What do these items have in common? THE GILDED AGE - AN ERA OF SERIOUS SOCIAL PROBLEMS MASKED BY A THIN GOLD GILDING (LIKE GOLD-PLATED)

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1 GILDED AGE OVERVIEW

2 What do these items have in common? THE GILDED AGE - AN ERA OF SERIOUS SOCIAL PROBLEMS MASKED BY A THIN GOLD GILDING (LIKE GOLD-PLATED)

3 REGIONALLY (SOUTH AND WEST)

4 THE SOUTH The New South - Belief that with its plantation economy destroyed, the South would develop an economy more like the industrial capitalism seen elsewhere in America. Reality Sharecropping and tenant farming Secondary crops emerged (tobacco, rice, sugar) Raw materials (iron, coal, limestone, timber) Improved transportation Some industry (textile): Lower wages and worse conditions than North

5 THE SOUTH

6 THE SOUTH Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) - Supreme Court upheld separate but equal facilities Jim Crow Laws De jure segregation of public places (including U.S. military) Contrasts with de facto segregation in the North.

7 1 - SHARECROPPING CONTRACT A Gold and glistening: Superb example of the advances happening at the turn of the century. B Chipped, but still worth keeping: Mostly good with a few negative consequences. C Cracked: Mostly bad, though not bad for everyone. D Gross stuff that turns skin green: Horrendous example of things that should not even be going on in a modernized nation.

8 THE WEST Economic growth and new communities from: Transcontinental RR Mineral resources Government policies Migration (for self-sufficiency and independence)

9 RAILROADS Land Grants made RR largest landowner in the west Jobs (many Chinese and Irish immigrants exploited) Dangerous, exhausting, low wages Transcontinental RR completed 1869 in Promontory, UT

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11 FARMING Land RR land, speculators Morrill Act (land to state Agr. Colleges) Homestead Act (160 acres to settle and farm for 5 years) Hardships Thick sod, drought, pests Isolation Debt (low crop prices, high RR charges) Bonanza farms drive out smaller farmer

12 FARMING HARDSHIPS LEAD TO INGENUITY (PICK 3) Mechanized Reaper Barbed Wire Dry Farming Steel Plow Harrow Steel Windmill Hybridization Improved Communication Grain Drill Bonanza Farm

13 RANCHING Opportunities Cattle and grass were free Railroads made ranching profitable Markets for beef, wool in St. Louis and Chicago Challenges Livestock disease Dangerous Hard work, little pay Barbed wire fences Bonanza Farms drove out competition

14 MINING Positive Impacts $$ - mining $$ - merchant following the boomtowns Comstock Lode led to statehood for NV Boosted economy and foreign investment Negative Impacts Few got rich Mining towns were dangerous and immoral Large corporations began to push individuals out of mining business

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16 2 - WILLIAM SWAIN LETTER A Gold and glistening: Superb example of the advances happening at the turn of the century. B Chipped, but still worth keeping: Mostly good with a few negative consequences. C Cracked: Mostly bad, though not bad for everyone. D Gross stuff that turns skin green: Horrendous example of things that should not even be going on in a modernized nation.

17 ECONOMICALLY (MOSTLY IN THE NORTH)

18 INDUSTRIALIZATION Government Support subsidies for transportation and communication systems (RR) laissez-faire approach to regulation protective tariff policy

19 INDUSTRIALIZATION Technological Innovations Bessemer process (steel) Light bulb Telephone Resources labor, natural resources, investment capital Business Models Vertical Integration controlling every step in the production of a product. Horizontal Integration push prices down, drive out/buy up competition Assembly Line - Increased mass production (speed, quantity), job opportunities. Decreased craftsmanship, cost of production

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22 3 - HENRY FORD S IDEAS ON MASS PRODUCTION A Gold and glistening: Superb example of the advances happening at the turn of the century. B Chipped, but still worth keeping: Mostly good with a few negative consequences. C Cracked: Mostly bad, though not bad for everyone. D Gross stuff that turns skin green: Horrendous example of things that should not even be going on in a modernized nation.

23 POLITICALLY

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25 FORGETTABLE PRESIDENTS Grant (R) - Military success, corrupt administration Hayes (R) - Compromise of 1877 Garfield (R) - Assassinated 1881 Arthur (R) - Pendleton Act 1883 Civil Service Commission Cleveland (D) smear campaign Harrison (R) - Won 1888 electoral vote, lost popular vote Cleveland defeated populist James Weaver. Econ depression Stopped Pullman Strike. McKinley (R) defeated William J. Bryan (Dems split over silver/gold)

26 POLITICAL PARTIES Democrats southern whites, immigrants, Catholics, against legislating morality Republicans protestant, NE/Midwest, reformers, black, Union veterans Didn t take sides on controversial issues Similar agendas yet intense party loyalty Campaign tactics mudslinging waving the bloody shirt Anti-immigrant slogans Allegations of Cleveland's illegitimate child

27 POLITICAL ISSUES Tariffs: high tariff during Civil War = surpluses. Congress could start pork barrel spending or lower tariff. Currency Issues Big Business & Bankers: deflated, gold-backed money ( hard money ) Farmers & Laborers: inflated, bi-metal backed money ( soft money ) Patronage and Corruption Fueled party loyalty Spoils system (from Jackson's era) Credit Mobilier Scandal RR insiders formed a construction company and hired themselves at inflated prices. Gov t officials were paid to stay quiet. Whiskey Ring involved diversion of tax $ in a conspiracy among gov t agents, politicians, whiskey distillers, and distributors

28 4 TAMMANY HALL A Gold and glistening: Superb example of the advances happening at the turn of the century. B Chipped, but still worth keeping: Mostly good with a few negative consequences. C Cracked: Mostly bad, though not bad for everyone. D Gross stuff that turns skin green: Horrendous example of things that should not even be going on in a modernized nation.