Completion: 1869 at Promontory Point, Utah

Companies: Union Pacific (built westward from Omaha) and Central Pacific (built eastward from Sacramento)

Labor: Irish and Chinese immigrants; dangerous conditions, low pay

Government Support: Land grants, loans; led to corruption and scandals (Crédit Mobilier)

Impact: Unified nation economically; enabled settlement of West; destroyed buffalo herds and Native lands; created time zones

Mining

Gold/Silver Rushes: Colorado, Nevada (Comstock Lode), Black Hills (South Dakota)

Boom-Bust Cycle: Towns grew rapidly, then became ghost towns when resources depleted

Corporate Mining: Individual prospectors replaced by large mining companies

Cattle Ranching

Open Range: Cowboys drove cattle to railroad towns (Abilene, Dodge City) for shipment east

Long Drives: Chisholm Trail and others connected Texas ranches to railroads

Decline: Overgrazing, harsh winters, barbed wire fencing ended open range era

Farming

Homestead Act (1862): 160 acres of free land to settlers who farmed it for 5 years

Challenges: Harsh climate, droughts, grasshopper plagues, isolation, debt

Technology: Steel plows, mechanical reapers, barbed wire enabled farming on Great Plains

Commercial Agriculture: Farmers became businessmen producing for national/global markets; vulnerable to price fluctuations

Buffalo Extermination

Systematic Slaughter: Buffalo herds (30-60 million) reduced to near extinction by 1880s

Purpose: Railroad construction, hides, deliberate policy to destroy Native food source

Impact: Plains Indians' way of life destroyed; forced onto reservations

Indian Wars

• Sand Creek Massacre (1864): Colorado militia killed 150+ Cheyenne, mostly women/children
• Battle of Little Bighorn (1876): Sioux and Cheyenne (led by Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse) defeated Custer; last major Native victory
• Wounded Knee Massacre (1890): U.S. troops killed 300+ Lakota Sioux; ended armed resistance

Federal Policies

Reservation System: Confined tribes to designated lands; poverty, disease, starvation common

Dawes Act (1887):

• Broke up tribal lands; gave 160-acre plots to individual Native families
• Goal: Assimilate Natives into American culture; make them farmers
• Result: Natives lost 2/3 of remaining land; "surplus" sold to whites; destroyed communal tribal structure

Boarding Schools: Children forcibly removed from families; forbidden to speak native languages or practice culture; "Kill the Indian, save the man"

Historian: Frederick Jackson Turner

Argument: The existence of the frontier shaped American character—individualism, democracy, innovation

Declared: 1890 census showed frontier "closed"—no more unsettled land

Significance: Influential but controversial; romanticized westward expansion; ignored Native Americans, violence, exploitation

"New South" Ideology: Promoted by Henry Grady; vision of industrialized, diversified Southern economy

Textile Mills: Grew rapidly using cheap Southern labor (including children)

Reality: South remained primarily agricultural, poor; King Cotton persisted; industrial growth lagged behind North

Jim Crow Laws

Segregation: "Separate but equal" facilities; reality was separate and unequal

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): Supreme Court upheld segregation; legalized Jim Crow until Brown v. Board (1954)

Disenfranchisement

• Poll Taxes: Required payment to vote; poor couldn't afford
• Literacy Tests: Subjective tests used to deny Black votes
• Grandfather Clauses: Exempted those whose grandfathers could vote (before 1867)—only whites qualified
• Violence: KKK, lynchings terrorized Black communities

African American Responses

Booker T. Washington: Advocated vocational education, economic self-help; Atlanta Compromise (1895)—accepted segregation temporarily in exchange for economic opportunities

Ida B. Wells: Anti-lynching crusader; investigated and publicized lynchings

• Bessemer Process: Mass-produced cheap steel; enabled skyscrapers, railroads, bridges
• Telephone (1876): Alexander Graham Bell; revolutionized communication
• Electric Light (1879): Thomas Edison; extended workday, transformed cities
• Typewriter: Changed office work; created jobs for women
• Assembly Line: Mass production; efficiency; standardization

