1865-1900 Notes: Reconstruction, Gilded Age, New Immigration, Imperialism, Spanish-American War1865Defeated Southern states quickly pass discriminatory “Black Codes”
Purpose: ensure stable & subservient labor force – also make Blacks 2nd-class citizens
Examples: anti-vagrancy laws, “labor contracts,” prohibition against intermarriage, Blacks can’t testify against whites in court
Education of FreedmenFreedmen’s Schools begin
Agency of the Freedmen’s Bureau started in 1865 by Lincoln to provide clothing, food, medical care, and education to ex-slaves
Led by white moderate Gen. O.O. Howard
Education = greatest success (200,000 made literate) – schools taught by Yankee schoolmarms and a few ex-Union Black soldiers like Robert Fitzgerald who looked at this as missionary work
Failure to Get Land (or Keep It)In Jan. 1865, during War, General Sherman issued “Special Field Order 15” granting 40,000 Blacks parcels of land in SC and GA (mostly sea islands/Gullah areas)
Origin of “40 Acres and a Mule” phrase
1866 – President A. Johnson rescinded this order and gave ownership back to whites
With no land, many Blacks left with sharecropping (form of exploitative land rental)
1866First national labor union in America called the National Labor Union (NLU)
Started by iron molder Wm. H. Sylvis
Main demand = 8-hour workday – only achieved this in 1868 for Federal Employees
Sylvis strives to get local chapters to include women and Blacks
NLU mostly unsuccessful
1866President Johnson vetoes extension of Freedmen’s Bureau – overridden
Radical Republicans pass Civil Rights Act of 1866 – declared ex-slaves to be U.S. citizens and gave them the right to make contracts, sue, be witnesses in court, and own land
Again Johnson used his veto – says blacks were not qualified for citizenship and the proposed bill would "operate in favor of the colored and against the white race” – again AJ is overridden
Earns hatred of Radical Republicans who view him as racist + “Veto Andy”
Andrew Johnson BackgroundBorn in Raleigh, NC
Poor, uneducated
Apprenticed to tailor at age 10 – runs away as teen
Moves to Greeneville, TN –tailor shop makes $
Wife Elizabeth teaches him to read and write
Gets in politics, champion of poor whites, racist who also hates wealthiest Southerners
Later owns a few slaves
Elected to US Senate – only Senator from 11 Southern states to oppose secession – stays loyal
“Union Democrat” during Civil War – made wartime Gov. of TN by Lincoln
Lincoln’s 2nd V.P.
Problems with drinking
Becomes the “elect of an assassin”
1866Ku Klux Klan starts in Pulaski, TN formed by angry ex-Confederate soldiers
Kuklos (Greek word “circle”)
“Invisible Empire of the South”
Hate group that targets “uppity” Blacks, carpetbaggers, and scalawags
1st Grand Wizard = Nathan B. Forrest
Local groups called “klaverns”
Radical Repubs later crack down with Force Act in 1871 – Pres. Grant has 100s arrested who won’t disband "klaverns"
1867Radical Republicans (RR's) win 2/3’s majority in BOTH houses – despise Johnson
RR’s pass First Reconstruction Act – throws all former CSA states back out of Union – carves South into 5 military districts – forces South to ratify 14th Amendment and write new state constitutions guaranteeing Blacks civil rights
Johnson veto – overridden
South calls this period “Bayonet Rule” - many whites sulk as “unreconstructed rebels”
Result of Reconstruction ActSouthern states had to allow Blacks to vote
5 states had a Black majority of voters (AL, FL, LA, MS, SC)
Other states ruled by Negro-white coalitions (carpetbaggers, scalawags)
14 Black congressmen, 2 Black senators
1st Black senator – Hiram Revels (MS)
1867William H. Seward – Sec. of State – purchases Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million
Ridiculed as “Seward’s Folly,” “Seward’s Ice Box,” “Frigidia”
No one laughed later in U.S. History when gold discovered, then oil in region
1868Andrew Johnson Impeached due to Radical Repubs – definition of impeachment
Trumped up charges - Pres. Johnson accused of violating the Tenure of Office Act – said president must get permission to fire a cabinet member – fired Sec. War Stanton anyway
Sensational trial in Senate – 1000 tickets
Failed to get 2/3’s “guilty” vote by margin of 1 vote – Edmund G. Ross of KA - (7 G.O.P. senators vote “not-guilty”) – A.J. survives, becomes figurehead
1868Ulysses S. Grant elected president – GOP from Ohio – war hero – honest, presides over ones of most corrupt administrations
“Grantism” = cronyism – Grant stands by his corrupt friends he puts in govt.
