Chapters 19-25 Notes

The Age of Invention and Economic Growth

Thomas A. Edison – light bulb (1870s), power plants  extension of the workday, wider
availability of electricity
Economics of scale – the cheaper the product, the more they sold
Assembly line production – Eli Whitney, interchangeable parts, Ford, 12-14 hours of repetitive
tasks (500,000 injuries to workers per year)
Corporate consolidation – larger businesses, courts were pro-business
Holding company – owned stock in various companies to control production of raw material;
monopoly
Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 – public pressure led to the passage of this law forbidding any
“combination…or conspiracy in the restraint of trade”, ambiguous wording, free interpretation,
loophole closed by Clayton Antitrust Act – made allowances for collective bargaining (1914;
Wilson)
Andrew Carnegie: Social Darwinism, great wealth  social responsibility, Gospel of Wealth,
steel industry

Factories and City Life

Mass transportation, ethnic neighborhoods; most immigrants from southern and eastern Europe
after 1880
Political bosses: provided services to poor in exchange for votes – political machines, Boss
Tweed of Tammany Hall in NYC
Knights of Labor: founded in 1869, Uriah Stephens, skilled and unskilled, goals – eight-hour
workday, equal pay for women and men (1963 equal pay act), child labor laws, safety and
sanitary codes, federal income tax, government ownership of railroad and telegraph lines;
unsuccessful strikes under Terrence Powderly  decline, Haymarket Square Riot
American Federation of Labor: Samuel Gompers, avoided larger political questions,
concentrated on “bread and butter” issues, only skilled workers, confederation of trade unions
Yellow journalism – Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst

Jim Crow Laws and other developments in the South

Sharecropping, crop lein system – kept poor in constant debt
Jim Crow Laws – discriminatory laws, Supreme Court ruled that 14th amendment did not protect
blacks from discrimination by privately owned businesses
Plessy v. Ferguson – ruled that separated but equal facilities was legal
Booker T. Washington: Southern black born in slavery, promoted economic independence,
Tuskegee Institute, accommodationist, “Atlanta Exposition” – 1895 speech, outlined view of
race relations
The Railroads and developments in the West
Monopoly on railroads by private businesses even though paid for by public
“Railroad time” – first standardized method of telling time
Turner/Frontier Thesis – Frontier shaped American character, defined American spirit, fostered
democracy, provided safe area for people to flee to in times of economic distress in cities
Homestead Act and Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862 – 160 acres to anyone who would
homestead it, set aside land and provided money for agricultural colleges
Helen Hunt Jackson – A Century of Dishonor, detailed injustices of the reservation system and
inspired reformers to push for change  1887 Dawes Severalty Act – broke up reservations and
distributed some of the land to the head of each Native American family, live on land for 25
years, reversed in 1934

National Politics
Gilded Age – coined by Mark Twain
Presidents: relatively weak, Rutherford B. Hayes (Compromise of 1877), James A. Garfield,
Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison
Railroad regulations – Munn v. Illinois, Congress only can regulate interstate commerce, states
could regulate for public interest
Interstate Commerce Act – first federal regulatory act, 1887, set up Interstate Commerce
Commission (ICC) to supervise railroad activities and regulate unfair practices
Civil service reform, Pendleton Act – Civil Service Commission to oversee examinations for
potential government employees
American Suffrage Association – Susan B. Anthony

The Silver Issue and the Populist Movement

Production increase  drop in prices  bad for farmers  wanted greater money supply,
opposed by banks
Grange Movement – farmers lobbying for silver over gold only, died out due to lack of money
Farmers’ Alliance  People’s Party, Populist movement
People’s Party: convention in 1892 – supported generous coinage of silver, government
ownership of railroads and telegraphs, graduated income tax, direct election of US senators,
shorter workdays
Socialists – Eugene V. Debs, 1894
William Jennings Bryan – 1896 Populist Democratic candidate against William McKinley, call
for “free silver”, “Cross of Gold” speech – easy money supply would loosen bank control over
country, lost election  ended Populist movement