• Andrew Carnegie (Steel): Vertical integration; controlled all stages of production; Gospel of Wealth—rich should give back
• John D. Rockefeller (Oil): Horizontal integration; Standard Oil Trust controlled 90% of oil refining
• J.P. Morgan (Finance): Banking; consolidated railroads and industries
• Cornelius Vanderbilt (Railroads): Built railroad empire

• Vertical Integration: Controlling all stages (raw materials → production → distribution)
• Horizontal Integration: Buying out competitors in same industry
• Trusts/Monopolies: Eliminated competition; controlled prices
• Social Darwinism: "Survival of the fittest" justified wealth inequality
• Laissez-Faire: Government shouldn't regulate business
• Gospel of Wealth: Rich have duty to use wealth for social good

Factory Life: 12-16 hour workdays, 6-7 days per week; dangerous machinery, poor ventilation, inadequate safety measures

Low Wages: Barely subsistence level; women and children paid even less than men

Child Labor: Children as young as 5-6 worked in mines, factories, mills; denied education and childhood

No Protections: No workers' compensation, unemployment insurance, health insurance, or retirement benefits

Company Towns: Workers lived in company housing, shopped at company stores; paid in scrip (company money) instead of cash; perpetual debt

Knights of Labor

Founded: 1869 by Uriah Stephens; led by Terence Powderly (1879-1893)

Philosophy: Broad reform movement; sought to replace capitalism with worker cooperatives

Membership: Open to all workers—skilled and unskilled, men and women, African Americans (though often segregated chapters); excluded only lawyers, bankers, liquor dealers, gamblers

Goals: 8-hour workday, equal pay for equal work, end to child labor, worker-owned businesses

Peak: 700,000 members by 1886

Decline: After Haymarket Affair (1886), membership collapsed; blamed for violence despite no connection

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

Founded: 1886

Leader: Samuel Gompers (president 1886-1924, except 1 year)

Philosophy: "Bread and butter" unionism—practical goals, not political revolution

Membership: Skilled workers only; craft unions; excluded unskilled workers, women, African Americans

Goals: Higher wages, shorter hours, better conditions through collective bargaining

Tactics: Strikes, boycotts, negotiations

Success: More successful than Knights; survived and grew; became dominant labor organization

Great Railroad Strike (1877)

Cause: Baltimore & Ohio Railroad cut wages 10% (second cut in 8 months) during depression

Spread: Strike spread to multiple railroads across country; workers blocked trains

Violence: Riots in Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Chicago; buildings burned, people killed

Government Response: President Hayes sent federal troops to suppress strike

Outcome: Strike crushed; demonstrated power of federal government to break strikes; revealed depth of labor discontent

Haymarket Affair (1886)

Context: Workers striking for 8-hour day at McCormick Harvesting Machine Company in Chicago

Event: At rally in Haymarket Square, unknown person threw bomb at police; 7 police killed, 60+ wounded

Aftermath: 8 anarchists arrested and convicted despite no evidence connecting them to bomb; 4 executed

Impact: Public turned against labor movement; associated unions with violence and radicalism; Knights of Labor membership collapsed

Significance: Setback for labor; demonstrated fear of radical movements; injustice of trial later recognized

Homestead Strike (1892)

Location: Carnegie Steel Company, Homestead, Pennsylvania

Cause: Company manager Henry Clay Frick cut wages, planned to break union

Violence: Frick hired 300 Pinkerton detectives (private security); gun battle between Pinkertons and strikers; 10 killed

Government: Pennsylvania governor sent state militia; occupied town for months

Outcome: Strike crushed; union broken; Carnegie's reputation damaged despite being out of country

Pullman Strike (1894)

Cause: Pullman Palace Car Company cut wages 25% but didn't reduce rents in company town

Leader: Eugene V. Debs and American Railway Union supported Pullman workers

Tactics: ARU refused to handle trains with Pullman cars; paralyzed railroad traffic nationwide

Government Response: President Cleveland sent federal troops despite Illinois Governor Altgeld's objection; claimed strike interfered with mail delivery

Injunction: Federal court issued injunction ordering workers back; Debs arrested for violating injunction

