Sommers Ch. 11-13
Vertical integration is a business plan where a company owns every part of an industrial process, and horizontal integration is a business plan where a company buys its competitors. They helped develop the economy by cutting out competition and increasing efficiency of a corporation
Describe vertical and horizontal integration and explain how it contributed to the economic development of the United States.
The populists chose to support the democratic candidate, Williams Jennings Bryan, because he also supported the coinage of silver.
why did the Populists support the Democratic candidate—William Jennings Bryan—in 1896?
Just as Darwin tried to explain the natural world scientifically, artists and writers tried to portray the world realistically. Realist artists did not generally choose heroic or historical topics. Nor did they try to idealize people as romantic artists had done. Instead they painted ordinary people doing ordinary things. The realist style captured many of the characteristics of the era such as clothing styles, social relationships, the differences between the social classes, and the way people looked doing ordinary things in life. Writers also attempted to capture the world as they saw it.
Why do you think artists and writers started portraying America more realistically?
After the war, beef prices soared. Also, by this time, railroads had reached the Great Plains, heading to towns in Kansas and Missouri. Ranchers and livestock dealers realized that if they could move their cattle to the railroad, the longhorns could be sold for a huge profit and shipped east to market.
Why was cattle ranching an important business for the Great Plains?
Up until the 1880s, most jobs in the federal government were subject to the spoils system. After candidates won election and took office, they fired all of the people who worked for the government, and gave the jobs to people who had supported their election. This practice of rewarding political supporters with government jobs is known as patronage.
Why was civil service reform needed?
In 1862, the government encouraged settlement on the Great Plains by passing the Homestead Act. For a small registration fee, an individual could file for a homestead—a tract of public land available for settlement. Settlers where called homesteaders because owned land for 5 years and received a title of that land.
Why were some settlers on the Great Plains called homesteaders?
New technology enabled farmers to produce more crops, but increased supply caused prices to fall. High tariffs also made it hard for farmers to sell their goods overseas. In addition, mortgages with large banks and rail shipping costs that continued to increase made the farmers' difficulties worse. Deflation hit farmers especially hard. Falling prices meant that they sold their crops for less and then had to borrow money for seed and other supplies to plant their next crops. With money in short supply, interest rates began to rise, increasing the amount farmers owed. Rising interest rates also made mortgages more expensive, and despite their lower income, farmers had to make the same mortgage payments to the banks. As the Grange began to fall apart, a new organization, known as the Farmers' Alliance, began to form. By 1890, many people in the Alliance were dissatisfied. They felt that only through politics could they achieve their goals, so they formed the populist movement.
Analyze the problems and issues facing farmers in the late 1800s, and explain what caused the Populist movement to begin.
After candidates won election and took office, they fired all of the people who worked for the government, and gave the jobs to people who had supported their election. This practice of rewarding political supporters with government jobs is known as patronage. Supporters of patronage claimed it was necessary to ensure that government workers stayed loyal to the elected representatives of the people. But after the Civil War, many Americans came to believe patronage made the government inefficient and corrupt. Congress passed the Pendleton Act, requiring that some jobs be filled by competitive written exams, rather than by patronage. This marked the beginning of professional civil service—a system where most government workers are given jobs based on qualifications rather than on political affiliation.
Define patronage and explain the spoils system. Then explain why many Americans believed that civil service reform was needed.
In the largest cities, congestion became a severe problem. Chicago responded by building an elevated railroad, while Boston, followed by New York, built the first subway systems. The political machine, an informal political group designed to gain and keep power, came about partly because cities had grown much faster than their governments. New city dwellers needed jobs, housing, food, heat, and police protection. In exchange for votes, political machines and the party bosses who ran them eagerly provided these necessities.Opponents of political machines, such as cartoonist Thomas Nast, blasted corrupt bosses. Defenders argued that political machines provided necessary services and helped assimilate new city dwellers.
Describe the social issues and problems that resulted from rapid urbanization, and what some social movements did to address these issues.
To move people around cities quickly, various kinds of mass transit developed. At first, almost all cities relied on the horsecar, a railroad car pulled by horses. In 1890 horsecars moved about 70 percent of urban traffic in the United States. More than 20 cities, beginning with San Francisco in 1873, installed cable cars, which were pulled along tracks by underground cables. Then, in 1887, engineer Frank J. Sprague developed the electric trolley car. The country's first electric trolley line opened the following year in Richmond, Virginia.
Explain how the free enterprise system improved the standard of living in the United States by applying innovations in transportation to urban America.
African Americans in the North were often discriminated against, but segregation, or the separation of the races, was different in the South. Southern states passed laws that rigidly enforced discrimination. These laws became known as Jim Crow laws. Southern states passed a series of Jim Crow laws establishing racial segregation in virtually all public places. Southern whites and African Americans could no longer ride together in the same railroad cars or even drink from the same water fountains.
Explain the importance of Jim Crow laws and how these laws contributed to segregation.
