● 1865 marks the end of the Civil War and the entrance into the Gilded Age. The end of Period 6 is the start of more government regulation/activism in society as a result of theGilded Age. Why is this important?
○ The Gilded Age represents a lot of economic growth; however, it is accompanied with major political corruption and social problems. The start of more government activism starts to solve these problems, and the start of a new vision for government continues on to Period 7.
● Industrial Revolution: technology, economic growth, poor working conditions, monopolies
● Social Problems Caused by Industry: lack of government regulation, gap between rich and poor, child and women labor, Social Darwinism
○ Can have two meanings
○ Refers to metals: big role in spurring the technological innovations that sped up manufacturing during this period
○ Metaphor for corruption: gilded metals are really shiny (ex: copper), but they areactually cheap and rarely valued
■ The economic growth of the period was astronomical, but deep down, it was the result of major corruption and the exploitation of children, women, and immigrants.
○ Second half of 1800s
○ Light bulbs: can now work during the night
○ Telegraphs: transactions over the phone → greater demand
○ Railroads → train travel of goods → time zones
○ Faster factory machines manned by unskilled workers→ Faster production
■ Heightened economic growth
■ More product for less of the cost: workers could easily be replaced, so low wages were implemented
○ Led to frequent panics and financial crises
■ Lower-class struggles the most (their life = low wages + financial difficulty)
○ Unregulated by the government
○ Unwise loans/stock investments made by greedy bank workers
○ Monopolies: Big companies purposely outcompeted smaller ones, taking hold of all businesses
○ As a result, a handful of corrupted elites remained at the top. Their greed allowed them to raise prices and cost of living, while keeping the wages of workers low
■ Rockefeller, JP Morgan, etc.
○ Private and large businesses were able to exploit workers
■ Work was unskilled; anyone could do it, anyone could replace you if you were unsatisfied with the wage
○ Poor working conditions and long hours
■ Exploited children and women
○ Technology was one of the main causes
○ Social Darwinism: people at the bottom of the social structure are there because of their own shortcomings and poor choices.
■ Rags to Riches: the rich got to the top because of their hardwork and success
○ Gospel of Wealth: the rich are at the top because of their hard work, but now it is their responsibility to help the poor succeed as well
○ Not until very late in the period
○ Interstate Commerce Act (1887): Government had the right to regulate trade that occurred between states. At the time, it finally allowed federal authority to regulate railroad trade and freight prices (railroad companies at the time charged high prices for their own convenience, due to the monopolies they established in the business).
○ Sherman Antitrust Act (1890): prevented the formation of monopolies
○ Company elites were very powerful, and thus, they dominated politics and gained votes through their company workers
○ Government DID NOT regulate businesses early in the Gilded Age
■ Focused more on Civil Service Reform (the Spoils System was removed and outlawed at this time)
■ Supreme Court was pro-business
● Often swatted down any federal attempts to regulate businesses
■ The tile of President became only a title, had almost no role
○ Groups of workers from certain companies that banded together to protest/negotiate issues in their workplace
○ Made illegal during this period
○ Eventually became associated with violence and radicalism, leading to their unpopularity
■ Their broad goals and broad membership led to their failure
■ Ex: Knights of Labor and they Haymarket Square Riot
○ Socialists: Led by Eugene Debs
○ People’s Party (Populists): progressive ideas that combatted the negative aspects of economic growth
■ Advocated for shorter workdays, graduated income tax (higher tax for the rich, lower tax for the poor), etc.
■ Becomes stronger in Period 7
○ After a period of isolationism during the first half of the 1800s, America begins to reach back out into the world at the END of Period 6, and continues to do so in Period 7
○ Commercial Relations: US reaches out to Latin American countries gaining independence from their European controllers. They establish trade to better help these new nations set their feet on the ground, but also to boost American power in the West
○ Spanish American War: done to end Spanish colonial rule in the West, but resulted from the explosion of an American ship near Cuba
■ America gained Cuba, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines
● The ways America dealt with these lands will be discussed in P7
○ Hawaii: after reaching out to Hawaii, America purposely makes Hawaii dependent on American trade. After suddenly pulling out their economic ties, Hawaii is left weakened, and America takes over the islands. The are soon annexed in 1898.
***Note: social issues are largely a result of the corruption that occurred from greedy elites/aristocrats. The issues are sectionalized in this guide because each area has unique problems; however, they are all similar in that there is always a group suffering from corruption.
