GILDED AGE The Expansion of Industry

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1 GILDED AGE The Expansion of Industry BLACK GOLD In the 1840s, Americans began using kerosene to light lamps after a Canadian inventor discovered how to make the fuel from oil or coal. In 1859, Edwin L. Drake used a steam engine to drill for oil near Titusville, Pennsylvania. Pulling oil from the Earth became practical. This started an oil industry that spread to Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and, later, Texas. The industry of refining (taking raw petroleum and making it into products like kerosene or gas) petroleum began in Cleveland and Pittsburgh. BESSEMER STEEL PROCESS There was huge amounts of coal and iron in the United States. In 1887, iron ore was discovered in Minnesota. Coal production went from 33 million tons in 1870 to more than 250 million in Removing carbon from iron made steel. The Bessemer process was created in England was used in America around This involved putting air into melted iron to remove the carbon and other things that weaken it. By 1880, America was making about 90 percent of the nation s steel. NEW USES FOR STEEL The railroads were the biggest customers for steel, but Joseph Glidden s barbed wire and McCormick s and Deere s farm machines also used the better steel. Steel changed the nation by allowing new types of construction possible like the Brooklyn Bridge completed in It went across 1,595 feet of the East River in New York City. These advancements led to the first skyscraper with a steel frame the Home Insurance Building in Chicago. THE POWER OF ELECTRICITY In 1876, Thomas Alva Edison created the world s first research laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. He helped to make a better light bulb patented in Another inventor, George Westinghouse, made electricity safer and cheaper. By 1890, electric power ran many machines, from fans to printing presses. Electric streetcars made city travel cheap and fast, it helped cities grow. With electricity, manufacturers could put their plants wherever they wanted. Huge operations, such as the Armour and Swift meatpacking plants, became the models for new industries. INVENTIONS CHANGE LIFESTYLES Next to the light bulb, perhaps the most important invention was the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson in Inventions like the typewriter and the telephone created new jobs for women. Although women made up less than 5 percent of all office workers in 1870, by 1910 they were nearly 40 percent of the clerical (office help) workers. With industrialization, clothing could be mass-produced in factories, creating a need for workers, many were women. By 1890, the average workweek had been shortened by about ten hours. The Age of the Railroads A NATIONAL NETWORK By 1869, the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads met at Promontory, Utah. A golden spike marked the start of the nation s first transcontinental railroad. Other transcontinental lines followed. 1

2 ROMANCE AND REALITY The Central Pacific Railroad employed thousands of Chinese immigrants. The Union Pacific hired Irish immigrants and out-of-work Civil War veterans to lay track. Facing attacks by Native Americans, accidents and diseases thousands died each year. In 1888, the casualties were more than 2,000 employees killed and 20,000 injured. RAILROAD TIME In 1869, a plan was created that divided Earth into 24 time zones, one for each hour of the day. Under his plan, the U. S. had 4 zones: the Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific. The railroads liked the plan, and in 1884, an international conference set worldwide time zones. The U.S. Congress didn t use railroad time as the standard for the nation until PULLMAN In 1880, George M. Pullman built a factory to make sleeper cars in Illinois. Pullman built a city for his employees who lived in clean, well-made brick buildings. The town offered services such as doctors offices, shops, and a field. However, the residents had to follow strict rules like not drinking alcohol. Pullman hoped that these rules would make a stable work force, but the 1894 Pullman Strike, workers went on strike to earn higher pay, he refused to lower rents. CRÉDIT MOBILIER In one of the worst scandals, stockholders of the Union Pacific Railroad formed a construction company, in 1864, called Crédit Mobilier. They gave this company contracts to lay track but at 2 to 3 times the real cost. To control government, they gave some shares of stock to about 20 representatives in Congress in 1867 as bribe. An investigation started due to reports in the New York Sun and found they had taken up to $23 million in stocks, bonds, and cash. Many were Republicans such as Vice-President Schuyler Colfax were found to have taken money, but got no real punishment. It hurt the Republican Party. The Grange and the Railroads Farmers were hurt by corruption in the railroads. The Grangers, founded in 1867, demanded governmental control over the railroad industry. RAILROAD ABUSES Farmers were angry with railroads for many reasons, such as misuse of government land grants, which the railroads sold to other businesses rather than to settlers, as the government had wanted. The railroads made agreements to fix prices that kept farmers in debt. They charged different customers different rates, often charging more for routes