Andrew Carnegie advocated a gentler version of Social Darwinism that he called the Gospel of Wealth. This philosophy held that wealthy Americans should engage in philanthropy, using their fortunes to create the conditions that would help people help themselves. Carnegie's ideas were widely embraced by the nation's wealthy. The late 1800s was a time when many people made a great deal of money. But it was also an era of philanthropy when the wealthy gave away a great deal of money to improve American society and build up American culture.
Explain the significance of philanthropy, and identify the reason for its growth during the late 1800s.
Populism was a movement to increase farmers' political power and work for legislation in their interest. the greenback was a unit of paper currency first issued by the federal government during the Civil War. inflation is an ongoing increase in prices and decrease in the value of money. deflation is an ongoing decrease in prices and an increase in the value of money.
Explain the significance of: populism, greenbacks, inflation, deflation.
Tenements were a difficult place to live for the urban working class due to overcrowding and unsanitary conditions. Additionally, overcrowding worsened tenements' unsanitary living conditions by enabling diseases to spread quickly throughout close quarters.
Explain why tenements were a difficult place to live for the urban working class.
In less than two months, approximately 6,000 African Americans left their homes in the rural South and headed to Kansas. The newspapers called it "an Exodus," like the Hebrews' escape from Egyptian bondage referred to in the Bible. While some African Americans fled the South, others joined poor white farmers who had created the Farmers' Alliance. Alliance leaders urged African Americans to form a similar organization. In 1886 African American farmers established the Colored Farmers' National Alliance, which numbered about 1.2 million members by 1890. When the Populist Party formed in 1891, many African American farmers joined the new organization which posed a major challenge to the Democratic Party.
How did African Americans resist racism and try to improve their way of life following Reconstruction?
This wave of immigrants changed the culture of America's cities and the demographics of its workforce. Although every immigrant group had some of its members working in every type of job and profession available, certain patterns emerged. By the 1890s, immigrants made up a large percentage of the population of major cities, including New York, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Detroit. Immigrants lived in neighborhoods that were often separated into ethnic groups, such as "Little Italy" or the Jewish "Lower East Side" in New York City. There they spoke their native languages and re-created the churches, synagogues, clubs, and newspapers of their homelands. Because immigrants tended to settle near others from their homeland, regional demographic patterns also emerged. For example: although there were large numbers of every ethnic group in New York City, Italians, Russians, and Jews were more likely to remain there, while large numbers of Germans, Swedes, and Poles moved to Midwestern cities such as Milwaukee, Pittsburgh and Chicago.
How did European immigrants of the late 1800s change American society?
Bribery occurred frequently, partly because government was so deeply entangled in funding the railroads. Railroad investors discovered they could make more money by selling free government land grants than by operating a railroad, and some bribed political representatives to vote for more grants.
How did government grants to build railroads result in large-scale corruption?
family members could quickly get in touch with each other, businesses could place orders much more quickly, and news of events that might shape personal and business choices could be obtained in time for better decisions to be made. (speed improvement)
How did innovation in communication improve the standard of living in the United States?
Part of what attracted entrepreneurs to invest in American businesses was society's and government's support in principle for the idea of laissez-faire, a French phrase meaning "let people do as they choose." Laissez-faire relies on supply and demand rather than the government to regulate wages and prices. Supporters believe a free market with competing companies leads to greater efficiency and creates more wealth for everyone. Laissez-faire advocates also support low taxes and limited government debt to ensure that private individuals, not the government, will make most of the decisions about how the nation's wealth is spent.
How did laissez-faire economics promote industrialization?
News of a mineral strike would start a stampede of prospectors. Almost overnight, tiny frontier towns were transformed into small cities. Virginia City, for example, grew from a town of a few hundred people to nearly 30,000 in just a few months. It had an opera house, shops with furniture and fashions from Europe, several newspapers, and a six-story hotel.
How did mineral discoveries shape the settlement of the West?
Criticism of industrial society also appeared in literature in a new style of writing known as naturalism. Naturalists challenged the idea of Social Darwinism by suggesting that some people failed in life simply because they were caught up in circumstances they could not control. Naturalist literature drew people's attention to the issues and problems facing American society as a result of rapid industrialization and urbanization—issues such as poverty, violence, safety, disease, and isolation. The literature had a positive impact in that it encouraged readers to look at social problems. It encouraged some people to become reformers, and to try to help the less fortunate. But the literature also had a negative impact. By downplaying heroism and the ability of people to make a difference in their life, it discouraged people from taking action, and encouraged envy and resentment toward people of different social classes.
How did naturalism reflect the issues facing the United States in the late 1800s? Explain the positive and negative impact of naturalism in literature.
Plains farmers were using steel plows, threshing machines, seed drills, and reapers. These machines allowed farmers on the prairie to cultivate crops and plants even though the prairie doesn't get much rain. They also made dry farming possible.
How did new machinery make dry farming easier for farmers?
