The United States from 1877 to 1914

Chester Arthur, 21st President of the United States, 1881-1885

The United States from 1877 to 1914

William Marcy “Boss” Tweed

• “Grand Sachem of Tammany Hall” of New York

• A powerful social club for the New York City Democratic Party

• Expert at bribery, kickbacks, and graft

The United States from 1877 to 1914

Accident rates on railroadsBetween July

1888 and June 1889 the railroads employed:

• 704,443 men

• of these, 20,028 were injured

• and 1,972 died

• a 3 percent rate of injury and fatality

Batvia, Ohio wreck of 1884

The United States from 1877 to 1914

Industrial accidents in the late-19th century

• 1880 to 1900, 35,000 fatal industrial accidents a year

• do the math . . . • 700,000 industrial

accidents in 20 years• compare to civil war .

. . • 600,000 fatalities

during the American civil war

The United States from 1877 to 1914

Southwestern strike of 1886

• Knights lead a huge strike against Jay Gould’s southwestern railroads

• But can’t sustain a long term strike against Gould, and the strike fails

The United States from 1877 to 1914

The American Federation of Labor (AFL)• Gompers advocates “pure and

simple” trade unionism• “Pure” because AFL stayed out

of politics• “Simple” because AFL organized

only skilled workers• 1 million members by 1901 . . .

Samuel Gompers

The United States from 1877 to 1914

Henry George• Advocate of “The

Single Tax” in his book Progress and Poverty

• Argued that productivity constantly outpaced demand

• A big Single Tax on unused land would Fund social needs Discourage speculation

and free up land for small farmers and producers

Henry George

The United States from 1877 to 1914

Goodwyn’s four stages of resistance

• the creation of an autonomous institution where new interpretations can materialize that run counter to those of prevailing authority

• the creation of a tactical means to attract masses of people

• the achievement of a heretofore culturally unsanctioned level of social analysis

• the creation of an institutional means whereby the new ideas, shared now by the rank and file of the mass movement, can be expressed in an autonomous political way

The United States from 1877 to 1914

The Gold Standard

• During Civil War Lincoln issued “greenbacks”

• But government withdrew them in the 1870s

• Only dollars redeemable for gold can circulate

The United States from 1877 to 1914Why farmers didn’t like

the Gold Standard . . .

Imagine a world in 1880 with 1 farmer, 1 bushel of wheat to sell and 1 consumer with 1 dollar?

Q. How much is that bushel going to sell for?(A. 1 dollar)Suppose in 1881 the population goes up . . . Now there are 2 farmers and 2 bushels of wheat

being sold to 2 consumers.But, still only one dollar because the dollar is

based on the extant supply of gold!Q. How much do those two farmers get for their

wheat?A. Still one crummy buck, which the two farmers

have to divide among them!

The United States from 1877 to 1914

The Farmers Alliance

• Form cooperative buying committees

• Form trade stores• At first

emphasizes non-partisanship

The United States from 1877 to 1914

Alliance supports the Knights of Labor

• “Knowing that the day is not far when the Farmers Alliance will have to use a Boycott on manufacturers in order to get goods direct, we think it is a good time to help the Knights of Labor in order to secure their help in the near future.” –William Lamb

The United States from 1877 to 1914

“Sockless” Jerry Simpson

The Cleburn Texas platform of 1886

-An interstate commerce law to regulate railroad rates

-Tax speculated land

-Federally administered national banking system

Alliance begins to advocate Federal policy

The United States from 1877 to 1914

1887-88: The Texas Exchange

• Farmers would put their land up as collateral for a huge group loan

• Borrow money from east banks at reasonable rates for their crops

• End run the middleman banks that tended to boost interest rates

• But could not get enough support from eastern banks

The United States from 1877 to 1914

C.W. Macune’s subtreasury plan• Government issue

credit for farmers• Government construct

warehouses for farmers• Farmers then able to

cooperatively sell on the international market when prices are optimal

Charles W. Macune

The United States from 1877 to 1914

Obstacles to farm populism

• Sectionalism divided northern and southern farmers

• African American farmers loyal to the Republican party and fearful of white supremacist violence

• Urban areas pretty much indifferent to populist cause

The United States from 1877 to 1914

Sectional divisions in women’s movement

• National Women’s Suffrage Association, refused to support Republicans unless they supported women’s suffrage

