Chapter 22- The Ordeal of Reconstruction

I. The Problems of Peace

a. South musketry faded civilization collapsed in both the economic and social
structure
b. Banks and business houses locked doors ruined by runaway inflation. Factories
closed. Transportation was broken down.
c. Agriculture the economic life blood of the south was crippled. Once cotton now
weeds.
d. Slave labored collapsed, seed scarce, and livestock had been driven off by
Yankees.
e. Confederates continued to believe that their view of secession was correct and
that the “lost cause” was still a just view.
II. Freedmen define Freedom
a. Emancipation took effect haltingly and unevenly in different parts of the
conquered confederacy.
b. All master were eventually forced to recognize their slave’s permanent freedom.
The slaves took new names and demanded that whites address them as Mr. and
Mrs.
c. Emancipated blacks took the roads, to their freedom others to search for long list
spouses, parent and children. Others went to working towns and cities. Provided
with protection and mutual assistance. Communities sometimes move together
called Exodusters
d. Church became the focus of black community. African Methodist Episcopal
Church quadrupled in size from 100,000 to 400,000. These organizations helped
blacks protect their newly found freedom.
e. Emancipation meant education for blacks.
f. Established societies for self-improvement raising foods, to purchase, and build
school houses, and hire teachers. White women were accepted to teach in the
schools.
III. Freedmen’s Bureau
a. Emancipators were faced with brutal reality that the freedmen were
overwhelmingly unskilled, without property in money, and with no knowledge to
survive. To cope with the problem they created freedmen’s bureau.
b. Intended to be a kind welfare agency, provide food, clothing, medical care, and
education both to freedmen and to white refugees. Heading the Bureau was union
general Oliver O. Howard.
c. Little bits of land got into black hands. Local administrators collaborated with
planter in expelling blacks from towns and putting them in labor contracts.
IV. Johnson the Tailor President
a. Andrew Johnson came from very poor and humble beginnings, and he served in
Congress for many years (he was the only Confederate Congressman not to leave
Congress when the rest of the South seceded).
b. Feared for his reputation of having a short temper and being a great fighter, but he
was a dogmatic champion of states’ rights and the Constitution, and he was a
 Tennessean who never earned the trust of the North and never regained the
confidence of the South.
V. Presidential Reconstruction
a. Since Abraham Lincoln believed that the South had never legally withdrawn from
the Union, restoration was to be relatively simple: the southern states could be
reintegrated into the Union if and when they had 10% of its voters pledge an oath
to the Union and also acknowledge the emancipation of the slaves; it was called
the Ten Percent Plan.
b. The Radical Republicans feared that such a lenient plan would allow the
Southerners to re-enslave the newly freed Blacks again, so they rammed the
Wade-Davis Bill, a bill that required 50% of the states’ voters to take oaths of
allegiance and demanded stronger safeguards for emancipation than the 10%
Plan, through Congress. However, Lincoln pocket-vetoed the bill by letting it
expire, and the 10% Plan stayed.
c. It became clear that there were now two types of Republicans: the moderates, who
shared the same views as Lincoln and the radicals, who believed the South should
be harshly punished.
d. When Andrew Johnson took power, the radicals thought that he would do what
they wanted, but he soon proved them wrong by basically taking Lincoln’s policy
and issuing his own Reconstruction proclamation: certain leading Confederates
were disfranchised, the Confederate debt was repudiated, and states had to ratify
the 13th Amendment.
VI. The Baleful Black Codes
a. In order to control the freed Blacks, many Southern states passed Black Codes,
laws aimed at keeping the Black population in submission; some were harsh,
others were not as harsh. Blacks who “jumped” their labor contracts, or walked
off their jobs, were subject to penalties and fines, and their wages were generally
kept very low. The codes forbade Blacks from serving on a jury and some even
barred Blacks from renting or leasing land, and Blacks could be punished for
“idleness” by being subjected to working on a chain gang.
b. Making a mockery out of the newly won freedom of the Blacks, the Black Codes
made many abolitionists wonder if the price of the Civil War was worth it, since
Blacks were hardly better after the war than before the war.
VII. Congressional Reconstruction
a. In December, 1865, when many of the Southern states came to be reintegrated
into the Union, among them were former Confederates and Democrats, and most
Republicans were disgusted to see their former enemies on hand to reclaim seats
in Congress.
b. During the war, without the Democrats, the Republicans had passed legislation
that had favored the North, such as the Morrill Tariff, the Pacific Railroad Act,
and the Homestead Act, so now; many Republicans didn’t want to give the power
that they had gained in the war.
c. Northerners now realized that the South would be stronger politically than before,
since now, Blacks counted for a whole person instead of just 3/5 of one, and
Republicans also feared that the Northern and Southern Democrats would join
 and take over Congress and the White House and institute their Black Codes over
the nation, defeating all that the Civil War gained.
d. On December 6, 1865, President Johnson declared that the South had satisfied all
of the conditions needed, and that the Union was now restored.
VIII. Johnson Clashes with Congress
a. Johnson repeatedly vetoed Republican-passed bills, such as a bill extending the
life of the Freedman’s Bureau, and he also vetoed the Civil Rights Bill, which
conferred on blacks the privilege of American citizenship and struck at the Black
Codes.
b. As Republicans gained control of Congress, they overrode Johnson’s vetoes by
passing the bills over his veto through a 2/3 majority.
c. In the 14th Amendment, the Republicans sought to instill the same ideas of the
Civil Rights Bill: (1) All Blacks were American citizens, (2) If a state denied
citizenship to Blacks, then it’s representatives in the Electoral College were
lowered, (3) Former Confederates could not hold federal or state office, and (4)
The federal debt was guaranteed while the Confederate one was repudiated.
d. The radicals were disappointed that Blacks weren’t given the right to vote, but all