Physical geographic factors made getting to the Klondike very difficult. The region was extremely remote. The most direct route was to book passage to the ports of Dyea or Skagway, and then hike approximately 30 miles over the mountains before sailing the final 500 miles down the Yukon River to Dawson City, the nearest settlement to the gold fields. Prospectors were required to bring a year's worth of supplies so as to ensure no one starved to death in the remote region. Hundreds died; some from the cold, some from starvation, others from avalanches, accidents while climbing mountains or crossing frozen lakes, or from outbreaks of dysentery and typhoid fever.
How did physical and human geographic factors impact the Klondike Gold Rush?
During the late 1800s, the construction and development of the railroads stimulated growth. Railroad companies sold land along the rail lines at low prices and provided credit to prospective settlers. Pamphlets and posters spread the news across Europe and America that cheap land could be claimed by anyone willing to move. Homestead Act also affected settlement.
How did railroad companies help to encourage settlement of the Great Plains? What other human geographic factors affected settlement of the Great Plains?
They thought that Native Americans should be encouraged to abandon their traditional tribal culture and assimilate into American society by learning English, adopting American culture and values, and eventually American citizens. Beginning in the 1880s, the Bureau of Indian Affairs sponsored the creation of Indian boarding schools separate from reservations. A second Americanization strategy was to encourage Native Americans to abandon the reservation system and become independent landowners. In 1887 Congress passed the Dawes Act, which altered the reservation system by dividing reservation land into allotments for farming or ranching.
How did settlers think they would get Native Americans to assimilate into their culture?
Public schools were often crucial to the success of immigrant children. At school they were taught English and learned about American history and culture, a process known as Americanization.
How did the Americanization movement seek to assimilate American immigrants into U.S. culture?
Often times the Indian policies were unfair to the Native Americans which caused them to rebel and often kill settlers in the West. Much animosity was created between the two groups as well. Example: In 1862, the Dakota people (part of the Sioux) had a conflict with the settlers in Minnesota. The Sioux had agreed to live on a reservation in exchange for annuities that frequently never reached them. At the time, many Dakota lived in poverty and faced starvation. When local traders refused to provide food on credit, the Dakota protested by launching a rebellion that killed hundreds of settlers.
How did the Indian policies of the United States government affect the relationship between settlers in the West and Native Americans?
The arrival of East Europeans made the religious culture more diverse—the number of Catholics greatly increased, and large numbers of Jews and Orthodox Christians arrived as well.
How did the arrival of East European immigrants change American culture?
The lure of the Great Plains brought other Americans west to herd cattle. The Texas longhorn, a cattle breed descended from Spanish cattle introduced two centuries earlier, was well adapted to this region and flourished on scarce water and tough prairie grasses. By 1865, some 5 million roamed the Texas grasslands. Another boon to cattle ranching was the open range, a vast area of grassland that the federal government owned. Here, ranchers could graze their herds free of charge and unrestricted by private property. The cattle industry greatly contributed to the economy of the West
How did the cattle industry boom affect the economy of the West?
To encourage railroad construction across the Great Plains, the federal government gave land grants to many railroad companies. The railroads then sold the land to settlers, real estate companies, and other businesses to raise money to build the railroad.The land was only valuable, however, if the railroads could sell it. To convince people to move west, railroads and real estate companies offered the land at low prices and provided credit to settlers. In all of these ways, the railroads helped move settlers onto the Great Plains and thereby close the American frontier.
How did the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad contribute to the closing of the frontier?
inventions like the telephone, light bulb, etc. changed America. In way of living and developed the economy in the U.S. by factory machines mass producing and selling everything at a lower price.
How did the development of technological innovations using electric power contribute to the economic development of the United States in the Second Industrial Revolution?
On April 22, 1889, the government opened one of the last large territories for settlement. Within hours, thousands of people raced to stake claims in an event known as the Oklahoma Land Rush. The next year, the Census Bureau reported that there was no longer a true frontier left in America. In reality, there was still a lot of unoccupied land, and the Homestead Act continued to encourage new settlement into the 1900s, but the "closing of the frontier" marked the end of an era. It worried many people, including historian Frederick Jackson Turner. Turner believed that the frontier had provided a "safety-valve of social discontent." It was a place where Americans could always make a fresh start.
How did the economic impact of the Homestead Act contribute to the close of the frontier in the late 19th century?
In 1850 Catholics were only five percent of the population. By the early 1900s, they made up 17 percent of the total, and had become the single largest religious denomination in the country. Catholics were not the only contributors to a new religious diversity in American culture. The large number of Greeks and Russians arriving in the nation meant that the number of Orthodox Christians in the nation began to increase as well. And as persecution mounted in Russia, Poland, and Romania in the 1880s, a mass migration of East European Jews began. Most settled in New York City and elsewhere on the east coast, but Jewish communities appeared all across the United States. By the early 1920s, nearly 2 million Jews had settled in America.