with no competition. GRANGER LAWS The Grangers took political action. They successfully pressed for laws to protect their interests. In 1871 Illinois made laws to set maximum freight and passenger rates and stop discrimination. Grangers in other states worked to pass similar laws, called Granger laws. The railroads fought back. In 1877, however, in the case of Munn v. Illinois, the Supreme Court upheld the Granger laws. The states thus won the right to regulate the railroads to help farmers. The Grangers also helped establish the federal government s right to regulate private industry to protect the public. INTERSTATE COMMERCE ACT In 1886, the Supreme Court ruled that Munn v Illinois was unconstitutional, so a state could not set rates on interstate commerce, so Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act in

3 This act re-established the right of the federal government to oversee railroads and create a fivemember Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC). The ICC had difficulty regulating railroad rates. In 1897, the Supreme Court ruled that it could not set maximum railroad rates. Not until 1906, under President Theodore Roosevelt, did the ICC gain the power it needed. Big Business and Labor Carnegie s Innovations By 1865, Andrew Carnegie left his job at the Pennsylvania Railroad. He went into the steel business in By 1899, the Carnegie Steel Company made more steel than all the factories in Great Britain. NEW BUSINESS STRATEGIES Carnegie s success was partly due to the way he ran the company. He always looked for ways to make better products with less money. He used new machinery and methods. He got top employees by giving them stock in the company. Carnegie wanted to control the steel industry. He did this by vertical integration; he bought companies the supplied raw materials for his steel company. He also owned the transportation systems. Carnegie also tried to buy out steel makers; this is known as horizontal integration. That is when a company buys up other businesses that make the same product. PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL DARWINISM The philosophy called Social Darwinism came from Charles Darwin s theory of evolution. In his book On the Origin of Species, published in 1859, it explained that the best get to live. It was used to explain why the rich deserved to be rich, and it was a sign of God s approval. It supported that the marketplace should not be run by the government. GROWTH AND CONSOLIDATION When one company bought the stocks of another company, it is called a merger. A monopoly is when a company bought out all companies in the same business. One way to create a monopoly was to set up a holding company, a corporation that bought out stock of other companies in the same business. J. P. Morgan controlled United States Steel; it was one of the most successful holding companies. In 1901, Carnegie Steel became the world s largest business. Corporations such as the Standard Oil Company, created by John D. Rockefeller, joined with other companies in the same business to form trust agreements to control the oil industry. Trusts were not legal. ROCKEFELLER AND THE ROBBER BARONS In 1870, Rockefeller s Standard Oil Company of Ohio only provided 3% of the country s crude oil. By 1880, it controlled 90% of that business. He became rich by paying employees low pay and beating competition by selling oil at lower prices than it cost to make. When he controlled the market, he increased prices. These practices gave these men the title of robber barons : a man as rich as a king, but their money came from the suffering of others. However, these same men at times were also philanthropists (people who use their money to help others). Rockefeller gave away over $500 million. Andrew Carnegie gave about 90% his wealth. SHERMAN ANTITRUST ACT In 1890, the Sherman Antitrust Act made it illegal to form a trust that hurt free trade. It was a weak law and written unclearly, so the government gave up trying to enforce the Sherman act. 3

4 LONG HOURS AND DANGER Steel mills had workers on the job 7 days a week, and textile workers did 12 or more hours a day, 6 days a week. In 1882, around 675 laborers were killed at work each week. Sweatshop jobs paid the lowest wages (27 cents for a child s 14-hour day). In 1899, women earned an average of $267 a year, ½ of men s average pay of $498. EARLY LABOR ORGANIZING The National Labor Union (NLU), was formed in They did not allow African Americans, so the Colored National Labor Union (CNLU) was formed. In 1868, the NLU got a law to set an 8 hour day for government workers. In 1869, the Noble Order of the Knights of Labor was founded. Membership was open to all workers. They wanted an 8 hour workday and equal pay for men and women. They felt strikes were a last choice. CRAFT UNIONISM Samuel Gompers combined the Cigar Makers International with other craft unions in The American Federation of Labor (AFL) worked toward collective bargaining, a meeting between labor and management to solve problems. The AFL often used strikes. Successful strikes helped them win higher wages and shorter workweeks. Between 1890 and 1915, the wages for union workers rose from $17.50 to $24, and the average workweek went from 54.5 hours to under 49 hours. INDUSTRIAL UNIONISM Eugene V. Debs formed the American Railway Union (ARU). Most members were unskilled. In 