Republicans agreed that states wouldn’t be accepted back into the Union unless
they ratified the 14th Amendment.
IX. Swinging ‘Round the Circle with Johnson
a. In 1866, Republicans would not allow Reconstruction to be carried on without the
14th Amendment, and as election time approached, Johnson wanted to lower the
amount of Republicans in Congress, so he began a series of ‘Round the Circle
speeches.
b. However, as he was heckled by the audience, he hurled back insults, gave “give
‘em hell” speeches, and generally denounced the radicals, and in the process, he
gave Republicans more men in Congress than they had before—the opposite of
his original intention.
X. Republican Principles and Programs
a. Now, the Republicans had a veto-proof Congress and nearly unlimited control
over Reconstruction, but moderates and radicals still couldn’t agree. In the Senate,
the leader of the radicals was Charles Sumner, long since recovered from his
caning, and in the House, the radical leader was Thaddeus Stevens, an old, sour
man who was an unswerving friend of the Blacks.
b. The radicals wanted to keep the South out of the Union as long as possible and
totally change its economy, and the moderates a quicker Reconstruction, and what
happened was a compromise between the two extremes.
XI. Reconstruction by Sword
a. The Reconstruction Act of March 2, 1867 divided the South into five military
zones, temporarily disfranchised tens of thousands of former Confederates, and
laid down new guidelines for the readmission of states (Johnson had announced
the Union restored, but Congress had not yet formally agreed on this).All states
had to approve the 14th Amendment, making all Blacks citizens. All states had to
guarantee full suffrage of all male former slaves.
b. The 15th Amendment, passed by Congress in 1869, gave Blacks their right to
vote.
 c. In the case Ex parte Milligan (1866), the Supreme Court ruled that military
tribunals could not try civilians, even during wartime, if there were civil courts
available.
d. By 1870, all of the states had complied with the standards of Reconstruction, and
in 1877, the last of the states were given their home rule back, and Reconstruction
ended.
XII. No Women Voters
a. Women suffrage advocates were disappointed by the 13th, 14th, and 15th
Amendments, since they didn’t give women full suffrage. After all, women had
gathered petitions and had helped Blacks gain their rights. Frederick Douglass
believed in the women’s movement but believed that it was now “the Negro’s
hour.”
XIII. As a result, women advocates like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony
campaigned against the 14th and 15th Amendments—Amendments that inserted the
word male into the Constitution for the first time ever.
XIV. The Realities of Radical Reconstruction in the South
a. Blacks began to organize politically, and their main vehicle was the Union
League. It became a network of political clubs that educated members in their
civic duties and campaigned for Republican candidates, and later even built
Black churches and schools, represented Black grievances, and recruited militias
to protect Blacks.
b. Black women attended the parades and rallies of Black communities.
c. Black men also began to hold political offices, as men like Hiram Revels and
Blanche K. Bruce served in Congress (they represented Mississippi).
d. Southern Whites hated seeing their former slaves now ranking above them, and
they also hated “scalawags,” Southerners who were accused of plundering
Southern treasuries and selling out the Southerners, and “carpetbaggers,”
Northerners accused of sleazily seeking power and profit in a now-desolate South.
e. Note that Southern governments were somewhat corrupted during these times.
XV. The Ku Klux Klan
a. Extremely racist Whites who hated the Blacks founded the “Invisible Empire of
the South,” or Ku Klux Klan, in Tennessee in 1866—an organization that scared
Blacks into not voting or not seeking jobs, etc… and often resorted to violence
against the Blacks in addition to terror.
b. This illegal group undermined much of what abolitionists sought to do.
XVI. Johnson Walks the Impeachment Plank
a. Radicals were angry with President Johnson, and they decided to try to get rid of
him.
b. In 1867, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act, which provided that the
president had to secure the consent of the Senate before removing his appointees
once they had been approved by the Senate (one reason was to keep Edwin M.
Stanton, a Republican spy, in office).
c. However, when Johnson dismissed Stanton early in 1868, the Republicans
impeached him.
XVII. A Not-Guilty Verdict for Johnson
 a. Johnson was not allowed to testify by his lawyers, who argued that the Tenure of
Office Act was unconstitutional and Johnson was acting under the Constitution,
not the law.
b. On May 16, 1868, Johnson was acquitted of all charges by a single vote, as seven
Republican senators with consciences voted “not-guilty” (interestingly, those
seven never secured a political office against afterwards).
c. Die-hard radicals were infuriated by the acquittal, but many politicians feared
establishing a precedence of removing the president through impeachment.
XVIII. The Purchase of Alaska
a. In 1867, Secretary of State William H. Seward bought Alaska from Russia to the
United States for $7.2 million, but most of the public jeered his act as “Seward’s
Folly.” Only later, when oil and gold were discovered, did Alaska prove to be a
huge bargain.
XIX. The Heritage of Reconstruction
a. Many Southerners regarded Reconstruction as worse than the war itself, as they
resented the upending of their social and racial system.
b. The Republicans, though with good intentions, failed to improve the South, and
the fate of Blacks would remain bad for almost another century before the Civil
Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s secured Black privileges.
 Ch. 23 “Political Paralysis in the Gilded Age”
I. The “Bloody Shirt” Elects Grant
A. People believed that a good general would make a good president
i. Grant was the most popular Northern hero to emerge from the war
B. People nominated Grant for the presidency in 1868
i. Wanted to continue Reconstruction in the South under Federal supervision
ii. Grant wanted peace
C. Democrats denounced military Reconstruction
D. Midwest delegates nominated Horatio Seymour
E. Republicans gained enthusiasm for Grant by “waving the bloody shirt”
i. Reviving memories of the Civil War
F. Grant won with 214 electoral votes
i. White voters supported Seymour
ii. 500,000 former slaves gave Grant his margin of victory

