6/4: The Problem with Progress

1. 6/4: The Problem with Progress • Between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of the twentieth century, coal production skyrocketed 800 percent and steel production increased even more • The nation built tens of thousands of miles of railroads and sprouted brand-new industries, including the production of petroleum and electricity

2. When the Civil War began, the majority of Americans worked as farmers • By 1900, those who made a living from farming were outnumbered by nearly three to one

3. Why did American industry expand? • 1) The nation’s physical geography provided many natural resources – including lumber, coal, and oil – that manufacturers relied on to power their factories and machines

4. 2) As industries expanded, millions of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, as well as from Asia, poured into the United States to fill the demand for labor

5. 3) Government policies encouraged the success of business in the late 1800s

6. 4) America loves entrepreneurs!

7. Andrew Carnegie: steel

8. John D. Rockefeller: oil

9. William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer: newspapers

10. Workers Endure Hardships • Most industrial workers endured long days in poor conditions for law pay • Whereas Carnegie amassed a fortune, steelworkers in his plants labored 10 to 12 hours a day, six days a week, for about 15 cents an hour

11. They received no health benefits, no vacation time, and suffered from periodic layoffs because of downturns in the business cycle

12. Labor Unions Promote Workers’ Rights • The American Federation of Labor (AFL) focused on very specific workers’ issues such as wages, working hours, and working conditions • Led by Samuel Gompers, the AFL operated like a business • It was a loose organization of skilled workers from some 100 local craft unions, each devoted to a specific craft or trade

13. Workers and Big Business Clash • On May 4, 1886, an event known as the Haymarket Riot erupted during a labor rally in Haymarket Square in Chicago • It began when someone threw a bomb that killed a police officer • More police officers and civilians died in the bloody fight that followed

14. Government authorities reacted by rounding up eight anarchists, political radicals opposed to any form of government, and convicted them of conspiracy to commit murder

15. Farmers and Populism • After the Civil War, farmers in both the South and the Plains states sought to lower shipping and storage rates, either through government regulation of the railroads or use of grain elevators, or both

16. Members of the Farmers’ Alliance, in both the South and the West, soon formed the People’s Party, or the Populist Party

17. To lower the cost of transportation, the populists sought regulation or ownership of the railroads • In order to make it easier for farmers to borrow money and pay off their debts, they called for the creation of subtreasury banks and the coinage of silver or “free silver”

18. Democratic and Populist candidate William Jennings Bryan championed the cause of the American farmer and denounced the monetary policies of the Republicans, namely the gold standard

19. In part because he failed to convince industrial workers that the policy of free silver would benefit them, Bryan failed to win a single state outside of the South and the West • Even in its defeat, the Populist movement had an impact upon the political system • Bryan’s style of appealing directly to the people became the norm rather than the exception

20. Origins of Progressivism • The Progressive Movement was similar to the Populist Movement of the late 1800s • Both were reform movements that wanted to get rid of corrupt government officials and make government more responsive to people’s needs

21. However, at the forefront of Progressivism were middle-class people • They believed that highly educated leaders should use modern ideas and scientific techniques to improve society • Leaders of the Populist Movement, on the other hand, consisted mostly of farmers and workers

22. Muckrakers Reveal the Need for Reform • Socially conscious journalists and other writers dramatized the need for reform • Their sensational investigative reports uncovered a wide range of ills afflicting America in the early 1900s

23. Even though Theodore Roosevelt agreed with much of what they said, he called these writers “muckrakers” because he thought they were too fascinated with the ugly side of things • A muckrake is a tool used to clean manure and hay out of animals’ stables

24. In The Jungle, Upton Sinclair related the despair of immigrants working in Chicago’s stockyards and revealed the unsanitary conditions in the industry…

25. 6/4: The Jungle • Please answers questions 1 and 2 listed on the excerpt of “The Jungle”; please write your answers in your journal.