1894, they won higher wages. SOCIALISM AND THE IWW Eugene Debs felt socialism was best for America. Socialism is an economic and political system in which the government controls how companies do business. In 1905, unionists and socialists in Chicago organized the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), or the Wobblies. They were miners, dock workers and other labor. The IWW allowed African Americans. THE GREAT STRIKE OF 1877 The Great Strike of 1877 was when workers for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) went on strike to protest a 2 nd wage cut in 2 months. Most trains were stopped for over a week, and President Rutherford B. Hayes sent in troops, because the strike was hurting trade. THE HOMESTEAD STRIKE In the Homestead Strike, steelworkers called a strike on June 29, 1892, after the company planned to cut wages. The company hired guards from the Pinkerton Detective Agency to guard scabs as they came to replace workers. The event became violent killing 3 detectives and 9 workers. The steelworkers stayed until the Pennsylvania National Guard came. The strike lasted until November when the union lost support and gave in to the company. THE PULLMAN COMPANY STRIKE Due to the Panic of 1893, Pullman laid off more than 3,000 employees and cut wages up to 50 %, but they did not lower the cost of housing. The Pullman Strike of 1894 occurred when economy improved, and Pullman did not raise wages. Eugene Debs want to reach a compromise, but Pullman said no. ARU boycotted Pullman trains. Pullman hired scabs, and the strike turned violent. President Grover Cleveland sent federal troops, Debs was jailed, and most of the strikers were fired. 4

5 WOMEN ORGANIZE Women were not allowed to join most unions. They wanted better working conditions, equal pay, and an end to child labor. Many supported Mary Harris Jones. Jones organized the United Mine Workers of America (UMW). She even went to jail with the coal miners, who nicknamed her Mother Jones. In 1903, she led 80 mill children to the home of President Theodore Roosevelt to push for child labor laws. In 1909, Pauline Newman became an organizer of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU). When a fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City in 1911, many supported the ILGWU. The fire spread quickly in the oil-soaked machines and piles of cloth. Workers tried to run, but they found that the company had locked all but one of the doors. The factory had no sprinkler system, and the 1 fire escape broke. 146 women died. The public became angry, but a jury did not punish the factory owners for manslaughter. MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNMENT PRESSURE UNIONS The more powerful the unions became, the more employers began to fear them. Many did not allow union meetings, fired union members, and forced new employees to sign yellow-dog contracts, swearing that they would not join a union. Industrial leaders turned the Sherman Antitrust Act against labor, because a strike, picket line, or boycott would hurt interstate trade, and the state or federal government would issue an order to stop labor s action. The New Immigrants EUROPEANS Between 1870 and 1920, approximately 20 million Europeans came to the United States. Before 1890, most immigrants came from western and northern Europe. In the 1890 s, many came from southern and eastern Europe. In 1907, about a million people arrived from Italy, Austria- Hungary, and Russia. Many Jews were sent out of Russia. CHINESE AND JAPANESE Between 1851 and 1883, about 300,000 Chinese came to the West Coast. Many came to find gold or work on the railroads. Later they worked in farming, mining, and service jobs. Chinese immigration was limited by a law in In 1884, the Japanese government allowed Hawaiian farmers to hire Japanese workers. The United States annexation of Hawaii in 1898 increased Japanese immigration. By 1920, 200,000 Japanese lived in the West. THE WEST INDIES AND MEXICO Between 1880 and 1920, about 260,000 immigrants arrived from the West Indies. The 1902 National Reclamation Act pushed for irrigation to create new farmland in Western states, and this brought Mexican workers. About 7% of Mexico at the time came over the next 20 years. A DIFFICULT JOURNEY The trip across the Atlantic from Europe took 1 week, while the Pacific crossing from Asia took 3 weeks. Many traveled in the ship s cargo area. Not allowed on deck, they were crowded together. Disease spread quickly, and some immigrants died before they reached the U.S. ELLIS ISLAND Immigrants had to pass inspection at stations, such as the one at Ellis Island in New York Harbor. About 20% at Ellis Island were held for a day or more before being looked over. About 2% were sent away. Processing might take 5 hours or more. First, they had to pass a physical exam by a 5