II. The Era of Good Stealings

A. The entire postwar atmosphere was corrupt and unscrupulous
B. Jim Fisk and Jay Gould concocted a plot to corner the gold market
i. On “Black Friday”, Fisk and Gould bid the price of gold skyward
ii. Ended when the Treasury, against Grant’s assurances to Fisk and Gould, released
gold
iii. Grant acted “stupidly and indiscreetly”
C. Boss Tweed of New York City employed bribery, graft, and fraudulent elections to
illegally obtain $200 million
i. In 1871, the New York Times secured damning evidence against Tweed
ii. New York attorney Samuel J Tilden led the prosecution
iii. Tweed died while in jail

III. A Carnival of Corruption

A. Grant’s cabinet full of grafters and incompetents
B. Credit Mobilier scandal
i. Union Pacific Railroad insiders formed Credit Mobilier and then hired themselves at
inflated prices to build the railroad line
ii. Distributed shares of stock to key congressmen
iii. A newspaper exposé and congressional investigation led to the censure of two
congressmen and the revelation that the vice president had also taken money from
Credit Mobilier
C. Whiskey Ring robbed the Treasury of millions in excise tax revenues

IV. The Liberal Republican Revolt of 1872

A. People tired of the corruption of Grant’s administration formed the Liberal Republican
party
i. Urged purification of administration and the end of military Reconstruction
ii. Nominated Horace Greeley for president
a. editor of the New York Tribune
iii. Democrats endorsed Greeley’s candidacy
B. Republicans renominated Grant
C. Grant wins election 286 to 66 electorally
D. The Republican Congress in 1872 passed a general amnesty act, removing political
disabilities from nearly all former Confederate leaders

V. Depression, Deflation, and Inflation

A. In 1873, a paralyzing economic crash broke out
i. Promoters had laid more railroad track, sunk more mines, erected more factories, and
sowed more grainfields than existing markets could bear.
ii. More than 15,000 businesses went bankrupt
B. Hard times affected debtors the most
C. Proponents of inflation wanted to issue more greenbacks
i. They reasoned that more money meant cheaper money
D. The Resumption Act of 1875 pledged the government to the further withdrawal of
greenbacks from circulation and to the redemption of all paper currency at gold in face
value
E. The Treasury began to accumulate gold stocks against the appointed day for resumption
of metallic-money payments. With the reduction of greenbacks, this policy known as
“contraction”
i. Contraction probably worsened the impact of the depression
ii. It did restore the government’s credit rating and brought the greenbacks up to their
full face value
F. Republican hard-money policy helped elect a Democratic House on 1874, and in 1878 it
created the Greenback Labor party

VI. Pallid Politics in the Gilded Age

A. Democrats and Republicans had nearly the same ideas and opinions on many issues, yet
they were insanely competitive with each other
B. Nearly 80% of eligible voters voted in presidential elections in the 3 decades after the
Civil War
C. Republican voters stressed strict codes of personal morality and believed that the
government should regulate the economy and the moral affairs of society
D. Democrats professed toleration of differences in an imperfect world, and they spurned
government efforts to impose a single moral standard on the entire society
E. Democrats had base in the South and in northern industrial cities
F. Republicans were in the Midwest and rural and small-town Northeast
i. Freedmen in the South continued voting Republican
G. Stalwarts embraced system of swapping civil-service jobs for votes
H. Half-Breeds were for civil-service reform
i. Half-Breeds led by James G Blaine of Maine

VII. The Hayes-Tilden Standoff, 1876

A. In 1876, the House voted to not allow Grant a third term
B. Republicans turned to Rutherford B Hayes- “The Great Unknown”
i. Governor of Ohio
C. The Democratic nominee was Samuel J Tilden
D. The election was close, but the votes in Louisiana, Florida, and South Carolina were
unsure of who to vote for

