Rutherford B Hayes 1876-1881 19 th President VP: William Wheeler Republican elected in 1877 Born: Fremont, Ohio in 1822 Died: at Spiegel Grove, his home in Fremont, Ohio, in 1893.
I. Political Issues (1877-1881) The Gilded Age ElEction of 76/ compromise of 1877 Stirrings of Reform Labor Unrest
The Gilded Age Samuel Clemens Mark Twain Charles Dudley Warner
1.Gilding: coating a cheap substance in a thin layer of gold. 2. The nickname The Gilded Age was coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their fictional book The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873). It referred to the period of time in American history stretching from roughly 1870 1900 WHY?!?!?!?
What made America Gilded? (9)The Gilded Age- The American society, despite its appearance of promise and prosperity, was plagued with corruption and scandal. b. Two themes caused dissention: i. (11) Laissez Faire hands off - the government didn t force companies to be fair ii. Government gained new authority and power at all levels- especially local level. http://us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/lectures/lecture04.html
After the Civil War, neither Republicans or Democrats were in clear control a. As city officials gained more power, they increased taxes to pay for city up-keep. Competition among groups for control of city government grew intense. b. (10) Political machines: unofficial city organizations (who want control of all that tax $$$$$) try to keep their political party or group in power (arose due to clashing interests among groups of politicians)
c. Most political machines were headed by a powerful boss who may or may not have actually held a public office. d. Kickback: promising a job contract to a company, hiking the price of the job, and then receiving a portion of the earnings, which would be known as graft funds illegally acquired through dishonorable behavior.
f. (10 cont)- William Boss Tweed - NYC s most notoriously corrupt political boss was i. Led Tammany Hall in the early 1870s (Democrats) ii. Grew rich off kickbacks/graft from the city s construction jobs, which were padded with fake expenses (They kept the extra money for themselves!) iii. Tweed was arrested in 1873 and died in jail. I don't care who does the electing, so long as I get to do the nominating. -Boss Tweed
Political Machine Basics WHAT??? Political parties that controlled local and state government in late 1800s WHY?? Cities were growing fast! City government disorganized with few reliable services (police, fire, welfare) Immigrants wanted protection, help
Can The Law Reach Him? The Dwarf and the Thief by: Thomas Nast
B. (1) Election of 1876 1. Rutherford B. Hayes (OH)- Repub. a. Promised home rule in the South and civil/ political rights for all (contradictory). 2. Samuel Tilden (NY)- Democrat 3. Tilden won popular vote & possibly 185 electoral votes 4. CHEATING from SC, FL, & LA 5. Each party thinks/claims they won the election.
Election of 1876
(2) The Compromise of 1877 1. An electoral commission was set up to determine who would be awarded the disputed votes; Congress must also approve their decision. 2. Republicans and Democrats agreed that if Hayes (the R) won the election he would remove federal troops from the South (ending Reconstruction) and Democrats (aka: southern-white-racists) would gain control of those Southern states back. (so much for fighting the Civil War )
What is Reconstruction? At the end of the Civil War (1861-1865) the South was forced to free the slaves sooo, Northern troops stayed in the South to make the South become part of the Union again - (3) Hayes election meant the withdraw federal troops from the South, where the army had protected the right of blacks to vote. Now that Hayes won, Reconstruction officially ended. For nearly a century afterward, Southern whites used violence to keep blacks from participating in elections.
The Kansas fever was in full bloom and migrants sought every opportunity to claim all or part of the 160-acre plots as defined in the 1862 Homestead Act. (7) exodusters the migrants were ex-slaves moving out of the South to Kansas to claim land hoping for freedom from the economic and social oppression that had always been a way of life in the south.
The full-fledged exodus out of the southeast began in March 1879 and continued into 1881, transplanting 25,000 African- Americans to Kansas.
3. As a result of the compromise, Democrats regained control of SC, LA, & FL and Reconstruction in the South officially ended on May 1, 1877. 4. A political cartoon by Thomas Nast of Harper s Weekly used a football analogy for the Compromise of 1877. (Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia had just established the Intercollegiate Football Association. (Yale also participated in this assoc.)
*A brief FYI: Nast created today s symbols of the Republican (Elephant) and Democrat (Donkey) Parties (Dec. 27, 1879).
