We precede this section with brief backgrounds on the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Compromise of 1877, and the Constitution. If you do not know what the term organized labor means, please ask. Tip: italic—like the prior letters—is used for words used as words.)
Lesson 1—like the other Lessons—provides a copy of the section of the Study Guide for this lesson.
|
Lesson 1
-------------------------------------------------------------- 1.
Republican
Party, policy pre-Civil War/post-secession 2.
Republican
party, early years of Gilded Age 3.
Technology
1877-1887 (mainly for new industries) 4.
Prohibition
(WCTU) – President Frances Willard 5.
Rise
of Industrial Capitalism and: ·
Rockefeller
and his industry ·
Carnegie
and his industry ·
Horizontal
integration / vertical integration ·
Monopoly,
trust (and anti-trust) 6.
Rise
of financial capitalism and J.P. Morgan 7.
North,
workers in big business ·
Average
work week/pay/living costs for laborers ·
Child
labor – why? ·
Types
of Unions ·
Strikes
(Haymarket, Homestead, Pullman) 8.
Technology
1887-1893 (mainly for urban life) |
1. The name itself- The Gilded Age
From a novel in the early 1870s, The
Gilded Age and most associated with humorist Mark Twain
Want to understand this better? Look up these 2 words in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary:
·
The
phrase golden age
·
The
word gild
2. Using this link Summary of
Political Parties, what does the Republican Party become:
·
By
1860 – See Evolution of Republican Issues
·
After
secession of the South - Republican Issues Revealed by Post-Secession Actions
3. Industrial capitalism and new
industries building on:
·
Prior
legal concepts (incorporation, trusts) used for new purposes
·
Horizontal
(Rockefeller) integration (all the oil) – Examples of how he created monopoly.
·
Vertical
(Carnegie) integration (all from the mines to the mills to transport)
4. Finance capitalism and J.P. Morgan
(Part of this is covered with the Panic of 1893 and the disasters that follow.)
5. What are the new technologies for
business and for urban life and what are a few examples of what they do to and
for people?
o Study Tool: Chronological Events of
the 1877-1887 Era -
Look at the column US Economic Development.
Purpose: Notice the technologies are primarily
about new industries.
o
Study Tool: Chronological Events of
the 1887-1893 Era -
Look at the list of inventions beneath the table.
Purpose: Notice
the technologies are primarily about
urban life.
6. What are the early attempts to deal
with problems in America? (More are covered in Lesson 2.)
Example: WCTU (Women’s Christian Temperance Union) from about 1873 to the end
of 1800s (but they still exist today)
Leader: Frances Willard (gender?)
Major Issue: Temperance – with the Anti-Saloon League developing later and the
result of the 18th Amendment (for a while)
Later Issue: Women’s suffrage
7. What happens to laboring people—and
who are they and what are the differences in what they have to sell?
Snapshot of America in the
1870s-1890s (PDF) –
This provides a searchable resource.
8. What are laborers’ attempts to
organize, what’s the difference in the Knights of Labor and the American
Federation of labor, and what is the response to labor by varied levels of
government and business?
What do these words mean: Pinkertons, state militia, federal troops?
o
Without answers for self-testing: Comparison
of Labor Events from 1874 through 1893 – and to the End of the 1890s
o
With
answers for observing patterns: Comparison with Answers
Purpose: Notice where is the labor unrest and
in what industries. Notice how strikes are stopped—is that what you expected to
be the method?
What are these labor events and how do they reveal unions and
big business at this time. (You are not expected to be able to recognize
details but to understand these as significant examples of what happened in the
Gilded Age. They are usually very different from what freshman students
expect.)
·
Haymarket
– 1886 Chicago - What’s anarchism? Socialism?
Police and a peaceful demonstration where someone throws a bomb. Police shoot
into the crowd. Trial is usually discussed as having false testimony.
·
Homestead
– 1892 Pennsylvania – A Carnegie plant. Lowering of wages, the Pinkertons and a gun battle with the union and assistance
from the government. Lowering of wages remains.
·
Pullman
– 1894 Pullman, Illinois – Company town (away from other working places) with a
factory making Pullman cars. Lowering of wages, but not lowering of prices in
the company store. Strike, observations by the governor of the state (Altgeld).
Lowering of wages remains.