VIII. The Compromise of 1877 and the End of Reconstruction

A. The election deadlock was to be broken by the Electoral Count Act
B. The Senate and House met together to settle the dispute
C. The Democrats agreed to let Hayes become president if he withdrew the troops from
Louisiana and South Carolina
i. The issue settled three days before the new president was to be sworn into office
D. Compromise abandoned blacks in the South
E. Whites once again discriminated against blacks
F. The Court declared that the 14th Amendment prohibited only government violations of
civil rights, not the denial of civil rights by individuals

IX. The Birth of Jim Crow in the Post-Reconstruction South

A. White Democrats resumed political power in the south
i. Blacks trying to assert their rights faced unemployment, eviction, and physical harm
ii. Blacks forced into sharecropping and tenant farming
B. Jim Crow laws- systematic state-level legal codes of segregation
C. Southern states enacted literacy requirements, voter-registration laws, and poll taxes to
oppress blacks
D. Plessy v. Ferguson ruled that “separate but equal” facilities were constitutional under the
14th Amendment
E. Southern whites were harsh with those who violated segregation
i. A record number of blacks were lynched in the 1890s

X. Class Conflicts and Ethnic Clashes

A. 1877 marked the beginning of class warfare
i. By product of depression and deflation after the panic of 1873
B. Railroad companies decided to cut workers’ wages by 10%
i. Strikes occurred and Hayes was forced to send troops
C. By 1880, California’s population was about 9% Asian
i. Most came from China to dig in the goldfields and to build the railroads
ii. Once railroads were built and gold was out, about half went home to China
D. In San Francisco, Irish born Denis Kearney started violent abuse of Chinese
i. Kearneyites resented the competition from cheap labor
E. Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, prohibiting immigration from China
F. US v. Wong Kim Ark ruled that the 14th Amendment guaranteed citizenship to all born in
America

XI. Garfield and Arthur

A. At the presidential campaign of 1880, Hayes was abandoned by the Republicans. Instead
they nominated James A Garfield
i. Garfield barely won against Winfield Scott Hancock, the Democratic nominee
B. Charles J Guiteau shot Garfield in the back
i. Garfield died eleven weeks later
ii. Guiteau’s attorneys argued he was not guilty because he could not distinguish right
from wrong- insanity defense
iii. Guiteau found guilty and hanged
C. Garfield shocked politicians into reforming the spoils system
D. Pendleton Act of 1883 made compulsory campaign contributions from federal employees
illegal
i. Established the Civil Service Commission
ii. Politicians forced to look to bug business for money

XII. The Blaine-Cleveland Mudslingers of 1884

A. James G Blaine became Republican nominee in 1884
i. Many reform-minded Republicans upset
ii. “Mulligan’s Letters” were written by Blaine to a Boston businessman and linking him
to a corrupt deal involving federal favors to a southern railroad
iii. Many reformers went to the Democrats. They were called “Mugwumps”
B. Democrats nominated Grover Cleveland
i. Republicans found out he had an illegitimate child. Cleveland refused to take his
party’s advice and lie about it.
C. Outcome of election hung on New York
D. Cleveland ended up winning New York and won with 219 electoral votes

XIII. “Old Grover” Takes Over

A. Cleveland was the first Democratic president in 28 years
B. Cleveland was a strong supporter of laissez-faire, which pleased bankers and
businesspeople
i. “Though the people support the government, the government should not support the
people”
C. Cleveland named two former Confederates to the cabinet
D. Cleveland eventually caved to the Democratic bosses and fired almost two-thirds of
federal employees, making room for Democrats
E. Military pensions bothered Cleveland. They were to be given to Civil War veterans, but
they were used fraudulently to give money to other people

XIV. Cleveland Battles for a Lower Tariff

A. Because of the high tariff, the Treasury had an annual surplus of $145 million in 1881
B. Congress could reduce surplus in two ways:
i. Squander it on pensions
ii. Lower the tariff, which was violently opposed by big industrialists
C. Cleveland was for a lower tariff. He believed that a lower tariff would mean lower prices
for consumers and less protection for monopolies
D. Cleveland tossed an appeal for lower tariffs to Congress in 1887
i. This caused a division in the two parties for the first time in years
E. In the 1888 elections, Democrats reelected Cleveland, and Republicans nominated
Benjamin Harrison
F. In Indiana, a crucial swing state, votes were bought for as much as $20
G. Harrison beat Cleveland by 233 to 168 electoral votes

XV. The Billion-Dollar Congress

A. A new Republican Speaker of the House named Thomas B. Reed emerged
i. Reed soon bent the House to his will
ii. Congress showered pensions on Civil War veterans and increased government
purchases on silver
B. The Billion-Dollar Congress passed the McKinley Tariff Act of 1890, boosting rates to
their highest peacetime rate ever
i. Brought woes to farmers
ii. In 1890, Republicans lost majority in the House, with 88 seats, as compared to 235
Democrats
iii. New Congress also contained nine members of the Farmers’ Alliance, a militant
organization of southern and western farmers