○ Cities filled with all kinds of industry and businesses
○ Factories: cheap labor → purposely employed desperate immigrants, women, and children
■ Dangerous conditions, long work days
■ Ford’s Assembly Line: repetitive, unskilled work
● Faster, but promoted a loss of identity amongst its workers (imagine doing the same exact task every single day for more than 8 hours, knowing that you’re easily replaceable and that your financial difficulties are not going away despite your hard work)
○ Poverty and slums: bad conditions due to overcrowding and pollution caused by factories
■ City slums often inhabited by blacks and other minorities
● Racism led these groups to have low-paying jobs, and thus, they could never move to better places
■ Whites were often given better paying jobs, and they could therefore live away from slums and cities
○ Unions were prevented by government, so those in poverty received no help at all
○ High rates of crime, disease, and alcoholism
○ Settlement Houses helped immigrants (see Other Groups to Consider)
○ Family Life:
■ Father’s salary was not enough; men often lost their sense of identity when they could not provide for their family’s needs
■ Mother eventually moved to work outside of the house, as they now had to work in factories. They were often exploited, and also denied certain jobs
■ Children left school to work (salaries of parents were not enough). Lack of child education in these cities
○ Industrialized agriculture; now included in the market as well
○ Farm consolidation
■ Large, aristocratic farm owners outcompeted other poor white farmers, taking over their lands (similar to monopoly in cities)
■ Poor whites and blacks had to sharecrop in a crop-lien system
● Essentially legalized slavery
● Poor farmers borrowed the land from the landowners to farm crops; in return, they gave some of the crops to the landowners, while also keeping a small portion for himself. However, the system forced the poor farmers to buy supplies from the landowners, leaving him in debt overtime (crops were not enough to pay back the landowner).
○ Legal discrimination: white supremacy
■ Plessy vs. Ferguson: separate but equal
■ Jim Crow Laws: essentially black codes under a new name; stated laws for racial segregation
■ Booker T. Washington: an educated black man who supported assimilation
● Encouraged blacks to educate themselves and assimilate to white society; only then would blacks be respected
○ The New South: Industry
■ Had their own iron and steel manufacturing
■ Had their Tobacco Company
■ Owned their own textile mills to use the cotton made in the same region
○ Aristocratic elites at the top, poor white sharecroppers, and blacks at the bottom
○ Ranching: herding animals and selling them in the market (cowboy culture)
○ Mining: gold, silver, coal → sold in the market
■ Involved the trespass of Native American lands
○ Government encouraged the West’s development
■ Funded the Transcontinental Railroad (connected West to East)
● Promoted trade and industry
■ Homestead Act: government gave away Western land for very cheap prices to encourage expansion
○ Turner’s Frontier Thesis
■ The West was an economic escape, an assurance of constant democracy
■ When the West is all settled, how will people solve their economic problems? There will be a time when democracy is in danger, and that will be when the Frontier is gone
○ Railroads
■ Companies that controlled the railroads refused government regulation
■ They overcharged farmers who were trying to sell their goods into the market
■ Interstate Commerce Act: allowed government to regulate railroad prices and help farmers
○ Farmers: struggled financially
■ Industry caused them to overproduce → crop prices constantly falling (product > demand)
■ Carrying their crops to the markets required them to pay railroad prices.
● Railroad monopolies severely hurt farmers.
■ Were under severe debt to urban bankers
■ Farmers Alliance: part of the People’s party; supported silver, the graduated income tax, government regulation of railroads
***Note: these are issues that rose up during this period as a result of economic growth and the
struggles many groups were experiencing. Information about life in the three regions above will
help you understand why a certain group supports a specific side.
○ Tariff on Imports
○ Which will be used for American currency?
○ The less there is of a mineral, the more valuable it is
○ High immigration rates, settled in Northeast
■ Lived in ethnic communities, nicknamed “ghettos”
■ Given low-paying jobs and were often taken advantage of by political bosses
■ Mainly Catholics and non-Protestants
○ Because they accepted very low wages (they needed a job ASAP in order to survive), poor whites often lost their jobs to immigrants
■ Immigrants experienced Nativism, or hatred to foreigners, as a result
○ Settlement Houses: houses meant for immigrants that helped them with education and assimilation to society
■ Founded by Jane Addams
○ Chinese Exclusion Act (1882): banned Chinese immigration into the US
○ Their land was given away by Americans who didn’t own it
○ Reservation Lands
■ Native Americans were forced to move here
■ Had poor soil, people still trespassed into these lands
○ Buffalo killed to make way for railroad construction
■ Natives starved and were forced onto reservation lands
○ Found comfort in religion: Ghost Dance
○ Dawes Severalty Act: land distribution to Native American families
■ Failed: Natives forced to sell their land to speculators due to their own poverty
○ Carlisle Schools: children taken from Native families and placed into schools where they learned white customs (assimilation schools)
○ Battle of Wounded Knee
○ Behavior governed by Southern Jim Crow Laws
○ Faced racism in the North (denied certain jobs)
○ Experienced white supremacy
○ Women’s suffrage becomes an issue, but it is not truly addressed until later
○ More were entering the workplace due to the low wage conditions of factories
○ Began social work in Settlement Houses
***Note: Understand that the Industrial Revolution affects different groups in a variety of ways: farmers struggle under falling prices and unregulated freight prices, minorities and poor whites suffer from political bosses and bad city conditions. This raises the question of who the government will help and how, seen mainly in Period 7