HST 102 1st Edition Lecture 3 Outline of Last Lecture II Reconstruction s Revolutions III Upheaval a Politically b Economically c Socially IV Enforcement a Civil Rights Act of 1875 b Enforcement Acts V Promises Abandoned Forgotten a Compromise of 1877 b Rutherford B Hayes VI Who Killed Reconstruction Outline of Current Lecture II Post Civil War America III Engines of Change a Transcontinental Railroad IV Crash and Burn a Panic of 1873 V Explosions of Discontent a Great Railroad Strike of 1877 b Great Upheaval of 1886 VI Race Nation and Hard times VII Golden Days VIII Shaken and Stirred Current Lecture Lecture 1 20 15 Post Civil War America o The end of the civil war spurs massive dislocation and disruption o The war itself had brought about significant changes in the American economy These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute Infrastructure Banking Land use Engines of change o One of the most powerful forces transforming American society is the rise of railroads a new transportation revolution takes hold encouraged by federal subsidies o Transcontinental railroad completed in 1869 Spurs significant economic growth and financial speculation Corruption o Many American industries are plagued by corruption o Few more so than railroads Construction Operation Collusion transit payments Watering stock Crash and Burn o Panic of 1873 Triggered by the collapse of Jay Cooke s investment bank due to failed railroad speculation 18 000 businesses collapse within two years By 1876 unemployment is 14 and stays in double digits for a decade o Hardships are worsened by the crime of 73 Ends the coinage and use of silver as a currency Tightens the money supply and leads to extensive deflation lower prices Very bad for farmers and those in debt o Leads to turmoil unrest fear and extended Depression Recession Explosions of Discontent o Declining wages and extended hardship spurs unrest o Leads to increasing tensions w labor Great Railroad strike of 1877 o Response to coordinated wage cuts o Pres Hayes orders troops to intervene against strikers o Widespread violence ensues Great Upheaval of 1886 o Massive railroad strike in march o More than 1400 strikers during the year involving 600 000 workers Labor strikes become a day to day lifestyle during the gilded age o Race nation and hard times Railroads spur westward expansion and increasing conflict with indigenous people Machinery of civil war is now trained on native American populations Military approach soon supplemented by plan of cultural eradication Golden Days Control land use Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 Education establishment of industrial schools Depression and recession help make anti Asian attitudes more widespread Chinese exclusion act of 1882 Significant violent and local exclusion o Rapid expansions of the economy and wealth o From just a handful of millionaires before the civil war to more than 4 000 by the 1890s o Increasing concentrated The income for the richest 1 of Americans equals the total income of the bottom 50 That 1 holds more property combined than the remaining 99 combined o Monopoly Money Railroad boom drives the growth of related industries Economic downturn spurs massive consolidation Iron steel oil Creation of monopolies Creates a concentration of wealth and power coupled with unscrupulous or harmful business tactics o The science and gospel of Wealth Financial success is attributed to providence and notions of natural hierarchy Social Darwinism gains traction A survival of the fittest model to explain the conditions of society If you do well it is because you are destined too If not it s your fault Coupled with very positive images of private wealth A public blessing Symbol of remarkable social mobility Shaken and Stirred o Building a labor movement Growing tensions over wealth and industry spur new organization among laborers Federation of Organization Trade and Labor Unions is founded changes name to American Federation of Labor AFL Comprised mostly of skilled workers and limits access of unskilled laborers women and AA Led by Samuel Gompers Reject fundamental economic reform and aim instead for a greater share of profit Demands for an 8 hour day Only 4 of workers unionized by 1900 o Building Reform Movements Discontent with the direction of American society as a whole fuels new waves of protest in many areas Temperance Women s rights Gov t reform Economic reform A search of a perfectible world a way to understand explain and eliminate America s social ills What does it mean o America is transitions out of reconstruction into a period of continuing and conlict and unrest o The nation is reeling after a sever and prolonged economic crises o Concern over the excesses of industry and the ties between gov t and big businesses o Characterized by inequality o Creates a new wave of protest efforts that will begin to reshape American society