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1876-1918 Domestic-1

1876-1918 Domestic-1. The West The Do-Nothing Presidents Organized Labor The Populists The Progressives. The West.

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1876-1918 Domestic-1

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  1. 1876-1918Domestic-1 The West The Do-Nothing Presidents Organized Labor The Populists The Progressives

  2. The West • Manifest Destiny It took several generations of Europeans and Americans to settle from Atlantic to Mississippi but only one generation to conquer from Mississippi to the Pacific • Mid-1840’s on big interest in the West • Miners Railroads Indian Policy • Farmers War K-N Act • Ranchers Land Policy Romance

  3. Romance of the West • Transcendentalists and “Natural Man” The Cowboy? • James Fenimore Cooper • Mark Twain Roughing It • Oliver Wister The Virginian • “The Turner Thesis”

  4. The Gilded Age • Materialism (Twain) • Karl Marx Das Kapital1859 Frightening (especially to property owners!) • Darwin The Origin of Species 1859 Religious upset: Modernists v Fundamentalists

  5. Social Darwinism • Herbert Spencer and William Sumner • “Survival of the fittest” as applied to: • Native Peoples • Industry

  6. The Native Americans • Helen Hunt JacksonA Century of Dishonor • Eastern tribes had been relocated to West of the Mississippi • Far Western Tribes and the Spanish: Prior to Spanish settlement, 300,000 By 1850 pop down to 150,000

  7. The Plains Indians • Uniform culture: Hunters, warriors • BUT diverse language, tribal conflict • Depended on the Buffalo • Biggest disadvantage: inability to unify • Problems: RR’s, Farmers, Ranchers, Miners, government policy, disappearing Buffalo and Social Darwinism

  8. The Indians continued • California Loitering Laws • Mining: the Black Hills • Moved to reservation in Black Hills 1872 • Gold discovered 1874 • Slaughter • Custer’s last stand at Little Big Horn River • Custer attacked 2,000+ with 264…

  9. The Indians • 1851 Thomas Fitzpatrick (government Indian Agent) • called for a conference at Horse Creek (near Laramie, Wyoming) • 10,000 came…treaties supporting Policy of Concentration

  10. The Treaties • By 1860 Indians has lost 17.5 million acres in Kansas and Nebraska “protected” by treaties • 1854 Colorado Gold Rush • 1864 Chivington Massacre (133 killed 105 women and children) • “Kill them all’ big and little. Nits make lice.”

  11. Plains Indians continued • After 1862, constant warfare on the Plains • Sherman: “One Indian could check 50 Union soldiers” • Cost $2,000,000 per killed Indian

  12. Apaches 1860-80’s • Mangas to mid 1860’s • Cochise to 1872 • Geranimo to 1886 • 1887 Dawes Severalty Act: The U.S. government no longer treated the tribe as sovereign • 160 acres to adult heads of households, etc

  13. The Dawes Act • BUT to protect natives from cheating white guys: would not get the deed to the land for 25 years • The Natives could not seem to thrive outside of the tribe so wandered off of the land • 1906 The Burke Act

  14. Buffalo • Mid-1860’s 13-15 Million on the Plains Then: RR workers, Buffalo Bill Cody, Buffalo rugs popular in the East By 1871 down to 9 million By 1881 almost extinct

  15. Indians • Between 1890-1910 Total Indian population down to 250,000 • 1917 First time in 50 years Indian births exceeded Indian deaths • 1924 All Native-born Indians were granted U.S. citizenship, but many denied the right to vote until after 1954

  16. Mexico • Border not regulated until WWI • Railroad to SW U.S. by 1880’s • Californios: former Hispanic landlords • Lost political and economic power to U.S. settlers • Mexican-Americans became increasingly impoverished

  17. The Land Acts • 1862 Homestead Act • 1873 Timber Culture Act • 1878 Timber and Stone Act • 1877 Desert Land Act • The 100th Meridian and El Nino • Life on the Plains (Oh, the horror!)

