National Politics in the Gilded Age (1872-96) A.

Gilded Age DefinedMark Twain coined this phrase A period in which society and politics appeared to be glittering, but was covered in poverty & corruption B. Waving the Bloody Shirtphrase used by Republicans during the Gilded Age to blame the Democrats for Civil War C. Grant Scandals 1. Credit Mobiliera railroad company who got wealthy by pocketing federal money (VP Colfax was friends w/ the railroad company) 2. Whiskey Ringwhiskey distillers who did not want to pay a tax, paid members of Grants administration to hush up 3. Belknap ScandalWilliam Belknap, secretary of war, took bribes to allow for Indian trading posts to be set up D. Hayes PresidencyAs President, I am going to restore honesty and integrity in my administration Temperance advocates (First Lady Lemonade Lucy Hayes) Began a rift in Republican party - Half-Breeds: favored reform in govt - Stalwarts: believed in patronage (giving jobs to supporters) E. Garfield & Arthur Presidencies (1881-85) 1. Garfield AssassinationCharles Guiteau, Stalwart, wanted a job from Garfield; did not get a job and shot Garfield at a D.C. train station 2. Chester Arthurs PresidencyVP became President - Roscoe Conklingpowerful senator & Stalwart accused of conspiring w/ Guiteau to kill Garfield - Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1863ended patronage system; for a govt job, you had to take a civil service examination - ***Arthur did not run for a second term F. Election of 1884 1. CandidatesDemocrat Grover Cleveland * republican James G. Blaine 2. MugwumpsRepublicans who supported Cleveland - Took a holier than thou attitude 3. Issues & Resultsmorality of candidates! - Blaine accused of taking bribes from railroad companies - Cleveland accused of fathering a child w/ a widow - Republicans named Democrats the party of three RsRum, Romanism, and Rebellion

- DemocratsThrow the rascal *Republicans+ out! - ***Cleveland won; he was the first Democrat elected since end of Civil War G. Overview of Cleveland and Harrison Presidencies 1. Grover Cleveland (1885-89)tariff issues a. Vetoed a bill that would give pensions to Civil War veterans (some claims were ridiculous) b. Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)a group of Civil War Union veterans who were upset that they were denied pension ~wanted to defeat Cleveland c. Election of 1888GAR did not support Cleveland ~Republican candidate Benjamin Harrison ~Issues: tariff, Cleveland/ Folsom marriage (morality b/c she was 20+ years younger than him) ~Cleveland won popular vote, Harrison won electoral college and became President! 2. Benjamin Harrison (1889-93) - Presided over billion-dollar Congress (spent $1,000,000,000) - Dependent Pension Act (1890)gave pensions to 90-day Civil War veterans & their families (those who fought in Fort Sumter & Bull Run) - McKinley Tariffraised tariff rates to 50%, highest in US history to that point

Industrialism and Immigration A. Industrial Growth 1. Captains of Industrybusiness leaders who helped to serve the country by Building factories, expanding goods, expanding economic markets 2. Robber Baronsbusiness leaders who stole from the public to gain wealth; fat cats 3. Major Business Leaders a. Cornelius Vanderbiltshipping & railroad industries; donated a lot of money to Vanderbilt U b. Jay Gouldmade millions illegally in the railroad industry c. Andrew Carnegiesteel industry ~vertical integration: buy different firms to aid a finished product; control iron and coal businesses, raw materials to make steel ~Gospel of Wealth: those who had great wealth had moral obligations to spend their money on good works d. J.P. Morgan: railroad companies & steel; established US Steel Co

