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The Gilded Age

The Gilded Age. Balancing Capital and Labor Part I- The Industrialists. Crowded conditions Alcohol abuse High Mortality rates Few jobs Reformers see the problems of the slums, want to help. Tenement Life. Exploiting the poor.

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The Gilded Age

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  1. The Gilded Age Balancing Capital and Labor Part I- The Industrialists

  2. Crowded conditions • Alcohol abuse • High Mortality rates • Few jobs • Reformers see the problems of the slums, want to help Tenement Life

  3. Exploiting the poor Machines used saloons as informal headquarters to get voters in poor precincts to support machine candidates.

  4. Failed Reform- Dumbbell Tenements The Tenement House Act of 1879 was a response to an earlier law that had required windows in each room, but made no provision for outside space for the windows. James Ware’s award-winning design provided for airshafts for windows to open on to, while keeping buildings narrow for maximum profit. He also provided for indoor plumbing.

  5. Overhead view of airshaft

  6. Airshaft from street level

  7. Why Does it Fail? • Flawed architectural plan • Flawed implementation • Greed/corruption • Fear of authority/fear of poverty

  8. Part III: Unionization

  9. Labor Unites • Industrialization • Urbanization • Immigration Leads to… Large disenfranchised population Populist Movement: First attempt of the people to reform capital and labor relationship.

  10. Unionization in 20th Century America • An organized association of workers formed to protect andfurther their rights and interests. From the Latin unus 'one.' • In 1900, 1 in 12 workers unionized. Bricklayers Union, PA, 1900

  11. The Growth of Unions In 1882, on average, 675 laborers were killed in work-related accidents each WEEK!

  12. Labor Strikes Back Unions considered a threat to capitalism by business and government. Unionists considered anarchists and even communists. • Haymarket Affair • May 4, 1886 – Workers convene to protest police brutality at an earlier strike rally on May 1st (May Day). • Rally turns violent after a bomb is thrown, police open fire on protesters • Eight anarchists convicted even though evidence doesn’t support their involvement • Becomes a rallying cry for unionists • Pullman Strike • 1894- National strike- public opinion against the strikers prevails

  13. The Supreme Court Upholds Laissez-faire • New York state passed the “Bakeshop Act” limiting the hours a bakery employee could work in one week to 60. • Lochner, a bakery owner, was fined for allowing employees to exceed limitation. • He sued protesting the constitutionality of the law under the 14th Amendment and his liberty of contract. • Supreme Court overturned his conviction stating: • …this law interfered "with the right of contract between the employer and employees.“ To the Court, the right to buy and sell labor through contract was a "liberty of the individual" protected under the 14th amendment . • Lochner v. New York – 1905

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