Summer Assignment 2014-2015

1. Summer Assignment2014-2015

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. American Industrial Growth • Labor supply • Tech innovations • Entrepreneurs • Gov’t assistance of business • Domestic market for manuf. goods

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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.

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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)

13. 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

14. 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)

15. 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

16. Political Stalemate • Electoral Stability • High voter turnout • Cultural/regional party identification

17. “Do-little” Government Role of the National Government Interpreted and accepted roles & responsibilities

18. 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

19. Election of 1884 • James Blaine • “Rum, Romanticism and Rebellion” • Grover Cleveland • Reputation of reform & anti corruption • Gets mugwump support • Large NY Catholic turnout

20. 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

21. 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

22. Return of the Democrats • 1890 Congressional shift • Growing agrarian discontent

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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

28. 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

29. 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.

30. In 1889 both the Northern and Southern Alliancesmerged into on—theFarmers’ Alliance.

31. 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”

32. 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

33. In Support of Gov’t Owned Companies

34. 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

35. Here Lies Prosperity

36. “A petition with boots” • Jacob Coxey & his “Army of the Commonweal of Christ.” • March on Washington  “hayseed socialists!”

37. Silver Question • Historically bi-metal • 1870s changed • Mint ratio 16:1 • Market ration • 1873 Congress discontinues silver coinage • Crime of ’73 • Free silver movement

38. 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

39. You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold!

40. Campaign of 1896 • McKinley (w/Hanna direction & $) followed tradition • “front porch” campaign • Bryan did opposite – lot less $ & a lot more movement

42. Bryan: The Farmers’ Friend(The Mint Ratio) 18,000 miles of campaign “whistle stops.”

43. The Seasoned Politician vs. The “Young” Newcomer

44. Into Which Box Will the Voterof ’96 Place His Ballot?

45. 1896 Election Results

46. 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

47. Gold Triumphs Over Silver • 1900  Gold Standard Act • confirmed the nation’s commitment to the gold standard. • A victory for the forces ofconservatism

48. 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

49. 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