6 doctor. Anyone with a serious health problem or disease, like tuberculosis (TB), was sent home. Next they saw a government inspector. The inspector checked documents to see if they met the legal requirements. They had to prove they had never been in jail for a felony, show that they were able to work, and that they had some money (at least $25 after 1909). From 1892 to 1924, Ellis Island saw about 17 million immigrants. ANGEL ISLAND Asians most Chinese coming to the West Coast went through Angel Island in San Francisco Bay. Between 1910 and 1940, about 50,000 Chinese entered. Coming through Angel Island was worse than Ellis Island. Immigrants faced harsh questioning and were held for a long time in dirty rooms. COOPERATION FOR SURVIVAL Immigrants faced the problems of finding a place to live, getting a job, and trying to understand the language and culture. Many ethnic neighborhoods grew by putting their money together to build churches, create orphanages, old people s homes, and cemeteries. They published newspapers in their own languages. Immigration Restrictions Many native-born Americans thought of the U.S. as a melting pot, a mixture of people of different cultures and races that come together and leave their native languages and customs. Many new immigrants did not want to give up their culture. As immigration increased anti-immigrant feelings rose. THE RISE OF NATIVISM Nativism rose again and led to anti-immigrant groups and a demand for immigration restrictions. Many believed Anglo-Saxons white ancestors of the English were better than other groups. They preferred people from the right countries. The Immigration Restriction League (1894), favored British, German, and Scandinavian. They felt that problems were caused by immigrants from the wrong countries Slavic, Latin, and Asian. Nativists were against some immigrants religions. Most were Protestants and worried that Roman Catholics and Jews would harm the U.S. In 1897, Congress created a reading test for immigrants that required them to read 40 words in English or their native language. ANTI-ASIAN SENTIMENT Nativism also grew in the West, where native-born workers feared that jobs would go to Chinese immigrants who accepted lower wages. The depression of 1873 worsened anti-chinese feelings in California. Jobs were harder to come by, and labor groups put pressure on the government to restrict Asian immigration. In 1882, Congress stopped Chinese immigration for 10 years with the Chinese Exclusion Act. This stopped all Chinese except students, teachers, merchants, tourists, and government officials from coming into the U.S. In 1892, Congress extended the law for another 10 years. In 1902, Chinese immigration was restricted without a stated end date; the law was repealed in THE GENTLEMEN S AGREEMENT In 1906, the local board of education in San Francisco segregated Japanese children by putting them in separate schools. Some Japanese protested, and President Theodore Roosevelt worked out a deal. Under the Gentlemen s Agreement of , Japan s government agreed to limit the number of unskilled workers to the United States in exchange for the repeal of the San Francisco segregation order. 6

7 Immigration Laws Law Roots Provisions Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) Gentleman's Agreement (1907) Literacy Tests (1917) Emergency Quota Act (1921) National Origins Act (1924) Many on the west coast feared Chinese immigration would lead to competition for jobs. A fear of the loss of jobs. Japan and US reached an agreement ending future Japanese immigration. Many believed non-english speaking immigrants were a threat to assimilation and loyalty to the US. Due to WW I, many wanted to isolate the US from foreign governments a limit to immigration. Nativist was against more immigrants from southern and eastern Europeans and Asian immigration. Limited Chinese immigration with rules for types of workers allowed and no families could join existing immigrants. Not a formal law, it did lower Japanese immigration. Denied admission to any immigrant who could not pass a basic reading/writing test. Limited the number of immigrants allowed to 350,000 per year. Restricted immigration based the numbers from a specific region of the world with a bias towards the northern and western European nations. The Challenges of Urbanization Urban Opportunities The growing industries of the U.S. resulted in urbanization, or growth of cities. IMMIGRANTS SETTLE IN CITIES Most immigrants moved to cities because that was the cheapest and easiest place to live. Cities had jobs in mills and factories. By 1910, immigrant families made up more than ½ the population of 18 major American cities. The Americanization Movement was created to help immigrants become a successful part of the American culture. This was pushed by the government. Schools and charities had programs to teach immigrants skills needed for citizenship, such as English literacy, American history and government. Subjects such as cooking and social etiquette (polite behavior) were added, but many did not want to give up their traditions. Ethnic neighborhoods supported immigrants from the same country where they could speak their own language and practice their customs and religion. These neighborhoods became overcrowded. MIGRATION FROM COUNTRY TO CITY Improvements and inventions made farming more efficient, and fewer workers were needed. As farms merged, many rural people moved to cities to find work. Between 1890 and 1910 in the Great Migration, about 200,000 African American Southern farmers moved north and west, to cities such as Chicago and Detroit, to escape racial violence, economic and political troubles. Those problems were also in the North as competition for jobs caused more racial tension. Urban Problems City governments faced problems of how to give residents the needed services, clean and safe living conditions. HOUSING When the industrial age began, the working-class had 2 housing choices. They could either buy a house outside of town with transportation problems, or rent small rooms in the city. As the 7

