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Summer Assignment 2014-2015. Transcontinental RR. Union Pacific (Omaha) going west & Central Pacific (Sacramento) going east Land grants Promontory Point, Utah (May 1869) created 4 time zones out of necessity. Changing Nature of Economy. Economy of scarcity to abundance (Simon Patten )
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Transcontinental RR • Union Pacific (Omaha) going west & Central Pacific (Sacramento) going east • Land grants • Promontory Point, Utah (May 1869) • created 4 time zones out of necessity
Changing Nature of Economy • Economy of scarcity to abundance (Simon Patten) • National brands • Chain stores – A&P, Woolworths (nat’l network) • Greater variety & low prices • Mail-order Catalogs- Montgomery Ward, Sears & Roebuck • Rural areas included in trends & tech
Entertainment & Life’s Extras • Electricity plays major role • Meant “going out” – public places • Amusement parks, movie palaces, vaudeville houses, dance halls, saloons, sports… • Race, class & gender all factors – high brow/low brow • Men – spectator sports & gambling (baseball #1) • Working class leisure • New found time but not $ • Street camaraderie • Saloons –“regulars”–ethnic basis, political connections, dark vices • Movies – 1st true mass enter. medium • “Birth of a Nation” – had real plot (totally racist but elaborate) • Role of “Pragmatic” thinking • Encouraged by Darwinism • Gov’t promotion of higher ed. – “land grant” institutions
American Industrial Growth • Labor supply • Tech innovations • Entrepreneurs • Gov’t assistance of business • Domestic market for manuf. goods
Big Changes • Iron/steel industry & rr interrelated • Petroleum- lubricant & then multiple uses • Dawning of auto industry – by 1910 total social influence • Beginning of corporate r&d - corp/univ partnerships • Scientific management – Frederick Taylor • Mass production & assembly line • Corporations- new ventures so costly needed size & capital corps provide – lure of limited liability • Managerial style – hierarchy of control (middle management) • Corporate integration – vertical & horizontal
Captains of Industry or Robber Barons • Carnegie – steel industry – vertical integration • Morgan – buys out Carnegie – US Steel(billion $ comp) • Rockefeller – Standard Oil – prime ex of monopoly /horizontal
Who holds the power(and how did he get it)? • Trusts shift to holding companies (lots of power in hands of the few) • Corp. size grew, costs cut, complex industrial infrastructure, new mrkts, more jobs, mass production • Hugely controversial • Undemocratic or Protestant work ethic on steroids? • Corrupt rise to power or ingenuity of self made men? • Gap bwtn rich & poor growing • Series of recessions blamed on monops.
Workers • Massive influx • Domestic – rural migrations • Foreign – 1865-1915 huge #s – recruitment of unskilled • Increased ethnic tensions • Vulnerable @ work – conditions & cycles • Centralized control of factory work (no control or connection to product) • Women – threatened social values • Children – social ill but laws weak or bypassed
Urbanization • Massive immigration (southern & eastern Europe) b/c opportunities • Nativism inspires xenophobic organizations @ all levels • Quality of housing for poor not a concern • South – former slave quarters • Cities – tenements (large occupancy & low rent) • How the Other Half Lives – Jacob Riis
City Planning • Public spaces & services • Public park as counter to congestion • Frederick Law Olmstead – Central Park • Museums & libraries – cities as source of knowledge • “City Beautiful” Movement – Euro inspired-revitalize old sections w/new impressive structures • Daniel Burnham’s “Great White City” (1893 Chicago World’s Fair) – whole-scale redesigning – attempted but not achieved • “Back Bay”–out ward expansion • Boston marsh zone neighborhood • Skyscrapers – upward expansion • Passenger elevators, steel girder construction, architectural design
City Strains • Crime • Fire – “great fires” destroyed large areas • Less flammable building materials • Professional fire dept. • Disease • close quarter living & working conditions • Indigence • Pollution – as related to health issues • Public Health Services (TB, poisonings) • *public health as responsibility of fed. gov’t – forerunner of OSHA (1970)
Romanticized West • Cowboy – myth vs reality – the “natural man” • The Frontier (“closed” 1890) • Frederick Jackson Turner’s thesis • Democratizing politically & socially • Independence & individualism • Pragmatism • Safety valve
