Chap 16 Inquizitive

As the United States matured into an industrial economy, Americans struggled to make sense of a new social order that included "better classes," "respectable classes," and "dangerous classes." describe the nation's social problems during the Gilded Age.

- Throughout the United States, state and local governments set up investigative committees to inquire into the relations between labor and capital in the face of increasing unrest. - There was a growing permanent factory population living on the edge of poverty alongside a growing class of millionaires, which posed a sharp challenge to traditional definitions of freedom.

American westward expansion

- Western states used land donated by the federal government to establish public universities. - In the twentieth century, the American West became the focus of federally funded dams and irrigation systems.

The "overwhelming labor question" replaced slavery as the hot-button topic in the late nineteenth century. Identify the events and actions that illustrate the "overwhelming labor question."

- the Great Railroad Strike - Troops fired on striking workers in Pittsburgh, killing twenty people. - The federal government built National Guard armories in major cities to ensure troops would be on hand if strikes got out of control.

the political stalemate between 1876 and 1892

Democrats, after 1877, dominated the South and did well among Catholic voters, especially Irish Americans, in the nation's cities. Republicans controlled the industrial North and Midwest and the agrarian West, and were particularly strong among members of revivalist churches, Protestant immigrants, and blacks. Voting irregularly was due to the difficulty of getting to polling places in many areas of the West.

The era from 1870 to 1890 was called the Gilded Age because it suggested that outward appearances were misleading, and one needed to look under the surface to understand what was happening.

True "Gilded Age" comes from the title of Mark Twain's novel The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today, and is often used as a disparaging label when referring to this period of American history. A popular refrain, taken from Twain's novel, of the era was, "get rich, dishonestly if we can, honestly if we must."

The Battle of the Little Bighorn was an example of how the Indians occasionally managed to defeat army units as they sought to defend their tribal lands.

True General George Custer and his entire command of 250 men perished in a battle against Sioux and Cheyenne warriors led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, who were defending tribal lands in the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory.

The Knights of Labor were the first group to try to organize unskilled and skilled labor, both men and women, and black and white, though they gave into West Coast racism and excluded the despised immigrants from Asia on the West Coast.

True The group reached a peak membership of nearly 800,000 in 1886 (making it the largest labor organization of the nineteenth century) and involved millions of workers in strikes, boycotts, political action, and educational and social activities.

The massive expansion of the railroad allowed for the United States to develop a truly national economy. Soon national brands became popularized, such as Ivory soap and Quaker Oats.

True The massive expansion of the railroad allowed for the United States to develop a truly national economy. Soon national brands became popularized, such as Ivory soap and Quaker Oats.

The Social Gospel movement originated as an effort to reform Protestant churches by expanding their appeal in poor urban neighborhoods and making them more attentive to the era's social ills.

True The movement's adherents established missions and relief programs in urban areas that attempted to alleviate poverty, combat child labor, and encourage the construction of better working-class housing. They even worked with the Knights of Labor and other working-class organizations.

The Gilded Age marketplace proved to be chaotic as businesses in all industries engaged in ruthless competition. In response to this chaos, many businesses created trusts—legal devices whereby the affairs of several companies were managed by a single director.

True Trusts were efforts to coordinate the economic activities of several independent companies. They generally proved to be short-lived and fell apart as individual firms in the trust continued their intense pursuit of profits at the expense of the trust agreements.

"robber barons."

- Ironically, many of the "robber barons" rose from modest backgrounds and seemed examples of how creative genius and business sense enabled Americans to seize success. - John D. Rockefeller was considered by many to be the worst of the robber barons.

liberal reformers during the Gilded Age.

- Liberal reformers feared that as lower classes looked to use government to further their own interests, democracy was becoming a threat to individual liberty and the rights to property. - Some liberal reformers urged a return to property qualifications for voting.

the political scene in the United States during the Gilded Age

- Powerful new corporations raised disturbing questions about the American understanding of political freedom and self-government. - Americans during the Gilded Age saw the country as an island of democracy in a world dominated by undemocratic governments.