Outcome: Strike broken; established precedent for using federal injunctions against strikes; Debs imprisoned; later became Socialist Party leader

• Government Opposition: Federal, state, local governments consistently sided with business; used military force
• Court Injunctions: Courts issued orders forcing workers back; violated injunctions = jail
• Ethnic Divisions: Workers divided by language, ethnicity, race; employers exploited divisions, used strikebreakers
• Public Opinion: After Haymarket, public associated unions with violence and radicalism
• Weak Organization: Most workers weren't unionized; unions lacked funds and cohesion
• Abundant Labor: Immigration provided endless supply of workers willing to work for low wages

Old Immigration (before 1880s): Primarily Northern/Western Europe—British, Irish, Germans, Scandinavians

New Immigration (1880s-1920s): Southern/Eastern Europe—Italians, Poles, Russians, Greeks, Jews from Eastern Europe

Numbers: 1880-1920: over 20 million immigrants arrived; peak years 1900-1914

Reasons for Coming:

• Push factors: Poverty, overpopulation, political persecution, religious discrimination, famine
• Pull factors: Jobs, land, freedom, economic opportunity, family reunification

Differences from "Old" Immigrants: Different languages, religions (Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish), cultures; seen as less assimilable

Entry Points

Ellis Island (1892): New York Harbor; processed 12 million immigrants; inspected for disease, questioned, sometimes detained or deported

Angel Island (1910): San Francisco Bay; processed mostly Asian immigrants; harsher inspections, longer detentions, discriminatory treatment

Urban Settlement Patterns

Ethnic Neighborhoods: Immigrants clustered in neighborhoods with others from homeland—Little Italy, Chinatown, Jewish Lower East Side

Benefits: Cultural preservation, mutual aid, familiar language, community support

Challenges: Overcrowding, tenements (poorly maintained apartment buildings), disease, poverty

Work: Low-wage factory jobs, sweatshops, construction, domestic service; dangerous, exploitative conditions

Contributions

• Labor: Provided workforce for industrial expansion; built railroads, worked in mines, factories, farms
• Culture: Enriched American culture with food, music, traditions, ideas
• Innovation: Many started businesses, invented products, contributed to arts and sciences
• Urban Growth: Fueled growth of American cities

Rural to Urban: Americans moved from farms to cities seeking factory jobs, opportunities

Great Migration (began late 1800s): African Americans moved from rural South to Northern cities (Chicago, Detroit, New York) escaping Jim Crow, seeking jobs; accelerated during WWI

Western Migration: Continued settlement of West; farmers, miners, ranchers

Definition: Hostility toward immigrants; preference for native-born Americans

Reasons for Nativism:

• Economic: Fear immigrants took jobs, lowered wages
• Cultural: Different languages, customs, religions (especially Catholicism, Judaism) seen as threats
• Racial: Pseudo-scientific theories claimed Anglo-Saxon superiority; "new" immigrants seen as inferior races
• Political: Fear immigrants brought radical ideas (anarchism, socialism)

Organizations:

• American Protective Association (1887): Anti-Catholic organization; claimed Catholic conspiracy to control America
• Immigration Restriction League (1894): Pushed for literacy tests to restrict immigration

Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)

Background: Chinese immigrants came during Gold Rush, built transcontinental railroad; faced intense discrimination, violence

Provisions: Banned Chinese immigration for 10 years; prohibited Chinese from becoming citizens

Extended: Renewed multiple times; not repealed until 1943

Significance: First U.S. law to restrict immigration based on race/nationality; set precedent for future restrictions

Other Restrictions

• 1882: Banned convicts, "lunatics," those likely to become public charges
• 1885: Contract Labor Law—banned companies from importing workers under contract
• 1891: Created federal Bureau of Immigration; added more categories of excluded people
• 1907: "Gentlemen's Agreement" with Japan—Japan voluntarily limited emigration to U.S.

