The Gilded Age 1877-1900

The Gilded Age 1877-1900

Technological Advances • Telephone • Bicycle • Typewriter • Elevator • Root Beer • Linoleum “floor covering of the future” • Steel (skyscrapers, bridges)

Industrialization and The Rise of Big Business • During the Gilded Age, huge corporations were formed that employed thousands and produced enormous amounts of goods • The founders of these companies amassed great wealth while their workers were poorly paid

Captains of Industry • Andrew Carnegie: bought out his suppliers and his competitors until he controlled the steel industry. • John D. Rockefeller: turned his company into a “trust” by buying stock in his competitors companies until he controlled them.

Sherman Anti-Trust Act • Passed in 1890 to make trusts illegal • Companies found many ways to get around this law • 1906-, the government brought suit against Standard Oil and in 1911 the trust was finally ordered to dissolve

The Problems of the Industrial Workers • There was almost no federal government regulation of businesses at this time, therefore there was: nominimum wage,nomaximum number of hours per week,nohigher pay for overtime,noregulation of unhealthy or unsafe working conditions, andnohealth insurance or other employee benefits. • Industrialization created low-wage, low-skilled jobs that made employees easy to replace. This led to the growth of labor unions.

Communication Improves • 1866- Transatlantic telegraph cable • 1876- telephone- by 1900- 1.5 million phones installed • Improvements in printing- wide circulation of newspapers- mass advertising

Mass Production • From small shops to large factories • Workers perform 1 task over and over again • Long hours • 10-15 hours per day • 6-7 days per week

Child Labor

The Early Labor Union Movement • Labor Unions tried to improve wages and working conditions by collective bargaining and threatening strikes • Between 1877 and 1893 there were several huge strikes • Union popularity declined because the public associated labor unions with violence

The Problems of Farmers • Westward expansion led to overproduction of crops – farm prices drop • Railroad rates going up- more expensive to transport crops • Farmers became deeply in debt • Farmers began the Populist Movement • Asking for rr regulation and monetary reform to releive their indebtedness

Problems of Immigrants • The thousands of immigrants that came from Southern and Eastern Europe between 1890-1915 were often poor and illiterate • They accepted unskilled jobs in factories and had to move in to overly crowded cities

Ellis Island, N.Y., Angel Island, CA.

Problems of Immigrants (Con’t) • Triple Hardship: low wages, pooe housing conditions, and nativism (prejudice against immigrants) • Nativists encouraged the government to pass immigration restriction laws

Problems of Minorities • The right to vote promised by the Fifteenth Amendment was undermined by the use of poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses • Asians: The Chinese Exclusion Act banned further immigration from China

Big Cities • Tightly knit ethnic communities begin to shape the big cities

Urban Problems • Industrial cities grew rapidly ad poor workers lived in slums • Police and fire departments were understaffed • Clean water and sewer systems were inadequate • Tenement houses were were crowded and unsafe

Urban Problems (Con’t) • City governments were often corrupt “political macines” stayed in power by winning the votes of the immigrants, but often abused their power • Graft is when a public official uses his office to make himself rich through bribery or stealing public funds

The Gilded Age 1877-1900