Gilded Age

Review Created By:

Michael Crews

Politics• Political Machines – bought votes through providing

services and jobs in the administration– Political bosses – controlled the machine– Spoils system – process of paying for votes through money,

jobs, and services– Tammany Hall – Democratic Political Machine in New York

City (William Tweed)• Presidents– Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, Harrison– All lacked personality

• Called the “forgotten presidents”

Legislation• Pendleton Act (1883) – reformed the spoils system– Created the Civil Service Commission• Hire federal employees based on exams and merit

• Sherman Silver Purchase Act- purchased more silver for currency

• McKinley Tariff – set import tax at around 50%

Industrialization• Second Industrial Revolution– Mechanization and marketing led to great wealth

• If you could get people to purchase your mass produced goods you became incredibly wealthy

• Transcontinental Railroad– Authorized by congress in 1862– Federally subsidized by the mile at first– Completed in 1869 @ Ogden, Utah– Built by primarily Chinese and Irish labor– Opened up the west to rapid expansion of population– Provided quick transportation of goods and raw materials to

developing industrial centers

Important Businessmen and Ideas• Vanderbilt – Railroad tycoon• Carnegie – Steel industry– Sold company to J.P. Morgan who developed the U.S. Steel

Corporation• J.P. Morgan – Banking/Investing• Rockefeller – Oil– Created Standard Oil Company

• Vertical Integration – combing companies that supply equipment, services and resources for a particular product

• Horizontal Integration – combining all other companies in a particular industry

Social Ideas and Business Regulations• Interstate Commerce Act (1887)

– Outlawed railroad rebates and kickbacks– Created Interstate Commerce Commission

• Monitored railroad companies for compliance

• Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890)– Outlawed monopolies

• Social Darwinism– The idea that people succeed based on natural selection or ‘survival

of the fittest’– The ‘Gospel of Wealth’

• God had given them riches for the genius and/or tenacity

– The opposite of this is that poor or unsuccessful people were ungodly or biologically inferior

Labor Movement

• National Labor Union (NLU)– Represented both skilled and unskilled labor to factory

owners• Knights of Labor– Another labor union – It allowed blacks and women to join

• NLU did not

• American Federation of Labor (AFL)– Large organization that coordinated efforts of many

smaller unions

Strikes• Railroad Strike of 1877

– Threatened second 10% pay cut for workers• Coeur d’Alene Strike (1892)

– Silver miners’ wages slashed• Miners blew up the mine

• Homestead Strike – Steel workers protested lowered wages– Won a victory after clashing with 300 detectives

• Pullman Strike– Pullman railcar company employees wages cut 30%– Eugene Debs organized the strike

• 150,000 union members refused to work• Delayed service as far away as California

– Grover Cleveland sent federal troops to break up strike

Social Issues• Immigration– Push Factors

• Avoid forced military service• Avoid religious persecution• Poor economic situation

– Pull Factors• Better jobs• Religious freedom• Ability to improve social standing

– Negative reactions• Nativists did not feel that immigrants would never assimilate into the

‘American’ culture

– Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 banned Chinese immigration until 1943

– Rapid urbanization• Along with native peoples, immigrants settled into the industrialized cities• Lack of adequate housing led to ‘slums’

More Social Issues• Equal Rights– Women demand right to vote• Elizabeth Cady Stanton

– African Americans continued fight for their rights• Plessy V. Ferguson ( separate but equal) upheld• Booker T. Washington encouraged blacks to become

economically self-sufficient before challenging whites on social issues• W.E.B. Du Bois argued that blacks should fight for social and

economic equality at the same time