The Gilded Age- The Progressive Era

1. The Gilded Age- The Progressive Era Christopher Dorf, Jay Speights, Greyson Blaies, Farhad Merchant

2. What is the Gilded Age?

3. Gilded Age • Political corruption • Widening gap between rich and poor • Greed • Business Titans • Forgettable Presidents • Social Darwinism • Foreign conflict

4. Titans Note: These are not in the notes sheet so we recommend writing them on the white space on front side.

5. Andrew Carnegie • Owner of Carnegie Steel • Rose from poverty to fortune • Inspired belief in the “American Dream” • Company was bought out by J.P. Morgan • Devoted to philanthropy, donated $350 million to help poor

6. John D. Rockefeller • Started from humble beginnings and eventually created an oil empire • Started his company, Standard Oil in 1870 • As part of his “horizontal integration”, by 1877 he controlled 95% of oil refineries in the US.

7. Vertical vs. Horizontal Integration • Vertical integration • A company seeks to own all aspects of production and manufacturing • Started by Andrew Carnegie in steel production • Horizontal integration • A company buys out or forces out all competition in specific industry • Used by John Rockefeller- Standard oil

8. Other Titans Vanderbilt JP Morgan

9. U.S. Presidents

10. Presidents Forgettable Presidents (Gilded Age) • Hayes • Garfield • Arthur • Cleveland (Two stints) • Harrison • Mckinley Progressive Presidents • T. Roosevelt • Taft • Wilson

11. Rutherford B. Hayes • He was the 19th president of the U.S. • He led the country through the end of Reconstruction. • The Compromise of 1877 withdrew federal troops from Louisiana and South Carolina which helped formally end reconstruction. • The Railroad Strike of 1877 also marked his time in office. Hayes deployed troops to end the strike. • Hayes awarded political loyalty in his appointments instead of merit. • He spent a good deal of effort fighting for black civil rights, but the House was dominated by Democrats so they blocked many of his efforts.

12. James A. Garfield • He was the 20th president of the United States. • Many office seekers harassed him following his election which convince him of the importance of civil service reform. • Garfield appointed many former slaves into office including Frederick Douglas. • He managed to initiate reform of the Post office Department. • Unfortunately he was unable to carry out his duties because he was assassinated only after a few months in office.

13. Chester Arthur • He was the 21st president. • During his time in office he advocated for lowering tariff rates to help relieve indebted farmers and middle class consumers. • He was a “champion” of social service reform. • Arthur signed into law the Pendleton Act which established a bipartisan Civil Service Commission.

14. Grover Cleveland • He was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. • He is best known for dealing with the Pullman Strike. • Cleveland was not in favor of imperialistic moves. • He was also not in favor of overthrowing the Hawaiian monarchy. • Cleveland presided over the dedication of the Statue of Liberty.

15. Benjamin Harrison • He was the 23th president of the United States of America. • The Battle of Wounded Knee occurred during his time in office. • The congress as the time was known as the “Billion Dollar Congress.” This congress helped shape later policies and asserted authority of the federal government. • He was much into currency reform. • Harrison signed into effect the Sherman Anti-trust Act which attempted to curb monopolies. • Similar to the other presidents he failed to extend civil rights to blacks.

16. William McKinley • He was the 25th president and the last of the forgettable presidents. • McKinley is best known for acquiring Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. • He encouraged domestic industry which led him to pass the Dingley Tariff Act. This was the highest tariff in U.S. history. • Trusts rose during his time in office. • McKinley was a supporter of the Gold Standard like many other Republicans of the time. He defeated William Jennings Bryan who was a supporter of “Free Silver.” • The Spanish-American War happened while he was in office. • He was killed in 1901.

17. Teddy Roosevelt • He was the 26th president of the United States and the first of the progressive era presidents. • He became the youngest president in U.S. history. • Roosevelt felt that the government should be an arbiter between capital and labor. • He was the “Trust Buster.” • “Speak softly and carry a big stick” • Ushered the construction of the Panama Canal • Teddy used his Roosevelt Corollary to back up his intervention within Latin America. • Conservation of resources was key to his ideals. • In 1912 he later ran for a third term under the Bull Moose Party. • The Square Deal highlights his presidency.

