POLITICS OF THE GILDED AGE - American History I and...

Politics of the Gilded Age

What is the “Gilded Age?”

• Term coined by Mark Twain to describe American in the late 19th

century:1. Glittering exterior

(growth of business, wealthy elites, powerful politicians)

2. Corrupt political core(government plagued with scandals)

3. Growing gap between rich and poor

Four Major Political Themes of the Gilded Age

Republicans v. Democrats Who is in Control?

• Republicans: mainly in North upper crust of society• Democrats: considered ordinary people in all sections but dominant in the South.

• Presidency controlled by the Republican Party.• House of Representatives disorganized • Senate called the “rich man’s club”.

Major Issues Third Parties

1. Tariff: high or low2. Currency reform ($) gold v.

silver/bimetallism debate3. Civil service reform (government jobs

should we end the spoils system?)4. “Waving the bloody shirt” bringing up

the memory of the Civil War (used by Republicans to shame Democrats)

• Third parties branch off of the Republicans• Stalwarts Favored the spoils system• Half-Breeds Supported civil service reform and the merit system (getting a job because you are qualified)• Mugwumps (Republicans that supported Democrat presidential candidate Grover Cleveland)• Republican Party was factionalized

Political Machines• Informal political group

designed to gain and keep power. Offered services to voters in exchange for political support.

• Growth of cities had outpaced the ability of city governments to meet the needs of citizens

• Run by party “bosses”• Party bosses helped

immigrants find jobs, housing, food, heat and protection; in return they told immigrants who to vote for in elections

Graft• Graft – acquiring money

through dishonest or questionable means

• Example: party bosses would know when and where the city might want to build a park, so they would buy up the property cheap before it became public knowledge and then sell the land to the city for personal profit

William “Boss” Tweed• 1823 – 1878

• Ran Tammany Hall (The Democratic Party’s political machine in NYC) from 1858 – 1871

• Used his position to make himself wealthy

• Arrested in 1871 and convicted of defrauding the city government of about $200 million

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Tweed-Boss-LOC.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Tweed-Boss-LOC.jpg

Thomas Nast• 1840 – 1902• German immigrant• Worked for Harper’s Weekly as

political cartoonist from 1859 to 1886

• Targeted Boss Tweed and political machines; was so effective that Tweed offered him a $500,000 bribe to go study art in Europe –Nast turned it down.

• Creator of modern image of “Santa Claus,” Uncle Sam, the Donkey and Elephant symbols for Democratic and Republican Parties

• Died of Yellow Fever in Ecuador

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Thomas_H_Nast.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Thomas_H_Nast.jpg

Explain Thomas Nast Point of View

Presidents were very weak• Ulysses S. Grant (R) elected with help of African American vote.

– Major scandal Credit Mobilier (RR execs. created their own construction company and hired themselves to build the RR)

• Rutherford Hayes (R) disputed election of 1876 – Removed troops out of the South ending Reconstruction (Comp. of 1877)

• James Garfield/Chester A. Arthur (R) Garfield assassinated in 1881– Killed by a disappointed office seeker– Chester Arthur passed the Pendleton Act (civil service reform)- merit

system based on examination • Grover Cleveland (D) involved in ugly election of 1884

– Only president to consider labor a problem (1st Democrat elected since before the Civil War)

• Benjamin Harrison (R) Republican Party controls both house of Congress – First time Congress spend $1 billion (grandson of President William H.

Harrison)• Grover Cleveland (D) major economic problems

– Panic of 1893 20% unemployment• William McKinley (R) elected in 1896

– Front porch campaign (used a campaign manager)

• Elections = ugly, circus, and ignored issues

The Incorporation of America

Essential Question:Industrialization increased the standard of living

and the opportunities of most Americans, but at what cost?

Causes of Rapid Industrialization• Steam Revolution of the 1830s-1850s (steamboats)

• The railroad fueled the growing U.S. economy:

• First big business in the U.S.

• A magnet for financial investment.

• The key to opening the West.

• Aided the development of other industries

• Technological innovations.

• Bessemer process (increase production of steel = lower cost)

• Edison light bulb, phonograph, motion pictures.