farm life tough & dangerous • Bonanza farms – irrigation • Family farms still dominated • $ needed to irrigate, use chems & machinery too much for avg fam. – “land monopoly” • “Long drives” – east Texas to Chicago – lost a lot herd on the way • Chisholm Trail (Abilene, Kansas) railhead • More land going to ag rather than grazing • Barbed wire (Glidden)
Native Americans • Threats to way of life • Bureau of Indian Affairs – generally incompetent • War against buffalo – (sport, fads, food & hides, rrdevel) - Almost wiped out 1875 • Relocations pit tribe vs tribe • Distrust – Sand Creek Massacre (1864) Cheyenne • Outright Hunting – mining & settler conflicts • Little Big Horn (1876) Sioux (Sitting Bull & Crazy Horse)-unity • Chief Joseph (1877) Nez Perce • *Resistance by Ghost Dance-whites retreat, buffalo return • Wounded Knee (1890) Sioux – role of machine guns • Assimilation – Dawes Severalty Act(1887) • Allowed white settlers to buy land so lost land & culture • Had to prove degree of “civilization” to get citizenship
Political Stalemate • Electoral Stability • High voter turnout • Cultural/regional party identification
“Do-little” Government Role of the National Government Interpreted and accepted roles & responsibilities
Party Patronage • Stalwarts – Roscoe Conkling, NY • Halfbreeds – James Blaine, ME • Mugwumps – wouldn’t play the “game”– sat the fence Rutherford & Lemonade Lucy Hayes • Removed last Recon. Troops from south James Garfield • Ohio Halfbreed • Gave majority of patronage jobs to halfbreeds Chester Arthur • Stalwart • Tried for distance from Stals. • Pendleton Act
Election of 1884 • James Blaine • “Rum, Romanticism and Rebellion” • Grover Cleveland • Reputation of reform & anti corruption • Gets mugwump support • Large NY Catholic turnout
Cleveland’s First Term • Frugal & limited gov’t • Civil service reform • Vetoed many private pension bills (Civil War) • Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 • Dawes Act • Anti-tariff
Election of 1888 • Key issue is tariff • Grover Cleveland • Benjamin Harrison • Electoral votes vs popular votes • Billion-dollar Congress (Repubs have both houses) • Sherman Anti-trust Act (1890) • McKinley Tariff (1890) • Civil War Pension increases • Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890
Return of the Democrats • 1890 Congressional shift • Growing agrarian discontent
The Grange • Oliver Kelly • First organized 1870s in the Midwest, the south, and Texas • Cooperative associations • Social &educational components • Succeeded in lobbying for “Granger Laws.” • Rapidly declined by late 1870s
Early Union Attempts • Mostly failures – seen as threat to liberty of contract • Middle class viewed unions as troublemakers/radicals/ foreigners • “Molly Maguires” – seen as violent intimidators • Great Railroad Strike (1877) -1st major nat’l labor conflict • Rioted, destroyed equip. • Militias called out • Conflicts no longer local issues • Workers frustrated w/management & gov’t’s protections • Fragility of unions
Knights of Labor – Terrance Powderly • Accepted almost everybody • Broad themed philosophical goals • Temporarily popular & then disbanded • American Federation of Labor – Samuel Gompers • Limited membership • Skilled craftsmen • Allowed women to reduce wage threat • Wages & conditions primary concerns
New Theories • Social Darwinism • Gospel of Wealth • Horatio Alger myths OR • Gov’t should shape econ/society or else – Caesar’s Column • Henry George • Laurence Gronlund • Edward Bellamy
Protests & Strikes • Haymarket Square (1886 – Chicago)- public meeting re:8hr day – bomb thrown/police killed • Symbol of social chaos, radicalism & anarchy • Homestead Strike (1892 – Pittsburgh) • Wage cuts w/out collective bargaining • Brought in Pinkertons & then militia to protect “scab”workers • Public opinion anti union • Setback in steel industry union movement till 1930s • Pullman Strike (1894 – Chicago) • Wages cut but no rent cuts in company town • Eugene Debs leads call for walk off & boycott • Owners link pullmans to mail cars so fed. court issues injunction (supported by Cleveland) & Debs jailed • Strike folds
Why organized labor didn’t work…yet • Wages not keeping up w/COL • Lost legislative challenges • Strikes ineffective • Unions represented small % of workers • Women, unskilled, minorities, immigrants • Ethnic/racial/language barriers • Shifting/transient workforce • Belief in next generation moving to management
Farmers’ Alliances • Begun in the late 1880s (Texas first – the Southern Alliance; then in the Midwest—the Northern Alliance). • Built upon the ashes of the Grange • More political and less social than Grange • Ran candidates for office. • Controlled 8 state legislatures & had 47 representatives in Congress during the 1890s.