  18. Mining: the first economic boom of the West 1860-1890 • James Marshall Sutter’s Mill, Ca. 1848 • 49ers • Nevada Comstock Lode Ophin Mine: Silver • Gold and silver everywhere • Mining towns: • Deadwood Virginia City • Leadville Abilene • Dodge City

  19. The West: people • Wild Bill Hickock • Calamity Jane • Poker Alice • Deadwood Dick • Vigilantes • Guns • Native Americans

  20. The Cowboy: 1867-1887 • First Union Officers • Then Black Freedmen • Exodusters • Ranching: Second Economic Boom of the West • Texas Longhorn Steer: Chisholm Trail, etc. • Barbed Wire 1874

  21. The Government • Congress evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans (last quarter of the 19th century) • Biggest election issue: The Tariff • Democrats still opposed • Republicans still protectionists

  22. The Republican Partyand its factions • Stalwarts (led by Conkling) interested in what is good for New England • Halfbreeds (led by Blaine) aka Liberals aka Radicals: Claimed to want civil service reform • Both above equally corrupt; just different faction leaders

  23. The Mugwumps • By the 1880’s a third faction in the Republican Party: The Mugwumps • They were independent Republicans willing to desert the party to vote for an honest man • They will be a factor in Cleveland’s (Dem) election in 1884

  24. The Presidents • 1877 Hayes (Rep) Compromise of 1877 • 1880 Garfield: deal to get Rep. nomination: • VP Arthur (Stalwart) • Sec. of State Blaine (Halfbreed) • July 2, 1881 Garfield shot by Charles Guiteau. “I am a Stalwart. Now Arthur is President!”

  25. The Presidents continued • 1881 Arthur (R) 1883 Pendleton Act • 1884 Cleveland (D) v Blaine (R) • Ugly campaign • Albany Register “A Terrible Tale” • The Mugwumps made a difference • Blaine suspected of RR fraud

  26. The Presidents continued • 1884 Cleveland • First Democrat Since Civil War • Only President to serve 2 nonconsecutive terms • Added Dept. of Labor • Wanted a lower tariff but gov’t control of RR’s • Panic 1893, Gold Drain, Strikes, Coxey’s Rebellion

  27. The Presidents continued • 1888 Benjamin Harrison R (beat Cleveland because Party Boss System in NY blocked Cleveland) • Issue: The Tariff • BUT after the 1890 McKinley Tariff, economy went sour so • 1892 Cleveland D again

  28. The Presidents continued • 1896 McKinley R v Bryan • Issue was Inflation through free Silver • McKinley not a do-nothing but more involved in foreign affairs than domestic issues • Reelected 1900 • Shot by Leon Czolcocz • Teddy Roosevelt (McKinley’s VP) Progressive Republican

  29. Immigration • The Chinese and the Railroads • RR’s put pressure on the Government to help get more Chinese workers into the U.S. • 1868 Anson-Burlingame Act: expedited the process of getting Chinese workers to the West in spite of Rising nativism • THEN by 1869 most RR’s completed

  30. Chinese Immigration • Rising Nativism in SW • Demand for end to Chinese immigration • 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act No more immigrants to U.S. from China and those who were already here could not become naturalized citizens

  31. European Immigration • Before 1880 most coming to U.S. were from Northern or Western Europe • Most Protestant • Most assimilated well • THEN a huge influx from Eastern and Southern Europe • Catholic, poorer, illiterate, failed to assimilate well

  32. European Immigration • Immigrants from S and E Europe drove down wages, undermined unions • Rising Nativism • Demand that government restrict immigration • BUT industry depended upon cheap labor • AND Government was influenced by Big Business

  33. The Biggest Threat to American Democracy in the last quarter of the 19th century was the influence that Big Business had on Government

  34. The Party Boss System • Corruption in Government was everywhere • The Party Boss system contributed: • The Tweed Ring in New York • The Pendergast machine in Missouri • The Daley family in Chicago • Often you had to be a member to rise in politics