Settlement Houses

Purpose: Help immigrants adjust to American life; provide services, education

Hull House (1889):

• Founded by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr in Chicago
• Offered English classes, childcare, job training, cultural programs
• Advocated for labor laws, housing reform, women's suffrage
• Model for hundreds of other settlement houses

Approach: Respectful of immigrant cultures while teaching American ways; lived among people they served

Impact: Helped millions of immigrants; trained social workers; influenced Progressive reforms

Americanization Movement

Goal: Teach immigrants English, American customs, citizenship; sometimes forceful, intolerant of native cultures

Public Schools: Major vehicle for assimilation; taught immigrant children English, American values

Tension: Between preserving heritage and adopting American identity

Who: White-collar workers—managers, clerks, salespeople, teachers, lawyers, doctors, engineers

Growth Factors:

• Expanding corporations needed managers, accountants, secretaries
• Growing cities needed professionals (doctors, lawyers, teachers)
• New technologies created new jobs (telephone operators, typists)
• Retail expansion (department stores) employed sales clerks

Characteristics: Steady income, job security, education valued, owned homes, consumer culture

Ideology: Men and women occupied separate spheres with different responsibilities

Men's Sphere: Public—work, business, politics, breadwinning

Women's Sphere: Private—home, children, morality, culture

Cult of Domesticity: Middle-class ideal that women should be pious, pure, submissive, domestic

Reality:

• Many middle-class women worked before marriage (teachers, nurses, clerks)
• Women increasingly attended college (though separate women's colleges)
• Women used moral authority to justify reform work (temperance, settlement houses)
• Working-class and immigrant women couldn't afford to stay home

• Consumer Culture: Department stores (Macy's, Marshall Field's) offered mass-produced goods; mail-order catalogs (Sears, Montgomery Ward) reached rural areas
• Leisure Activities: Vaudeville shows, professional sports (baseball), amusement parks (Coney Island), bicycling, theater
• Literature: Magazines (Ladies' Home Journal), dime novels, newspapers expanded readership
• Education: High school attendance increased; college more accessible (land-grant universities)
• Suburbs: Middle class moved to suburbs; streetcars enabled commuting to city jobs

Belief: Christians have duty to address social problems and help the poor

Leaders: Washington Gladden, Walter Rauschenbusch

Focus: Labor rights, poverty, housing reform, public health

Influence: Inspired settlement houses, Progressive Era reforms

Women's Clubs

Growth: Middle-class women formed clubs for education, culture, and eventually reform

Evolution: Started with literary/cultural focus; evolved to address social issues

Activities: Built libraries, playgrounds, parks; lobbied for labor laws, pure food laws

Temperance Movement

Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU): Founded 1874; led by Frances Willard

Goals: Ban alcohol sales; believed alcohol caused poverty, domestic violence, family breakdown

Tactics: Education, lobbying, "Home Protection" argument

Broader Agenda: Willard expanded to prison reform, labor rights, women's suffrage

Farmers' Grievances

• Railroad Monopolies: High shipping rates; discriminatory practices
• Falling Crop Prices: Overproduction, international competition
• Debt: High interest rates; foreclosures; crop liens
• Currency Shortage: Deflation benefited creditors, hurt debtors

Organizations

Grange (1867): First farmers' organization; social and educational; cooperative buying/selling

Farmers' Alliances (1880s): More political than Grange; separate Northern and Southern alliances; advocated for reforms

People's (Populist) Party (1892)

Omaha Platform (1892): Comprehensive reform program

• Free Silver: Unlimited coinage of silver to increase money supply, inflate prices (help debtors)
• Government Ownership: Railroads, telegraph, telephone
• Graduated Income Tax: Tax based on ability to pay
• Direct Election of Senators: More democratic; reduce corruption
• 8-Hour Workday: For government workers
• Immigration Restriction
• Secret Ballot, Initiative, Referendum, Recall: Expand democracy

1892 Election: James B. Weaver won 1 million votes, 22 electoral votes

1896: Populists fused with Democrats; supported William Jennings Bryan; lost to McKinley; Populist Party collapsed

Laissez-Faire: Government should not interfere in economy; let market forces operate freely

Supporters: Business leaders, Social Darwinists, conservative politicians

Arguments: Competition produces efficiency; regulation stifles innovation; government incompetent