XVI. The Drumbeat of Discontent

A. In 1892, the Populist Party was formed
i. Demanded inflation through free and unlimited coinage of silver
ii. Called for graduated income tax
iii. Government ownership of railroads, telegraph, and telephone
iv. Direct election of senators
v. Immigration restriction
vi. Nominated General James B Weaver
B. At Carnegie’s steel plant company officials called in 300 armed Pinkerton detectives to
crush a strike by steelworkers
i. Strikers won, so troops were summoned
ii. Both strike and union were broken
C. Populists gained 22 electoral votes
i. The South unwilling to join party because of race
ii. Populist leaders reached out to the black community for votes
iii. Because of this, white southerners more aggressively oppressed blacks and took away
what little suffrage they had left
iv. After 1896, the Populist Party lapsed into racism and black segregation

XVII. Cleveland and Depression

A. Cleveland reelected in 1893, the only president ever reelected after defeat
B. Depression of 1893- lasted four years and was the worst economic crash of the 19th
century
i. Splurge of overbuilding and speculation
ii. Labor disorders
iii. Ongoing agricultural depression
C. About 8,000 businesses collapsed in six months
D. The gold reserve in the Treasury dropped below $100 million
i. Cleveland called for the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890
ii. Caused a filibuster in Congress
iii. Cleveland used powers to break the filibuster
E. In 1895, Cleveland turned to JP Morgan
i. Bankers agreed to lend the government $65 million in gold, charging a commission of
$7 million

XVIII. Cleveland Breeds a Backlash

A. Cleveland’s bond deal stirred up great controversy
B. Cleveland suffered more embarrassment with the Wilson-Gorman Tariff in 1894
i. Contained a 2% tax on incomes over $4000
C. In 1890, the Republicans won the House majority with 244 seats to 105 for the Democrats
Chapter 24: Industry Comes of Age (1865-1900)

I. The Iron Colt Becomes an Iron Horse

1. After the Civil War, railroad production grew from 35,000 mi. of track in 1865 to a 192,556
mi. in 1900, more than Europe combined.
i. Congress gave 155,504,994 acres of land to RR companies.
ii. Companies used alternate mile-square sections for RR routes.
a. Grover Cleveland put an end to this in 1887.
2. Railroads gave land their value; towns where railroads ran through became expansive
cities. Towns without RRs became ghost towns.

II. Spanning the Continent with Rails

1. In 1862 Congress commissioned the Union Pacific Railroad to begin westward from Omaha,
Nebraska, to California. (Transcontinental RR)
i. The company received huge sums of money and land. Credit Mobilier received $23 million
in profits and bribed congressmen to not notice their pocketed money.
ii. Indians trying to save their land were attacked by the Irishman ("Paddies") who laid the
RRs.
2. Central Pacific Railroad of California was in charge of pushing the railroad westward. It
was supported by Leland Stanford, ex-governor of California and the lobbyist Collis P.
Huntington.
i. Central Pacific used Chinese workers who had to drill through the hard rock of the Sierra
Nevada.
3. In 1869, the transcontinental rail line was completed near Ogden, Utah; in all, the Union
Pacific built 1086 mi. of track. This was more than the 689 mi. by the Central Pacific. The
building of the RR marked several achievements:
i. It welded the West Coast firmly in the Union
ii. It facilitated trade with Asia
iii. By penetrating the arid barrier of the deserts, it paved the way for phenomenal growth in
the Great West.

III. Binding the Country with Railroad Ties

1. Four other transcontinental railroads were built before 1900:
i. The Northern Pacific Railroad: Lake Superior to the Puget Sound in 1883.
ii. The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe: through the Southwest deserts, finished in 1884.
iii. The Southern Pacific (1884) from New Orleans to San Francisco.
iv. The Great Northern: Duluth to Seattle; created of James J. Hill, considered the greatest
railroad builder of all.
2. Some overambitious builders laid down their rails that led from "nowhere to nothing" and
eventually went bankrupt.

IV. Railroad Consolidation and Mechanization

1. RRs like the Vanderbilt's New York Central usually financed the successful western
railroads.
2. Advancement in railroad building: steel rail, Westinghouse air brake, which increased
safety, the Pullman Palace Cars, double-racking, and block signals.
I Train accidents and death were common.

V. Revolution by Railways
1. Railroads put the nation together, created a market for raw materials and manufactured
goods (the largest integrated national market in the world), generated many jobs, helped to
industrialize America, and stimulated agriculture and mining in the West.
2. Railroads assisted people to settle in the formerly harsh Great Plains.
3. The creation of four national time zones occurred on November 18, 1883. Railroad
operaters became too confused to worry about the patchwork of local times.
4. Railroads created millionaires and the millionaire class. The "lords of the rail" replaces the
old southern "lords of the lash".

VI. Wrongdoing in Railroading

1. Jay Gould made millions embezzling stocks from railroad companies.
2. “Stock watering" was a cheap way to get money where railroad companies over-inflated
the worth of their stock and then sold them at large profits.
3. Railroad owners elected themselves to office, abused the public, bribed judges and
legislatures, and used passes to gain support in the press.
i. Railroad kings (like Vanderbilt) became industrial monarchs.