8 population increased, new types of housing were created. Row houses single-family dwellings that shared side walls with other similar houses packed families onto a single block. Immigrants sometimes crowded 2 or 3 families into a 1 family space. These tenements were overcrowded and unhealthy. In 1879, to improve conditions, New York City passed a law that set standards for plumbing and ventilation in apartments. Landlords began building tenements with air shafts that gave an outside window for each room. However garbage picked up was not often enough, and people dumped it into the air shafts, where it attracted rats and other vermin. To keep out the stink, they nailed windows shut. Tenements soon became even worse places. TRANSPORTATION Improvements in mass transit, transportation systems were created to move large numbers of people. Street cars came to San Francisco in 1873 and electric subways in Boston in By the early 20th century, many urban areas were linked city neighborhoods. Cities repaired old systems and built new ones to meet the demand of growing populations. WATER Cities had to provide safe drinking water. In the 1840s and 1850s, cities like New York built public waterworks to handle the demand. By the 1860s, even large cities like New York seldom had indoor plumbing. People had to collect water in pails from faucets on the street and heat it for bathing. There was a need to improve water quality to prevent diseases such as cholera and typhoid fever. To make city water safer, filtering was introduced in the 1870s and adding chlorine in However, many still had no access to safe water. SANITATION As the cities grew, so did the problem of keeping them clean. Horse manure piled up on the streets, sewage flowed through open gutters, and factories put foul smoke into the air. Without dependable trash service, people dumped their garbage on the streets. By 1900, many cities had developed sewer lines and created sanitation departments. CRIME Crime increased with growth. The number of pickpockets and thieves increased. Although New York City organized the first full-time, paid police force in 1844, its units were too small to have much impact on crime. THE SETTLEMENT HOUSE MOVEMENT The Social Gospel movement preached about helping the poor. In the late 1800s, settlement houses, centers to help poor and immigrants were formed. These were mostly run by middle-class, college-educated women to provide educational, cultural, and social services. They had classes on English, health, and painting, and offered college courses. These houses also sent nurses into the homes of the sick. Settlement houses in the United States were founded by Charles Stover and Stanton Coit in New York City in Jane Addams founded Chicago s Hull House in In 1890, Janie Porter Barrett founded Locust Street Social Settlement in Hampton, Virginia the first settlement house for African Americans. By 1910, about 400 settlement houses were in cities across the country. The settlement houses helped build social responsibility toward the urban poor. Politics in the Gilded Age THE POLITICAL MACHINE An organized group that controlled a political party in a city or a political machine offered deals to voters and businesses in exchange for support. Political machines gained control of local 8

9 government in New York, San Francisco, and other major cities. The machine had captains trying to get voters support in a neighborhood. They were under a ward boss who controlled the voters in an electoral district who helped the poor and got votes by doing favors. At the top was a city boss, who controlled the political party in the city. THE ROLE OF THE POLITICAL BOSS The boss controlled who got city jobs and business licenses, and ran the courts and other city offices. Bosses like Roscoe Conkling in New York used power to build parks, sewer systems, and utilities, and gave money to schools, hospitals, and orphanages. Bosses gave support for new businesses, in exchange for money. By solving urban problems, bosses could win voters loyalty, win political support, and gain more power. IMMIGRANTS AND THE MACHINE Many captains and bosses were first generation or second-generation immigrants. They could speak to immigrants in their own language and understood their problems. The machines helped with naturalization (becoming a citizen), housing, and jobs. The immigrants were expected to give what the political bosses needed votes. ELECTION FRAUD AND GRAFT If the number of voters was not enough to win, some used fraud. Using fake names, many voted several times. Once a political machine got its person into office, it could receive graft (illegal use of political power). For example, by helping a person find work, a machine could ask the worker to charge the city over the real cost to build. The worker then kicked back part of the money to the machine. They also gave favors to businesses to get cash, and they took bribes to allow illegal activities, such as gambling. Politicians often got away with crime because the police rarely got involved. Until about 1890, police forces were hired and fired by political bosses. THE TWEED RING SCANDAL William M. Tweed, known as Boss Tweed, became head of