Chapters 23-26

Chapter 23

Political Paralysis in the Gilded Age

• Election of Ulysses S. Grant 1968
• Grant was general for the North during the Civil War
• has no political experience--used his popularity and war victories to get elected
• Horatio Seymour--Democratic candidate
• Democrats were extremely disorganized

“Era of Good Stealings”

• Corruption in both politics and business- government positions sold and customers cheated
• Jim Fisk and Jay Gould: made a plot to steal gold that would only work if the treasury so they tried to manipulate using Grant
• Tweed Ring: (aka Tammany Hall) “Boss” Tweed a corrupt city boss used manipulation to make a complex ring of bribery and fake elections to cheat New York out of $200 million.

~ Samuel J. Tilden gained fame by being the prosecutor.

HAHAHAHA I LOVE STEALING THINGS

STOP THAT THIEF

More Political Corruption

• Grant was unaware of corruption
• Practically the whole cabinet was corrupt including Dent Family
• Credit Mobilier Scandal--railroad construction company was helping construct the transcontinental railroad
• they basically hired themselves and got huge sums of money to construct a little amount of railroad
• to avoid getting caught, they gave stock to Congressmen
• NY Newspaper busted to Congressmen and exposed the VP for taking stocks
• this made Grant and his administration look terrible
• “Whiskey Ring” 1875--people stole tax money made from whiskey
• Grant’s secretary was involved and Grant even let him go
• 1876 Secretary of War William Belknap made $24,000 off selling junk to Indians
• The public was very sick of all the scandals
• Reformers started the Liberal Republican party--nominated Horace Greeley as presidential candidate of 1872 (also backed by Democrats)
• Greeley called for end to Reconstruction and peace between North and South
• Reformers got Amnesty Act passed-removed restrictions on Southern politicians
• Republicans renominated Grant who won the election

Economic Woes

Panic of 1873

• too many railroads and factories were being formed than existing markets could handle. (panics caused by over speculation)

“cheap money supporters”- wanted mass amount of greenbacks to be printed again: create inflation

“hard-money supporters”- (more gold & silver) persuaded Grant to Veto a paper money bill

Resumption Act (1875)

• the government withdrew greenbacks and made redemption of paper money in gold
• debtors said silver was under-valued
• Grant refused to make more silver dollars

Bland-Allison Act

• told the treasury to make $2-$4 million worth of silver bulk each month

Greenback Labor Party (1878)

• the republican hard-money party

Political Make up

• Term Gilded Age made up by Mark Twain to show that it appeared fine, but business and politics were corrupt under the surface.

​

REPUBLICANS

• lineage was traced to Puritanism
• strong support in north and west
• G.A.R. Grand Army of the Republic: made up of former union veterans also gave republicans a lot of support
• Stalwarts vs. Half-Breeds
• Roscoe Conkling (Stalwarts) vs James G. Blaine (Half-Breeds) fought and deadlocked the Republican party

DEMOCRATS

• traced lineage to Lutherans and Roman Catholics
• strong support in south

Election of 1876

Rutherford B. Hayes vs. Samuel Tilden

-republican -democrat

“Great Unknown” (nobody knew much -loss by one vote

about him)

-WINNER

End of Reconstruction

Electoral Count Act (1877)

• set up an electoral commission of 15 men from the senate, the house, and the supreme court that would count the votes

Compromise of 1877

• North: Hayes would become president if he agreed to remove troops from the remaining two southern states that still had Union troops (Louisiana and South Carolina) AND a bill would support the Texas and Pacific rail line
• leaving the blacks in the south with no support if withdraw troops
• South: reconstruction ended when the union military pulled out of the south

Civil Rights Act of 1875

• equal treatment for blacks in public accommodations, public transportation, and prohibited exclusion from jury service
• Norths last attempt to protect the blacks
• declared unconstitutional in the supreme court in 1883