How did the ethnic and religious groups from Eastern Europe contribute to shaping American culture in the late 1800s?
Because the Great Plains were comprised of dry grasslands, trees only grew along rivers and streams. This meant that settlers had little access to timber. They adapted by cutting sod, densely packed soil held together by grass roots, to build their homes. The water supply was tight, so settlers had to drill wells more than 100 feet deep and operate the pump by hand. As the population grew, these adaptations transformed the land from an unwelcoming, fruitless tract into valuable, fertile soil.
How did the physical geography of the Great Plains impact the farmers who settled there, and how did the population growth affect the environment?
In 1865, the United States had about 35,000 miles of railroad track, almost all of it east of the Mississippi River. After the Civil War, railroad construction expanded dramatically. By 1900, the United States had more than 200,000 miles of track. The transcontinental railroad was the first of many lines that began crisscrossing the nation after the Civil War. It linked the west to the east, therefore enabling a faster export of agriculture from the West to the East.
How did the transcontinental railroad transform the West?
By trying to stop horizontal integration, business owners gave their stocks to trustees where they were managed, avoiding any violation of law. A holding company owns the stock of companies, merging them into one enterprise.
How did trusts and holding companies create unofficial monopolies?
For centuries the Great Plains were home to many groups of Native Americans. Some lived in farming and hunting communities, but many were nomads who roamed the land following their main source of food—the buffalo. The Plains Indian nations were divided into bands, ranging from a few dozen to several hundred people, who lived in extended family groups and respected nature. The settlers who migrated to the Plains deprived these Native Americans of their hunting grounds, broke treaties that guaranteed them land, and often forced them to relocate. Native Americans resisted by attacking settlers' property and occasionally going to war with them.
How did westward migration change the Plains Indians' way of life?
operating costs were such a small part of total costs that it made sense to continue operating even in a recession. they had many advantages including being able to produce more goods at a lower prices to increase cost and could stay open in bad economic times by cutting prices and increasing sales. Small family owned business could not compete with big companies and were driven out of business. (economies of scale - the cost of manufacturing is decreased by producing goods quickly in large quantities)
How do big businesses benefit from economies of scale?
Farmers moved to cities because urban areas offered better-paying jobs than did rural areas. Many young men and women growing up on farms in the east, where cheap land was no longer available, preferred to build a life in the cities instead of becoming settlers on the distant Plains. Cities had much to offer, too—electric lights, running water, modern plumbing, plus attractions such as museums, libraries, and theaters. People in cities lived close together, while people in rural areas lived farther apart. People living in rural areas often did not have modern conveniences such as electricity and indoor plumbing.
How do you think life in big cities was different from life on farms and in small towns?
There was less discrimination towards the European immigrants. The Asian immigrants had to await a hearing and the Europeans didn't. They also added to the culture in the long run but at the beginning they made employment difficult and many lived in poverty. The Chinese Exclusion Act barred Chinese immigration for 10 years, and prevented Chinese already in the United States from becoming citizens. The Chinese in the United States organized a letter-writing campaign, petitioned Arthur, and filed suit in federal court, all to no avail. The ban on Chinese immigration was renewed in 1892, and then made permanent in 1902. It was not repealed until 1943.
How were the experiences of Asian immigrants different from those of European immigrants?
Although workers often shared the same complaints about wages and working hours, unions took different approaches to how they tried to improve workers' lives. Trade unions remained the most common type of labor organization, but unskilled workers were not represented by trade unions. New types of unions emerged to support these workers.
How were the new industrial unions different from the older trade unions?
The discovery of gold in the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory and copper in Montana drew miners to the region in the 1870s. When the railroads were completed, many farmers and ranchers settled the area. In 1889 Congress admitted three new states: North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana. In the Southwest, the Arizona Territory followed a similar pattern. Miners had already begun moving to Arizona in the 1860s and 1870s to work one of the nation's largest copper deposits. When silver was found at the town of Tombstone in 1877, it set off a boom that attracted a huge wave of prospectors to the territory. The boom lasted about 30 years, and during that time Tombstone became famous for its lawlessness.
Identify and explain the reasons western political boundaries changed between 1870 and 1900.
there were no regulations governing their competition, companies were also free to make deals with each other to fix prices by organizing pools, but had no legal protection and could not enforce their pool agreements in court. (laissez-faire - hands off approach) The government had little interaction with the economy meaning they could not regulate anything.
In what ways did the laissez-faire economic policy change the structure of American business and how did these changes affect the government's relationship with business?
- economic opportunities (farmers, miners, railroad workers) - government support - cultural messaging - new approach to native americans - US army applications
Review the notes that you completed throughout the lesson and list the discoveries that attracted prospectors and settlers to the boomtowns of the American West.
Often times, the government would persuade the Native Americans to surrender, but soon after their surrender, they would rebel causing another battle. Some examples of this include the Sand Creek Massacre and the battle of Little Bighorn.