Tammany Hall, New York City s Democratic political machine, in Between 1869 and 1871, he led the Tweed Ring, a group of politicians, to make money off the city. One plan involved building the New York County Courthouse. It cost taxpayers $13 million, but the real cost was $3 million. The extra went to Tweed and his men. Thomas Nast, a political cartoonist, helped show Tammany Hall s graft, and the Tweed Ring was finally broken in Tweed was arrested on 120 counts and was sentenced to 12 years in jail. His sentence was dropped to 1 year, but after leaving jail, Tweed was arrested on another charge. While serving a second sentence, Tweed escaped. He was captured in Spain when they identified him from a Thomas Nast cartoon. PATRONAGE SPURS REFORM Many complained about patronage (giving of government jobs to people who had helped them get elected). In Andrew Jackson s administration, this was known as the spoils system. Some government employees were not qualified for the jobs. Some used their job illegally to make money. Reformers asked for a merit system in hiring. Jobs in civil service government workers should be based on the most qualified persons not their political friends. REFORM UNDER ARTHUR Chester A. Arthur, was the vice-president for James A Garfield. Garfield angered the Stalwarts by giving reformers most of the jobs once he was elected. On July 2, 1881, as he walked through a Washington, D.C., train station, he was shot by a mentally ill lawyer named Charles Guiteau. He announced, I did it... I am a Stalwart and Arthur is now president. Garfield later died. Chester Arthur became a reformer and worked to pass the Pendleton Civil Service Act of 9

10 1883. It set up a group to hire the best men for federal jobs through a merit system based on their performance on a test. Science and Urban Life Technology and City Life By 1890, it became 58 cities. By 1900, 2/5 Americans lived in cities. SKYSCRAPERS Taller buildings were possible because of 2 things: the invention of elevators and stronger steel to hold the weight of buildings. In 1891 Louis Sullivan designed the 10 story Wainwright Building in St. Louis. He called it a skyscraper. The Flatiron Building, 285-foot tower in 1902, was set at a New York s busy intersections. ELECTRIC TRANSIT In some cities during the 1870s and 1880s, underground moving cables powered streetcar lines. Electricity changed urban transportation. In 1888 Richmond, Virginia, was the first city to use electricity for urban transit. By 1900, electric streetcars called trolley cars ran from neighborhoods to downtown. New railroads ran between suburbs and downtown. A few cities moved streetcars above street level, creating elevated or el trains. Other cities, like New York, built subways by moving rail lines underground. ENGINEERING AND URBAN PLANNING Steel-cabled bridges, like the Brooklyn Bridge, brought cities closer together. Landscape architects started a movement for planned urban parks. In 1857 a plan for Central Park, in New York City was designed. In the 1870s, landscaping was done for Washington, D.C. A REVOLUTION IN PRINTING By 1890, the literacy rate in the United States had risen to nearly 90%. Publishers printed an increasing numbers of books, magazines, and newspapers. American mills produced cheap paper. The new paper was strong enough to use in high-speed presses. An electrical powered press printed on both sides of a paper roll. It then cut, folded, and counted the pages as they came down the line. Faster machines and lower costs made newspapers and magazines cheaper. People could now buy newspapers for a penny a copy. AIRPLANES Brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright, bicycle makers from Ohio, built a 4 cylinder internal combustion engine, and designed a biplane with a 40 4 wingspan. Their first successful flight on December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina covered 120 feet and lasted 12 seconds. By 1920, the U.S. had the first transcontinental airmail service. PHOTOGRAPHY EXPLOSION Before the 1880s, photography was only for professionals. George Eastman developed a way to process photographs using flexible film sent to a studio to be developed. Eastman made the product available to the public, and in 1888, he introduced his Kodak Camera for $25which included a 100-picture roll of film. After taking the pictures, the photographer would send the camera back to Eastman s Rochester, New York, factory. For $10, the pictures were developed and returned with the camera reloaded. The Kodak helped millions of Americans to become photographers. The camera helped to create the new career of photojournalism. 10