Race and Social Class Tensions

• Most blacks became sharecroppers or tenant farmers (basically slavery)
• Literacy tests, poll taxes, voter registration laws put in place to keep blacks from voting.
• Plessy vs Ferguson “separate but equal: facilities legalized
• thus legalized Jim Crow laws
• 1877: wage cuts caused a national railroad strike that resulted in deploying federal troops and extreme violence
• showed the weakness of the labor movement
• Irish vs. Chinese was large race rivalry because of railroad involvement
• Chinese Exclusion Act 1882 Barred all Chinese from coming to America
• first law limiting immigration

Garfield and Arthur

James A. Garfield

• nominated by republicans
• general in Civil war
• Running mate was Chester Arthur (Stalwart)
• James G. Blaine named secretary of state by Garfield (made anti-stalwart acts)
• Charles J. Guiteau shot Garfield because he wanted a spot in the office

Chester Arthur became president running against Winfield S. Hancock (democrat)

​

Pendleton Act (1883)

• prohibited financial assessments on jobholders
• Made it so that government jobs were given based on true abilities rather than “connections”

Civil Service Commission

• a federal agency made to select employees of federal government on merit rather than relationships

Election of 1884 and a New Prez

1884: James G. Blaine becomes Republican candidate. Those who are against it switch to the democrat party and become “mugwumps”

• Mudslinging VERY PREVALENT: causes Grover Cleveland to narrowly win the election
• Cleveland was in favor of laissez faire: government very uninvolved in business. For this, businesses and bankers loved him.
• Corruption: named two former confederates to his cabinet

Civil War veteran pensions were used fraudulently to give money to many people

• luckily Cleveland fought corruption a little bit when he vetoed a bill to add more people to the pensions list.
• By 1881, the national treasury had a surplus of money so Cleveland decided to lower taxes
• Surplus money came from tariff that people wanted lowered
• Election of 1888-Democrats wanted lower tariff (nominated Cleveland to do so) and Republicans wanted a higher one (nominated Benjamin Harrison to do so)
• Harrison won, voting Cleveland out of office

Problems in Government

• Thomas “Czar” Reed--Speaker of the House and Republican leader--ran House of Reps like a dictator
• Got many bills passed--first time Congress ever spent a billion dollars
• McKinley Tariff of 1890--put tariff rates to 48%--highest peacetime rate ever
• farmers disliked this a lot b/c it rose price of manufactured goods
• 1892 Populist Party formed from unhappy farmers-made out of the Farmer’s Alliance
• wanted to create inflation through printing paper money and coining silver to pay of debts easier
• wanted graduated income tax, gvt regulation of railroads, direct elections of U.S. Senators, initiative and referendum (people propose and pass laws themselves), shorter work days

​

Cleveland in 1892

• Cleveland won the election of 1892
• Depression of 1893-first panic in industrial age
• many businesses and railroads shut down
• had to deal with budget deficit
• gold supply got very low
• Sherman Silver Purchase Act-gvt bought silver, printed paper money to pay for silver, people could turn paper money in for gold--made supply low--eventually repealed
• William Jennings Bryan--first advocate for silver “cheap money”
• Wilson-Gorman Tariff-didn’t change McKinley Tariff--allowed for 2% tax on incomes over $4000
• made Cleveland look like he was appealing to rich “fat cats”

​

REVIEW chapter 23

-Republican president with no political experience in 1968...

Ulysses S. Grant!

-a corrupt city boss used manipulation to make a complex ring of bribery and fake elections to cheat New York out of $200 million...

Tweed Ring! (Boss Tweed)

-a railroad company paid a congressmen to hide evidence of them acquiring too much money: made Grant and Admin. look terrible...

Credit Mobilier Scandal

-why Grant had to let go his secretary...

“Whiskey Ring”

-Horace Greeley was nominated for president by...

Liberal Republican party

-too many railroads and factories were being formed than existing markets could handle.

​

Panic of 1873

-“Great Unknown” republican president in 1876

Rutherford B. Hayes

-north agrees to pull troop out of south so reconstruction will end...