  35. The Political Machine • Usually the “Boss” had a low-profile, middle management job (like Boss Tweed) • BUT no one was elected to office or won a contract or got a franchise without the Boss’s OK. • The Party Boss and his system took care of immigrant families who were just off of the boat and kept them alive. The government and religious groups did not

  36. The Party Boss System • The Boss could deliver votes to a candidate because the immigrant workers were so grateful for the help they received when they first arrived, that by the time they were voting citizens, they would vote how the Boss wanted (early and often) • Likewise, the Boss got the funds to help the immigrants from bribes and kickbacks (candidates and those who wanted city contracts)

  37. The Immigrants and The American Dream • The belief that the roads in America were paved with gold and that if only one worked hard and kept out of trouble, a comfortable life would result was perpetuated by: • Horatio Alger Stories • But Theodore Drieser in An American Tragedywas more accurate

  38. Late 19th Century Industrialism • 1866 Cyrus Field: First Transatlantic Cable • 1870’s Bell: Telephone • 1890’s Marconi: Radio • 1868 Sholes: Typewriter • 1879 Ritty: Cash Register • 1891 Burroughs: Adding Machine • 1870’s Edison and Westinghouse: electric power

  39. Industry • 1850’s Two new processes developed to turn Iron into Steel: • Bessemer • Open Hearth • Bissel Oil for lubrication (later for fuel) • 1870’s Chas. and Frank Duryea: First gasoline-driven motor vehicle • 1906 Ford 1st motor car on the road

  40. Industry • 1910 Automobile was a major industry • 1917 % million on the road • Taylorism: The Science of Production • 1903 Wright Brothers • BUT world-wide overproduction!

  41. Industry and Agriculture • Chilled Iron Plow • Better harvesters, combines • Farmers were producing more and making less

  42. The Railroads • By 1870 49 million acres of land given to the RR companies • 75% of it to the 4 largest RR co’s • The Pacific Railway Act set the precedent • For every mile of track laid, the government would give the RR co. 5 square miles on either side of the track (in a checkerboard pattern in long strips interrupted with government land so the RR would not turn around and sell the land to homesteaders.)

  43. The Railroad continued • The Government paid subsidies, bonuses, etc. as incentive so safety concerns were ignored. • The Westinghouse air brake made larger trains possible • Pullman sleeping cars were introduced • 1870’s 52,000 miles of track • 1890 166,700 miles of track

  44. Railroads continued • By 1890 Government annual revenue = $403 million • Same year, RR’s annual revenue was over $1 billion BIG BUSINESS WAS THE CHIEF THREAT TO DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT.

  45. Who had the money? • Before the Civil War there were few millionaires • By 1882, over 4,000 • By the end of the 19th century: • 1% of corporations controlled 33% of American manufacturing • 1% of American families controlled 88% of American assets

  46. The Robber Barons • NOTE: Most were not self-made • Only Carnegie was rags to riches • Vanderbilt (New York Central RR) • Gould (RR’s in SW) • J.P. Morgan (Banking, RR’s, U.S. Steel) • Carnegie (Carnegie Steel) • Rockefeller (Oil)

  47. Carnegie • Ran a successful ferry business • Then bought into steamships • Then into Railroads • Built the NY Central • First to offer a direct route from NY to Chicago

  48. Gould • A competitor of Vanderbilt’s in the East • Vanderbilt drove Gould out • Gould began anew with railroads in SW part of US • History with Grant and gold certificates • Was bankrupted with Panic of 1873

  49. J.P. Morgan • Was from a very wealthy banking family • Bought up bankrupted RR’s after Panic of 1873 and ended up owning ½ of RR’s in the U.S. • Deal with Cleveland: loaned the U.S. government gold in exchange for the ability to purchase government bonds at a fraction of their value

  50. J.P. Morgan continued • Sold the bonds at market value and made yet another fortune • Purchased Carnegie Steel and created U.S. Steel

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