The Gilded Age 1870s to 1900s This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
Terms to Know civil service system that includes most government jobs, except elected positions, the judiciary, and the military primary election in which voters, rather than party leaders, choose their party s candidate recall process by which people may vote to remove an elected official from office initiative process that allows voters to put a bill before a state legislature referendum way for people to vote directly on a proposed new law graduated income tax method of taxation that taxes people at different rates depending on income 2
What is the Glided Age? For the rich, the late 1800s was a time of fabulous wealth. The era became known as the Gilded Age. To gild is to coat an object with gold leaf. Just as the gold leaf can disguise an object of lesser value, the wealth of a few people masked society s problems, including corrupt politics and widespread poverty. 3 This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
Problems with the Gilded Age 4 AS A RESULT: Americans were outraged and demanded changes to limit the power of monopolies and corruption in the government.
Problems in Turn-of-the-Century America Examples: Lacking aid for the poor; limited suffrage and democracy, corruption Examples: Poverty; alcohol abuse Examples: Power of big corporations; unemployment 5 Examples: Impure food and water; diminishing natural resources
Muckraking! The Original Fake News Checkers Muckrakers were a group of writers who exposed corruption in American society around 1900. Lewis W. Hine Lincoln Steffens Ida Tarbell Upton Sinclair 6 Jacob Riis Harvey Washington Wiley
Muckraker Trading Card Assignment Some questions to help you answer parts of the trading cards: 1. Role: What was the muckraker s job or work? 2.Location: What area of the U.S./World was this person located for most of their lives? 3.Problem: What problem/challenge was this muckraker trying to solve? 4.Goal: What outcome/end-result was this muckraker trying to achieve? 5. Outcome: Did this muckraker succeed? What happened as 7 a result? 6.Time period: Date of Birth- Date of Death
Independent Research Now that you have completed the six muckrakers I wanted you to learn about, I want you to take this project one step further and research a muckraker of your choice from the following: Ida B. Wells Anti- Lynching Activist Ray Stannard Baker Right to work activist Florence Kelley Children Activist 8 ADD A FOOTER MM.DD.20XX
Bell work Obj.: SWBAT explain how government corruption led to the rise in progressivism. EQ: How did corruption in the U.S. government led to the rise of the progress movement? 9 ADD A FOOTER MM.DD.20XX
Business Reforms In 1887, a law was aimed at ending the unfair practices of the railroads. Interstate Commerce Act Prohibited practices such as rebates Set up the Interstate Commerce Commission to oversee railroads 10
In 1890, Congress passed a law to regulate the ruthless business tactics of the trusts. SHERMAN ANTITRUST ACT Prohibited businesses from trying to limit or destroy competition. Was meant to limit bug business, was first used against labor unions! 11 ADD A FOOTER MM.DD.20XX
Government Corruption Government corruption was especially hard to control in the nation s cities. 12 Powerful city bosses grew rich accepting bribes and other payoffs.
Spoils System Much of the government corruption of the time stemmed from the spoils system. Presidents gave jobs to people as a reward for political support. Some were qualified; 13 ADD A FOOTER many were not. MM.DD.20XX
To combat corruption in the government, President Arthur signed a law in 1883 that required government jobs be filled on the basis of merit. Pendleton Created the Civil Service Commission 14 Act Jobs would go to those scoring the highest on civil service exams
Widespread corruption led to a surge in support for the Progressive movement 15 Governor Robert La Follette introduced a series of Progressive reforms known as the Wisconsin Idea. Commissioned experts to solve problems Supported primary elections of candidates Many other states followed Wisconsin s lead, passing new laws to protect the public interest.
Progressive reforms also resulted in two new amendments to the Constitution, both ratified in 1913 16 th Amendment 17 th Amendment Gave Congress the power to have a graduated income tax. Required senators to be directly elected, instead of appointed 16 ADD A FOOTER MM.DD.20XX
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Bell work Obj.: SWBAT discuss the rise of other reform movements during the 1900 s and their overall accomplishments. EQ: How were groups excluded from mainstream reform movements able to bring about change? 18 ADD A FOOTER MM.DD.20XX
Terms to Know suffragist people who worked for women s right to vote prohibition a ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol lynching murder by a mob 19 ADD A FOOTER MM.DD.20XX
20 Excluded but, Not Retreating As the Progressive Era pushed the United States into a new era, new groups began fighting for rights that had been previously denied.
