Transcontinental railroads promoted western plain settlement and linked the west to the east to create one national market.
Big railroads were the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Company.
In the Great American Desert, Buffalo were nearly wiped out, and the Land Was fenced in with ranches and homesteads.
Consequences of Western settlement:
Environmental damage
Native Genocide
Near extinction of the Buffalo.
Frontier
Constant mineral rushes kept settlers moving west.
After minerals were exhausted, Ghost towns appeared.
The Texas Cattle industry was easy to get in, as cattle and grass were very cheap.
Rails allowed for cattle markets to get easy transport
Fraud - The Best land went to rail companies.
Most Homestead Act of 160 acres failed.
1) The 160 acres were poor land,
2) Also, poor weather,
3) Decreasing crop prices,
4) Increased prices of machinery caused failure.
Cattle farming ended because of
1) Overgrazing,
2) Winter blizzard,
3) Barbed wire cut access to open ranges,
4) Wealthy cattle owners bought all the land.
Cycle of doom
Increased crop production led to decreased crop prices (Deflation)
Which led to increased Farmer debts,
Which led to prices falling more
Which led to more production to pay debts
And repeat.
National Grange Movement (Patrons of Husbandry)
Social and educational organization for farmers/families.
The Grange laws regulated railroad rates.
6.3 Westward Expansion: Social and Cultural Development
Native Americans
Native Americans were pushed onto reservations for the railroads.
Yet, must have refused to comply, leading to brutal wars and massacres.
1866 Sioux War
Sioux lost, and both sides ignored treaties promising reservations.
The Wounded Knee massacre put down the resistance of the Ghost Dance movement.
Reformers advocated for education, conversion to Christianity, and job training.
Dawes Act
The act that “helped” assimilate into white culture and eventual citizenship.
Assimilation failed as most land was given to settlers, and disease and poverty killed a lot of Native.
Movements
Conservation movement
Sparked by concerns over deforestation, which led to the building of national parks (Yellowstone!)
Farmers Alliance
A rural movement supporting farmers.
Unlike the Grange Movement, they had economic and political goals, not just to help farmers.
Farmers' Alliance wanted to raise crop prices to combat deflation.
The Ocala platform was a farmers' reform movement.
Advocated for direct senator elections, graduated income tax, lower tariffs, a federal banking system, and more silver in circulation.
Most farmers migrated from rural farms to urban areas
6.4 The “New South”
After Reconstruction
New South advocated for a self-sufficient economy, capitalistic values, increased industrialization, and improved racial relations.
Some southern farms overtook northern textile producers.
Northern investors taxed the South unfairly on railroads, slowing down the southern economy.
Poverty
By 1900, half of the region was engaged in tenant farming/sharecropping
The reason the South was so poor was for 2 reasons:
1) The banks and people were poor.
2) Most profits went to the North.
Many farmers were tied to their land like serfs, and a lack of credit forced farmers to borrow from merchants.
Segregation
White supremacists came back to power in the South after Reconstruction.
Civil rights case of 1883
Congress couldn’t ban racism
Plessy vs Ferguson (1896)
Established separate but equal accommodation, making Jim Crow laws for segregation constitutional
White supremacists got around the 15th Amendment to prevent Black people from voting by using
1) Literacy tests,
2) Poll taxes
3) The Grandfather clause: Blacks could only vote if their grandfathers could, but most of their grandfathers were slaves
Booker T Washington
Vouched for not equality through economic prosperity, but equality through rights.
DuBois
Demanded an end to segregation, opposed to Booker Washington.
6.5 Technological Innovation
The invention of the Typewriter (1867), The Telephone (1876), and the Camera (1888) were important technological inventions.
Bessemer Process
Used to purify steel, revolutionizing the steel industry and superincreasing the production of steel.
Steel replaced cotton as America's biggest industry
Urban transport from rural farms allowed city growth.
Mass production became the new norm.
Eli Whitney's invention of interchangeable parts bloomed in Henry Ford's automobile factories.
This led to assembly lines.
6.6 The Rise of Industrial Capitalism
Management and finance structures allowed large-scale industries.
Railroads (1st big business)
Supported by the government, which gave them decreased interest rates and more public land.
Consolidation of Railroads combined railroads into integrated chunks of lines, leading to the first ever Monopoly.
Cornelius Vanderbilt (Railroad Monopoly)
Merged Several local railroads into the New York Central Railroad, creating a monopoly on Rails.
Andrew Carnegie (Steel Monopoly)
Superintendent of PA railroads + Steel manufacturer
JP Morgan (Steel Monopoly)
He made a monopoly on steel when Carnegie sold US Steel to him for a billion dollars.
Vertical integration
A company that takes all stages of production, from base mining to selling.
John D Rockefeller (Oil Monopoly)
Founded Standard Oil, which would take control of most oil refineries.