VII. Government Bridles the Iron Horse

1. Wabash case: states could not regulate interstate commerce.
3. The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 banned rebates and pools and made railroads
publish their rates.
i. Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) enforced the Act.
4. The act was first attempt by Congress to regulate businesses in the interest of society.

VIII. Miracles of Mechanization

1. In 1894, the U.S. was the largest manufacturer in the world, but by 1894 because of:
i. Now-abundant liquid capital.
ii. Natural resources like oil, coal, and iron
iii. Massive immigration made labor cheap.
iv. Inventions like those of Eli Whitney.
a. Popular inventions: the electric dynamo, the cash register, typewriter, the refrigerator car,
and the electric railway.
2. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone.
3. Thomas Alva Edison created the electric lightbulb in 1879.

IX. The Trust Titan Emerges

1. Industry giants tried to take full advantage of profits and get rid of other rivalry.
i. Andrew Carnegie used “vertical integration”, meaning he controlled all aspects of an
industry
ii. John D. Rockefeller used “horizontal integration”, meaning he allied with competitors to
corner the market.
a. He used horizontal integration to create Standard Oil. He controlled the oil industry by
forcing weaker competitors to go broke.
2. Carnegie and Rockefeller became well-known for their dominating corporations.
3. Rockefeller used “interlocking directorates" to place his own men on boards of directors
and trustees.

X. The Supremacy of Steel

1. By 1900 America created as much steel as England and Germany combined. ("Steel is
King!") It showed the dominance of "heavy industry".
2. Due to the Bessemer Process steel-making was cheaper and much more effective
i. Cold air blown on hot iron purified it.
ii. America was one of the few countries that had large amounts of iron for smelting and coal
for fuel and rapidly became #1.

XI. Carnegie and Other Sultans of Steel

1. Andrew Carnegie worked his way up to wealth.
2. He started in the Pittsburgh area. Although he did not like trusts, he was still getting $25
million a year.
3. J. Pierpont Morgan wanted to get in the steel industry, but Carnegie threatened to ruin him.
Later, Morgan bought Carnegie’s total business of $400 million. Carnegie donated $350 million
of it to charity, pensions, and libraries later in life.
i. Morgan started the United States Steel Corporation in 1901 which became the first billion-
dollar corporation.

XII. Rockefeller Grows an American Beauty Rose

1. By 1885, 250,000 of Edison’s electric light bulbs were in use, and the electric industry
made kerosene outdated.
2. Oil was used in the gasoline-burning internal combustion engine.
3. John D. Rockefeller organized the Standard Oil Company of Ohio in 1882
4. Rockefeller trampled weaker competitors even though Standard Oil made better oil for
less.
5. The meat industry of Philip Armour and Gustavus F. Swift was a trust that made higher
quality products for less.

XIII. The Gospel of Wealth

1. Newly rich people believed that they were fated to become rich and then aid the people
with their money.
2. The Reverend Russell Conwell of Philadelphia became wealthy by giving his “Acres of
Diamonds” lecture thousands of times, where he stated that poor people made themselves poor
and rich people made themselves rich.
3. Giant trusts used the 14th Amendment for defense, and the courts agreed, saying that
corporations were indeed a legal "person" permitted to their property.

XIV. Government Tackles the Trust Evil

1. In 1890, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act was signed. It forbade combinations in restraint of
trade, without any distinction between “good” and “bad” trusts.
i. The Sherman Act couldn’t be enforced.
ii. Contrary to its original intent, it was used to curb labor unions that were deemed to be
restraining trade.

XV. The South in the Age of Industry

1. The South remained agrarian despite all the industrial advances. James Buchanan Duke
developed a vast cigarette ("coffin nails") industry called the American Tobacco Company.
2. The editor of the Atlanta Constitution, Henry W. Grady, supported the industrialization of
the south.
3. Some Northern companies set rates to keep the South from receiving a competitive
advantage.
4. Inexpensive labor led to the creation of many jobs, and even thought they had bad wages,
many white Southerners saw employment as positive.
ii. Entire "hillbilly" families worked for dawn to dusk amid whirring spindles of mills.

XVI. The Impact of the New Industrial Revolution on America

1. As the Industrial Revolution spread in American, the standard of living rose, and
immigrants (such as Poles) flocked to America.
2. Women had swarmed to factories and found new opportunities. Charles Dana Gibson
formed an idealistic "Gibson Girl".
3. Fearing unemployment, farmers soon became factory workers If the key wage earner of
the family got sick (usually the father/husband), their family would be helpless.
4. The industrial machine began to take over the domestic market.

XVII. In Unions There Is Strength

1. Workers who wanted to improve their conditions discovered that, with the influx of
immigrants, their efforts were useless because they could be fired and replaced easily by
someone else.
2. Corporations had several weapons against strikers like hiring strikebreakers or to bring in
troops; other methods incorporated “lockouts”. Usually workers had to sign “yellow dog
contracts” to stop them from joining unions.
i. Workers could be blacklisted and without rights elsewhere.
3. Since millionaires like Carnegie and Rockefeller had battled and worked hard to get to the
top workers thought they should fight to better their situations.