"The Greatest Department Store on Earth," from Puck magazine (November 29, 1899) the American economy during the Gilded Age?

- The American economy was diversified, not reliant on just one product. - Uncle Sam sold its manufactured products throughout the globe.

Despite promises in promotional pamphlets, farming on the Great Plains was not an easy task. Identify the statements that describe farming on the Great Plains.

- The Homestead Act led to thousands of families moving westward to farm. - Wheat and corn were primary crops grown on the Great Plains for the national and international markets. - Burden fell on women

What were the most important decisions (held against labor on the grounds of individual freedom, specifically liberty of contract) made by the Court?

- The Supreme Court overturned laws that made it illegal for companies to pay their employees in scrip that could only be used at certain stores on the grounds it violated the right of property of these corporations. - The Supreme Court ruled that state laws regulating corporate behavior, limiting the number of hours a person could work, were unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Identify the events and conditions that led to the second industrial revolution that took place between the Civil War and the early twentieth century.

- The country had a growing supply of labor and an expanding market for manufactured goods. - There was money available for investment. - The federal government enacted tariffs that protected American industry from foreign competition.

how did the workers' ideas of freedom differ from those held by the owners and managers of the industry, and how did the courts construe freedom?

- The courts overturned numerous laws that controlled aspects of economic activity. - Laborers looked to the government to protect their rights and ensure fair working conditions. - Owners did not want the government to regulate business or interfere in the economy.

Looking Backward - Edward Bellamy Progress and Poverty - Henry George The Cooperative Commonwealth - Laurence Gronlund

- Bellamy replaced the word "socialism" with "nationalism" and looked forward to the year 2000 in which class strife was replaced by a utopia in interdependence, and a collective capitalism was banished to the dust bin of history. - George centered on the idea of a single tax to fix "the problem" of "squalor and misery." Many were attracted by his argument that the social problems of the Old World had now appeared in the New World. - The Cooperative Commonwealth was the first book to popularize socialist ideas for the American public. Socialist ideas had become prevalent in Europe, and Gronlund began the process of the Americanization of socialism.

Andrew Carnegie was an industrial giant of the Gilded Age

- Carnegie distributed much of his wealth to various philanthropies. - He leveraged vertical integration to create the largest and most technologically advanced steel factories in the world.

The Speech of Chief Joseph of the Nez Percé Indians, in Washington, D.C. (1879) What are Chief Joseph's complaints about the treatment and condition of his people?

- Despite his view that all men are brothers, the white men do not treat Indians as equals. - The white men do not keep their word to his men. - All people, whites and Native Americans alike, should be treated equally. - The Nez Percé would also have to change and adapt.

the Haymarket Affair

- Eight men were charged with carrying out the bombing. - Four strikers were killed by police on May 3, 1886, when they clashed with strikebreakers. - The affair led to labor unions being painted as foreign-dominated organizations attempting to subvert American ideals.

the relationship between Native Americans and white America during this period.

- In 1871, Congress eliminated the treaty system that dated back to the revolutionary era, by which the federal government negotiated agreements with Indians as if they were foreign nations. - The Bureau of Indian Affairs established boarding schools where Indian children were sent to become "more American."

Letter by Saum Song Bo, American Missionary (October 1885) what arguments did Saum Song Bo make about the treatment of his people and the applications of liberty?

-The Chinese were not welcomed into the United States. -The French violated liberties and freedoms of the Chinese. NOT: -Liberty applied equally to everyone in the United States, including the Chinese. -The Chinese were honored to donate to the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty.

1. vertical integration 2. horizontal expansions 3. robber barons

1. the process of controlling all aspects of business from procuring raw materials, to manufacturing, transporting, and distributing the final product 2. practice of buying out competing firms in an industry to monopolize an industry 3. business leaders who wielded power without any accountability in an unregulated marketplace

From the 1850s onward, settler encroachment on Plains Indians land sparked conflict with the U.S. government.

Dawes Act - broke up the land of nearly all the western tribes Battle of Little Big Horn - Native American victory over the U.S. army in June of 1876 Wounded Knee Massacre - U.S. soldiers opened fire on unarmed Ghost Dancers, killing 150 to 200 of them out of fear of an uprising.