• ABUNDANT:

– Unskilled & semi-skilled labor

– Abundant capital ($)

– Natural resources

• New, talented group of businessmen (entrepreneurs)

• U.S. population increased = larger market

• Government willing to help at all levels to stimulate economic growth (corruption?)

Thomas Edison, the “Wizard of Menlo Park”

New Business Culture

U.S. entrepreneurs developed a new business culture around three basic ideals.

1. Laissez-faire government “hands off” of business

• Emphasis on the individual (moral and economic ideal/compete freely in the marketplace)

• Markets are not man-made• No room for government in economics

2. Social Darwinism• Adapted the ideas from Darwin’s “Origin

of Species” to human economic interactions

• “Survival of the Fittest” individuals must have the freedom to succeed or fail (struggle)

• Government intervention to reward society is futile

3. Protestant (Puritan) “Work Ethic”• Horatio Alger (100+ novels) emphasizing

the “self-made man”• “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps”

Tactics of Industry• Monopolies: control of an entire

market or good by a single corporation

• Trusts: combination of independent corporations under one group of managers

• Holding companies: ownership of multiple companies by a single controlling company which doesn’t actually produce anything itself

• Interlocking Directorates: when the directors of one company serve on the board of directors of multiple other related companies

• Industry?– Carnegie Steel Co.

• Vertical integration– company takes over suppliers, distributors,

and transportation systems to gain total control of its product

• Monopoly– Complete control of a product or service

• Gospel of Wealth– Philosophy by Andrew Carnegie stating that

people should be free to make as much money as they can but then they should give it away

• Invention that helped?– Bessemer Process- Air is injected

into molten iron to remove carbon and other impurities producing steel (a more flexible and rust-resistant metal)

– Brooklyn Bridge

Andrew Carnegie

• Industry?

– Standard Oil Co.

• Horizontal integration

– Merging of companies that make similar products

• Trust

– A group of separate companies that are placed under the control of a single managing board

• Invention that helped?

– Drake- steam engine to drill for oil

John D. Rockefeller

Standard Oil Company• Created in 1870 by

Rockefeller and several partners

• Volume pricing allowed Standard Oil to bankrupt any competitors who refused to sell out

• Became so powerful a monopoly that it was ordered broken up by the Supreme Court in 1911

New Types of Business Entities

• Trusts entities created to hold corporate wealth for the “trustee” HOW?:

– Horizontal Integration: merging the same types of business into a monopoly

• John D. Rockefeller = Standard Oil

– Vertical Integration: combining into one company all the phases of manufacturing

• Andrew Carnegie U. S. Steel

Cornelius Vanderbilt• 1794 – 1877

• “The Commodore”

• Dropped out of school to operate a ferry business which grew into a huge fortune in the shipping and railroad industries

• Founded Vanderbilt University with a $1 million donation, the largest in US history at that time

• One of his grandsons built Biltmore House in Asheville, NC

J.P. Morgan• 1837 – 1913

• Financed the merger of steel companies into the giant US Steel; also financed the merger of electric operators into General Electric

• Key stakeholder in several other corporations, including International Harvester, AT&T, and numerous railroads

• Was scheduled to sail on the Titanic, but cancelled his reservation at the last minute

Regulating the Trusts

• 1877 Munn. v. Illinois private property used for the public good could be regulated by the government

• 1886 Wabash v. Illinois federal government (not states) is in charge of regulating interstate commerce (led to the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission)

• 1890 Sherman Antitrust Act This act banned any formations that would restrict trade, not distinguishing between bad and good trusts.

• The act was a hamper on worker unions, but it showed that the government was slowly moving away from laissez faire ideals

• 1895 U.S. v. E. C. Knight Co. the government sued E.C Knight Co. due a violation in the Sherman Anti-Trust Act since E.C. controlled 98% of the sugar refinement industry

• The court ruled in favor of E.C. Knight, stating that manufacturing was not subject to the act. This made regulation more difficult.

The Protectors of Our Industries

The Robber Barons of the Past

Captain of Industry or Robber Baron?

Essential Question:

Can an individual have too muchmoney?