Reality: Government actively helped business through tariffs, land grants, subsidies; only opposed regulation that hurt business

Interstate Commerce Act (1887)

Purpose: Regulate railroads; first federal regulation of private industry

Provisions: Required "reasonable and just" rates; banned discriminatory practices (rebates, pools); created Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)

Weakness: ICC lacked enforcement power; courts sided with railroads; largely ineffective until Progressive Era

Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)

Purpose: Outlaw monopolies and trusts; prevent restraint of trade

Provisions: Declared "every contract, combination... or conspiracy in restraint of trade" illegal

Weakness:

• Vague language; courts interpreted narrowly
• Rarely enforced against corporations in Gilded Age
• Used against labor unions: Courts ruled strikes/boycotts were "restraint of trade"

Significance: Established principle of federal regulation; strengthened in Progressive Era

• High Voter Turnout: 70-80% of eligible voters (white men only); politics as entertainment
• Close Elections: Republicans and Democrats nearly equal strength; presidents often won without popular vote majority
• Regional Divisions: Republicans dominated North/Midwest; Democrats dominated South; swing states (NY, Ohio, Indiana) crucial
• Limited Differences: Both parties supported business, tariffs, hard money; avoided divisive issues
• Corruption: Widespread bribery, kickbacks, fraud; "Gilded Age" name reflects corruption beneath surface

Tammany Hall

Location: New York City Democratic Party machine

Boss Tweed: William M. Tweed controlled Tammany Hall (1860s-1870s); stole millions through kickbacks, fraud

Operations: Controlled city government, jobs, contracts; immigrants given jobs, housing, help in exchange for votes

Exposure: Thomas Nast cartoons, New York Times investigation revealed corruption; Tweed arrested, convicted, died in prison

Legacy: Symbol of political corruption; but also helped immigrants survive, provided social services

How Machines Worked

• Patronage: Gave government jobs to supporters
• Services: Helped immigrants with citizenship, jobs, housing, food, legal problems
• Vote Buying: Paid for votes; ballot stuffing; repeat voting
• Corruption: Kickbacks from contractors, businesses; skimmed city funds

Civil Service Reform

Spoils System: Government jobs given as rewards to political supporters; incompetent, corrupt officials

Garfield Assassination (1881): President James Garfield shot by disappointed office-seeker; died months later; sparked reform movement

Pendleton Civil Service Act (1883):

• Established merit system for federal jobs
• Required competitive exams for certain positions
• Created Civil Service Commission
• Prohibited firing for political reasons

Impact: Gradually expanded; professionalized bureaucracy; reduced but didn't eliminate patronage

• Economic Transformation: Agricultural → industrial economy; U.S. became world's leading industrial power
• Urbanization: Rural → urban society; by 1920, majority lived in cities
• Immigration: Massive influx changed demographic composition; "new immigration" from Southern/Eastern Europe
• Technology: Railroads, electricity, telephone, steel revolutionized daily life
• Corporate Capitalism: Small businesses → large corporations, trusts, monopolies
• Labor Force: Independent artisans → wage workers in factories
• Government Role: First steps toward regulation (Interstate Commerce Act, Sherman Antitrust)

• Inequality: Wealth gap widened dramatically; "Gilded Age" masked poverty beneath prosperity
• Racism: Jim Crow laws, segregation, lynchings, Chinese Exclusion Act
• Native American Dispossession: Continued from colonial era through Dawes Act, reservation system
• Limited Democracy: Women, African Americans, immigrants excluded from full participation
• Exploitation: Workers, immigrants, farmers exploited by powerful interests
• Nativism: Anti-immigrant sentiment persisted; exclusion laws passed

Problems Created Solutions: Gilded Age problems (monopolies, corruption, poverty, labor exploitation) generated reform movements that would dominate Progressive Era (1900-1920)

Reform Precedents:

• Settlement houses (Jane Addams) → Progressive social work
• Populist platform → Progressive reforms
• Muckrakers exposed problems
• Labor unions laid groundwork for future gains
• Women's clubs → women's suffrage movement

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