Foreign Policy: the tariff and imperialism

Tariff of Abominations – 1828, farmers hurt by high tariffs, big businesses profited
McKinley Tariff – 1890, raised level of duties on imported goods almost 50%
Wilson-Gorman Tariff: essentially the McKinley tariff, one of the causes of the Spanish-
American War
William H. Seward – purchase of Alaska, Monroe Doctrine
Hawaii – dependant on trade with US à high tariffs, 40% of inhabitants were Japanese when US
annexed Hawaii
Spanish-American War: Revolution in Cuba – American warship, the Maine, exploded; US
blamed on Spain, declared war, and drove Spain out of Cuba and Philippines. Treaty of Paris –
Cuba granted independence, ceded Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam to US
Platt Amendment – US troops remained in Cuba until constitution changed. (1. Foreign treaty
signing needed US consent, US could intervene in domestic and foreign affairs, granted land to
US for naval base and coaling station) – repealed in 1934, FDR’s Good Neighbor Policy
Philippine debate à granted independence in 1946 after violent war
Insular Cases (1901-1903) – were colonial subjects entitled to the same protections granted to
US Citizens by the Constitution? Ruled that the Constitution does not follow the flag
Open door policy – Boxers (Chinese nationalists), imperialism by US entry into Asian markets,
US sent troops to suppress rebels against open trade

Amendments
15th – prohibits the denial of suffrage based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude
16th – allows federal government to collect income tax
17th – direct election of senators
18th – Prohibition of alcohol
19th – women’s suffrage
20th – fixes the dates of term commencements for Congress (Jan 3) and the President (Jan 20);
lame duck amendment
21st – repeals 18th
22nd – limits president to two terms, or 10 years

The Early Twentieth Century

The Progressive Era and WWI (1900-1920)
Progressives were urban, middle-class reformers who wanted to increase the role of government
in reform while maintaining a capitalist economy
Muckrakers: Lincoln Steffens – The Shame of the Cities, revealed widespread corruption in
urban management; Ida Tarbell – History of Standard Oil, oil companies; Upton Sinclair – The
Jungle, meatpacking industry
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) – led by W.E.B. DuBois
Feminist movement – Margaret Sanger
Robert LaFollette – Wisconsin governor, led many Progressive state leaders, direct primary
elections, progressive taxation, rail regulation
Ballot initiative – voters can propose new laws
Referendum – allowed public to vote on new laws
Recall election – gave voters the power to remove officials from office
President Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909): Sherman Antitrust Act against monopolies,
trustbuster, national parks, broadened government power to protect land from overdevelopment,
conservationist, tightened food and drug regulations; New Nationalism
President William Howard Taft: 16th and 17th amendments, aggressive trustbuster
President Woodrow Wilson: Democrat, ran against Theodore Roosevelt in Bull Moose ticket
(1912 election); New Freedom; Federal Trade Commission (enforced Clayton Antitrust Act of
1914), Federal Reserve System (gave government more control over finances)

Foreign Policy and US Entry into WWI

Panama Canal: Central American isthmus, shorten sea trip from East Coast to California,
province of Colombia, US helped Panama rebel – Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine
(“Big Stick Policy”)
WWI: Wilson declared US neutrality in August 1914 when war broke out, Britain blockaded US
ships from Germany and paid for cargo, Germany countered blockade with U-boats, attacked
passenger ship Lusitania in 1915 (was carrying military supplies to Britain), 1916 slogan “he
kept us out of war,” Germany sank the Arabic, popular support for entry grew, Zimmerman
telegram – German conspiracy with Mexico to keep US out of war (early 1917)