Review the notes that you completed throughout the lesson to write a generalization about the result of the battles between Native Americans and the United States government.
Big retailers can achieve horizontal integration by taking over the failing retail stores
Review the notes you completed throughout the lesson to identify a way that a corporation today could use similar tactics to weaken its competition.
By linking the nation, railroads increased the markets for many products, spurring industrial growth. Railroad companies also stimulated the economy by spending huge amounts of money on steel, coal, timber, and other materials. American businesses could transport goods across the nation thanks to the growth of railroads.
Review your notes and write a brief explanation of how the growth of railroads helped American businesses expand.
Life for workers in the industrial United States was difficult. Many workers performed dull, repetitive tasks in dangerous, unhealthy working conditions. Workers breathed in lint, dust, and toxic fumes. Heavy machines lacking safety devices led to injuries. Despite these conditions, industrialism led to a dramatic rise in the standard of living. The average worker's wages rose by 50 percent between 1860 and 1890. Nevertheless, the uneven division of income between the wealthy and the working class caused resentment among workers. In 1900 the average industrial worker made 22¢ per hour and worked 59 hours per week.
Use your notes from the lesson to identify some common features of incidents of labor unrest.
After Reconstruction, many African Americans in the rural South lived in poverty. Most were sharecroppers, landless farmers who gave their landlords a large portion of their crops as rent. Sharecropping usually left farmers in chronic debt. Many eventually left farming and sought jobs in Southern towns or headed west to claim homesteads.
Use your notes on the forms of discrimination to describe the conditions in which many African Americans in the South lived after Reconstruction.
The push factors were farm property, wars and compulsory military service, political tyranny, religious oppression, and population pressure. Pull factors were plenty of land and plenty of work, higher standards of living, democratic political system, and opportunity for social advancement
Use your notes on the reasons for immigrating to explain the push and pull factors for one of the immigrant groups discussed in the lesson.
The Gilded Age can be defined by the accumulation of wealth as seen in the practice of laissez-faire economic doctrine, but it can also be defined by the many reform movements that attempted to improve conditions for the urban poor. For example, the idea of the Gospel of Wealth is that the wealthy should help those that are in need help themselves.
Use your notes on the theories and movements of the Gilded Age to explain its defining characteristics.
- Politics and corruption (political machines - Many machine politicians grew rich as the result of fraud or graft, gaining money or power illegally. Corrupt bosses also sold permits to their friends to operate public utilities, such as railroads, waterworks, and power systems. CONTROLLED ALL CITY SERVICES) - Crime and violence (Minor criminals, such as pickpockets, swindlers, and thieves, thrived in crowded urban living conditions. Major crimes multiplied as well. From 1880 to 1900, the murder rate jumped sharply from 25 per million people to more than 100 per million people.) - Disease and epidemics (Improper sewage disposal contaminated city drinking water and triggered epidemics of typhoid fever and cholera) - Overcrowding (tenements)
Use your notes on urban problems to explain why life in cities could be so difficult.
As the Grange began to fall apart, a new organization, known as the Farmers' Alliance, began to form. By 1890, many people in the Alliance were dissatisfied. They felt that only through politics could they achieve their goals. However, many Alliance members had become distrustful of both the Republican and Democratic Parties. They believed that both parties favored industry and banks over farmers. In July 1892, more than 1,000 delegates met in Omaha, Nebraska, to form the People's Party. The party held its first national convention and nominated James B. Weaver to run for president.
Use your notes to explain how the Farmers' Alliance contributed to the rise of a new political party.
The government and railroads used special policies to attract settlement in the Great Plains due to the difficulty of settling the region. The plains often experienced weather extremes ranging from 100-degree summers to blizzards in the winter. The plains lacked timber to build homes, and to obtain water, settlers often had to drill wells over 100 feet deep and operate the pump by hand. The plains were also difficult to farm due to their soil, a dense sod held together by grass roots. Therefore, railroads encouraged settlers to move to the plain by transporting important supplies to settlers and offering cheap land along the railroads, and the government passed the Homestead Act, which granted settlers up to 160 acres of federal land for a small fee.
Use your notes to explain why you think the government and the railroads used special policies to attract settlement in the Great Plains.
The most important cause of American Industrialization is human resources. The human resources available to American industry were as important as natural resources in enabling the nation to industrialize rapidly. Between 1860 and 1910, the population of the United States nearly tripled. This population growth provided industry with a large workforce and created greater demand for consumer goods.
Use your notes to identify what you think was the most important cause of American industrialization. Then write a sentence or two identifying your choice and defending its importance.
Although negotiators pressured Native American leaders into signing treaties, they could not ensure that those leaders or their followers would abide by them. Nor could anyone prevent settlers from violating their terms. The Native Americans who did move to reservations faced many of the same conditions that drove the Dakota Sioux to violence—poverty, despair, and the corrupt practices of American traders.
