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What were the effects of industrialization during the Gilded Age? An APUSH Lecture/Discussion. What were the effects of industrialization during the Gilded Age?. Effects already covered : Created the highest standard of living in the world
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What were the effects of industrialization during the Gilded Age? An APUSH Lecture/Discussion
What were the effects of industrialization during the Gilded Age? Effects already covered: • Created the highest standard of living in the world • U.S. transititions from an agricultural industrial nation • Domestic migration to urban areas • The rise of Big Business strains economic and political systems
What were the effects of industrialization during the Gilded Age? Effects yet to cover: The changing nature of work and labor reaction Foreign immigration to American urban areas The growth of American cities (urbanization) Industrial overproduction + Nationalism = Imperialism
The changing nature of work & labor reaction Transition from Skilled Labor Unskilled Labor Why? • Standardization of parts • Industrial mechanization • Division of labor
The changing nature of work & labor reaction • small, personal businesses • boss/owner present and involved • skilled workers valued and respected • large, impersonal business or corporation • owner is absent, replaced by a manager • mass production and increasing efficiency demand unskilled labor How might this have affected working conditions? FACTORY SHOP How might this transition possibly effect working conditions? safety? treatment of workers?
Labor Organizes National Labor Union (1866) • organized skilled, unskilled, and farmers • demanded 8-hr day and higher wages • politically active, lobbied for inflationary monetary policies • too many competing agendas, did not survive economic depression of the 1870s
Labor Organizes Knights of Labor (1869) • “One Big Union” open to skilled, unskilled, women, and Blacks • Organized as a secret society • Advocated for reforms to economy – including govt ownership of RRs, telegraphs, telephones (very radical) • KofL doomed after the 1886 labor unrest in Chicago, which culminated with the Haymarket Bombing • Terrance Powderly was the top leader of the Knights
Labor Organizes American Federation of Labor (AFL) 1886: • Led by Samuel Gompers • Only skilled / craft unions • supported “bread & butter issues”: 8-hour work day, higher wages, better working conditions • Union strategy: collective bargaining, walk-outs, and boycotts *Worked hard to avoid politics and distance themselves from radical elements.
The Great Strikes Major incidents of labor unrest you must know: • The Great Rail Road Strike (1877) • The Haymarket Bombing (1886) • The Homestead Strike (1892) • The Pullman Strike* (1894) *Emergence of Eugene V. Debs as an ARU leader and later 4-time Socialist candidate for president.
Big Business Tactics against Labor • hired “scab” workers during strikes • Lock-outs • Close ties to local, state, and national authorities & use of troops • Hiring of guards & Pinkerton’s • “Iron-Clad Oaths” • Black Listing • “Company Towns” Gun battle between Pinkerton’s and workers at the Homestead Strike
Immigrants & the Political Parties Democrats • Old Immigrants – Irish & German CATHOLICS • New Immigrants – Italian (Catholic), Eastern Europeans (Orthodox & Jewish) • Less stress placed on human weakness • Opposed govt efforts to impose a single moral standard (Prohibition & Ed) • Regional Support: South & Eastern Urban centers with concentrations of immigrants (political machines) • Emphasized & pursued economic equity Republicans • Often considered themselves the “Host Culture” – advocates of immediate assimilation • Emphasized identity-of-interest argument (Know & accept your place in society) • Protestant / Puritan lineage stressed a strict code of personal morality (Origin of Reform Mvt) • Regional Support: Mid-West, rural areas outside the South, Blacks • Some in the GOP targeted urban political machines for civil service reform, which would politically weaken urban Democrats
Political Machines & Immigrants • Political Bosses often traded jobs & services for political loyalty & votes, creating powerful immigrant voting blocs. • Bosses provided important services: • employment • housing for new immigrants • food & clothing for the needy • lobbied for schools, parks, and hospitals to be built in immigrant neighborhoods • Tammany Hall in NYC, led by William Marcy “Boss” Tweed, was the most well known political machine in the U.S. *Ironically, political machines, while almost always corrupt, helped to modernize municipal infrastructure and expand the role of government during the Progressive Period. Wm. Marcy “Boss” Tweed
Chinese Immigration Burlingame Treaty (1868) • Unrestricted Chinese immigration to work on railroads • Wm. Seward hopes to open Chinese markets • 75,000 arrive in 2 years Hostility from Labor: • 1870s economic depression major cause of hostility • Chinese often used in “scab-like” role against labor unions • 1877 the Workingman’s Party calls for the exclusion of Chinese immigrants Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) • Ended Chinese immigration until 1943.
Urban Conditions Urban Conditions: • High crime rates • Unsanitary & unhealthy conditions • High population density • Tenement Housing • maximize occupancy • few immenities • unsafe (fire) • unhealthy