The Temperance Movement Worked to limit/outright ban the drinking of alcohol The movement spread rapidly under the influence of the churches; by 1833 there were 6,000 local societies in several U.S. states. Temperance and abstinence became the objects of education and legislation in many regions. 21
Women s efforts with the Temperance Movement pushed Congress to pass the 18 th Amendment in 1917 18 th Amendment Established the prohibition of "intoxicating liquors" in the United States. 22
Suffrage for Women 23 The most important goal of women reformers was women s suffrage. National Woman Suffrage Association Founded by Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony in 1869 Pushed for a constitutional amendment giving women suffrage rights
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Suffering for Suffrage 19 th Amendment Granted suffrage rights to women in the United States. 25 The Nineteenth Amendment doubled the number of eligible voters. Some people saw women s suffrage as the final victory, while others saw it as one step on the road to full equality.
26 African American Reform Movements
A Familiar Problem: Lynching Most of the lynching's that took place happened in the South. A big reason for this was the end of the Civil War. Most of the lynching in the West came from the lynching of either murders or cattle thief s. Alaska, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut were a few states that had no lynching's between 1882-1968. 27
Lynching Statistics From 1882-1968, 4,743 lynching's occurred in the United States. Of these people that were lynched 3,446 were black.. Out of the 4,743 people lynched only 1,297 white people were lynched. Many of the whites lynched were lynched for helping the black or being anti lynching and even for domestic crimes. 28
African American Reformers in Action Booker T. Washington 29 Born into slavery Helped found the Tuskegee Institute Advised African Americans to learn trades and move up gradually in society W.E.B. Du Bois First African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard Agreed with Washington on the need for education Urged blacks to fight discrimination now
The National Association for the Advancement for Colored People The NAACP was established in 1909 and is America s oldest and largest civil rights organization. It was formed in New York City by white and black activists in response to the ongoing violence against African Americans. The organization originally focused on anti-lynching campaigns but, would move on to movement like the Civil Rights Movement in the 50 s. 30 This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
A Familiar Immigrant Group Mexican immigration in the 20th century came in three great surges of growth. The first surge began in the 1900s. Revolution in Mexico and a strong U.S. economy brought a tremendous increase in Mexican immigration rates. El Paso, Texas, served as the Mexican Ellis Island. For many Mexican immigrants, moving to the U.S. was not necessarily a one-time journey of permanent relocation. ADD A FOOTER 31
Drawbacks of Immigration Mexican Americans were also targets of discrimination. Their children were forced to go to separate schools. They were denied skilled jobs and often worked as manual laborers. They were paid less than Anglo workers. 32
Not like Other Immigrants However, Mexicans were sometimes said to have certain positive qualities that made them better labor immigrants than the other immigrant groups. Americans believed Mexican immigrants as wellbehaved, quiet, physically strong, and able to put up with unhealthy and demanding working conditions. Americans also perceived Mexican immigrants as temporary migrants, who were far more likely to return to Mexico than to settle permanently in the United States. Mexican Americans were even excluded from immigration quotas 33
Chinese-American Immigration The Panic of 1873, an economic depression, led to riots, strikes and civil unrest and high levels of unemployment throughout the U.S. Immigrants were blamed which led to violent clashes and there were calls for the exclusion of Chinese immigrants in the West. By 1882, things got so bad that Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, virtually banning all Chinese immigration into the United States. MM.DD.20XX 34
Chinese Exclusion Acts The statute of 1882 suspended Chinese immigration for ten years and declared the Chinese as ineligible for naturalization. The act was renewed in 1892 for another ten years, and in 1902 Chinese immigration was made permanently illegal. American experience with Chinese exclusion spurred later movements for immigration restriction against other "undesirable" groups. Employers on the West Coast began to hire Asian immigrants from other countries, such as Japan due to this act. 35