XVIII. Labor Limps Along

1. The Civil War helped labor unions grow.
2. The National Labor Union (1866) lasted only six years. It excluded Chinese and didn’t do
anything for Blacks and women.
ii. It worked for the mediation of industrial disputes and the eight-hour workday, and won it
for government workers.
3. A new organization, the Knights of Labor, was begun in 1869.
i. They only campaigned for economic and social reform and refused to get into politics.
ii. Terence V. Powderly lead the Knights. They won strikes for an eight-hour workday and
when they staged a successful strike against Jay Gould’s Wabash Railroad in 1885, membership
boomed.
XIX. Unhorsing the Knights of Labor
1. The Knights became occupied in a number of May Day strikes.
2. On May 4, 1886, a bomb was thrown when Chicago police were headed to a meeting that
had been called to protest brutalities by authority. It killed several people.
i. Eight anarchists were found, but no one could prove their involvement. The jury sentenced
five of them to death for conspiracy for supporting doctrines of offensive matter. The other three
were sent to prison.
3. In 1892, John P. Altgeld, a German-born Democrat was elected governor of Illinois and
pardoned the three survivors after studying the case exhaustively.
i. Displayed courage for opposing gross injustice.
4. The Haymarket Square Bomb lowered their popularity; membership declined.

XX. The AF of L to the Fore

1. Samuel Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor in 1886
i. AF of L: an organization of independent unions united together.
ii. It was also willing to let unskilled laborers fend for themselves. (Blacks, women)
2. Gompers advocated fair labor and wanted better hours, pay, and working conditions
i. It was willing to let unskilled laborers fend for themselves.
3. From 1881 to 1900, there were over 23,000 strikes involving 6,610,000 workers. The loss to
both employers and employees was $450 million.
i. The weakness of labor unions was that they only held 3% of all workers.
 Chapter 25: America Moves to the City 1865-1900

I. The Urban Frontier

-by 1890 Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia population into the millions
-1900 New York 3.5 million people
-1885 Chicago’s first sky-scrapper (10-story building) and perfected electric elevator
-Louis Sullivan (1856-1942) contributed to development of the skyscraper (“form follows
function”)
-Electric trolleys powered by wagging antennae from overhead wires
-different districts for business, industry, and residential neighborhoods- which were
segregated by race, ethnicity, and social class
-industrial jobs drew country men from farms
-electricity, indoor plumbing, and telephones in city
-1883 Brooklyn Bridge
-Macy’s in New York and Marshall Field’s in Chicago
-novelists Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie
-new ways of life: Sears and Montgomery Ward advertised trash cans- deposit of trash an
issue
-Criminals, sanitary facilities not up to date, impure water, uncollected garbage,
unwashed bodies, pet waste
-“Dumbbell Tenement”- standard architectural plan 7-8 stories high and shallow sunless
and ill-smelling with little ventilation
-“Flophouses” where half starved and unemployed dwelled
-slums
II. The New Immigration
-1850s-1870s more than 2million immigrants entered
-In 1882 2,100 a day came
-1800s most from British Isles and Western Europe most literate
-1880s new type f immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe like Italians, Poles, etc
stayed in cities to work many illiterate
-new immigrants made 19% of all immigrants
-Cities filled with “Little Italys and Polands”
-Americans being seeing country as melting pot or dumping ground
III. Southern Europe Uprooted
-Old World grew due to supplies like fish and grain from America
-European countryside moved to European cities
-Immigration to America, by-product of the urbanization of Europe “American Fever”
-America free from military conscription an institutionalized religious persecution
-Industry wanted low-waged labor
-Immigrants brought skills of tailoring and shop keeping
-1820-1900 “birds of passage” returned to home country
-those who stayed instilled their religion like Catholic or Hebrew schools
IV. Reaction to the New Immigration

- immigrant needs handled by unofficial “governments” of the urban political machines