In 1889 both the Northern and Southern Alliancesmerged into on—theFarmers’ Alliance.
People’s Party - Populists • James Weaver • Small, low-tech farmers, sharecroppers & tenant farmers • “raise less corn & more hell” –Mary Lease • Did ok in pres. election but very well in st. & nat’l legislative contests • “Challenge to the brutal & chaotic way the economy was developing”
Omaha Platform • System of “sub-treasuries.” • Abolition of the National Bank. • Direct election of Senators. • Govt. ownership of RRs, telephone & telegraph companies. • Government-operated postal savings banks. • Restriction of undesirable immigration. • 8-hour work day for government employees. • Abolition of the Pinkerton detective agency. • Australian secret ballot. • Re-monitization of silver. • A single term for President & Vice President
Panic 1893 • Conservative Cleveland reelected • Stock market crash (b/c big corp bankruptcies) • Bank failures • Tightening of credit • Fledgling comps. fail • Skyrocketing unemployment • Mitigating factors • Depressed crop prices • Euro. depression = loss of mkts • Less Euro gold in US
“A petition with boots” • Jacob Coxey & his “Army of the Commonweal of Christ.” • March on Washington “hayseed socialists!”
Silver Question • Historically bi-metal • 1870s changed • Mint ratio 16:1 • Market ration • 1873 Congress discontinues silver coinage • Crime of ’73 • Free silver movement
Election 1896 • Wm McKinley (Repub, Ohio) oppose silver coinage • Mts & plains state delegates go over to Dems • Wm Jennings Bryan (Dem, Nebraska) • South & west delegates incorp. Populist ideas – free silver • “Cross of Gold” speech sways convention • Populists no other choice so “fuse” w/Dems
You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold!
Campaign of 1896 • McKinley (w/Hanna direction & $) followed tradition • “front porch” campaign • Bryan did opposite – lot less $ & a lot more movement
Bryan: The Farmers’ Friend(The Mint Ratio) 18,000 miles of campaign “whistle stops.”
The Seasoned Politician vs. The “Young” Newcomer
Why Did Bryan Lose? • Focus on silver undermined efforts to build bridges to urban voters • Did not form alliances with other groups • During end of campaign – rising wheat prices • McKinley’s campaign was well- organized and highly funded. • Seen by many as a demagogue • Campaign seen as undignified • Presidential candidates “stood” for office rather than “running” for it
Gold Triumphs Over Silver • 1900 Gold Standard Act • confirmed the nation’s commitment to the gold standard. • A victory for the forces ofconservatism
Significance of 1896 Election • End of stalemate & stagnation of Gilded age • Began era of Repub. dominance of presidency & Congress • Repubs – party of “free soil, free labor & free men” now business, industry & strong nat’l gov’t • Urban dominance • Beginnings of modern politics • Demise of Populists
Why Did Populism Decline? • The economy experienced rapid change. • The era of small producers and farmers was fading away. • Race divided the Populist Party, especially in the South. • The Populists were not able to breakexisting party loyalties. • Most of their agenda was co-opted bythe Democratic Party