St. Nicholas 1863: Nast, along with Samuel Clemens created our traditional image of Santa Claus. Santa first appeared in the upper left-hand corner of a drawing depicting a family separated from their father (who was fighting in the Civil War) on Christmas Eve. Merry Old Santa Claus 1881
D. The Hayes White House 1. Hayes main achievement in office was to restore respect to the presidency after previous years of scandal. 2. Hayes was known for bringing dignity and decorum to the White House. 3. The woman behind the man, Lucy Hayes (aka Lemonade Lucy ), was an intelligent and moral woman who insisted her family participate in devotionals each night after dinner.
Stirrings of Reform (change) 1. Hayes helped stir government reform. Hayes did not approve of the Spoils system. 2. Those Political bosses are making Americans mad with (12) The illegal use of public offices to reward friends for political party work is known as the "Spoils System." An official would get elected then appoint friends to office, whether they were qualified or not. 3. Hayes s presidency marked the beginning of Civil Service Reform: government jobs held by non-elected workers.
G. (13) BAD Labor Conditions 1. People worked 10 to 14 hour days, seven days a week. 2. Working conditions were dangerous and abusive. a. Miners breathed coal dust all day. b. Factory workers breathed sawdust, stone dust, cotton dust, or toxic fumes. c. Heavy machinery caused high injury rates.
3. Wages were low. a. Most industrial workers earned between $400-$500 a year ($600 was the minimum annual income needed to maintain a decent standard of living). 4. Children were working. a. Some as young as six! b. ~90,000 children were employed in the latter part of the nineteenth century.
Most children worked replacing bobbins in textiles plants
Labor Unrest (unhappiness) (14) Labor Unions a. In retaliation of working conditions and for protection and reform, some workers joined and formed these labor unions. b. Unions used strikes to improve conditions that they felt were demeaning to the working class. These strikes were often peaceful, but sometimes they turned violent.
c. Labor Unions had difficulty organizing because: - workers moved from job to job. - there was an influx of immigrants with differences in language, religion, and customs hard to unite! - labor leaders had different goals.
- there was a lack of employer support: a. Employers used blacklists- records of troublemakers- and would fire workers involved in union activity b. Lockouts- employers would shut down the factories, fire the workers, and replace them with scabsreplacement workers. c. Yellow-dog contracts- workers were forced to agree not to take part in any labor action (i.e. strike)
d. Two major unions of the time: i. Knights of Labor (formed in 1869) ii. American Federation of Labor (1886) (discussed later)
(15) The Knights of Labor- (goes from private to public in 1879) Terrence Powderly becomes the head of the Labor Organization in 1869 and makes it public in 1877. Men and women, skilled and nonskilled were allowed into this union This labor union demands better treatment for workers They fought to end Child Labor and promoted 8-hour work day
(16) Railroad Strike of 1877 i. Ignited by a 10% wage reduction (they didn t cut the hours- just the pay!!! Some nerve) ii. The strike spread to New York, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago, and San Francisco. iii. Pittsburgh: Rioters torched Union Depot and Pennsylvania Railroad roundhouse iv. It took two weeks for Hayes to call out troops to stop the strike. v. By that point, 100 people had died, and twothirds of the railroads were idle.
Do you recognize this picture? From the Bellringer?
Railroad Strike of 1877
II. Economic Issues (1877-1881) A. The Money Issue B. Railroads C. The Industrial Revolution D. Development of the West
A. The Money Issue 1. Formed in the 1870s, the Greenback Party pushed for measures to benefit farmers in the West and South. 2. Although the party began to fade, the money debate did not.
3. In 1878, farmers and silver miners found temporary victory through the (4) Bland- Allison Act that required the US treasury to buy $2- $4 million in silver each month and print money (instead of backing $ with gold) 4. It won t work very well (17) This means the US has 2 forms of money- Known as Bimettalism Gold and Silver- A complete disaster wouldn t you rather have the gold money? Who wants the cheap stuff?
. The Industrial Revolution 1871-1912 1. The Rise of Industry a. There were several causes of the rise of industry in the late 19 th century: (1 st ) Abundant coal deposits (cheap, affordable energy)
(2 nd ) Rapid spread of technological innovation a. (6) Thomas Edison s invention of the Light bulb allowed for electricity, but also for a 24 hour workday that bigbusiness would force on workers iii. Pressure to cut costs & prices (eliminating competition & building monopolies) iv. Government Continued the attitude of Laissez Faire toward businesses.