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e. John D. RockefellerStandard Oil Co in Ohio ~believed in horizontal integration: buying the same firms and converting them to one large firm ~started trust companies: a combination of firms which merged together to eliminate competition 4. Southern Industrycotton textiles built James B. Duke started American Tobacco Co. (donated money for Duke U) Laissez-Faire Economics 1. Laissez-Faire definedgovernment should keep its hands off of business and not regulate/ interfere with business 2. Social Darwinismsurvival of the fittest - Strong businesses survive, weak ones fail 3. William Graham SumnerYale professor - State should not interfere w. business - State should only provide law & order for society 4. Opposition to Laissez Faire a. Henry GeorgeProgress and Poverty, his book, stated: ~Poverty existed due to unequal distribution of wealth (socialism) b. Edward Bellamy-wrote Looking Backward, which was about a perfect future (year 2000) ~advocated state-run economy Working Class 1. Factory Work12-14 hour work days - Mainly women & children workers 2. Child Laborworked in coal mines, cotton mills/textiles 3. Sweatshopspoor working conditions in which people worked for long hours Technological Advances 1. Thomas Edisoncreated/patented incandescent light bulb (1880s) - Started General Electric 2. Alexander Graham Bellcreated telephone - Began Bell Telephone Co Bell South - Hayes was 1st Pres. to use the telephone The Labor Union Movement 1. Knights of Labor-Tarence Palderly formed this group right after Civil War - Welcomed women and Blacks, but not immigrants Wanted: ~8 hour work day ~end to child labor

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~equal pay for equal work American Federation of Labor (AFL) Samuel Gompers, leader; wanted: ~better wages, better working conditions, collective bargaining concept (a group of workers negotiating with the boss), craft unions Haymarket Riot (1886)in Chicago @ McCormick Harvester plant Scaba replacement worker hired by an employer to take the place of a striker - Scabs got beat up by strikers - Anarchists showed up at the strike, threw a bomb Most Americans thought this was part of a foreign conspiracy to begin socialism Homestead Strike (1892)in PA @ Carnegie Steel Co - Manager cut workers wages - Workers went on strike, so manager sent for Pinkerton Detective Agency - Fight! PA National Guard came in to break up the violence Pullman Strike (1894) a. BackgroundGeorge Pullman, inventor of sleeping & dining cars on trains ~he built a little town, Pullman, outside of Chicago in which his workers lived b. Wage Cut IssuePanic of 1893: ~cut workers salaries but housing costs in Pullman stayed the same c. American Railway Unionleader: Eugene V. Debs ~Debs suggested a strike, workers agreed ~Turned into d. Nationwide Strikemail couldnt be transported ~Pres. Cleveland sent 2000 federal troops to Pullman to start moving the trains ~Strikers ignored court order & troops, who got violent ~Strikers lost e. ResultsDebs put in prison for 6 months for tampering with federal property (mail) ~ set back labor movement till 1930s

Immigration in Gilded Age America A. Old Immigrants (1820-60)from Northern & Western Europe (English, Irish, German, Scottish) Religion: mainly Protestants

B. New Immigrants (1880-1920)from Southern & Eastern Europe (Italians, Greeks, Slavs, Poles) Religion: mainly Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Jews Entered US at Ellis Island, NY C. Chinese Exclusion 1. Burlingame Treaty (1868)allowed for Chinese immigration for jobs (esp. on transcontinental railroads) - Mainly went to the West Coast (CA) 2. Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)banned Chinese immigration for 10 years, signed by President Arthur D. Rise of Urban America 1. Growth of Industrylarge boom in population of a lot of cities. How? - Immigrants and African American migration 2. African American Migrationb/c of Southern - Jim Crowe lawsracial segregation - Violence (lynchings) - Poverty 3. Major CitiesNYC was the largest! Its population boomed b/c of immigrants and industry - 2nd largestChicago b/c of railroads & industry; had the first skyscrapers E. City Problems 1. Urban Slumspoor neighborhoods that were overcrowded - Tenement housinglow rent apartment buildings to hold many families 2. Jacob RiisHow the Other Half Lives: talked about conditions of immigrant housing 3. Theodore Dreiserwrote Sister Carrie about city life. - Young women (immigrants & Americans) had trouble finding jobs, so they resorted to prostitution. 4. Machine Politics a. The Machinea political organization intended to keep a political party in power by illegal means b. The Bossleader of the machine ~gave jobs, money, food, & other favors to control the vote & stay in power c. Boss Tweedaka William Marcy Boss Tweed ~ran Tammany Hall, a political machine in NYC d. Thomas Nastcartoonist for Harpers Weekly helped to arrest Boss Tweed & expose discrimination against Chinese F. End of Gilded Age