The Growth of America:

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The Growth of America The Gilded Age 1877 - 1900
Gilded - Covered with a thin layer of gold The
American economy expanded rapidly during the last
quarter of the 19th century. There was westward
growth, an expansion of industry, and the rise of
big business. The results of this were poverty
for farmers, poor conditions for industrial
workers, prejudice and discrimination, political
corruption, and urbanization.
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Reasons for Westward Growth
1. Railroads - Land Grants 200,000 acres -
Transcontinental Railroad 1869 Promontory
Point Irish and Chinese Workers 2. Government
Homestead Act - 160 Acres of public land
if - 21 years old, citizen or applied for, had
10 fee - 5 yrs. to improve land ownership -
Other Land Grants 3. Jobs and Opportunity -
Farming Bonanza Farms - Mining Boomtowns -
Herding Cattle Texas Longhorn Frederick Jackson
Turner 1893 Frontier is closed - 1900 45
States
3
Reasons for Industrial Growth
1. Railroads - standard tracks and times 2.
Communication - telegraph - Alexander Graham
Bell - Telephone - 1876 3. Electricity- Thomas
Edison and George Westinghouse 4. Bessemer
Process - Henry Bessemer Steel - Brooklyn
Bridge 5. Advances in Farming and Ranching 6.
Raw Materials and Mining Oil, Coal, Etc. 7.
Labor Supply Immigration 30 Million 8.
Republican Control of Government during
Reconstruction Tariffs, Banking, Internal
Improvements
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Big Business

• Monopoly - complete control of a product or
  service
• Purpose Reduce Competition Increase Demand
  Increase Prices and Profits
• Andrew Carnegie
• Steel Mills
• Vertical Integration
• Coal and Iron Mines
• RRs and Steamships

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Big Business Cont.

• Trusts - number of companies
• run by a board of trustees
• John D. Rockefeller
• Standard Oil Trust
• Horizontal Integration
• By 1900 100s of Monopolies
• - Singer, Morgan, Edison, Vanderbilt, Stanford,
  Swift

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Pros v. Cons of Monopolies What should the
government do? - Regulate Business v. Laissez
Faire Social Darwinism Andrew Carnegie and
The Gospel of Wealth Government Corruption
Political Bosses Sherman Antitrust Act 1890
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Problems with Westward Expansion

• Debt for Farmers
• Complaints
• 1. Overproduction Drop in Prices
• 2. Monopolies and Railroads
• 3. Tariffs
• 4. Money Supply Deflation v. Inflation
• - Gold Standard and Silver
• 5. Drought Great Plains 1880s
• The Grange - The Farmers Alliance 3 Ds
• Populist Party Platform Regulation of
  Businesses and Railroads, Lower Tariffs, Direct
  Election of Senators, Free Coinage of Silver
  (Bimetallism)
• - Election of 1892 1500 Local Reps, 3
  Governors, 5 Senators, 10 Congressmen, James
  Weaver

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Problems Continued

• - Election of 1896
• William Jennings Bryan (D) You will not
  press upon labor this crown of thorns, you will
  not crucify mankind on a cross of gold. Cross
  of Gold Speech Populist Party absorbed by
  Democrats
• - William McKinley (R)
• Importance of
  Third Parties

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Problems Continued
2. Native Americans - Plains Indians and
Buffalo - Railroads and the Buffalo - 1867
Reservation System and Native American Wars -
Cheyenne Black Kettle Sand Creek Massacre -
Sioux War and Sitting Bull Little Big Horn and
Massacre at Wounded Knee - Helen Hunt Jackson
A Century of Dishonor - Dawes Severalty Act of
1887
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The Factory Workers
Working Conditions
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Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (146)
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Labor Unions
1. Knights of Labor - Terrence Powderly all
who toil - government reform 2. American
Federation of Labor Samuel Gompers skilled
labor - bread and butter unionism Collective
Bargaining and Strikes
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The Era of the Great Strikes
- Railroad Strike of 1877 10 Wage cut,
President Hayes and federal troops 100 killed,
millions in damages - Haymarket Square of 1886
May 1 8 hr. workday rally, Chicago Police, 4
people killed, 8 arrested - Homestead Strike of
1892 Pinkerton Detective Agency and Scabs,
National Guard Troops - Pullman Strike of 1894
American Railway Union, President Cleveland,
Court Injunction, Federal Troops The End Result
Success? - Violence, Govt support- Sherman
Anti-trust?
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Minority Groups Immigrants
1865-1920 30 Million - Why? European
Immigration Old v. New - 1860-1890 North and
West (Old) - 18901920 South and East
(New) Asian Immigration- Chinese
250,000 Japanese 200,000 Mexican Immigration
1,000,000 Nativism Anti-immigration Why? -
Ellis Island and Angel Island Medical and
Mental Tests - Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 -
Gentlemans Agreement 1907 Settlement Movement
and Social Gospel Movement - Jane Addams and
Hull House
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Minorities African Americans

• - Voting Rights Poll Taxes, Literacy Tests,
  Citizenship Tests, Grandfather Clauses 15th
  Amendment
• Jim Crow Laws Segregation - 1896 - Plessy v.
  Ferguson 14th Amendment Separate but Equal
  Doctrine
• Lynching 180/yr. in 1890s

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Minorities African Americans
Civil Rights Leaders during Gilded Age 1. Booker
T. Washington Atlanta Compromise - Cast down
your bucket where you are - Industry, thrift,
intelligence, and property - Education -
Tuskegee Institute 2. W.E.B.
DuBois - Niagara Movement Agitate and
demand political equality Top Ten
Percent - NAACP Legal Battles
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Urbanization

• Ethnic Neighborhoods
• Tenements
• City Planning Sewage, Transportation, Fire and
  Police
• Political Bosses Boss Tweed - Graft

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Boss Tweed
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• Leisure Entertainment
• Saloons and Trolleyparks
• Movies The Great Train Robbery
• Theater Vaudeville and Minstrel Shows
• Sports
• Newspapers Yellow Journalism William
  Randolph Hearst and Joseph
  Pulitzer
• Magazines and Books
• Music - Ragtime