Compromise of 1877

-“Separate but equal”

Plessy vs Ferguson

-government jobs given on true ability not connections

Pendleton Act

-when government is very uninvolved in business.

laissez faire

-group of unhappy farmers who wanted to create inflation through printing paper money and coining silver to pay of debts easier

​

Populist Party

-put tariff rates to 48%, farmers disliked

McKinley Tariff of 1890

connect the definition with its correct term

click to see the answer

Chapter 24 Railroads

Industry Comes of Age

• Railroads grew strongly after the civil war: government gave land to railroad companies
• towns where railroads went through became more populated
• 1862 Union Pacific Railroad began being built from Omaha to California (but meet in Utah
• many fights occurred between Irish building it and Indians defending land
• Credit Mobilier scandal took away $23 million in profits
• Central Pacific Railroad being built from California east to Utah
• used Chinese workers more than Irish
• railroads meet in 1869 and transcontinental railroad is complete

Before 1900, 4 other transcontinental railroads:

• The Northern Pacific Railroad stretched from Lake Superior to the Puget Sound
• The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe stretched through the Southwest deserts
• The Southern Pacific (went from New Orleans to San Francisco.
• The Great Northern ran from Duluth to Seattle

​

​

More INTERESTING Railroad Facts

• Many older eastern railroads financed the development of western railroads
• Advancements: steel rail (stronger), Westinghouse air brake which increased (safer), Pullman Palace Cars (luxury)
• Effects of Railroads:
• stitched the nation together,
• created a large new industry and with it jobs
• spurred industrialization
• increased population/mining industry in the west
• created timezones
• created the “robber baron” class.

​

Railroad Corruptions

• “Stock Watering” railroad companies overestimated the value of stock and sold stocks for more than they were worth
• Railroad owners abused the public, bribed judges and legislatures, elected their own to political office, gave rebates (which helped the wealthy but not the poor), and used free passes to gain favor in the press
• formed “pools”: competitors work together to set prices (Beginning of trusts in disguise)
• states tried to stop it, but in Wabash case it was ruled that states can’t be involved in interstate commerce and therefore can’t control the railroad companies
• The Grange: farmer organization to combat these pools
• Interstate Commerce Act 1887: banned pools and rebates, made railroad companies publish rates openly, forbade unfair discrimination against shippers, banned charging more for short haul than a long one. Also set up Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to enforce
• first gvt act passed to try to regulate business for society’s interest

​

​

Money and Resources

• US was becoming the biggest manufacturing nation in the world
• Liquid capital (millionaires) built new businesses
• large amount of natural resources to use
• immigration provided cheap labor
• technological advances--Bessemer Process-used to produce stronger steel
• Eli Whitney --invented mass production and interchangeable parts
• Andrew Carnegie--became master of steel industry-U.S. Steel Corporation
• used vertical integration--buy businesses used for production
• John D. Rockefeller--master of oil industry--Standard Oil Company
• used horizontal integration--buy out competitors companies
• interlocking directorates--his own men would be put on the board from other companies
• JP Morgan--financier--used interlocking directorates to control companies

Carnegie & Steel

Andrew Carnegie

• started poor but worked his way up to wealth by entering the steel business in Pittsburgh
• wasn’t monopolistic, disliked monopolies
• producing ¼ of the nations Bessemer steel (inexpensive and fast mass production of steel)

J. Pierpont Morgan

• made his name on wall street by financing the reorganization of railroads, insurance companies, and banks
• stepped into business of manufacturing steel tubes

Carnegie threatened Morgan to drop out of the business or he would invade the same field of work and ruin him

• Morgan bought Carnegie’s business for over $400 million
• Carnegie spent rest of life dedicating his money to public libraries, pensions, and charity

United States Steel Corporation (1901)

• launched by morgan
• became world's first billion dollar corporation

Rockefeller :/

John D. Rockefeller

• organized the Standard Oil Company
• by 1877 he controlled 95% of all the oil refineries in the country
• crushed him competition, he thought that was a natural process (monopoly)
• although ruthless, he produced cheap and quality oil

​

Other trusts became popular

• such as sugar trusts, tobacco trusts, the leather trust, and the harvest trust.
• Also the meat industry became popular

What to Do With All that Money?