11 Expanding Public Education SCHOOLS FOR CHILDREN Between 1865 and 1895, states passed laws requiring school attendance 12 to 16 weeks per year by students between 8 and 14. They called for reading, writing, and math to be taught. Often poor quality of teachers, strict rules, and physical punishment made students dislike school. Public school systems began to add kindergartens. Public education opportunities were different for white and black students. Not until the 1940s was public school education available to most of the black children living in the South. THE GROWTH OF HIGH SCHOOLS By early 1900, more than ½ million students attended high school. Classes grew to include science, civics, and social studies. New vocational classes prepared males in drafting, carpentry, and mechanics, and females for office work. RACIAL DISCRIMINATION African Americans were mostly left out of public secondary education. EDUCATION FOR IMMIGRANTS Unlike African Americans, immigrants were encouraged to go to school. Most sent their children to America s free public schools, where they became Americanized. Some did not like the giving up of their native languages. Catholics were worried because many public schools made students read from a Protestant Bible, so they often set up their own schools to give a Catholic education. Thousands of adult immigrants went to night school to learn English and to qualify for citizenship. Employers often offered daytime programs to Americanize workers. Henry Ford established a Sociology Department to teach American ways, the English language, and the right way to live. Labor unions protested that his goal was to weaken the trade unions. Expanding Higher Education The number of students in high school had increased by 1900, but only a few earned diplomas, only 2.3% went on to colleges. CHANGES IN UNIVERSITIES Research universities offered classes in modern languages, the physical sciences, and the new sciences of psychology and sociology. Professional schools in law and medicine were founded. HIGHER EDUCATION FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS With the help of the Freedmen s Bureau, blacks founded Howard, Morehouse, and Atlanta Universities opened by By 1900, only 3,880 out of 9 million African Americans were at secondary schools. The African American educator, Booker T. Washington, believed racism would end once blacks had gained useful labor skills and proved their value to society. Born a slave, by 1881, he headed the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, now called Tuskegee University, in Alabama. It taught African Americans to be teachers and other useful skills. W. E. B. Du Bois who was the first African American to receive a doctorate from Harvard (in 1895) disagreed with Washington. In 1905, he founded the Niagara Movement to push for blacks getting a liberal arts education so that the African-American community would have welleducated leaders. Du Bois wanted a group of educated blacks, the most talented tenth of the community, to gain immediate access into white American society. 11

12 Segregation and Discrimination VOTING RESTRICTIONS All Southern states made it difficult for African Americans to vote. Some states limited the vote to people who could read, and had officials give tests. Blacks were often asked more difficult questions than whites, or given a test in a foreign language. Officials could fail anyone. Another requirement was a poll tax that had to be paid before voting. Black and white sharecroppers were often too poor to pay. To help white voters who failed the reading test or could not pay the poll tax, several states added the grandfather clause to their constitutions. It allowed a man to vote if his father or his grandfather had been able to vote before January 1, The date is important because before that, freed slaves did not have the right to vote. JIM CROW LAWS During the 1870s and 1880s, the Supreme Court upheld the poll tax and the grandfather clause, even though the laws went against federal protections of civil rights. Southern states also passed racial segregation laws to separate white and black people in public and private places. These laws were known as Jim Crow laws after a popular song of the time. Segregation was found in schools, hospitals, parks, and transportation systems throughout the South. PLESSY v. FERGUSON In 1896, in Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public places was legal and did not go against the 14 th Amendment. It made the idea of separate but equal stronger and allowed racial segregation for almost 60 years. Booker T. Washington an African American suggested that whites and blacks work together for social progress. He hoped that improving the skills of African Americans would work toward long-term equality. He saw this as a way to gain full acceptance by white society. However, people like Ida B. Wells and W. E. B. Du Bois thought that ending discrimination was too important to wait for. VIOLENCE African Americans and others who did not follow the racist code of behavior could face punishment or death. Blacks who were accused of breaking social rules were often lynched (hung without trial). From 1882 and 1892, more than 1,400 black men and women were shot, burned, or lynched in the South. DISCRIMINATION IN THE NORTH Most African Americans lived in the South, but by 1900, many had moved to Northern cities to find jobs and equality. However, they found racism in the North as well. African Americans found segregated neighborhoods and discrimination. Labor unions often did not want black members, and many employers did not hire. Sometimes finding a job led to violence with workingclass whites, as in the New York City race riot of The Dawn of Mass Culture p498 AMUSEMENT PARKS Chicago, New York City, and other cities began setting aside land for city parks. Many cities built playgrounds and playing fields for citizens. Some amusement parks were built on the outer parts of cities. The roller coaster brought customers to Coney Island in 1884, and the first Ferris wheel drew crowds to the World s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in