The conquest of the American West was a UNIQUE phenomenon in global history, whereby settlers moved boldly into the interior of regions of a great continent with a temperate climate, bringing their families, crops, and livestock, and establishing mining and other industries.

False Argentina, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Africa all experienced some form of the white settler experience. India and most of Africa were the only places the indigenous populations were able to resist and turn back colonial expansion.

In 1879, the United States went off the gold standard to help debt-ridden farmers.

False In 1879, the United States returned to the gold standard by which currency was exchangeable with gold at a fixed rate. This limited inflation, which did not help debt-ridden farmers who needed more money in circulation. For example, if a farmer borrowed $100 at face value, with inflation, the purchasing power (actual value) declined. The face value of $100 was still on the bill, but it purchased the equivalent of $80 a few years later. This meant that farmers could pay back those loans at face-value and not actual purchasing power. The gold standard benefited big banks and eastern industrialists as they controlled the value of the currency. Farmers faced higher prices for manufactured goods as the value of their crops plummeted.

Every Republican candidate for president from 1868 to 1900 except for James G. Blaine had fought in the (Confederate army) in the Civil War.

False It's Union army Union veterans provided a consistent bulwark of support for the Republican Party.

Between the end of the Civil War and the early twentieth century, the United States experienced stagnant economic growth and the loss of international markets.

False The federal government actively promoted industrial and agricultural development. It enacted high tariffs that protected America from foreign competition, granted land for railroad companies to encourage construction, and used the army to remove Indians from western lands desired by farmers and mining companies.

the treatment of Native Americans in the nineteenth century

In settler societies such as the United States and Australia, white settlers coveted indigenous land, resulting in the destruction of the indigenous population. (In settler societies, such as the United States, Canada, and Australia, white settlers had no interest in compromising with the indigenous people, but exclusively worked to acquire the ancestral land and push the natives onto reservations.)

During the Gilded Age, the federal government sought to define the place of Native Americans in society and address questions of indigenous citizenship.

1. Congress ended the treaty-making system in 1871. (This system had dated back to the American Revolution era, allowing native tribes to negotiate treaties with the federal government as if they were independent nations.) 2. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Elk v. Wilkins that citizenship did not apply to Native Americans. 3. The Dawes Act was passed, dividing tribal land into parcels of land open for white settlement. 4. Congress extended citizenship to all Native Americans. (Laws and treaties in the late nineteenth century offered Native Americans citizenship if they abandoned their tribal culture and assimilated into white society. But many Native Americans clung desperately to their tribal identity, leaving questions of assimilation, citizenship, and identity unresolved for decades.)

Most of the farms on the Great Plains were bonanza farms that covered thousands of acres and employed large numbers of agricultural wage workers.

False Bonanza farms were large farms, often owned by companies and run by professional managers. This style of farming did not constitute the majority of farmers in the Great Plains.

The task of social science according to iron manufacturer Abram Hewitt was to devise ways to redistribute wealth "... in a fair and humane manner to the benefit of the health of the nation." T/F

False Hewitt believed the task of social science was to devise ways of making "men who are equal in liberty" content with the "inequality in ... distribution" inevitable in modern society.

According to Social Darwinism, the evolutionary process in humans was based on the survival of communities working together. Social Darwinists wanted the state to be the means of alleviating poverty to ensure the survival of the community.

False To Social Darwinists, evolution was a natural process in human society as in nature, and government must not interfere. Especially misguided, in this view, were efforts to uplift those at the bottom of the social order, such as laws regulating working conditions or public assistance to the poor.

In 1893, the historian Frederick Jackson Turner gave a celebrated lecture, "The Insignificance of the Frontier in American History," in which he argued the West had acted as a destabilizing and chaotic force in American history.

False Turner argued that the West defined many of the qualities we value as Americans: individual freedom, political democracy, and economic mobility. He argued the frontier had acted as a safety valve, drawing off those dissatisfied with their situation and allowing for them to change their circumstances.