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Politics, Industrialization,
Urbanization and Immigration
Hyperlinked materials are considered part of each lecture and
should be reviewed.
The Gilded Age has always been a time period of personal
interest. My great, great maternal grandparents were born in Germany
in the early 1840's, were married and came to America to seek their
fortune. They settled in the German neighborhoods of Buffalo, New
York. Subsequently, their son, Anton Gfg464lvs, born in 1863 during the
Civil War, met Ottilia Hohmann and married in 1885. My grandfather,
Jacob Gfg464lvs, was born in Buffalo, New York in 1886. Western New York
was an integral part of the Industrial Revolution taking place in
post Civil War America. In 1890, Anton died in an industrial
accident at a steel plant in Lackawanna, New York--no life
insurance, social security disability, no corporate liability--just
an unfortunate example of "survival of the fittest". Ottilia was now
a twenty-six year old widow with two young sons, Jacob age four and
John age two. The family moved in with Anton's parents and shared
their small house on Buffalo's west side. Ottilia was forced to find
a job in her new neighborhood to support her sons. In 1892, both
Jacob and John contracted whooping cough and Ottilia left her job to
care for the children. John literally coughed to death and Jacob
barely survived while losing most of the sight in one eye, as the
violent coughing detached the retina and turned the eye to the far
right. When Ottilia returned to the work force during the Depression
of 1893, the only local job was washing hospital laundry in a large
unheated warehouse--the steam fired hot water tanks were considered
sufficient to warm the workers. The job required the constant heavy
lifting of wet linens resulting in soaking of the clothes worn by
the workers. During the winter of 1896, she suffered from a cold,
which untreated quickly became pneumonia, and died. Ten year old
Jacob was now technically an orphan, although his aging grandparents
tried to raise him. Unfortunately, they were unable to carry out
this task and sent him to Father Baker's Orphanage in Lackawanna, as
the United States was celebrating its victory in the Spanish
American War. As the 19th century came to a close, Jacob was
considered a handicapped, rebellious teenage orphan. What was the
future for this boy who had survived the Gilded Age? For another
fate for orphans, visit the
Orphan Trains
.
Now we will return to the "big picture" of
history.
On the political scene, the post Civil War
era was generally one of disillusionment. Politicians from the White
House to the local court house were often practitioners or at least
surrounded by corruption and scandal. The
impeachment and trial of Andrew Johnson diminished and
hobbled the Presidency. His successor, Grant was an inept politician
and his administration was plagued by corruption. Despite occasional
half hearted reform efforts, politics in the Gilded Age belonged to
the two pork barrel, patronage driven parties at the national, state
and local levels (as exemplified by Boss Tweed). Cultural
differences and local issues rather than national issues fueled
party competition.
The bizarre and contested Election of 1876
(similar sites have been created for Election 2000!!) led to the
sectional Compromise of 1877, which put an end to Reconstruction
(Jim Crow Laws--please visit)
and many of the dreams of the freedmen. The end of a federal
military presence in the South and the Supreme Court's dismantling
of Reconstruction laws as unconstitutional doomed the South and its
citizens to social, economic, political and even technological
stagnation. Lynching reached an all time high at the end of the 19th
century and black leaders struggled to regain constitutional and
civil rights. Garfield's assassination, by a disappointed office
seeker, spurred civil service reform. Cleveland become the first
Democratic president since the Civil War after a mudslinging
campaign. His frequent vetoes and support for a lower tariff
injected the first real issues into national politics for some time.
Mass production and
technology
(check these amazing 19th century inventions) refined during the
Civil War provided the foundation for the industrialization of the
United States during the Gilded Age. Aided by government subsidies
and loans, the first transcontinental railroad was completed in
1869, soon followed by numerous national, state and local railways.
This rail network opened vast markets and prompted industrial
growth. The power and corruption of railroads led to public demands
for regulation and even government control. New technology and forms
of business organization led to the growth of huge corporate
trusts--often referred to as monopolies.
Andrew Carnegie
and John
D. Rockefeller
led the way in the steel and oil industries. Initially, the oil
industry supplied kerosene for lamps and lubrication oil; it
eventually expanded by providing gasoline to fuel engines.
Inexpensive high quality steel transformed numerous industries from
construction to rail building, and the powerful railroads dominated
the economy and reshaped the American society. Were these men
Captains of Industry positively transforming the United States or
Robber Barons exploiting workers and eliminating competition to the
detriment of the consumer? The philosophies of the time were
Laissez Faire and
Social
Darwinism
(interesting observations).
