Topic 5: The Gilded Age

“Ballston Spa, I learned, had once been famous for its string of quiet little health retreats, but over the last century things had

changed pretty drastically: many of the mineral springs had dried up, and the spas had been replaced by a collection of

mills…By 1897, there wasn’t much about Ballston that brought the word ‘spa’ to mind.”

-Caleb Carr, Angel of Darkness

Island Mill, a paper mill along the Kayaderosseras off Mechanic Street, Ballston Spa. sign on building

reads Union Bag Paper Co. Destroyed by fire

The Industrialization of the United States: A look at the

Capital Region

How did the Capital District reflect the changes occurring in other cities in the U.S.?

How did industry reflect the “character” of each of the cities?

Who provided the labor force?

Troy, NY, makers of Arrow collars and Arrow shirts. The company started in 1851.

Ballston Refrigerator Storage Co.

1904 - Ballston Spa and Saratoga trolley lines opened and Mohawk trolley bridge was completed

Day Line steamer Albany leaving the Albany waterfront for her run down the Hudson to New York City, on a summer

morning in 1900

Day Line steamer Albany leaving the Albany waterfront for her run down the Hudson to New York City, on a summer

morning in 1900

The new plant of the Elite Glove

company, which was completed recently,

adds to Fulton County -- the home of gloves -- one of

the finest and best-equipped plants in

the country.

A leather factory, Gloversville

A view of the four corners in Gloversville shows two trolley cars bringing passengers downtown

to view a parade in the early 1900s.

Winter on South Main Street in Gloversville. The white building on

left is The Morning Herald newspaper and

on right is the First Baptist Church

The Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper Co. was founded in 1877, to manufacture perforated

rolls of wrapping and toilet paper.

Rensselaer Valve, Waterford

NY Power and Light CompanyCohoes, NY

Hudson Coal storage piles

Behr-Manning in Watervliet, NY made sandpaper. The Manning Abrasive Co. was established and built this plant in

1912.

Saratoga Raceway

                                         

Saratoga: Canfield Casino

What factors led to the post-Civil War industrial boom?

1. Natural resources -“black gold”-coal and iron deposits – Bessemer process: new method of producing steel (which would then be used for railroads, construction projects, new structures)

2. New Inventions -electricity: electric power ran machines, spurred invention of new appliances, electric streetcars changed urban travel, allowed manufacturers to locate plants away from rivers-Communications

3. Government support for business laissez-faire policies (supported by the philosophy of Social Darwinism)

4. Growing urban population cheap labor and markets for new products

Were the founders of American industry “robber barons” or “captains of industry”?

• Robber Barons– Cruel and ruthless

businessmen who would stop at nothing to achieve great wealth

– Industrialists made hundreds of millions of dollars while the average worker made $350 a year

– Exploiting workers and forcing horrible working conditions and unfair labor practices upon the laborer

– Created monopolies & trusts which hurt the consumer by eliminating competition & raising prices

• Captains of Industry– Ingenious and industrious

leaders who transformed the American economy with their business skills

– Creators of companies & therefore jobs

– They were praised for their skills as well as for their philanthropy (charity)

– Funded education, libraries, medicine, and the arts

Andrew Carnegie John D. Rockefeller J.P. Morgan

Use your laptops to research the following men. You must include the following information (bulleted information is acceptable): how he acquired his wealth, how he (or his related industries) treated workers, how he spent

his money, and how he donated his money. Then, make the following determination: was he a robber baron or a captain of industry and why? (You must explain your answer with supporting examples – they can be both, but

you must explain why)Put your research in your drop box on Sakai when you are done.

Founders of American Industry: Robber Barons or Captains of Industry?

Andrew Carnegie•Carnegie Biography•The Two Andrews

J.P. Morgan•History of the Morgan•Labor Union versus Morgan

John D. Rockefeller•Rockefeller Biography

Resources on the Founders of American Industry

How did big business control American society during the Gilded Age?

Cartoon # Description How does the cartoon show the ways in which big business controlled American

society?

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#1

#2

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#5

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#7

The Rise of Labor Unions

What problems were created by big business that would cause labor unions to rise? What sorts of demands do you

think they will begin to make?

Thomas B McGuire, a New York wagon driver, was ambitious. He had saved $300 from his wages “so that I might become something of a capitalist eventually.” but his

venture as a cab driver in the early 1880s soon failed:

Corporations usually take that business themselves. They can manage to get men, at starvation wages, and put them on a hack, and put livery on them with a gold band and

brass buttons, to show that they are slaves—I beg pardon; I did not intend to use the word slaves; there are no slaves in this country now—to show that they are merely

servants.