18. William Taft • He was the 27th president of the United States of America. • Taft is the only person to serve as both the Chief Justice and the president. • Payne- Aldrich Act… It lowered certain tariffs and was the first time a since The Dingley Tariff that a tariff was changed. • “Dollar Diplomacy” was also coined in effort to help Latin America with its financial issues.

19. Woodrow Wilson • He was the 28th president of the United States of America • Wilson continued the progressive movement. • Under his presidency the Federal Reserve Act, Federal Trade Commission Act, and Clayton Anti-trust Act were created. • Child labor was also curbed under his leadership. • He led the United States through the Great War.

20. War

21. Spanish- American War • 1898-1901 • Background • Cuba was under Spanish control, despite American efforts • Cuban farmers began to rebel when sugar prices plummeted • Spanish forces fought the insurrection back in a bloody war

22. Causes for US Involvement • Yellow Journalism • Americans became aware of the Cuban crisis through sensationalized stories • Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst competed with each other to bring the news. • “You furnish the pictures, I furnish the war!” -Hearst

23. Causes for US Involvement • USS Maine Explosion- 1898 • American ship explodes in a Havana harbor • Killed 250 servicemen • U.S.-a Spanish mine that exploded the ship • Spain- it was an accident in the ship’s boiler room. • History proved Spain correct. • Americans rallied under the cry “Remember the Maine”

24. Causes for US Involvement • Dupuy de Lome letter • Spanish ambassador to the US derided President McKinley in letter to the foreign minister of Spain. • Was intercepted and published in New York Journal. • Fueled an aggressive, war-like foreign policy. • "McKinley is weak and catering to the rabble and, besides, a low politician who desires to leave a door open to himself and to stand well with the jingos of his party."

25. US Involvement • McKinley did not want to go to war, but feared if he went against public outcry for war, William Jennings Bryan would win next election of 1900. • Congress declared war under the motive that the Cubans needed to be liberated from Spanish government. • Passed the Teller Amendment, which promised Cuban independence if Spanish were successfully driven out.

26. Rough Riders • 20,000 regular and volunteer troops prepared to invade Cuba • The Rough Riders were a mixed group of ex-convicts and cowboys led by Colonel Theodore Roosevelt • Helped take charge of Sam Juan Hill • Cuba eventually fell and Spain retreated

27. Treaty of Paris • Terms: • Spain gave the US Cuba, Guam, and Puerto Rico. • McKinley agreed to buy the Philippines for $20 million. • US honored the Teller Amendment, after introducing the Platt Amendment, which established a permanent military base at Guantanamo Bay.

28. The Philippines • After the conflict in Cuba the U.S. received ownership of the Philippines. • The Spanish, however, didn’t give it up easily. • Both empires wanted the area for a strategic military position. • Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt acted against orders and commanded George Dewey to take over the Spanish-controlled Philippines. • He quickly defeated the Spanish navy in a surprise attack. • Emilo Aguinaldo was a Filipino who led a revolt against the Spanish on land, working with the US. • The U.S. took full control of the Philippines.

29. The Philippine-American War • The U.S. was just given ownership was the Philippines after the U.S. defeated Spain. • The war was spurred by our belief that our “Little Brown Brothers” were inferior to us. • The Filipino people did not want our help to help rebuild, they only wanted their independence. • The U.S. government denied and the local population revolted against the U.S. forces. • The Filipinos later down the line would be granted their independence.

30. Ideologies

31. Gilded Age Ideology The Gilded Age is ‘gilded’ because it’s shiny outer appearance is isn’t skin deep (look up ‘gilded metal’). The american dream shifted towards becoming rich. This age was filled with corruption in both politics and in big business. Social Darwinism was a major beliefs. People applied Charles Darwin’s ‘natural selection’ to business; the strong survive and the weak fail. Laborers/Factory workers dispensable because of a huge amount of immigrants and unemployed. This drove wages down to record lows. The supreme court supported big business by going against labor unions. This era was very conservative.

32. Gilded Age Supreme Court Decisions In re Debs (Pullman Strike) - his case originated from the 1894 Pullman Strike. Workers at the Pullman Palace Car company went on strike after owner George Pullman cut wages, but kept rent and other cost of living expenses high in his factory town that surrounded the factory. The strike stopped railway traffic through the state of Illinois, crippling interstate trade as well as the government’s ability to deliver mail. President Grover Cleveland issued a court injunction to put a stop to the strike. Eugene Debs, the leader of the American Railway Union, refused defied the injunction and refused to bring an end to the strike. President Cleveland had to use the U.S. Army to break the strike. Debs was arrested for refusing the injunction.

33. In re Debs Continued In the supreme court case, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government has the power to break a strike when the strike interferes with official government business (i.e. mail delivery) or the ability of other private business to operate effectively. This decision reinforces the government’s support for management over the labor movement, further weakening the ability of workers and unions to organize and go on strike.

34. Gilded Age Supreme Court Decisions Plessy v. Ferguson - The state of Louisiana passed a law requiring the segregation of all railway cars. Homer Plessy, who was one 1/8 Black, was arrested for sitting in a white only rail car and refusing to move. Plessy brought suit on the grounds that the state law violated his 14th Amendment to “equal protection under the law”. In this case, the Supreme court ruled that the Louisiana state law did not violate the 14th Amendment. Through this ruling, the Court established the “separate but equal” doctrine. Segregation was constitutional as long as it affirmed the idea of “separate but equal.” This decision upheld Jim Crow segregation throughout the South.

35. Progressive Ideology Who were the Progressives? They were reformers; they were middle-class citizens intent on bettering society and saving capitalism in America by curbing the worst abuses of the capitalist system; they were bourgeois whites terrified of a workers' revolution and determined to thwart it by pushing through some nominal reforms; they were businessmen seeking to avoid more stringent reforms by supporting watered-down federal laws; they were women fighting for the right to vote; they were religious women struggling to stamp out alcohol as one of society's greatest vices; they were privileged idealists hoping and trying to uplift the poor.

36. Progressive Ideology Continued 14th Amendment: "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." The supreme court interpreted “Person” as not only people, but corporations, too. This helped them rule a bunch of cases in favor of businesses rather than citizens. This greatly contrasted the developing public mindset.

37. Progressive Era Supreme Court Decisions Northern Securities Co. v. United States - Two competing railroad companies set up a holding company to buy the controlling interest of the two railroads. The constitutionality of the holding company was questioned when President Theodore Roosevelt pursued his “trust busting” campaign under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890. The Supreme Court ruled that a holding company formed solely to eliminate competition between the 2 railroads was in violation of the anti-trust laws because it unreasonably restrained commerce. The federal government now had the authority to regulate any conspiracy which sought to eliminate competition between otherwise competitive railroads. Led to Teddy’s “Trust Busting”.

38. Progressive Era Supreme Court Decisions Lochner v. New York - The Court upheld the Oregon law that barred women from certain factory and laundry work. The Court took into account the physical differences between men and women, based on the brief submitted by Louis D. Brandeis, stating that “women’s physical structure and the functions it performs…justify special legislation restricting the conditions under which she should be permitted to toil.” So-called “protective legislation” regulated the hours, locations, and type of work that women could do. This protective legislation also prevented women from entering certain occupations, many of the occupations that paid higher salaries. Started out as beneficial to women but later became negative when it was used to discriminate against women in the workplace.

39. Progressive Era Supreme Court Decisions Hammer v. Dagenhart - Unable to regulate hours and working conditions for child labor within individual states, Congress sought to regulate child labor by banning the product of that labor from interstate commerce. The Keating-Owen Act of 1916 prohibited interstate commerce of any merchandise that had been made by children under the age of fourteen, or merchandise that had been made in factories where children between the ages of 14 and 16 worked for more than eight hours a day, worked overnight, or worked more than six days a week. The Supreme Court ruled that Congress had no authority under the Commerce Clause to restrict manufacturing activities involving children. This was a huge blow for progressivism.