Were Native Americans justified in leaving the reservations and refusing further relocation by the government?
As conflicts escalated with Native Americans, Congress took action. In 1867 Congress formed an Indian Peace Commission, which proposed creating two large reservations on the Plains, one for the Sioux and another for Native Americans of the southern Plains. Federal agents would run the reservations, and the army would deal with any groups that refused to report or remain there. The Indian Peace Commission's plan was doomed to failure. Although negotiators pressured Native American leaders into signing treaties, they could not ensure that those leaders or their followers would abide by them. Finally, in 1924 Congress passed the Citizenship Act, granting all Native Americans citizenship. In 1934 the Indian Reorganization Act reversed the Dawes Act's policy of assimilation. It restored some reservation lands, gave Native Americans control over those lands, and permitted them to elect their own governments.
What actions did Congress take to expand political rights for Native Americans? What influenced the legislation they passed?
the African American community responded to violence and discrimination in several ways. Ida B. Wells, Mary Church Terrell, Booker T. Washington, and W.E.B. Du Bois each used different approaches to address these issues.
What actions did Ida B. Wells, Mary Church Terrell, Booker T. Washington, and W.E.B Du Bois take to expand political rights for African Americans? Were they successful? Explain and evaluate their impact.
The Knights of Labor, founded in 1869, took a different approach to labor issues. Its leader, Terence Powderly, opposed strikes in favor of boycotts and arbitration, in which a third party helps workers and employers reach an agreement. Unlike other unions, the Knights welcomed women and African Americans. They called for an eight-hour workday, equal pay for women, no child labor, and worker-owned factories.
What actions did union leaders take to expand economic opportunities for women in the late 1800s?
big corporations had several advantages. They could produce more goods at a lower cost and could stay open in bad economic times by cutting prices to increase sales. Rebates from the railroads further lowered their operating costs. Of course, this also led eventually to one of the major costs of laissez-faire economics: small businesses, many family owned, that could not compete with large corporations were forced out of business.
What advantages do large corporations have over small businesses?
- Ida B. Wells: launched a fearless crusade against lynching, published books - Mary Church Terrell: worked with woman suffrage workers such as Jane Addams and Susan B. Anthony, found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, formed the Women Wage Earner's Association - Booker T. Washington: man of compromise; concentrated on economic goals first - W.E.B. Du Bois: wrote books; concerned with voting rights
What are the different ways African American community leaders responded to legalized segregation?
Many immigrants came to the United States not just to find work, but to escape the restrictions of social class in Europe that kept them trapped at the bottom of society. In some cases, as in Italy, high rents and a cholera epidemic encouraged people to leave. In Poland and Russia, land shortages, unemployment, high taxes, and a long military draft caused emigration. Others, especially Jews living in Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, fled to escape religious persecution. China was suffering from severe unemployment, poverty, famine, and a civil war, known as the Taiping Rebellion. These problems convinced tens of thousands of Chinese to head to the United States, as did news of the California Gold Rush
What caused Europeans and Chinese to migrate to America in the late 1800s? What effects did this migration have on the demographic patterns of America?
In 1903, Mary Kenney O'Sullivan and Leonora O'Reilly decided to establish a separate union for women. With the help of Jane Addams and Lillian Wald, they established the Women's Trade Union League (WTUL), which pushed for an eight-hour workday, a minimum wage, an end to evening work for women, and the abolition of child labor.
What contribution did Jane Addams make to help women workers?
The gross national product (GNP) measures the total value of all goods and services a country produces during a year.
What does gross national product measure?
On the West Coast, where sentiment against the Chinese was very strong, widespread racial violence erupted. Denis Kearney, an Irish immigrant, formed the Workingman's Party of California to fight Chinese immigration. The party won seats in the California legislature and made opposition to Chinese immigration a national issue. President Chester Arthur signed two bills—the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, and the Immigration Act of 1882. The Chinese Exclusion Act barred Chinese immigration for 10 years, and prevented Chinese already in the United States from becoming citizens. The ban on Chinese immigration was renewed in 1892, and then made permanent in 1902. It was not repealed until 1943. The Immigration Act of 1882 imposed a head tax of 50 cents on each immigrant who arrived by ship at a United States port.
What economic and cultural issues led to protests against the Chinese immigrants in California, and what foreign policy did the U.S. government adopt in response?
During the late 1800s, the construction and development of the railroads stimulated growth. Railroad companies sold land along the rail lines at low prices and provided credit to prospective settlers. Pamphlets and posters spread the news across Europe and America that cheap land could be claimed by anyone willing to move. In 1862, the government encouraged settlement on the Great Plains by passing the Homestead Act. For a small registration fee, an individual could file for a homestead—a tract of public land available for settlement. With their property rights assured and the railroads providing lumber and supplies, more settlers moved to the Plains.
What encouraged settlers to move west to the Great Plains?
Electricity, because of the heating and cooling that we are used to today, as well as our almost constant internet usage.