•Steel mills often demanded a seven-day workweek•Seamstresses worked 12 or more hours a day, six days a week•Employees not entitled to vacation, sick leave, unemployment compensation, or reimbursement for injuries suffered on the job•1882 – an average of 675 laborers were killed in work-related accidents each week •Wages were so low that most families couldn’t survive unless everyone held a job•1890-1910 – the number of women working for wages doubled (4 million more than 8 million)•20% of boys and 10% of girls under 15 held full-time jobs•Sweatshop (workshops in tenements rather than factories) employment was often the only avenue open to women and children (children paid 27 cents for a 14-hour day)•1899 – women made $267/year, men $498/year•1900 – Andrew Carnegie made $23 million (not taxed)

Labor Unions EmergeName of Union Founder/Leader Goals/Membership/Methods Used

Knights of Labor •Uriah Stevens•Led later on by Terence Powderly

•Open to all workers, regardless of race, gender, or degree of skill•Supported an 8-hour workday and advocated “equal pay for equal work” by men and women•Saw strikes as a last resort and instead advocated arbitration•Membership declined after the Haymarket Square Riot in 1886

American Federation of Labor

Samuel Gompers •Craft union (skilled workers from one or more trades)•Focused on collective bargaining (negotiation between representatives of labor and management) to reach written agreements on wages, hours, and working conditions (“bread and butter” unionism)•Strikes used as a major tactic

American Railway Union

Eugene V. Debs •Believed unions should include all laborers in a specific industry•Used strikes as a major tactic•Debs was jailed after a violent strike against the Pullman Railway Company

Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, or “Wobblies”)

William “Big Bill” Haywood

•Radical unionists and socialists•Included miners, lumberers, and cannery and dock workers•Welcomed African Americans•Membership never topped 100,000

Case Study: The Homestead Strike

Andrew Carnegie

Henry Clay Frick

Result of Homestead Strike:No union presence in the steel industry for the next

40 years!

Business Responds to Labor

•Employers took the offensive after the Haymarket affair (riot after a striker was killed at the McCormick Harvester plant)•Broke strikes violently•Compiled blacklists of strikers•Forced workers to sign yellow-dog contracts workers had to pledge not to join labor organizations

Immigration During the Gilded Age

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,With conquering limbs astride from land to land;Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall standA mighty woman with a torch, whose flameIs the imprisoned lightning, and her nameMother of Exiles. From her beacon-handGlows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes commandThe air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame."Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries sheWith silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

“New” Immigrants

“New” Immigrants

Why did so many leave their homelands?•Jews left Russia because of pogroms•Many Europeans left Russia because of rising population scarcity of land for farming, farmers competed for too few industrial jobs•Chinese came in search of gold; worked on the railroads, then turned to farming, mining, and domestic service •Many Japanese moved to Hawaii to work for planters•Many came from the West Indies to find work•Mexicans fled political turmoil

Immigration RestrictionsNativism: overt favoritism toward native-born Americans (believed Anglo-Saxons were superior to other ethnic groups); gave rise to anti-immigrant

groups and led to a demand for immigration restrictions

Timeline of Immigration Restrictions

Year Restriction What it did

1882 Chinese Exclusion Act Banned entry to all Chinese except students, teachers, merchants tourists, and government officials for ten years; 1892 – extended for another ten years; 1902 – Chinese immigration restricted indefinitely (not repealed until 1943)

1897 Literacy test Those who could not read 40 words in English or their native language would be refused entry (vetoed by President Cleveland)

1907-8 Gentlemen’s Agreement Japan’s government agreed to limit emigration of unskilled workers to the U.S. in exchange for repeal of segregation of Japanese children in San Francisco schools

Urbanization

Urban Problems

Housing – Tenements overcrowded and unsanitary

Water and Sanitation

Urban Problems

Fire

Urban Problems – Politics in the Gilded AgePolitical Machine: an organized group that controls a political party in a city

and offers services to voters and businesses in exchange for political and financial support

Local precinct workers and captains – try to gain voters’ support on a city block or in a neighborhood and reported to a

ward boss

Ward boss – at election time, worked to secure the vote in all

the precincts in the ward, or electoral district; helped the poor

and gained their votes by doing favors or providing services

City boss – controlled the

activities of the political party

throughout the city

The Tammany Hall Political Machine

Vote for, or give money to, Tammany

politicians be rewarded with

jobs, city services, and/or building

contracts with the city

William “Boss” Tweed

Boss Tweed•Head of Tammany Hall, NYC’s powerful Democratic political machine•1869-1871 – led the Tweed Ring (a group of corrupt politicians)•Construction of NY County Courthouse cost taxpayers $13 million, actual cost was $3 million•Political cartoonist Thomas Nast helped arouse public outrage against Tammany Hall’s graft (illegal use of political influence for personal gain)

Case and Year Background Constitutional Issue Why Decision is Important

United States v. E.C. Knight Co. (1895)

In Re Debs (1895)

Northern Securities Co. v. U.S. (1904)