Captains of Industry or Robber Barons DBQ

• Read the Overview and Background Essay– Complete the Guided Questions for the Background Essay

• This information will form the basis by which you will judge the Documents

– Now “test” your knowledge by completing the Captains of Industry or Robber Barons Labeling Activity• Ready? Go!

• Examine each of the Documents– On a separate piece of paper respond to the questions that correspond to

each document• These responses DO NOT have to be formal, but should reflect an understanding of the

document

• Use the Buckets to sort the information presented in the Documents– Based on your understanding of the document, can you use this as evidence

that these men were “Captains of Industry” or “Robber Barons”• Circle your selection• In the Bucket, briefly describe what your evidence will be to support your selection

Labor Unions &Labor Leaders of the Gilded Age

Essential Question:How can people who are without

means (money, resources, stuff) affect change?

Working conditions• Monotonous – same job day

after day

• 12 – 16 hour shifts, 6 days a week

• Dangerous machinery with no safety precautions

• Workers frequently lost fingers, limbs, eyesight, & hearing

• Lung diseases from coal and lint dust

• When workers were injured or too sick to work, they were fired

Child Labor• Factory owners often

hired children because:• They were smaller, so

more room for machinery

• They were cheaper –children were paid less than half of what grown men were

• They were easier to intimidate with beatings and abuse

Craft Unions vs. Trade Unions

• Craft Unions

• Only allowed highly skilled craftsmen to join

• Machinists, welders, electricians, etc.

• Trade Unions

• Designed for unskilled laborers

• General factory workers, construction workers, etc.

Union Tactics• Strikes: workers walked off the job in

protest• Boycotts: encouraged the public to

not buy goods from companies that would not negotiate with labor

• Collective bargaining: employees negotiate contracts as a group rather than as individuals

• Mediation: allowing a neutral third party to oversee negotiations

• Arbitration: allowing a neutral third party to hear both sides’ arguments and make a final, binding ruling

• Closed shops: agreement where employers could only hire union members, non-union workers were banned from the workplace

Employer Responses• Yellow-dog contracts: contracts

which forbade workers from joining unions

• Blacklists: known union sympathizers were fired

• Lockouts: closing of factories to punish workers for unionizing

• Scabs: replacement workers hired to replace strikers

• Injunctions: sought legal court orders that forbade strikes

• Strikebreakers: hired thugs used to violently attack union leaders, strikers

Government Responses

• Supported employers over labor unions

• Courts often ruled unions and strikes to be illegal conspiracies

• Courts authorized use of force to break strikes when necessary

• Presidents even used the US Army to break strikes

Labor Unions & Labor Leaders

• With your partner:

– Use the available resources to complete the notes for your assigned labor leader

– Be prepared to present the information to your classmates

– Be able to answer the essential question as it pertains to your labor leader!

Essential Question:How can people who are without means (money,

resources, stuff) affect change?

Labor Leader Labor Union Characteristics Strikes

William Sylvis

Uriah Stephens & Terence Powderly

Samuel Gompers

“Big” Bill Haywood

Eugene V. Debs

Mother Jones

Key

Skilled Workers trades/crafts that required training

Skilled AND Unskilled Workers little training; jobs held by immigrants

Violent Non-violent arbitration, collective bargaining

Socialist overthrow of capitalism; government control of business


Labor Leader Labor Union Characteristics/Beliefs of the Union What happened to the Union/Strikes?

William Sylvis

National Labor Union (NLU)

Organized by an ironworker; wanted to link smaller local unions together; excluded African Americans

Persuaded Congress to pass an 8-hour workday for government workers




Knights of Labor

Open to all workers; supported an 8-hour workday; “equal pay for equal work”; supported arbitration over using strikes to achieve goals

Public support died off after the violence of the Haymarket Affair (blamed on KOL)

An injury to one is the concern of all!