Both theories promoted the concepts of free enterprise and non
interference by the government--weak businesses would naturally
perish and strong businesses would survive. Later,
The
Gospel of Wealth
would project a new concept of responsibilities upon the Great
Industrialist/Financiers.
The benefits of industrialization were
unevenly distributed. By 1890, the richest 10% of the United States
population controlled 90% of the nation's wealth. Industrialization
created a new class of millionaires who flaunted their wealth and
practiced obscene "conspicuous consumption". What is the American
attitude toward "conspicuous consumption" today??--Explain your own
personal experiences!! The South remained in underdeveloped
dependence, while the industrial working class struggled at the
bottom of the growing class divisions of American society.
Increasingly transformed from independent producers and farmers to
dependent wage earners, America's poorest workers--men, women and
children
( Child
Labor Photographs)-- became vulnerable to illness,
industrial accidents, unemployment and poverty. Workers' attempts to
develop labor organizations were generally ineffective as they
became identified with violence. The Knights of Labor disappeared
after the Haymarket bombing. Gompers founded the
American
Federation of Labor to organize skilled craft laborers
but ignored most industrial workers, women and blacks. Consumers
also suffered at the hands of unscrupulous companies and abusive
monopolies. These factors led to the federal government's first
steps toward regulating businesses for the "public good".
Significant judicial and legislative action included: Munn v.
Illinois, The Interstate Commerce Act and the
Sherman Anti
Trust Act.
The industrialization of the United States resulted in the
mushrooming of urban development and significant changes in
lifestyle, expectations (driven by hundreds of significant
inventions) and severe social problems. The wealthy controlled the
economy, often made fortunes from the misery of workers and later
contributed enormous sums to charities, libraries and cultural
institutions. The rapidly emerging middle class had more money and
leisure time to pursue education and enjoyment. More women from
these two classes entered the workforce as teachers, social workers,
nurses and often promoted social reform. The poor struggled to
survive and suffered indignities in every facet of their lives.
After the 1880's, the cities were flooded with the
New Immigrants (an excellent lecture by Professor
Schultz) from southern and eastern Europe. Strange customs, dress,
languages and often, non-Protestant religions, resulted in nativist
hostility and discrimination. Roman Catholicism
The
Potato Famine (very interesting/sad) and Judaism gained
strength, while conflicts over evolution and biblical interpretation
divided Protestant churches. American education expanded rapidly,
especially at the secondary and graduate levels. Post Civil War
culture and literature turned from romanticism to a new social
realism. Significant conflicts over moral values, especially
relating to sexuality and the role of women, began to appear. The
new urban environment provided expanded opportunities for women abut
also created difficulties for the family. Families grew more
isolated from society, the divorce rate rose and average family size
diminished.
For each module I recommend that you visit A Biography of
America
http://learner.org/resources/series123.html#
,
an exceptional video instructional series for high school and
college students produced by WGBH Boston in cooperation with the
Library of Congress and the National Archives and Records
Administration. These thirty minute lectures incorporate first
person narratives, photographs, film footage and documents related
to various historical time periods. Combined with my introductory
comments, the required textbooks and our discussions, I believe you
will acquire a more in-depth and enjoyable encounter with history.
Please note the requirements and possible download limitations—which
is why this is not a requirement. Please follow the directions below
and give it a try!!!!
You can view Annenberg/CPB programs of your
choice online with a broadband connection whenever you see this
icon.  There is no
charge for this service.
Simply select a
program and go
to the individual program description listing and click on the icon.
Free sign up required for first-time users. To hear the sound
and view video, you should have Windows Media Player, DSL, a
cable modem, or a LAN connection to a T1 line or greater, and have
Javascript enabled. For more information, please visit our
broadband FAQ.
For this topic—visit
http://learner.org/resources/series123.html#
and
access the
presentations: Industrial Supremacy AND The New City
Our textbook offers a very comprehensive Online Student
Learning Center. Click on the link below, Select the
appropriate chapter and you will have access to: Chapter
Objectives, Chapter in Perspective, Chapter Overview,
numerous Interactive Activities, Primary Source documents
and my favorite--Internet Exercises/Recommended Sites
Related to the Specific Topics--CHOOSE A CHAPTER
http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072870982/student_view0/index.html
Folk Music of American History: Music and Lyrics (highly
recommended music before or after reading cyberlectures!
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