED BY THE CLAYTON ANTITRUST ACT OF 1914

• PASSSED IN 1890 MADE IT ILLEGAL TO CREATE MONOPOLIES OR TRUST THAT RESTRAINED TRADE

• THE ACT DID NOT CLEARLY DEFINE A TRUST IN LEGAL TERMS, SO IT WAS HARD TO ENFORCE

• CORPORATIONS AND TRUST CONTINUED TO GROW IN SIZE AND POWER

Sherman Anti Trust Act

GREENBACK-LABOR PARTY

• FORMED IN 1876 IN REACTION TO ECONOMIC DEPRESSION, THE PARTY FAVORED ISSUANCE OF UNSECURED PAPER MONEY TO HELP FARMERS REPAY DEBTS; THE MOVEMENT FOR FREE COINAGE OF SILVER TOOK THE PLACE OF THE GREENBACK MOVEMENT BY THE 1880S

GRANGE

• POLITICAL MOVEMENT THAT GREW OUT OF THE PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY, AN EDUCATION AND SOCIAL ORGANIZATION FOR FARMERS FOUND IN 1867; THE GRANGE HAD ITS GREATEST SUCCESS IN THE MIDWEST OF THE 1870S, LOBBYING FOR GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF THE RAILROAD AND GRAIN ELEVATOR RATES AND ESTABLISHING FARMERS’ COOPERATIVES

SOCIAL DARWINISM

• APPLICATION OF CHARLES DARWIN’S THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION TO SOCIETY; USED THE CONCEPT OF THE “SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST” TO JUSTIFY CLASS DISTINCTION AND TO EXPLAIN POVERTY

• CHARLES DARWIN PUT FORTH THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION, WHEREBY PLANT AND ANIMAL SPECIES BEST SUITED TO THEIR ENVIRONMENT TOOK THE PLACE OF THOSE LESS ABLE TO ADAPT.

• SOCIAL DARWINISM ARGUED THAT EVOLUTION WAS AS NATURAL A PROCESS IN HUMAN SOCIETY AS IT WAS IN NATURE AND THAT GOVERNMENT MUST NOT INTERFERE

• FAILURE TO ADVANCE IN SOCIETY WAS WIDELY THOUGHT TO INDICATE A LACK OF CHARACTER

• THE SOCIAL DARWINIST WILLIAM G. SUMNER BELIEVED THAT FREEDOM REQUIRED FRANK ACCEPTANCE OF INEQUALITY

MUNN V. ILLNOIS

• 1877

• U.S. SUPREME COURT RULING THAT PA GRANGER LAW ALLOWING THE STATES TO REGULATE GRAIN ELEVATORS

INTERSTATE COMMERCE ACT

• MADE IT ILLEGAL TO COMBINE A COMPANY INTO A TRUST OR CONSPIRE TO RESTRAIN TRADE OR COMMERCE

• THE LAW WAS INEFFECTIVE BECAUSE IT WAS VAGUE AND THE COURTS DID NOT ENFORCE IT

LOCHNER V. NEW YORK

• 1905

• DECISION BY SUPREME COURT OVERTURNING A NEW YORK LAW ESTABLISHING A LIMIT ON THE HOURS PER WEEK BAKERS COULD BE COMPELLED TO WORK; “LOCHNEROSM” BECAME A WAY OF DESCRIBING THE LIBERTY OF CONTRACT JURISPRUDENCE, WHICH OPPOSED ALL GOVERNMENTAL INTERVENTION IN THE ECONOMY

• VOIDED A STATE LAW ESTABLISHING TEN HOURS PER DAY OR SIXTY PER WEEK AS THE MAXIMUM HOURS OR WORK FOR BAKERS CITING THAT MORE INFRINGED ON INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM

THE GREAT RAILROAD STRIKE

• THE GREAT RAILROAD STRIKE OF 1877, SOMETIMES REFERRED TO AS THE GREAT UPHEAVAL, BEGAN ON JULY 14 IN MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES AND ENDED SOME 45 DAYS LATER, AFTER IT WAS PUT DOWN BY LOCAL AND STATE MILITIAS, AND FEDERAL TROOPS

KNIGHTS OF LABOR

• FOUNDED IN 1869, THE FIRST NATIONAL UNION LASTED, UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF TERENCE V. POWDERLY, ONLY INTO THE 1890S: SUPPLANTED BY THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR

• 1880S WITNESS A NEW WAVE OF LABOR ORGANIZING

• KNIGHTS WERE THE FIRST GROUP TO TRY TO ORGANIZE UNSKILLED WORKERS AS WELL AS SKILLED, WOMEN ALONGSIDE MEN, AND BLACKS AS WELL AS WHITES

• GROUP REACH ITS PEAK MEMBERSHIP OF 800,000 IN 1886AND INVOLVED MILLIONS WORKERS IN STRIKES, BOYCOTTS, POLITICAL ACTION, AND EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIAL ACTIVITIES

• LABOR MOVEMENT LAUNCHED A SUSTAINED ASSAULT ON THE UNDERSTANDING OF FREEDOM GROUNDED IN SOCIAL DARWINISM AND LIBERTY OF CONTRACT

• JULY 4,1886, THE FEDERATED TRADES OF THE PACIFIC COAST REWROTE THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

MIDDLE BORDER

• WHERE

• MINNESOTA, DAKOTAS, NEBRASKA, AND KANSAS. 

• WHAT

• THE POPULATION ROSE FROM 300,000 TO 5 MILLION WITH MANY RACES, RELIGIONS AND OTHER VARIETIES OF CULTURES

SAN FRANCISCO

• WHERE

• CALIFORNIA

• WHAT

• A MAJOR MANUFACTURING AND TRADING CENTER IN CALIFORNIA

US GRANT

• 1869, PRESIDENT GRANT GAVE OUT A PEACE POLICY BUT IT DID NOT SUCCEED

SITTING BULL• WHO

• SIOUX AND CHEYENNE WARRIORS

• WHAT

• LED THE SIOUX AND CHEYENNE WARRIORS DURING LITTLE BIG HORN.  HE ESCAPED TO CANADA WHEN THE INDIANS VANISHED BUT RETURNED AND WAS ARRESTED IN 1881 BUT THEN RELEASED IN 1883.

• WHEN

• 1881-1883

• WHERE

• CANADA

CRAZY HORSE

• ALSO A LEADER OF THE SIOUX AND CHEYENNE WITH SITTING BULL.

LIBERAL REFORMERS

• WHEN

• 1872

• WHAT

• SOCIAL NEEDS. 1872. THEY WANTED TO BRING A CHANGE IN NORTHERN OPINION REGARDING RECONSTRUCTION

CHARLES DARWIN

• BRITISH SCIENTIST WHO WROTE ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. HE DISCOVERED THE EVOLUTION OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS.