The “Gilded Age” 1865-1900

Author Mark Twain

VOCABULARY

GILDED

Covered with a thin layer of gold or a substance that looks like gold.

The Gilded Age…

• Looked golden, shiny, happy, prosperous

• BUT UNDERNEATH IT ALL…

• [Fill in your own disgusting images]

What was shiny in the Gilded Age?

• Economic growth– close to the wealthiest country in the world– People with enormous fortunes

• Big cities– Exciting, modern places

• Technology– Telephone, electric light, and thousands more

What Was the [xxxxx] Underneath?

• Massive poverty, hunger, homelessness

• Domination of society by big business and trusts

• Horrible working conditions & child labor

• Corruption

• Total abandonment of civil rights

• Total lack of rights for women

Labor Conditions in the Gilded Age

Industrialist Cornelius Vanderbilt

“The public be damned”“Who gives a damn aboutthe public? I got the power,don’t I

Corruption in the Gilded Age

• Grant Administration– Credit Mobilier Scandal

• Railroad company was overcharging the US government and giving bribes to govt. officials

– Whiskey Ring Scandal• Govt officials taking bribes to assist whiskey sellers

break the law

• Public officials for sale

Politics in the Gilded Age

The Federal Government’s Jobs During the Gilded Age

• Deliver mail

• Maintain a small army

• Provide a structure by which the dull, bearded presidents could comb their beards

• In other words: very little power

The Age of Mediocre, Forgettable Presidents

Hayes, 1877-1881 Garfield, 1881 Arthur, 1881-1885

Cleveland, 1885-1889; 1893-1897 Harrison, 1889-1893

Elections, 1876-1896

The Two Parties

• Democrats and Republicans• Very similar

– Pro business– Anti-radical– Republicans a little (not a lot) more responsive

to civil rights

• Your politics didn’t determine your party; your CULTURE did

Who Belonged to Each Party?

• “Old stock” Protestants– Anti-immigrant

– Pro-temperance

• Northeasterners• Blacks• Bankers, Bigger

business owners, etc.– Pro-tariff

• White Southerners• Catholics & other big

city immigrants• Westerners• Farmers

Republicans Democrats

Social Issues in the Gilded Age

Civil Rights in the Gilded Age

• Total abandonment of Reconstruction

• Blacks had few voting or civil rights

• Staggering number of lynchings an other forms of violence

Civil Rights in the Gilded Age• Plessy v. Ferguson

– 1896 Supreme Court decision– Separate facilities did not violate the 14th

Amendment as long as they were “equal”• They were never equal

– Law of the land until 1954

• 1890—Force Bill (to enforce 15th Amendment) is voted down

• Last Black leaves Congress in 1901– None til 1929

“Strange Fruit”—Billie Holiday• Southern trees bear strange fruit,

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze, Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

• Pastoral scene of the gallant south, The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth, Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh, Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

• Here is fruit for the crows to pluck, For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck, For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop, Here is a strange and bitter cry.

Women’s Rights in the Gilded Age

• Some western states allowed suffrage– Wyoming the 1st in 1890

• Overall, women had few rights– Voting, child custody, divorce, freedom from

violence, property ownership, etc.

Economic Issues in the Gilded Age

Farm Crisis in the Gilded Age

• Economic– New technology & new lands meant overproduction– Low prices & heavy debts made farmers desperate

• Political– 1800—97% of population was rural– 1880—only 60% was rural– Farmers are losing political voice

• Social– Lonely, boring isolated life on the farms

Farmers Were in Debt To…

• Banks

• Land speculators

• Commercial (corporate) farms

• Railroads

• Equipment Salesmen

• Mills & other middle men

• KEY POINT: Farmers had no control over any of these people

The Solution?

• Formation of the Farmers’ Alliances– A sort of “labor union for farmers”

• Membership:– 4,000,000 farmers by 1890– Both white and black Alliances

• Goals:– Economic cooperation & assistance to each other– Political lobbying & candidate support

• Eventually their own political party (The Populists)

– Relieving social isolation through gatherings

Why Farmers Were Going Broke

• Technology & new lands mean overproduction– Means falling prices (“the more ya got, the less it’s

worth”)

• Technology is expensive

• Middle-men (mill owners, etc.) charge a lot

• Banks charge high interest & take land

• Monopolistic railroads charge high rates

Alliance Economic Tactics

• Sharing technology

• Pooling resources to start own banks

• Fixing prices at a higher level & limiting production– Sort of like the manufacturers’ pools

• Starting non-profit mills, etc.

Alliance Leader Mary Elizabeth Lease

“Raise less corn and more…

HELL!!!”

Alliance Political Tactics• Campaign for & Support friendly candidates

– Most often Democrats– 1890 helped elect friendly legislators

• 50 Congressmen• 6 Senators

• Lobby for favorable laws– Railroad regulations, government assistance to

farmers, etc.

• 1892—Formation of the People’s (Populist) Party

A Texas Alliance Gathering, 1890

1892 Election

The People’s (Populist) Party• Formed in 1892• Constituency

– Mostly western and southern farmers– Attempted to recruit organized labor as well

• Core Beliefs– Stronger national government– Public ownership of utilities & railroads– Government loans to farmers– “Free silver”

• Success– Won 8.5% of vote & three states in for president

in 1892

Money

• Printed money had to be backed by a supply of a precious metal

• Based only on gold—less money printed

• Based on gold & silver—more money printed

• “The more there is the less it’s worth”

• If the money is worth less, prices are higher– inflation

Money, Part 2

• People in debt (who owe money) want– More money available

• Debts are worth less

• Debtors (people who are owed money) want– Less money available

• Debts are worth more

• Farmers wanted…– More money available– Paper money based on gold and silver

3 Early Attempts at Reform in the Gilded Age

• Pendleton Act (1884)

• Interstate Commerce Act (1887)

• Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890)

Pendleton Act

Pendleton Act required some government jobs to be assigned through competitive exams

• More symbolic than effective

Interstate Commerce Act

• Goal was to regulate railroads rate

• Said that railroads must charge “a reasonable and just rate”– Gave no indication what that meant

• Set up the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)– Had no enforcement power at all

The ICC can be made of great use to the railroads.

it satisfies the popular clamor for a government

supervision of the railroads, at the same time that

such supervision is entirely nominal…The part of

wisdom is not to destroy the Commission, but to

utilize it.”

--Railroad Corporation Lawyer Richard Olney

Sherman Anti-Trust Act

• Put government restrictions on trusts, monopolies and certain trade practices

• In reality, rarely enforced at all against corporations

• WAS used against labor unions– “monopolies of labor”

The Tariff

• 1890—McKinley Tariff; highest ever

• 1894—Wilson-Gorman Tariff– Democrats controlled White House & Congress– But still an INCREASE in tariff– Did include a 2% graduated income tax

• Ruled unconstitutional

• 16th Amendment of 1913