40. Amendments Note that on the next slide the 14th and the 15th amendment were made prior to the Gilded Age but had a major influence on politics during the period

41. Amendments • 14th Amendment (1868) - Granted citizenship to anyone born in the United States and guaranteed due process and equal protection of the laws • 15th Amendment (1870) - Guaranteed the right to vote regardless “of race, color, or previous condition of servitude” • Teller Amendment (1898) - Stated that the United State would not establish permanent control of Cuba • Platt Amendment (1903) - Treaty between America and Cuba that attempted to protect Cuba’s independence from foreign intervention • 16th Amendment (1913) - Established a federal income tax, Progressive victory • 18th Amendment (1919) - Established Prohibition, another Progressive victory

42. Platforms 1892 Election Populists Party - formed by frustrated farmers in agricultural belts of West and South, reached out to black community • Grover Cleveland (Democrat) - denounced McKinley tariff, demanded rigid enforcement laws on trusts • Benjamin Harrison (Republican) - favored extension of foreign commerce; build up the navy; opposed trusts; and supported construction of Nicaragua Canal • James B. Weaver (Populists) - demanded graduated income tax; government ownership of railroads, telegraphs and telephones; called for inflation through unlimited and free coinage of silver; direct election of senators; one-term limit for Presidency; shorter workday; limited immigration; adoption of initiative and referendum to allow citizens to shape legislation more directly

43. Platforms 1896 & 1900 Election • William McKinley (Republican) - aid business, supported gold standard • William Jennings Bryan (Democrat/Populist) - demanded inflation through the unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of sixteen ounces to one ounce of gold (silver in a dollar would be worth about fifty cents)

44. Platforms 1912 Election • Woodrow Wilson (Democrat) - “New Freedom”, favored small enterprise, entrepreneurship, and the free functioning of unregulated and non-monopolized markets, • Theodore Roosevelt (Bull Moose) - “New Nationalism”, stronger control of trusts, womens suffrage, and social welfare programs

45. Foreign Policies

46. Imperialism Why? • The U.S. wanted to expand economically and needed worldwide markets to do so. • The need for raw materials was increasing. • Many people wanted to spread Christianity and American Values. Supporters: • White Anglo-Saxons • Expansionists • Albert Beveridge • Missionaries… Opponents: • Mark Twain • William Jennings Bryan • Anti-expansionists

47. Foreign Policy by each Forgettable President Hayes: • He wanted to continue to expand toward the Pacific Ocean • Since the Chinese immigrant population was growing he negotiated a trade agreement with China to regulate immigration. Garfield: • He had limited foreign policies due to his death. Arthur: • Started to create the first crucial steps in building a modern navy- “Father of the Steel Navy” • He negotiated many treaties with Mexico, Santo Domingo, Spain, Cuba, and Puerto Rico which all lacked Senate support.

48. Continued Cleveland: • He opposed territorial expansion and entangling alliances. • Cleveland withdrew the treaty which gave the U.S. the right to construct a canal in Nicaragua.(Frelinghuysen-Zavala Treaty) • Dealt with complex issues of U.S. fishing rights in the North Atlantic off Canada. • He threatened Britain with war over the Venezuelan boundary dispute. • Brought the Monroe Doctrine back to life. Harrison: • Convened the first modern Pan-American Conference in Oct. 1889. • Appointed Frederick Douglas as minister to Haiti. • Supported expansion of the navy • Inspired Roosevelts “Big Stick” policy • Vigorous trade agenda

49. Mckinley’s Foreign Policy

50. The Incident in Cuba The United States wanted to “free” Cuba from Spain mainly for ECONOMIC purposes. We wanted to protect our investments in Cuba. Decision for War: • Loss of Markets • Cuban threats to Americans in Cuba • Inability of both Spain and Cuba to resolve the Cuban revolution • the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine Led McKinley to ask congress to declare war on Spain • On April 21, Congress declared war on Spain with the objective of establishing Cuban Independence with the Teller Amendment.