Issues of the Gilded Age

H-SS 11.2.2 – Describe the changing landscape, including the growth of cities linked by industry and trade, and the
development of cities divided according to race, ethnicity, and class.
H-SS 11.2.4 – Analyze the effect of urban political machines and responses to them by immigrants and middle-class reformers.
H-SS 11.2.8 – Examine the effect of urban political programs and activities of the Populists.

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The pace of industrialization and westward expansion in the
latter part of the nineteenth century suggested that the United
States had reached a new golden age. However, the nation still
faced many problems, including the distance between people’s
dreams of wealth and the reality of their sometimes difficult
lives. This period during the late nineteenth century is often
called the Gilded Age, implying that under the glittery, or gilded,
surface of prosperity lurked troubling issues, including poverty,
unemployment, and corruption.

When something is “gilded” it is covered in gold or

silver foil to give the appearance that it is made of
solid gold metal when in fact under the foil is
carved wood.

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Segregation and Social Tensions
Racial inequality was a persistent problem during the Gilded Age. African
Americans, other minorities, and women struggled in a losing battle as they
sought to gain equality.

Following the Civil War, during the Reconstruction southern states passed
laws that separated blacks and whites. These laws were known as Jim Crow
laws. In 1896 the Supreme court upheld segregation with its ruling in the
Plessy v. Ferguson case. The court ruled that segregation was legal as long as
“separate but equal” facilities for both races were provided. However, the
facilities for blacks were almost always inferior.

During the same time states passed laws such as poll taxes and literacy tests
that stripped blacks of the right to vote.

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In spite of these setbacks, African Americans had some hope for
a brighter future. Booker T. Washington, born a slave and built
the Tuskegee Institute. It was a college that taught African
Americans useful skills and became an important symbol of black
self-help.

Journalist Ida B. Wells led a crusade against lynching which

brought public attention to the problem and made Americans
more empathic to the harsh and unlawful act committed against
them in the South.

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Mexican Americans and Chinese Immigrants Face Discrimination
Mexican Americans struggled to maintain their lands in the
Southwest. Prominent whites prodded the federal government to
grant them land that was pledged to Mexicans who lived in the
Southwest before it was part of the United States.

Federal courts tended to side with the whites when Mexican

Americans pressed their cases in court to protect their land.

Mexicans Americans used warlike tactics to protect their lands. For

example, Las Gorras Blancas, or the White Caps would wear
Masks and sabotage railroad lines and cut holes in fences to protest
the displacement of Mexican Americans.

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Asian immigrants, especially the Chinese, faced constant
discrimination. Western states enacted laws that prohibited the
Chinese from working at certain jobs. Mobs of white workers
terrorized Chinese migrants claiming that they were taking jobs
from white people.

In 1882, the federal government temporarily banned further

immigration for 10 years with the Chinese Exclusion Act. In 1902
the government made the ban permanent.

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Political Challenges
Future President Woodrow Wilson Lamented in 1885
“the conditions of public life in this country are not what they
were in the early years of the Republic. We are perplexed at
finding ourselves denied a new order of statesmanship to suit
the altered conditions.” Wilson was commenting on ineffective
government that was plagued with problems.

As cities grew politicians gained power by providing jobs or

patronage and services in exchange for political support. Graft,
or bribery and corruption touched all aspects of public life.

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Tariffs, Civil Service, and Monetary Policy
On the national level the tariff, or tax on imported goods, divided the
political parties. Republicans supported high protective tariffs and
Democrats supported lower duties.

Following the assassination of President James Garfield by a disgruntled

former federal employee, the Democrats supported the Pendleton Act,
which created a civil service system for the federal government. This
meant that people who wanted to work for the government were required
to pass an exam. They were granted a job based on their performance on
the exam, and not by who they knew in or supported in government.

Both Democrats and Republicans supported hard monetary policy. The

gold standard which means that dollar bills are backed with a certain
amount of gold. Using the gold standard hurt farmers because it worked to
keep prices low for their crops. Farmers wanted Gold and Silver to be used
to back dollars which would increase the money supply and inflation.

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Farmers and Populism
In the last decades of the 1880s, a massive political insurgency developed
called Populism. It grew out of frustration that many Americans felt toward
the federal government. Farmers in particular were very angry.

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Farmers faced complex problems. They had migrated West
knowing they would have to work hard in difficult conditions. But
the expected life to improve and that their children would be
better off. Farmers faced several interrelated problems. The
prices paid for their main crops –corn, wheat, and cotton-
declined. At the same time farmers began accumulating debt.
Declining prices made it harder to repay the debts.

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Farmers were too productive. They purchased new equipment

that made it easier to produce large crops, but then when all
farmers brought these huge crops to market the prices paid for
them were lower, because their was too much supply. In effect,
the more they produced they less money they made.

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Farmers Organize and Demand Reforms
Following the Civil War farmers came together to address their problems.
First farmers in the Midwest banded together in the Grange movement. In
the South and the Plains they established the Farmers’ Alliance.

These organizations sought to lower shipping and storage rates, either

through government regulation of the railroads or by using grain elevators, or
both.

Members of the Framers’ Alliance in the South and West, soon formed the
People’s Party, or the Populist Party.

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The Populists endorsed General James Weaver for the
presidency in 1892, as well as, slates of candidates for state and
local offices. They did well in the Plains states.
Populist Party Platform
• Increases in the money supply
• Graduated income tax
• Federal loan program for farmers
• Election of U.S. senators by popular vote
• Eight-hour workday
• Restriction on immigration
• Government ownership of railroads

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During the election of 1896, the Populists hoped to gain the
support of industrial workers. The economy had taken a turn for
the worse and many were unemployed. William Jennings Bryan
was the Populist candidate for President. He crisscrossed the
country championing the cause of the American farmer and
denouncing the monetary policies of the Republicans, namely
the gold standard.

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William J. Bryan, “Cross of Gold” Speech, 1896
“if they (the Republicans) dare to come out in the open field
and defend the gold standard as a good thing, we will fight them
to the uttermost. Having behind us the producing masses of this
nation…we will answer their demand for a gold standard by
saying to them: You shall not press down upon the brow of labor
this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross
of gold.”

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William McKinley, the Republican candidate won the election of
1896. The Populist Party failed to win a state outside of the
South and the West because they did not convince the industrial
workers that free silver would benefit them.

The Populist movement had an impact upon the political

system. Bryan’s style of appealing directly to the masses has
become the norm. Many Populist proposals, such as the
graduated income tax, and the direct election of U.S. senators
by popular vote were enacted into law during the Progressive
Era.

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