Horizontal integration
A company that takes control of all other companies in the industry
Economics
The government supported big business and monopolies by increasing tariffs, public education, and infrastructure.
Monopoly had a few problems:
It subverted competition
Slowed innovation
Overcharged consumers
The businesses had too much political influence
Government intervention was rejected due to the belief in the Laissez-faire economic style.
Industrialists used laissez-faire to justify monopolistic trusts.
Social Darwinism
Survival of the fittest by races. Some races were just better; the rich were fit, and the poor were unfit.
The Rich had the means of defending their wealth.
Americans ignored the huge wealth gap because they believed in the “Self-made man.”
6.7 Labor in the Gilded Age
The Gilded Age was not a good term
Symbolizes the superficial glitter of new wealth.
Labor was physical, hours were long, wages were low, and so families depended on women and children.
Managers held power over workers, as there was a surplus of cheap labor, and strikers could be easily replaced.
Yellow-dog contract
Employment contracts that forbade employees from joining a union.
Collective bargaining
Ability of workers to bargain with employers as a group
The Great Railroad Strike of 1877
Rail companies cut wages due to the depression, so 500,000 workers joined a strike, shutting down ⅔ of the rails.
Unions
National Labor Unions were the first attempt to organize all state workers.
They wanted higher wages, an 8-hour workday, equal rights for women and African Americans, Monetary reform, and worker cooperatives.
The National Labor Union declined after the panic of 1873 and the failed strikes of 1877.
Knights of Labor was the second national union, and was even open to blacks and women.
They wanted: Worker cooperatives, a ban on child labor, a ban on trusts and monopolies, and to settle labor disputes via arbitration, not strikes.
They declined after the loss of organization and the Haymarket Square Riot
Hay market square riot
A strike for 8 8-hour workday turned bloody when someone threw a bomb, killing 7 officers.
Strikes
Homestead Strike
Caused by a 20% wage cut in Carnegie's Homestead Steel
Pullman Strike
Strike followed after Pullman announced wage cuts for the rail company and fired the bargainers.
Eugene Debs, leader of the American Railway Union, led the Pullman Strike.
This froze national transport
6.8 Immigration and Migration in the Gilded Age
By 1900, the US population had tripled, and 16 million immigrants had entered the country.
Push factors to the US:
Poverty and political turmoil, overcrowding and joblessness, and religious persecution.
Pull Factors to the US:
The US had political and religious freedom, economic opportunities, and an Abundance of jobs.
Old Immigrants were from North and Western Europe.
They were usually English speakers, protestant, and Literate. Easy to assimilate
New Immigrants from South and Eastern Europe.
They were poor and illiterate, catholic/Orthodox, and were unfamiliar with democracy. Hard to assimilate
From 1890 onwards, more immigrants were new immigrants
The California Gold Rush led to a lot of Chinese migrants to the US.
In response, the Chinese Exclusion Act (the First ever act to limit immigration) banned the immigration of all people from China.
Slums
Immigrants and African Americans moved into cities, which were slums.
Cities were often crime-ridden and overcrowded, while filth and poor sewage led to disease (Cholera and tuberculosis)
6.9 Responses to Immigration in the Gilded Age
Many groups opposed immigration.
First were labor unions
Immigrants settled for lower wages and often led strikes, going against the union's goals
Second were employers
They feared that immigrants would advocate radical reform
3rd were Nativists
Feared that immigrants would take jobs, weaken Anglo culture
4th were Social Darwinists
Believed that immigrants were inferior.
Immigrants were scapegoats for economic depression.
Settlement houses were houses where immigrants lived.
Reformers (often women) provided social services, helping to relieve poverty, and 2nd generation immigrants could join the middle class.
Political Machines
Political machines were tightly organized political groups that provided favors for votes.
Machines often gave housing, jobs, and social services to immigrants, who then gave back loyalty and votes to these Machines
Tammany Hall
Boss Tweed led the most infamous political machine in NYC.
He was often seen as corrupt and greedy, as 65% of public building funds went to Tweed
6.10 Development of the Middle Class
Industrialization led to the formation of the middle class, which had better-paying jobs and education.
White Collar Workers
Salaried employees with nonlabor jobs
More demand for white collar workers led to higher education.
Doctors, Lawyers, and Salespeople
Gospel of Wealth
Written by Carnegie, said that the wealthy had a duty to give wealth back into society.
They spent 350 million on public institutions.
For women, young single/lower-class women worked for wages.
The wages of jobs women took were often less than those of their male counterparts
Many of the wealthy sought suburbs, not cities.
Many wealthy people moved from cities to the suburbs.
City Beautiful
Movement to integrate nature into cities.
Education became reformed, as laws increased school attendance and a higher literacy rate.
Affordable college led to more college degrees, resulting in the emergence of scholars who could compete with European intellectuals.
Entertainment grew in the form of circuses, magazines, sports, and theaters.