Samuel Gompers

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

Skilled workers only; focused on collective bargaining and written agreements between management and labor; used strikes

Achieved pay raises and shorter workweeks



“Big” Bill Haywood

Industrial Workers of the World (IWW); “Wobblies”

Made up of more radical unionists and socialists; included African Americans; included unskilled workers; used strikes

One successful strike; provided dignity to workers; violence was justified



Eugene V. Debs

American Railway Union (ARU)

Skilled and unskilled workers; used strikes; won a major strike but declined after the failure of another

Debs became the presidential candidate for the American Socialist Party

I am not a Labor Leader; I do not want you to follow me or anyone else; if you are looking for a Moses to lead you out of this capitalist wilderness, you will stay right where you are…You must use your heads as well as your hands, and get yourself out of your present condition; as it is now the capitalists who use your heads and your hands.



Mother Jones

United Mine Workers of America (UMW)

Worked with coal miners to strike; led mill children on a march to President T. Roosevelt; non-violent strikes

Passage of child labor laws; supported the Great Railroad Strike of 1877

Labor Leader Labor Union Characteristics Strikes

William Sylvis National Labor Union (NLU)

Organized by an ironworker; wanted to link smaller local unions together; excluded African Americans

Persuaded Congress to pass an 8-hour workday for governmentworkers


Knights of Labor Open to all workers; supported an 8-hour workday; “equal pay for equal work”; supported arbitration over using strikes to achieve goals

Public support died off after the violence of the Haymarket Affair (blamed on KOL)

Samuel Gompers American Federation of Labor (AFL)

Skilled workers only; focused on collective bargaining and written agreements between management and labor; used strikes

Achieved pay raises and shorter workweeks

“Big” Bill Haywood Industrial Workers of the World (IWW); “Wobblies”

Made up of more radical unionists and socialists; included African Americans; included unskilled workers; used strikes

One successful strike; provided dignity to workers; violence was justified

Eugene V. Debs American Railway Union (ARU)

Skilled and unskilled workers; used strikes; won a major strike but declined after the failure of another

Debs became the presidential candidate for the American Socialist Party

Mother Jones United Mine Workers of America (UMW)

Worked with coal miners to strike; led mill children on a march to President T. Roosevelt; non-violent strikes

Passage of child labor laws; supported the Great Railroad Strike of 1877

Key

Skilled Workers trades/crafts that required training

Skilled AND Unskilled Workers little training; jobs held by immigrants

Violent Non-violent arbitration, collective bargaining

Socialist overthrow of capitalism; government control of business

Management v. Labor

Lets Review Management v. Labor

• “Scabs” (workers to take the place of strikers)

• Pinkertons (spies/private police)

• Lockout (not allow workers to enter)

• Blacklisting (list of “trouble makers”)

• Yellow-dog/iron-clad contracts (agree not to join a union)

• Court Injunctions (court orders ending strikes)

• Open shop (workers not required to join a union)

“Tools” of Management

• Boycotts

• Sympathy demonstrations

• Picketing (protesting with signs)

• Closed shop (required workers to join the union)

• Organized strikes

• “Wildcat” strikes (strikes without the permission of the union)

“Tools” of Labor

Labor Unions & Major StrikesLabor Union Involved

Strike Outcome

N/A (Mother Jones supported)

Great Railroad Strike of 1877 (Ohio)

• B &O Railroad employees (80,000) went on strike because wages were cut

• Angry strikers damaged equipment, ripped up tracks, and blocked other tracks

• President Hayes sent in federal troops and over a 100 people died in the violence (government support for business)

• Millions of dollars in damage done to railroads

Knights of Labor

Haymarket Affair (Chicago)

• Unions called for a day of general strike to promote the 8-hour workday

• Strikers and police clashed in Chicago, 1 striker killed • Anarchists protested in Haymarket Square the next day; police arrived

to break up the demonstration • A bomb was set off, followed by a gun battle, killing 8 policemen, 4

strikers• 8 anarchists were arrested, including a member of the Knights of

Labor

Importance: Knights of Labor lost popularity for being associated with anarchists

Labor Unions & Major Strikes

Labor Union Involved

Strike Outcome

Steel workers

Homestead SteelStrike of 1892 (Pennsylvania)

• Steel workers at Andrew Carnegie’s mill in Homestead, PA demanded higher wages

• Carnegie responded by locking out workers, fortifying the plant with high fences and guard towers and trying to hire scabs

• Striking workers laid siege to the plant, refused to allow scabs or even managers entry.

