The term “Gilded Age” was coined by Mark Twain and Employment and the Economy Growing Economic Instability Society and Culture Charles Dudley Warner in their 1873 book, ‘The Gilded o Many new jobs: Between 1880-1900, clerical o 1st May 1886, 350,000 workers in 11,562 business o Class conflict becomes evident Age: A Tale of Today’ workers tripled in number, and business managers establishments went out on a one-day strike as part o “Conspicuous consumption” – A term coined by increased from 68,000 to more than 318,000 of the eight-hour-workday movement. Thorstein Veblen to describe the expensive The Gilded Age commonly is in reference to… o Economic growth produced contradictory efforts. o In Chicago, home of military anarchists, 40,000 tastes of the very rich. 1. major population growth in the United States With abundant and diverse natural resources, workers participated in the strike. o Widespread belief in the Horatio Alger myth of 2. major advancements in industrialization industries became competitive in the world o While labor unions became increasingly popular in moving from rags to riches. 3. extravagant displays of wealth and excess of America’s marketplace. However, miners and loggers tended the late-1800s, their successes were also tempered o Urban areas grew more befouled by upper-class to ‘cut and run’, despoiling streams and forests in by a series of strikes. smokestacks and congested with new factories 4. a rapid advance in societies infrastructure unmatched the process. Economic growth and development o Great Southwest Railroad Strike of 1886 and workshops. Rapid construction of fire- by regulation. transformed natural landscapes throughout the o Haymarket Square Riot 1886 a strike to protest the vulnerable apartment buildings is prevalent. United States. death of two strikers the day before turns deadly o The railroad industry served to centralize city Discoveries, Inventions and Industry o Workers averaged three months unemployment when a bomb goes off, killing a police officer and centers and standardize definitions of time used 2nd Industrial Revolution involved several developments every year (c.1895) seven others. throughout the nation. within the chemical, fuel and steel industries. Other key o Business people created industrial towns and cities o Homestead Strike (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) in o Providers of goods and services celebrated developments include the introduction of steam-driven in the Northeast with new factories. 1892 was an organized attempt by 10,000 workers (created…) a “standard” American viewed as steel ships, the early development of airplanes (not for o Gilded Age was rooted in industrialization, to bring about better wages and working conditions white, native-born, middle class, heterosexual passengers), perfection of canning, mechanical especially heavy industry like factories, railroads at a steel plant owned by Andrew Carnegie and and Protestant. This image assumed special refrigeration and other food preservation techniques and and coal mining. Henry Clay Frick; Frick relied upon a private significance in the marketing of consumer the development of the telephone. It is highlighted by the o During this era, American manufacturing security force – the Pinkertons – and 8,000 state products and in the appeal of new forms of mass production of consumer goods. production surpassed the combined total of militia to put down the strike. Nine strikers and leisure activities. o 1882, gold discovered in Idaho, in Native American England, Germany and France. seven Pinkertons die in the ensuing violence, and o Expansion of entertainment as a profit-making territory. Multiethnic boomtowns quickly rise, o Domestic railroad mileage tripled between 1860 there was an assassination attempt on Frisk. The venue, sometimes in collision with more promoted by the railroad. and 1880, and tripled again by 1920. steelworkers union, the Amalgamated Association traditional endeavors. o 1885 Noah Kellogg discovers his gold mines also o Technological improvements in transportation of Steel and Iron Workers, was virtually crushed. o Social Darwinism – A theory arguing that contain lead and zinc. Sells them to a Portland allowed for the introduction of marketing products o Pullman Strike – Pullman refused to meet with competition among all individuals, groups, Oregon businessman. Demand for mines increases throughout the nation, not just regionally or locally workers to discuss intolerable conditions, to which a nations or ideas drive the social significantly. as it had been. national railroad strike was orchestrated by Eugene evolution/progression of human societies. o Alexander Graham Bell, first telephone, 1876 o Increased mechanization of industry is a major Debs. The strike was halted by court injunction and o Jim Crow laws persist in the South. o From 1860-1890, over 500,000 invention patents mark of