13 BICYCLING and SPECTATOR SPORTS The first American bicycles had huge front wheels and solid rubber tires. They were difficult and dangerous to ride, so it began as a male-only sport. In 1885, the first successful safety bicycle with smaller wheels and air-filled tires made the activity more popular. The Victor Safety Bicycle with a dropped frame and no crossbar was appealing to women. Without tight corsets, women riders wore shirtwaists (tailored blouses) and split skirts. Fifty thousand men and women had cycles by New rules changed baseball into a professional sport. In 1845, Alexander J. Cartwright started a club in New York City, and set down rules. Five years later, 50 baseball clubs were in the United States, and New York had 12 clubs in the mid-1860s. In 1869, a professional team named the Cincinnati Red Stockings played across the country. The National League was formed in 1876 and the American League in In the 1 st World Series, held in 1903, the Boston Pilgrims beat the Pittsburgh Pirates. African- American baseball players were not allowed in these leagues, so they formed their own clubs and 2 leagues the Negro National League and the Negro American League. The Spread of Mass Culture As the number of Americans who went to school and learned to read, the demand for art galleries, libraries, books, and museums became more popular. Inventions led to hundreds of motion pictures. Mass-production printing led to thousands of books, magazines, and newspapers. MASS CIRCULATION NEWSPAPERS American newspapers began using extreme headlines to get more readers. Joseph Pulitzer bought the New York World in 1883 and changed the industry with a large Sunday edition, comics, a sports section, and women s news. He used sin, sex, and sensation to sell more papers than William Randolph Hearst, who owned the New York Morning Journal and the San Francisco Examiner, tried to outdo Pulitzer by filling the Journal with tales of scandals, cruelty, and even a fake conquest of Mars. By 1898, the circulation of each paper had reached more than 1 million copies a day. PROMOTING FINE ARTS By 1900, each large city had at least 1 art gallery. Some artists, including Thomas Eakins, used realism, an artistic idea that wanted to show life as it really is. He studied anatomy with medical students and used perspective to create an almost photographic painting. The Ashcan school of art, led by Robert Henri, painted urban life and working people with harsh realism. By 1900, free libraries in America numbered in the thousands. POPULAR FICTION Americans enjoyed reading crime tales and Westerns. These books sold for 10 cents, dime novels. They told of adventures of the West with heroes like Edward Wheeler s Deadwood Dick first published in 1877, and in less than 10 years produced over 30 more. Some wanted more realistic books of American life. Successful writers of the time included Theodore Dreiser, Stephen Crane, Jack London, and Willa Cather. Most did not have the upper-class men and women of Henry James s and Edith Wharton s novels. The novelist Mark Twain wrote American classics such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New Ways to Sell Goods Americans also changed the way they shopped with the shopping center, the department and chain stores, and modern advertising. 13

14 URBAN SHOPPING The nation s earliest form of a shopping center opened in Cleveland, Ohio, in The glass-topped building had 4 levels and had band music on Sundays so that people could spend the afternoon walking and looking at the window displays. These shopping districts started the modern department store. Americans found new snack foods like Hershey chocolate bars, first sold in 1900, and Coca- Cola. An Atlanta pharmacist created the drink as a cure for headaches in The ingredients included coca leaves as well as African cola nuts. THE DEPARTMENT STORE Marshall Field of Chicago started the 1 st department store in America. While working as a store clerk, Field found that paying close attention to women customers could increase sales. In 1865, he opened his own store, with several floors of different departments. THE CHAIN STORE Department stores offered personal services. New chain stores or retail stores began selling the same items in each store under the same ownership. This allowed them to sell goods for less by buying in large quantities with less personal service. By 1911, the Woolworth chain had 596 stores and sold more than a million dollars in goods a week. ADVERTISING Money spent pending for advertising was under $10 million a year in 1865, but it increased to $95 million, by Medicines had the largest advertising, followed by soaps and baking powders. Using newspapers and magazines, advertisers created new ways to sell products. Passengers riding a train in the 1870s might see signs for products on barns, billboards, and even rocks. CATALOGS AND RFD Montgomery Ward and Sears Roebuck brought products to small towns. Ward s catalog, started in 1872, grew from one page in the first year to a booklet with ordering instructions in 10 languages. Richard Sears started his company in By 1910, about 10 million Americans shopped by mail. The United States Post Office boosted mail-order businesses. In 1896 the Post Office introduced a rural free delivery (RFD) system that brought packages directly to every home. 14