led by “bosses” ex Boss Tweed
 -trading jobs and services for votes, a boss claimed loyalty
-political boss gave valuable assistance to newcomers with no sources
-“social gospel” science of society preparing for progressive reform movement
- Jane Addams founded Hull House in 1889 to teach children and adults skills and
knowledge to survive and succeed in America.
- single women had opportunities in the city to work
V. Narrowing the Welcome Mat
-“nativism” and anti-foreignism
-Germans and western Europeans not fond of new Slavs and Baltics,
- fear of mixing of blood would ruin Anglo-Saxon races
- (Anti-foreign organizations) American Protective Association (APA) go against new
immigrants
-try to stop new immigration, since immigrants were frequently used as strikebreakers.
-1882, Congress passed the first restrictive law against immigration (banned paupers,
criminals, and convicts)
- 1885 law was passed banning importation of foreign workers under usually substandard
contracts.
-Literacy tests for immigrants proposed, passed in 1917
-1882 immigration law banned the Chinese
VI. Churches Confront the Urban Challenge
- churches had mostly failed to take help urban poverty suffering
- question the ambition of the churches
- worry that of Devil winning the battle of good and evil.
-new generation of urban revivalists stepped
-Dwight Lyman Moody proclaimed the gospel of kindness and forgiveness adapted the
old-time religion to facts of city life.
-Roman Catholic and Jewish faiths gaining much by the new immigration.
VII. Darwin Disrupts the Churches
-1859 Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species
-new doctrine of evolutionism and attracted fury of fundamentalists
-“Modernists” took a step from the fundamentalists
- refused to believe that the Bible was completely accurate and factual.
VIII. The Lust for Learning
- more public schools
-free textbooks funded by taxpayers.
-1900, there were 6,000 high schools in America
- kindergartens
-Chautauqua movement, successor to the lyceums, 1874, included public lectures to
many people by famous writers and extensive at-home studies.
- faith in formal education as a solution to poverty.
IX. Booker T. Washington and Education for Black People
- The South war-torn and poor
- lagged far behind in education, especially for Blacks
-Booker T. Washington, an ex-slave starting by heading a black normal and
industrial school in Tuskegee, Alabama,
-taught students their useful skills and trades.
 - W.E.B. Du Bois, the first Black to get a Ph.D. from Harvard University
- demanded complete equality for Blacks and action now
-founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in
1910.
X. The Hallowed Halls of Ivy
-Colleges and universities after the Civil War
-colleges for women, example: Vassar
-Morrill Act of 1862 provided a grant of public lands to the states for support of
education
-Hatch Act of 1887 provided federal funds for establishment of agricultural experiment
stations in connection with the land-grant colleges.
-Private donations also toward the establishment of colleges
-Exampless- Cornell, Leland Stanford Junior, and the University of Chicago(funded by
John D. Rockefeller)
XII. The March of the Mind
- elective system of college gaining popularity,
-took off especially after Dr. Charles W. Eliot became president of Harvard.
-Medical schools and science prospering after Civil War.
XIII. The Appeal of the Press
-Libraries opened across America …literature into people’s homes.
- such as the Library of Congress
- invention of the Linotype in 1885
- press more than kept pace
-competition sparked called “yellow journalism,” (newspapers reported on wild
and fantastic stories often false or exaggerated: sex, scandal, and other human
interest stories)
- started by journalistic tycoons emerged: Joseph Pulitzer (New York World) and
William Randolph Hearst.
XIV. The Apostles of Reform
-Magazines Harper’s, Atlantic Monthly, and Scribner’s Monthly
-most influential of all was the New York Nation, started 1865 by Edwin L.
Godkin(critic).
-journalist-author Henry George wrote Progress and Poverty (undertook to solve the
association of poverty with progress)
-Edward Bellamy published Looking Backward in 1888(criticized the
social injustices and pictured a utopian government that had nationalized big business to
serve the public good)
XV. Postwar Writing
-“dime-novels” depicted the Wild West and other romantic adventure settings
-Horatio Alger’s books told that virtue, honesty, and industry were rewarded by success,
wealth, and honor.
-Walt Whitman old writers who still remained active, published revisions of his Leaves of
Grass.
-Emily Dickinson famed hermit poet poems were published after her death.
-Other lesser poets included Sidney Lanier(oppressed by poverty and ill health)
XVI. Literary Landmarks
 -Kate Chopin wrote about adultery, suicide, and women’s ambitions in The Awakening.
- Mark Twain The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin, The
Gilded Age (term given to the era of corruption after the Civil War) and The Celebrated
Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.
-William Dean Howells(editor in chief of the Atlantic Monthly) wrote about ordinary
people and sometimes (controversial social themes)
-Jack London wrote about wilderness in The Call of the Wild and The Iron Heel.
XVII. The New Morality
-Victoria Woodhull wrote Woodhull and Claflin’s Weekly (shocked readers with
depiction of affairs)
-Anthony Comstock against the “immoral.”
-“new morality” reflected in sexual freedom (birth control, divorces, and frank discussion
of sexual topics)
XVIII. Families and Women in the Society
-Urban life was stressful on families, who often were separated, and everyone had to
work—even children as young as ten years old.
- 1898 Charlotte Perkins Gilman published Women and Economics (classic of feminist
literature) called for women to abandon their dependent status and contribute to the larger
life of the community through productive involvement in the economy.
-By 1900 new generations of women activists led by Carrie Chapman Catt (stressed
giving women the vote).
-Ida B. Wells for better treatment for Blacks, formed the National Association of Colored
Women (1896)
XIX. Prohibition of Alcohol
-Concern over the popularity of alcohol was also present, marked by the formation of the
National Prohibition Party in 1869.
- American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals formed 1866 to discourage
the mistreatment of livestock
- American Red Cross, formed by Clara Burton (Civil War nurse) was formed 1881.
XX. Artistic Triumphs
-Art suppressed during the early and mid 1800s
-James Whistler and John Singer Sargent went to Europe to learn art
-Mary Cassatt painted sensitive portraits of women and children
- George Inness became America’s leading landscapist.
-Thomas Eakins was a great realist painter
-Winslow Homer most famous
-sculptors included Augustus Saint-Gaudens (made the Robert Gould Saw memorial in
Boston in 1897)
-Music: opera houses and the emergence of jazz.
XXI. The Business of Amusement
- Phineas T. Barnum and James A. Bailey in 1881 staged the “Greatest Show on Earth”.
-“Wild West” shows
- like “Buffalo Bill” Cody
-baseball and football popular