the Gilded Age’s search for cheaper ways Debs arrested by federal troops, an action upheld by o Attorney Clarence Darrow argues that poverty, were issued – over ten times the number issued in the to create more products. the Supreme Court in 1895. not biology, created crime. previous 70 years. o Frederick Winslow Taylor observed that worker o “Yellow Journalism” – a type of journalism o George Westinghouse invented air brakes for trains efficiency in steel could be improved through the Immigration which downplays legitimate news in favor of (making them both safer and faster). use of machines to make fewer motions in less o 1890, start of major wave of new immigrants from eye-catching headlines which sell more o Theodore Vaill established the American Telephone time. His redesign increased the speed of factory Ireland, Russia, Poland, England, Germany and newspapers. It often exaggerates news events, Company. machines and the productivity of factories while Scandinavia. Approximately 10 million immigrants emphasizing scandals and sensationalism. o Thomas Edison invented the integrated power plant undercutting the need for skilled labor. arrive throughout the era. o The Dawes Severalty Act, 1887 – Intended to capable of lighting multiple buildings simultaneously, o Demand for both skilled and unskilled workers o Ellis Island built, 1892 abandon the Indian reservation system and founding General Electric. He invented the increase. o Statue of Liberty was a gift from the French, 1886 integrate Indians into mainstream society. It phonograph in 1877 and electric light in 1879 o Engineering colleges were established to feed the o “Birds of passage” – men who were recruited by was not particularly successful. o Oil became an important resource, beginning with the demand for expertise. American employers who, after coming to America Pennsylvania oil fields. Kerosene replaced whale oil o Steady yet rapid growth of wages in the middle to make some money, were planning to return and candles for lighting. class. home. They represent 40% of all immigrants. Events During o John Rockefeller created Standard Oil Company to o The focus on capital (profit!) inspired the consolidate the industry. economic consolidation of the nation’s financial Andrew Carnegie the Gilded Age o Cash registers, stock tickets and typewriters are all markets in Wall Street. This consolidation began “Amassing wealth is one of the worst species of introduced with the railroad industry, but soon afterward idolatry” he said. At the time he began to devote his c.1877- abt.1896 would extend to most branches of industry. fortune to education and improvement of the poorer Presidential Politics o “Trusts” – a monopoly of corporations who classes, he was earning $25 million a year. Supreme Court cases o “Bourbon Democrat” refers to a conservative member controlled most of a particular market. o United States v.Harris 1883 of the Democratic party, especially one who o Trusts came to dominate in the steel, oil, sugar, and Alfred Mahan writes “The Influence of Sea Power Court ruled it unconstitutional for federal supported President Cleveland. They represented meatpacking markets, as well as in the Upon History”, putting forth a prescription for how government to penalize crimes such as assault banking interests, supported banking and promote manufacture of agricultural machinery. America could become a great naval power. and murder, even if they are racially motivated laissez-faire capitalism, and opposed protectionism o By 1877, the emergence of a national railroad hate crimes. and imperialism and US overseas expansionism, and system signaled the rise of big business. The The end of the Gilded Age coincided with the Panic of o Ker v.Illinois 1886 fought to the gold standard to be tied to money. railroad industry produced America’s first business 1893, a deep economic depression which lasted four Held that a fugitive kidnapped from abroad o “Mudslinging” – trying to win an advantage in bureaucracies, employing large workforces to years could not claim any violation of the Constitution elections by referring to negative aspects of an maintain, schedule, operate and staff trains which laws or treaties of the United States. opponent of a policy rather than emphasizing one’s traversed 93,000 miles of track. The Panic of 1893 follows the burst of the “Railroad o Stone v.Farmers’ Loan and Trust Co 1886 own positive attributes or preferred policies. o Bubble”. Overexpansion leads rail companies to go State law regulation railroads must allow the o President Garfield assassinated by Charles Guiteau, Much corruption in politics at all levels of government under, and the overstretched credit causes more than railroad to make a profit. Leaves unanswered who was upset for being overlooked for a Federal 500 banks to collapse. what a ‘fair’ profit is. appointment Represents the beginning of the end of the Gilded Age.