What invention from this period has had the most impact on your daily life?
Annuity is money paid by contract at regular intervals. In 1862, the Dakota people (part of the Sioux) had a conflict with the settlers in Minnesota. The Sioux had agreed to live on a reservation in exchange for annuities that frequently never reached them. At the time, many Dakota lived in poverty and faced starvation. When local traders refused to provide food on credit, the Dakota protested by launching a rebellion that killed hundreds of settlers.
What is an annuity? What was the connection between annuities and the Dakota Sioux Uprising of 1862?
court order
What is another word or phrase for an injunction?
Nativism is hostility toward immigrants by native-born people. Nativists opposed immigration for many reasons. Some feared that the influx of Catholics from countries such as Ireland, Italy, and Poland would swamp the mostly Protestant United States. Many labor unions argued that immigrants undermined American workers because they would work for low wages and accept jobs as strikebreakers. (Segregated schools, Chinese Exclusion Act, Racial Violence)
What is nativism, and why did some Americans dislike immigrants?
Companies used "lockouts" to break up existing unions. They locked workers out of the property and refused to pay them. If the union called a strike, employers would hire replacements, or strikebreakers. Closed shop is an agreement in which a company agrees to hire only union members
What is the difference between a closed shop and a lockout?
they were accused that they had built their fortunes by swindling investors and taxpayers, bribing officials, and cheating on their contracts and debts. railroad investors discovered they could make more money by selling free government land grants than by operating a railroad, and some bribed political representatives to vote for more grants. (bribes - illegal activity).
What kinds of business practices caused some railroad owners to be accused of being "robber barons"?
New technology enabled farmers to produce more crops, but increased supply caused prices to fall. High tariffs also made it hard for farmers to sell their goods overseas. In addition, mortgages with large banks and rail shipping costs that continued to increase made the farmers' difficulties worse. Deflation hit farmers especially hard. Falling prices meant that they sold their crops for less and then had to borrow money for seed and other supplies to plant their next crops. With money in short supply, interest rates began to rise, increasing the amount farmers owed. Rising interest rates also made mortgages more expensive, and despite their lower income, farmers had to make the same mortgage payments to the banks.
What kinds of problems did farmers face?
- poll tax - literacy tests - "grandfather clause.": allowed any man to vote if he had an ancestor who could vote in 1867; exempted most whites from voting restrictions.
What laws did Southern states pass to impose segregation and deny African Americans their voting rights?
- Lester Frank Ward: Reform Darwinism; he argued that humans were different from animals because they had the ability to make plans to produce the future outcomes they desired; People, he insisted, had succeeded in the world because of their ability to cooperate. Government, he argued, could regulate the economy, cure poverty, and promote education more efficiently than competition in the marketplace could. - Edward Bellamy: socialism; In his fictional society, the government owns all industry and shares the wealth equally with all Americans. - Naturalists challenged the idea of Social Darwinism by suggesting that some people failed in life simply because they were caught up in circumstances they could not control; naturalism
What methods and philosophies were developed for helping immigrants and the urban poor?
Although a laissez-faire economy benefited consumers because the intense competition led to falling prices, business leaders did not like the intense competition that had been forced on them. Cutting prices to beat the competition also cut into profits. This situation demonstrated one of the potential costs of laissez-faire. With no regulations governing their competition, companies were also free to make deals with each other to fix prices by organizing pools, or agreements to keep prices at a certain level. Another term for a pool that is used today is cartel.
What new business strategies allowed businesses to weaken or eliminate competition?
One new farming method, called dry farming, was to plant seeds deep in the ground, where there was enough moisture for them to grow. By the 1860s, Plains farmers were using steel plows, threshing machines, seed drills, and reapers. These new machines made dry farming possible. Large landholders could buy mechanical reapers and steam tractors that made it easier to harvest a large crop. Threshing machines knocked kernels loose from the stalks. Mechanical binders tied the stalks into bundles for collection. These innovations were well suited for harvesting wheat, a crop that could endure the dry conditions of the Plains.
What new methods and technologies revolutionized agriculture and made it practical to cultivate the Plains?
new inventions would not have been possible without them willing to risk their money to help develop and implement their inventions. many who accumulated money by investing in trade, fishing, and textile miles, invested their money in factories and railroads. (Ideas - one of the four factors)
What role did entrepreneurs play in the industrialization of the United States and why were they willing to invest their money in American companies?
Many African Americans in the rural South lived in poverty. Most were sharecroppers, landless farmers who gave their landlords a large portion of their crops as rent. Sharecropping usually left farmers in chronic debt. Many eventually left farming and sought jobs in Southern towns or headed west to claim homesteads. In addition, election officials began using various methods to make it harder and harder for African Americans to vote.
What social issues faced African Americans in the rural South in the years after the Civil War? How did they respond?
Women were paid less than men even when they performed the same jobs. It was assumed that a woman had a man helping support her, and that a man needed higher wages in order to support a family. Most unions excluded women.