• Carnegie sent 300 armed agents of the Pinkerton Security firm to secure the plant and a gun battle erupted

• The riot put down by Pinkerton Police (private) and the state militia & the plant reopened with (mostly black) replacement workers

• The strike failed; union voted to accept the pay cut and go back to work

American Railway Union (ARU)

PullmanStrike of 1894 (Illinois)

• Pullman cut wages and fired union leaders, , leading to workers struggling to meet their rent & buy necessities. Workers who complained were also fired.

• Workers went on strike and were led by Eugene V. Debs • Railroad traffic came to a halt; Then RR arranged for US mail to be attached

to Pullman cars, resulting in the mail not being delivered • Strikers and the ARU were then in violation of federal law for interfering

with the delivery of the US mail • This prompted the US government to get involved to ensure the delivery of

the mailPres. Grover Cleveland ordered US troops to enforce a court injunction, ending the strike of Pullman workers

Labor Unions & Major Strikes

Other Incidents

• Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

• In 1911 fire erupted at the factory killing 146 women

• Exit doors had been locked to prevent theft

• Led to new regulations of factory conditions

Women’s Trade Union League

• Most unions excluded women workers because they weren’t the primary breadwinners for families

• 1903: Mary Kenney O’Sullivan, Leonora O’Reilly, Jane Addams, & Lillian Ward created the WTUL

• Goals: 8-hour work day, a minimum wage, no night shifts for women, ban on child labor

Albert Parsons SAC

• In the aftermath of the Haymarket Square bombing, eight men were put on trial:– Albert Parsons (led English-speaking anarchists)– August Spies (led German-speaking anarchists)– Samuel Fielden (Methodist pastor, draft animal teamster,

labor activist, anarchist)– Michael Schwab (co-editor of anarchist newspaper for

German immigrant workers)– George Engel (labor union activist and anarchist)– Adolph Fischer (labor union activist and anarchist)– Louis Lingg (carpenter, 23-year-old, known to make small

bombs)– Oscar Neebe (yeast-maker, labor activist, anarchist)

• Albert Parsons was the most famous. He was hanged on November 11, 1887.

The “Haymarket Affair” is a series of events in Chicago during the years 1886 and 1887. Some of the events are disputed or not fully understood. The events that are generally agreed to be part of the Haymarket story are as follows:

Haymarket Affair Timeline

May 1, 1886

• Strikes are held nationwide. Workers demand an 8-hour workday.

May 3, 1886

• There is a strike at a factory in Chicago. Unarmed strikers and police clash. Several strikers are killed by the police

Evening of May 4, 1886

• Workers hold a meeting in Haymarket Square. The police arrive to break up the meeting. A bomb is thrown into the ranks of the police. Fighting and shooting begin. Police and an unknown number of workers are killed.

July 16 –Aug. 11

• The trial begins. The jury members are mostly businessmen. Like the public, they hold prejudices against union members. The defendants are found guilty of starting the violence and are sentenced to death.

Nov. 10,

1887

• Louis Linng commits suicide in his jail cell.

Nov. 11,

1887

• Parsons, Spies, Engel and Fischer are executed.

Albert Parsons SAC

• With your partner:– Use the Guiding Questions to examine the Document Set.

• Write your thoughts on the provided handout.• Use the information and evidence you gather when making your arguments.

– The person with the red card will argue:• YES, Albert Parsons was a dangerous man.• Find evidence to support your argument and add this to your “Organizing Evidence”

page.– The person with the black card will argue:

• NO, Albert Parsons was not a dangerous man.• Find evidence to support your argument and add this to your “Organizing Evidence”

page.– Share your arguments and evidence.

• As your partner presents their evidence, record the Document Letter and Main Points on the “Organizing Evidence” page.

– Now, abandon your pre-assigned position.• Look at the evidence that you and your partner have collected.• Now decide for yourself – Was Albert Parsons a dangerous man?• Record your response on the “Coming to Consensus” page.

Was Albert Parsons a dangerous man?

POLITICS OF THE GILDED AGE - American History I and...

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