GILDED AGE OVERVIEW

THE GILDED AGE - AN ERA OF SERIOUS SOCIAL PROBLEMS MASKED BY A THIN GOLD GILDING (LIKE GOLD-PLATED)

What do these items have in common?

REGIONALLY (SOUTH AND WEST)

THE SOUTHThe New South - Belief that with its plantation economy destroyed, the South would develop an economy more like the industrial capitalism seen elsewhere in America.

Reality –

Sharecropping and tenant farming

Secondary crops emerged (tobacco, rice, sugar)

Raw materials (iron, coal, limestone, timber)

Improved transportation

Some industry (textile): Lower wages and worse conditions than North

THE SOUTH

THE SOUTH

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) -Supreme Court upheld “separate but equal” facilities

Jim Crow Laws

De jure segregation of public places (including U.S. military)

Contrasts with de facto segregation in the North.

1 - SHARECROPPING CONTRACT

A – Gold and glistening: Superb example of the advances happening at the turn of the century.

B – Chipped, but still worth keeping: Mostly good with a few negative consequences.

C – Cracked: Mostly bad, though not bad for everyone.

D – Gross stuff that turns skin green: Horrendous example of things that should not even be going on in a modernized nation.

THE WEST

Economic growth and new communities from:Transcontinental RRMineral resourcesGovernment policies Migration (for self-sufficiency and independence)

RAILROADS

Land Grants made RR largest landowner in the west

Jobs (many Chinese and Irish immigrants exploited)

Dangerous, exhausting, low wages

Transcontinental RR – completed 1869 in Promontory, UT

FARMINGLand•RR land, speculators•Morrill Act (land to state Agr. Colleges)•Homestead Act (160 acres to settle and farm for 5 years)

Hardships•Thick sod, drought, pests• Isolation•Debt (low crop prices, high RR charges)•Bonanza farms drive out smaller farmer

FARMING HARDSHIPS LEAD TO INGENUITY (PICK 3)

• Mechanized Reaper• Barbed Wire• Dry Farming• Steel Plow• Harrow• Steel Windmill• Hybridization• Improved

Communication• Grain Drill• Bonanza Farm

RANCHINGOpportunitiesCattle and grass were freeRailroads made ranching profitableMarkets for beef, wool in St. Louis and Chicago

ChallengesLivestock diseaseDangerousHard work, little pay Barbed wire fencesBonanza Farms drove out competition

MININGPositive Impacts $$ - mining $$ - merchant following the

boomtowns Comstock Lode - 1859 - led to

statehood for NV Boosted economy and foreign

investment

Negative Impacts Few got rich Mining towns were dangerous and

immoral Large corporations began to push

individuals out of mining business

2 - WILLIAM SWAIN LETTER

A – Gold and glistening: Superb example of the advances happening at the turn of the century.

B – Chipped, but still worth keeping: Mostly good with a few negative consequences.

C – Cracked: Mostly bad, though not bad for everyone.

D – Gross stuff that turns skin green: Horrendous example of things that should not even be going on in a modernized nation.

ECONOMICALLY (MOSTLY IN THE NORTH)

INDUSTRIALIZATION

Government Support subsidies for transportation and communication systems (RR)laissez-faire approach to regulationprotective tariff policy

INDUSTRIALIZATIONTechnological Innovations Bessemer process (steel)Light bulbTelephone

Resources – labor, natural resources, investment capital

Business ModelsVertical Integration – controlling every step in the production of a product.Horizontal Integration – push prices down, drive out/buy up competitionAssembly Line - Increased mass production (speed, quantity), job opportunities. Decreased craftsmanship, cost of production

3 - HENRY FORD’S IDEAS ON MASS PRODUCTION

A – Gold and glistening: Superb example of the advances happening at the turn of the century.

B – Chipped, but still worth keeping: Mostly good with a few negative consequences.

C – Cracked: Mostly bad, though not bad for everyone.

D – Gross stuff that turns skin green: Horrendous example of things that should not even be going on in a modernized nation.

POLITICALLY

“FORGETTABLE PRESIDENTS”Grant (R) - Military success, corrupt administration

Hayes (R) - Compromise of 1877

Garfield (R) - Assassinated 1881

Arthur (R) - Pendleton Act 1883 – Civil Service Commission

Cleveland (D) - 1884 smear campaign

Harrison (R) - Won 1888 electoral vote, lost popular vote

Cleveland – defeated populist James Weaver. Econ depression 1893. Stopped Pullman Strike.

McKinley (R) – defeated William J. Bryan (Dems split over silver/gold)

POLITICAL PARTIESDemocrats – southern whites, immigrants, Catholics, against legislating moralityRepublicans – protestant, NE/Midwest, reformers, black, Union veteransDidn’t take sides on controversial issuesSimilar agendas yet intense party loyaltyCampaign tactics mudslinging“waving the bloody shirt” Anti-immigrant slogans

Allegations of Cleveland's illegitimate child

POLITICAL ISSUESTariffs: high tariff during Civil War = surpluses. Congress could start pork barrel spending or lower tariff.

Currency Issues Big Business & Bankers: deflated, gold-backed money (“hard money”) Farmers & Laborers: inflated, bi-metal backed money (“soft money”)

Patronage and Corruption Fueled party loyalty Spoils system (from Jackson's era) Credit Mobilier Scandal – RR insiders formed a construction company and hired themselves at inflated prices. Gov’t officials were paid to stay quiet.Whiskey Ring – involved diversion of tax $ in a conspiracy among gov’t agents, politicians, whiskey distillers, and distributors

4 – TAMMANY HALL

A – Gold and glistening: Superb example of the advances happening at the turn of the century.

B – Chipped, but still worth keeping: Mostly good with a few negative consequences.

C – Cracked: Mostly bad, though not bad for everyone.

D – Gross stuff that turns skin green: Horrendous example of things that should not even be going on in a modernized nation.