World War I and its aftermath

War Industry Board: coordinated all facets of industrial and agricultural production, slow and
inefficient
Espionage Act of 1917 and Sedition Act of 1918 – prohibited use of US mail to interfere with
war effort and draft, made it illegal to try to prevent sale of war bonds or speak against
government, flag, military, or Constitution (unconstitutional acts, but vague wording)
Schenck vs United States – Schenck mailed leaflets urging men to resist draft, said that draft was
a violation of the 13th amendment “involuntary servitude,” Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes ruled
that civil liberties could be curtailed if actions posed a “clear and present” danger to
others/nation
Russian Revolution in 1917 – Russia under Communist control  Red Scare
Radical labor union leaders imprisoned – Federal Bureau of Investigation, created to prevent
radicals (eg. Eugene Debs, Socialist leader) from taking over; run by J. Edgar Hoover
Palmer Raids (early 1920) – government agents raided union areas and arrested 4,000 suspected
radicals, 600 deported
Committee on Public Information (CPI) – wartime propaganda
500,000 blacks left South to North in search of work
Fourteen Points: Wilson’s plan for world peace; free trade through lower tariffs and freedom of
the seas, a reduction of arms supplies on all sides, end of colonialism, creation of the League of
Nations
Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria
Allies (Triple Entente): Great Britain, France, Japan, US, Belgium, Russia
Allies wanted to punish Germany; Treaty of Versailles  Germany forced to cede German and
colonies to Allies, disarm, pay reparations, and admit to fault
Debate over League of Nations in US: Democrats (wanted to join League of Nations),
Republicans (opposed, “Irreconcilables”), “Reservationists” (Repubs led by Henry Cabot
Lodge); Wilson didn’t want to compromise, Lodge Reservations, treaty defeated; US didn’t sign
treaty or join League of Nations

The Jazz Age and the Great Depression (1920-1933)

People and government grew more pro-business. Less union strikes, Supreme Court overturned
minimum wage law for women and nullified child labor restrictions
Presidents: Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover; pro-business policies
Harding: corrupt advisers (Teapot Dome Scandal, oil companies bribed secretary of the interior
so they could drill on public lands), supported antilynching laws, helped farmers, died in office
Calvin Coolidge: continued conservative economic policies, lower income-tax rates
Welfare capitalism: businessmen offered pension plans, opportunities for profit sharing, and
company parties etc  communal spirit at work  temporary decline in popularity of labor
unions

Modern Culture
Henry Ford – automobile industry, assembly line, mass production, birth of suburbs,
convenience  necessity, 23 million in 1929
Radios, movies, advertising industry  to pay for everything, more women entered working
world (15%), flappers
Literature: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Eugene O’Neill (lost generation)
Harlem Renaissance – largest black neighborhood of NY City; poets – Langston Hughes,
Countee Cullen, Zora Neale Hurston, jazz – Louis Armstrong

Backlash against modern culture

Ku Klux Klan – 5 million members in 1920s, nativism
Sacco and Vanzetti – Italian immigrant anarchists executed on inconclusive evidence for murder
Emergency Quota Act of 1924 – set immigration quotas based on national origins and
discriminated against immigrants from southern and eastern Europe
Scopes Monkey Trial – John Thomas Scopes taught theory of evolution in 1925, TN, attorneys –
Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan
Prohibition – 18th amendment, “gangster era”, repealed in 1933
Herbert Hoover and the beginning of the Great Depression
Herbert Hoover: 1928 Repub nomination, October 1929 – stock market crash; Price drops, but
still nobody wanted to buy; Hoover said that only stock traders would be hurt by speculation
(buy on margin; destabilizing practice, made illegal)  bank and corporation bankruptcy
Causes for depression: stock market crash, overproduction during war (increase
unemployment and agricultural price decline), supply exceeded demand  deflation,
unemployment, business failures
Dust Bowl – prolonged drought in Great Plains (Midwest)
Hawley-Smoot Tariff: highest protective tariff in US history
Bonus Expeditionary Force – 1932, Congress considered early payment of benefits to WWI
veterans
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1932 election) – promised relief payments to unemployed; won election