6.11 Reform in the Gilded Age
The middle class had time to foster change.
Roman Catholicism rose due to Irish and Eastern European Immigrants.
Social Gospel
Applying Christian principles to social issues, like better housing, wages, and public health. Addressing poverty leads to individual salvation.
National American Woman Suffrage Association
Pioneered the Women's right to vote.
Women's Christian Temperance Movement
Advocated for the ban on Alcohol
People fought for child labor laws, housing reform, and women's rights
The divorce rate went up, and the birth rate and family size went down
6.12 Controversies over the Role of Government in the Gilded Age
Laissez-faire economy and Social Darwinism encouraged lax government.
Promoted business over the common person
Wabash vs Illinois (1886)
Ruled individual states couldn’t regulate commerce.
Finally, government regulation:
Interstate Commerce Act
1st federal effort to regulate rails for “reasonable” rail rates
Interstate Commerce Commission
1st federal regulatory agency to investigate suspicious business practices
Sherman Antitrust Act
Prohibited conspiracy in commerce.
Economy
Hard money:
Backed by Gold/Silver, Limited supply, Stable but inflexible.
Businesses and Bankers had Hard money, which should hold against inflation
Soft Money:
Not backed by gold/silver. The government and the market set value. Flexible
Debtors and Farmers had soft money.
This meant lower interest rates and easier-to-pay loans
The Panic of 1893 was blamed on the gold standard
In response, the Greenback Party was formed
Supporters of paper money would evolve into the Populist Party.
Democrats opposed tariffs because they raised consumer prices.
6.13 Politics in the Gilded Age
Era of forgettable presidents
A bunch of presidents who ignored glaring issues.
Whoever gave patronage jobs became more important than actual policy
Republicans were reformers for African Americans.
They supported prohibition and liked increased tariffs for the protection of business.
More like Federalists and Hamilton
Democrats were former Confederates and catholics.
They advocated for states' rights and a decrease in federal power
More like Dem-Reps and Hamilton
Populists
Growing discontent in the West and South formed a new party: The populist party.
They advocated for unlimited coinage to raise crop prices, a graduated income tax, government ownership of rail and telephone lines, and an 8-hour workday.
They could not win the 1892 election because they failed to attract the urban North or conservatives in the South.
Grover Cleveland, a Democrat, won. First Democrat to win in a while
Depression Politics
In the panic of 1893, the stock market crashed due to over-speculation, and the rails went bankrupt due to overbuilding.
20% were unemployed.
Cleveland wanted the gold standard and a hands-off policy. He took many actions that alienated the average American
Borrowing money from JPMorgan and crushing the Pullman Strike
The popular Wilson-Gorman Tariff was a decrease in tariff rates and a slight income tax on the wealthy.
During the election of 1896, both populists and democrats chose William Jennings Bryan,
He delivered his Cross of Gold speech, supporting the Silver Currency.
Republicans nominated William McKinley.
Democrats wanted lower tariffs, were split on the currency issue, and had ties to trusts and big money.
Republicans wanted higher tariffs, lower coinage, and represented the urban party.
McKinley's win in 1896 marked the end of the Gilded Age stalemate
Populists declined by now, as racism in the South was stronger than the desire for a strong economy
Marked an era of Republican dominance in the presidency and Congress.
Considered 1st modern president, as he broke George Washington's neutrality policy.
Summary
Comparison
While production used to be done by artisans, now it is done by factory workers.
Old immigrants were more literate and familiar with democracy, while New Immigrants often didn’t speak English, and were a minority in their own religion.
Continuity
Still, many saw the US as a land of freedom and opportunity.
Work conditions remained poor and dangerous for many.
Women in factory work are a continuation of the textile mills from earlier in the century.
The South, despite the attempts of Reconstruction, remained much poorer and continued to oppress African Americans.
Shady business and political practices were a key sign of this era.
Nativist sentiment against all immigrants remained.
Change
Many immigrants began arriving from Eastern and Southern Europe, leading to demographic changes.
The gap between the rich and the poor grew wider and wider.
Rise of white-collar jobs replacing manual blue-collar jobs.
The use of railroads replaced the use of canals.
For the first time, the US began seeing a surge in Asian immigrants.
This is the first time immigration has become so bad that the US has had to pass legislation to start restricting it.
All momentum for Native resistance was killed by the end of the Frontier’s closing.
Slight change in attitudes towards Natives, preferring assimilation over subjugation (still subjugation, but you get the idea).
Causation
Monopolistic businesses such as Carnegie Steel or Rockefeller Oil were so big that they snuffed out all competition (by virtue of being monopolies).
At the same time, these businesses were able to become titans of industry for the economy.
The sheer poverty of many urban dwellers pushed many lower-class women into the workforce. Though difficult, the first push in integrating women into society was increased wages, which led to more Americans investing in play and leisure.