• American Women’s Suffrage Association supported Republican Party

The United States from 1877 to 1914

Washington Gladden, 1836-1918Pastor, First Congregational Church

Author of Working People and their Employers

One of the progenitors of the Social Gospel Movement

The United States from 1877 to 1914

• 30,000 miles of railroad in U.S. in 1860

• 193,000 miles of railroad in 1900

The United States from 1877 to 1914

Rise of the corporate state

• Railroad revolution creates unprecedented need for financing

• Communications revolution allows corporations to function

• Legal revolution allows corporations to exist

• Weak state allows corporations to thrive

The United States from 1877 to 1914

West River Bridge v Dix (1848)

• Does a state have the right to exercise eminent domain?

• Supreme Court says yes.• “The whole policy of the country, relative

to roads, mills, bridges, and canals, rests upon this single power, under which lands have always been condemned; and without this extention of this power, not one of the improvements just mentioned could be constructed.”

The United States from 1877 to 1914

Two key corporate cases

Dartmouth College (1816)

• New Hampshire had no right to take over Dartmouth College because it could not interfere with private contracts

Charles River Bridge (1828)

• Massachusetts could license a corporation to build a second bridge across the Charles River

• The first corporation enjoyed no special status because of its state license

The United States from 1877 to 1914

Santa Clara vs. Southern Pacific Railroad (1886)

• Corporations are individuals as defined by the Fourteenth Amendment

• Therefore they enjoy equal protection under the law

“The court does not wish to hear the argument on the question whether the provision in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which forbids a State to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. We are all of the opinion that it does.”

The United States from 1877 to 1914

The Corporation:a state licensed entity with the right to borrow from

the public

• Railroads required too much capital to depend on regional investors

• Financiers sell stock on the international market to public railroad corporations

• Enjoys perpetual existence

• Stockholders enjoy “limited liability”

• Corporations can own other entities

The United States from 1877 to 1914

Three kinds of mega-entities

• Railroad pools: agreements by which railroads fixed prices

• Trusts: A corporation that bought stock in other corporations

• The merger: corporations buying other corporations outright

• 1899: 1% of corporations controlled 33 percent of manufacturing

The United States from 1877 to 1914

• 1800: 235 newspapers in the United States (one for every 22,500 people)

• 1899: 16,000 newspapers (one for every 4,750 people)

The United States from 1877 to 1914

Associated Press, 1849

• No new member will be admitted to the association unless by unanimous and written consent of all existing partners but news may be sold to newspapers outside of New York City upon a majority vote of all existing partners.”

The United States from 1877 to 1914

Morse plan

• Federal government would buy his patents

• Government would grant the right to individual companies to build telegraph lines

• Federal government would also build its own system

The United States from 1877 to 1914

Western Union’s empire• 1880: WU has 80 percent of all miles

of wire• 92 percent of all messages

transmitted• 91 percent of all press messages• Collects 89 percent of all receipts

from messages

The United States from 1877 to 1914

“The mere fact of monopoly proves nothing. The only question to be considered is, whether those who control its affairs administer them properly and in the interest, first, of the owners of the property, and second, of the public.”

--President, Western Union, 1870

The United States from 1877 to 1914

The Gospel of Wealth according to Andrew Carnegie

First, to set an example of modest, unostentatious living, shunning display or extravagance; to provide moderately for the legitimate wants of those dependent upon him; and after doing so to consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to administer, and strictly bound as a matter of duty to administer in the manner which, in his judgment, is best calculated to produce the most beneficial results for the community--the man of wealth thus becoming the mere agent and trustee for his poorer brethren, bringing to their service his superior wisdom, experience and ability to administer, doing for them better than they would or could do for themselves.

The United States from 1877 to 1914

How old is the earth? Othniel Marsh’s dinosaurs

• 1870s: Marsh’s team heads west and discovers major Jurassic period dinosaurs: Diplodocus, Stegosaurus, and Allosaurus

• Further expeditions by Cope find new specimens

• Support thesis that earth is millions of years old

The United States from 1877 to 1914

In defense of the realm• Social Darwinism

“Survival of the fittest” concept adapted to industrial life

• Abundance concept: plenty of wealth for everyone willing to work hard and take risks

• Malthusean economics: Harsh times the way of weeding out the weak

The United States from 1877 to 1914

Caesar’s Column (1891), by Ignatius Donnelley

Henry Demarest Lloyd