• Gospel of Wealth--the belief that the rich had a moral duty to spread wealth
• followed by Carnegie
• Social Darwinism-- “survival of the fittest”--people are at the top because they were best at running their industry
• plutocracy--big business was largely unregulated, leaving owners at the top of the social pyramid with a lot of power
• could bribe state reps to vote pro-business
• Sherman Anti-Trust Act--gvt attempt to end trusts and monopolies
• forbid cartels (companies got together to act as one big corp.)
• forbid interlocking directorates and holding companies (buy up stock from ‘competitors’ companies to make one big company)
• was not effective b/c it wasn’t enforced

The Industrial Age Impact

• Post Civil War South still struggling by 1900--farming split up by sharecroppers
• James Buchanan Duke--American Tobacco Company boosted South when cigarettes became popular
• Henry Grady--urged South to industrialize and compete with North
• hard b/c railroad rates going South to North were more expensive
• Textile mills and iron/coal mines emerged--required cheap labor
• overall standard of living improved and farmers became factory workers
• gave women a bigger role in society outside the home
• Gibson Girl--depicted an attractive, active, woman outside of the house
• Business began to look overseas

​

Unions and Labor

• immigration went up → wages went down
• made workers very easy to replace so they formed unions
• employers could do a lot against strikes
• scabs (part-time replacement workers) could be brought in
• made workers sign ironclad oaths/yellow dog contracts forcing them not to join unions
• workers could be “blacklisted” and denied things elsewhere
• National Labor Union-lasted 6 yrs, 600,000 members, excluded Chinese immigrants
• goals: settlement of worker complaints and 8 hour work days
• ruined by 1873 depression

​

Unions and Labor (continued)

• Knights of Labor-wanted workers coops, better conditions, 8 hour days
• led by Terence V. Powderly, accomplished goal of 8 hour day and had some successful strikes
• active in May Day Strikes which hurt the public image
• Haymarket Square Incident-Chicago 1886-anarchists threw bombs killing several people--8 anarchists later arrested
• public blamed Knights and there was a decline in union membership
• Samuel Gompers founded American Federation of Labor 1886
• made up of smaller unions, only accepted skilled laborers as members
• wanted better wages and conditions, 8 hour work day, “closed shop” business
• used boycotts and strikes
• around 1900, workers were allowed to form unions and strike
• Labor Day (1894) passed, allowing workers the day off

Review chapter 24

-railroad built from Omaha to California

-railroad built from California to Utah

-banned pools and rebates, made railroad companies publish rates openly, forbade unfair discrimination against shippers, banned charging more for short haul than a long one. (setup ICC)

-master of steel industry--U.S. Steel Corporation

-master of oil industry--Standard Oil Company

-the belief that the rich had a moral duty to spread wealth

-”survival of the fittest”

-big business was largely unregulated, leaving owners at the top of the social pyramid with a lot of power

-depicted an attractive, active, woman outside of the house

-gvt attempt to end trusts and monopolies. It forbid cartels and interlocking directorates and holding companies

-group for settlement of worker complaints and 8 hour work days

-wanted workers coops, better conditions, 8 hour days

-Chicago 1886-anarchists threw bombs killing several people--8 anarchists later arrested

-made up of smaller unions, only accepted skilled laborers as members, founded by Samuel Gompers

​

​

​

​

​

Union Pacific Railroad

Central Pacific Railroad

Interstate Commerce Act 1887

Andrew Carnegie

John D. Rockefeller

Gospel of Wealth

Social Darwinism

plutocracy

Gibson Girl

Sherman Anti-Trust Act

National Labor Union

Knights of Labor

Haymarket Square Inciden

American Federation of Labor