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Gilded Age “Shines Outside, Tarnished Underneath”

Explore the contrasting facets of the Gilded Age post-Reconstruction to 1900, from the rapid industrialization and rise of big business to the harsh realities of pollution, poverty, and ruthless robber barons. Dive into the era's notable inventions, labor struggles, and the corrupt political landscape while unraveling the impact on urbanization and immigration. Witness the dawn of mass culture amidst social disparities and technological advancements that shaped American society at the turn of the 20th century.

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Gilded Age “Shines Outside, Tarnished Underneath”

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  1. Gilded Age“Shines Outside, Tarnished Underneath” Post Reconstruction to 1900

  2. Technology Immigration Big Business Cities Unification of U.S. Pollution Poverty Robber Barons Slums Closing of the West Gilded Age

  3. Rapid Industrialization • Natural Resources are Plentiful: oil, coal, iron, trees, grain, livestock • Laissez-faire government: few laws regulate, kick-back schemes, philanthropist donations • Immigration: cheap, plentiful labor, no laws

  4. Notable Inventions • (Bessemer)- process yields steel • Steel yields RR track, skyscrapers (Jenny), suspension bridges (Roebling) • (Drake) Petroleum refining yields kerosene, oil, gas • (Westinghouse) AC/DC electrical currents harnessed • (Edison) Incandescent lighting • (Bell) Telephone

  5. Skyscrapers

  6. Department Stores

  7. Roeblings and Brooklyn Bridge

  8. Texas Crude

  9. Shale Oil is Discovered

  10. Electricity to Business and Home

  11. Indoor Lighting-West Orange

  12. Telephone – Bell Labs

  13. Central Pacific Meets Union Pacific –Promontory Pt, Utah

  14. Time Zones

  15. Hard and Dangerous Work

  16. Millionaires and Crooks • Carnegie, JP Morgan, Pullman get rich • Credit Mobilier scandal lines the pockets of politicians by overcharging construction • Farmers lose out land near RR • Price fixing charges small farmers more • Granger laws established (Munn v Illinois) –gov’t can regulate private industry to help consumers – ICC estb interstate rates • Bad times leads to “oligopoly” in RR, other

  17. Business Savvy? • Carnegie promoted efficiency, internal competition, vertical and horizontal integration • Holding companies and Trusts consolidate and build control over entire industries: • J.P. Morgan –US Steel buys Carnegie Steel, John D. Rockefeller-Standard Oil • Robber Barons –squeeze then jack up prices • Philanthropists • Social Darwinism –poor are lazy and inferior • Sherman Antitrust – largely unenforced

  18. Rise of Labor Unions • Conditions appalling: 7 days, no vacation, no breaks, 14 hr days, poor air/heat, no sick pay, dangerous, dirty, kids and women exploited the most, pay so low everyone had to work to pay rent/food • Samuel Gompers heads AFL-craft union • Eugene Debs heads RR union-industry • Mother Mary Harris Jones- crippled children’s march

  19. Strike! • Great Strike of 1877 – RR workers protest several pay cuts • Haymarket Riots Chicago – crowd gathered to protest police brutality-bomb thrown at police-several killed • Homestead Strike – Carnegie Steel-12 dead, closed down for 6 mos but mgt won • Pullman Strike – scabs hired –led to violence, workers blacklisted • Uprising of 20,000-led by Pauline Newman-estb ILGWU-Shirtwaist Fire 1911

  20. More Recent Union Membership

  21. Show Me The Money

  22. Immigration and Urbanization 1880 - 1920

  23. Immigration 1880 - 1920

  24. Jacob Riis – Progressive Photographer -5 cents a spot-cheap housing, steady work

  25. The Seedy Side of Life

  26. Tenement LivingAir Shafts used as Public Toilets

  27. Taking Turns SleepingSocial Gospel Movement –Hull House- Jane Addams

  28. Unsafe HeatingFire Hazard

  29. Crime- Bandit’s RoostPolice had little impact

  30. Immigration Restrictions • Nativist movement – favoritism to US born • Formed Immigration Restriction League • Influenced Congress to pass Chinese Exclusion Act 1882 repealed 1943 • Gentleman’s Agreement ended Japanese segregation in San Francisco

  31. Political MachineLegal “Mafia” • A Pyramid System to secure votes • Trade votes for “favors” • Political Boss – controlled government money • Graft – payout for favors-police on take • Cities improved infrastructure • Infamous – William “Boss” Tweed -headed NYC dems called Tammany Hall

  32. Boss Tweed-Political Machine

  33. Boss Tweed

  34. National PoliticsAlso Affected by Graft • Spoils System aka Patronage • Civil Service qualifications • Hayes (1876) couldn’t get reforms passed • Garfield (1880) assassinated –Arthur his VP got Pendleton Civil Service Act through • Cleveland (1884) tries to fight big Biz by reducing tarriffs- (tax on imports) • Harrison (1888) friend of Big Biz-pro tariff • Cleveland re-elected (1892) –2 non-consecutive terms

  35. Life at the Turn of the 20th Century Chapter 8

  36. Sections • Science and Urban Life • Expansion of Public Education • Segregation and Discrimination • Dawn of a Mass Culture

  37. Urban Life • Skyscrapers- advances due to elevators and steel structure • Electric Transportation-faster, further • Engineering-suspension bridges • Open spaces-Frederick Olmsted-Central Park • Urban Planning-parks, wide avenues, lakefronts, playgrounds, commercial

  38. Flat Iron Building NYC

  39. Mass Transit Trolley

  40. Mass Transit Subway

  41. Urban Planning

  42. Science and Technology • Printing process faster and cheaper • Airplane travel-Orville and Wilbur Wright • Photography

  43. Educational Advances and Set Backs • Elementary School is compulsory 8-14 yrs in most states by the end of the Civil War • High School becomes compulsory early 1900s, broaden curriculum • Kindergarten added • African Americans mostly excluded from secondary education at turn of century • Universities broaden curriculum • Universities for African Americans began

  44. Champions of Education • Booker T Washington-a gradual improvement - African Americans need an education in useful skills like education, agriculture, mechanical skills – Tuskegee Institute • W.E.B. DuBois-immediate inclusion through a liberal arts education- to take leadership role now, not later- Niagra Movement-became the NAACP

  45. Advocates of Education

  46. Segregation is Legalized • African Americans win the right to vote and hold office from Civil War • This right eroded by discriminatory practices like literacy tests, poll taxes and the grandfather clause • Lynching – not following racial “etiquette” • Racial segregation or Jim Crow laws estb • Plessy v Ferguson 1896 • Debt peonage

  47. Leisure Grows into an Industry • Amusement parks • Bicycle • Tennis • Boxing • Baseball • Snacks: Coca Cola, Hershey Bar, Tootsie roll, Campbell’ Soup, Nabisco crackers • Circus • Movies • Vaudeville • Ragtime

  48. Ashcan Artists- John SloanMcSorley’s

  49. Ashcan Artist-Robert HenriThe Laundress

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