What social issues led to the rise of the effort to form labor unions for women?
New technology revolutionized agriculture. Dry Farming was one of the new farming methods. This process was when the farmers planted seeds deep in the ground where the moisture was. Other innovations included Mechanical reapers and steam tractors, this made it easier to harvest crops. Another innovation was a mechanical binder, this tied stalks into bundles.
What specific needs facing settlers on the Great Plains led to new scientific discoveries and technological innovations in agriculture? How did these innovations contribute to the formation of the Wheat Belt?
On one trip, he met Sir Henry Bessemer, who had invented a new process for making high quality steel efficiently and cheaply. After meeting Bessemer, Carnegie opened a steel mill in Pittsburgh in 1875 and began using the Bessemer process. He boasted about how cheaply he could produce steel. Also, he began the vertical integration, meaning it owned all of then different businesses on which it depends for its operation. He bought coal mines, limestone quarries, and iron ore fields. It saved money and enabled many companies to expand.
What technological innovation did Andrew Carnegie bring to the steel industry and how did it affect economic development in the United States?
- Political corruption - crime and violence - disease and epidemics - overcrowding
What types of problems developed due to the rapid growth of urban areas?
Social Darwinism applied the theory of natural selection to social actions, believing that only the strongest and fittest succeed in life. Individualism was the idea that anyone could succeed regardless of his or her origins or social standing. A Social Darwinist believed a poor person's situation was the result of natural selection, while an individualist believed that with drive and talent the person could become anything he or she wanted.
What was the main idea of Social Darwinism, and how did it compare with the idea of individualism?
Some Hispanic Californians welcomed the newcomers and the economic growth that resulted. Others distrusted the English-speaking prospectors, who tried to exclude them from the mines. As they had done with Native Americans, settlers from the East clashed with Mexican Americans over land. Across the region, many Hispanics lost their land to the new settlers. Mexican American claims to the land often dated back to Spanish land grants.
What was the relationship like between Hispanics in the Southwest and new settlers?
These neighborhoods had Spanish-speaking businesses and Spanish-language newspapers, and they helped keep Hispanic cultural and religious traditions alive
What was the significance of barrios to Hispanic culture in the West?
Working conditions in factories and mines were difficult and often dangerous. Many workers performed dull, repetitive tasks in dangerous, unhealthy working conditions. Workers breathed in lint, dust, and toxic fumes. Heavy machines lacking safety devices led to injuries. With no regulations governing workplace safety or training requirements, workers had no recourse when they were poorly treated other than to quit and look for a new job. Working hours and pay were not limited or minimized either. Workers could have long work days and then receive little pay in return.
What were some of the costs of the laissez-faire approach to economics for American workers?
Large rail companies consolidated hundreds of small, unconnected railroads to create large, integrated railroad systems. Meanwhile, new locomotive technology and the invention of air brakes enabled railroads to put longer and heavier trains on their lines. When combined with the new integrated rail systems, operations became so efficient that the average rate per mile for a ton of freight dropped from two cents in 1860 to three-quarters of a cent in 1900.
What were the advantages of integrating railroads into one interconnected network?
The Omaha convention's platform called for a return to unlimited coinage of silver. It also called for federal ownership of railroads and a graduated income tax. Populists also adopted proposals that were designed to appeal to organized labor. Ideas such as an eight-hour workday and immigration restrictions were put forth as appealing options.
What were the goals of the People's Party?
The political machine, an informal political group designed to gain and keep power, came about partly because cities had grown much faster than their governments. New city dwellers needed jobs, housing, food, heat, and police protection. In exchange for votes, political machines and the party bosses who ran them eagerly provided these necessities.
Why did "political machines" develop in cities?
by linking the nation, railroads increased the markets for many products, spurring industrial growth. Railroad companies also stimulated the economy by spending huge amounts of money on steel,coal, timber, and other materials. (Transcontinental RR)
Why did railroad construction expand so rapidly after the Civil War?
To encourage railroad construction across the Great Plains, the federal government gave land grants to many railroad companies. The railroads then sold the land to settlers, real estate companies, and other businesses to raise money to build the railroad.
Why did the government give land grants to railroad companies?
- BETTER WAGES - IMPROVE WORKING CONDITIONS - REDUCE WORKING DAY
Why did workers try to form labor unions in the late 1800s?
After the war, industry rapidly expanded in a Second Industrial Revolution. Millions of Americans left their farms to work in mines and factories. The Second Industrial Revolution was characterized by an increase in technology due to advances in electricity after 1890. By the early 1900s, the United States was the leading industrial nation. Abundant raw materials aided the nation's industrial success. The human resources available to American industry were as important as natural resources in enabling the nation to industrialize rapidly. (4 FACTORS: NATURAL RESOURCES, LARGE WORK FORCE, NEW INVENTIONS, FREE ENTERPRISE)
Why was the United States successful at industrialization?