C. Development of the West (3 rd ) Railroads greatly opened the West to development/ settlement, offering: a. transportation to new home b. new jobs (construction/maintenance of RR) c. improvements on old jobs (farming/ ranching) (4 th ) Mining Many people rushed westward during the 2 nd half of the 19 th century, hoping to strike it rich! (Most were unsuccessful, as were many mining towns that had been established.)
(5 th ) Farming Many of the settlers moving West turned to farming to make a living. (6 th ) Ranching A cattle boom occurred in America during the late 1800 s, which drew many new cowboys westward. - Sheep ranching also gained popularity.
D. Further issues with Railroads 1. Railroads were the first monopoly in America. Just like the silver issue, this concerned farmers!!! 2. States developed railroad commissions to look into complaints that RRs were: a. charging more for short hauls and less for long hauls b. offering Rebates (partial funds) to favored customers
Difficulty building through the rocky mountains
3. ( 18) Munn v. Illinois (1877) a. This was essentially a case of the farmers vs the RRs! b. Courts ruled that states legislatures have the right to regulate RR rates. A maximum rate for the storage of grain was established. c. ooohhh, controlling a monopoly! First time the government tries this!!! d. (This decision was reversed in 1887 - more on that later)
III. Social Issues (1877-1881) Minority Issues Social Theories Social Life
A. Minority Issues: Three groups of people faced minority issues during the late 19 th century: 1. Native Americans- racism 2. African Americans-racism 3. Women-sexism 1. Native Americans: U.S. gov t interaction with the Native Americans mainly focused on getting them onto the reservations and (19) assimilating them into the American culture- forcing native americans to be more American (assimilation) This caused many clashes between the two groups (ex: Nez Perce)
Native American Issues Chief Joseph led his tribe on a long trek toward Canada and away from the US army and reservations The Nez Perce Indian tribe was divided and the members of the tribe that were captured were placed on reservations. (5) Chief Joseph becomes one of the most politically outspoken and respected of all Native American Chiefs.
Ghost Dance (8) A traditional religious movement where Natives dance in a circle asking their gods to return plains life to the traditional ways Perhaps the best known facet of the Ghost Dance movement is the role it reportedly played Scared the US army to be more aggressive in placing Natives on reservations because of the fear it caused among settlers-they thought it was a war dance
2. African Americans- a. States used segregation to ensure that African Americans were treated as second-class citizens. i. The separation was a result of customs which means it was de facto (conditions that exist in fact, but not actually in law).
b. (21) Jim Crow Laws: Segregation required by statutes in the South. (poll taxes, grandfather clause, literacy tests) a. Name came from a minstrel show routine called Jump Jim Crow c. De facto segregation was occurring in the North, too, with segregation and discrimination occurring in schools, housing, and employment.
3. The Voice of Women- a. The common belief among Americans was that careers and married life did not mix. b. Most women who worked were single (This will change by the turn of the century, and many married women will be working). c. Most single female workers were between the ages of 16 and 24. d. Women were paid $3-$5 less a week than men.
e. Many were nurses, teachers, clerical workers, or telephone operators. f. Women also struggled to gain a voice in the democratic processes of America. g. Susan B. Anthony spent most of 40 years appearing before Congress pushing women s suffrage. Organize, agitate, educate, must be our war cry. I declare to you that woman must not depend upon the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself, and there I take my stand. - Susan B. Anthony
i. Suffrage: the right to a voice in government ii. 1878: Amendment proposal The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex. (It stalled for the 2 nd time and did not reappear until 1913.)
B. Social Theories 1. (20)Social Darwinism: derived from Darwin s Survival of the fittest in society; suggests that society (government) should have little to do with business (again- laissez faire) 2. Henry George wrote Progress and Poverty (1879)- describing the paradox in society
C. Social Life 1. Upper-class Americans lived lavishly and got richer. 2. Middle-class Americans moved to comfortable suburbs and commuted on trains to work. 3. Lower-class Americans lived in city apartments and old neighborhoods that were dilapidated and overcrowded.
4. Some urban workers moved into towns with housing built specifically for them (company towns) 5. Others found apartments and tenements (low-cost apartments that were overcrowded)
6. A glance at life in the city: a. Hundreds of people were packed into places intended only for a few families. b. Due to poverty, overcrowding, and neglect, city neighborhoods began to decline. c. Trees and grass disappeared. d. Soot filled the air creating dark and foul conditions in the light of day.