14th Amendment ratified (made Blacks citizens)
SC passes new 1868 Constitution with racial equality, free public schools, granting counties “home rule,” removing property requirement to vote
Grantism Scandals1869 – Jay Fisk & Jay Gould try to corner the Gold Market – bid up price of gold on Black Friday – Grant’s bro-in-law Dent involved
1867-68 – Credit Mobilier – company that overcharges fed. govt. on RR construction – 348% dividends on stock – V.P. Colfax involved
1875 – Whiskey Ring – Grant’s personal secretary Babcock robs Treasury Dept. of millions
1876 – Grant’s Sec. of War Belknap illegally sells trading posts to Indians - resigns
1869First Continental RR completed
“Marriage of the Rails” – Ogden UT – joining of two RR lines: CP & UP
Union Pacific – built mostly by Irish “Paddies” – started at Omaha – went Westward for over 1100 miles over flat prairie land
Central Pacific – built by Chinese “Coolies” – started at Sacramento – went east for 700 miles – had to cross Sierra Nevada Mtns.
18692nd national labor union organized – Knights of Labor by Philadelphia garment cutter Uriah Stephens
Main demands: 8-hour day, “equal pay for equal work,” no child or convict labor
Open to all workers regardless of race, gender, or skill level
Comprised of individuals, not local unions
Under second union President Terrence Powderly (PA mechanic), won many 8-hr. Day strikes
187015th Amendment ratified – gave Black male suffrage
Opposed by Susan B. Anthony b/c it did not include women
Standard Oil Company of Ohio organized by John D. Rockefeller – later controls over 90% of all U.S. refineries – perfects “horizontal organization” (lock on 1 stage) + “trust” (small firms assign stock to a BIG company)
Rockefeller later becomes 1st Billionaire – believes in “Gospel of Wealth” = rich given money because they deserve it
“The Good Lord gave me all my money.” (Rockefeller Quote)
1876Disputed presidential election of Rutherford B. Hayes (GOP) vs. Samuel J. Tilden (Dem) – Tilden wins popular vote
3 states have disputed electoral votes (FL, LA, SC) - no winner!!!
SC Gubernatorial Election – deadlocked also - 1876 – Daniel Henry Chamberlain was 1st declared winner
2nd count of the votes including previously ignored ballots from Laurens and Edgefield counties revealed that Wade Hampton had won
1876-1877 – Hampton & Chamberlain both claimed to be governor until Chamberlain left SC in the 1877 withdrawal of federal troops
1876Plains Indian Wars heating up – fed. Govt. trying to defeat Sioux/put on reservation since gold discovered in Sioux lands in Dakotas in 1873
“Custer’s Last Stand” = Battle of Little Bighorn (MT)
Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer (US 7th Cav) attacked Sioux village at Little Bighorn river – Sitting Bull had 1500 warriors – Custer in command of 225 men – all killed
1876Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone
Bell background – teacher of the deaf, interested in science of acoustics
First message (quote)
Offered patent to Western Union, turned down, formed Bell Telephone Company, later AT & T
Revolutionized women’s role with “Hello Girls” at switchboards (“Number please…”)
“Gibson Girl” – model for middle-class 1890s
1877Compromise of 1877 ends deadlock – decides Hayes will be president in exchange for end of military reconstruction (Bayonet Rule)
Fed. Govt. abandons Blacks – allows Southern states to pass “Jim Crow Laws” – racial segregation laws of all public places (“white” and “colored” signs)
1877National RR Strike – first nationwide strike
Started by workers of the “B & O” RR in response to 35% cut in wages
“Sympathy Strike” in Philadelphia – workers destroy RR property – Pres. Hayes calls in federal troops to break strike (26 killed, 100s wounded)
Afterwards – Railroads use “yellow dog contracts” and Pinkerton Guards to spy on workers
1879Thomas Alva Edison’s electric light invented – revolutionized farms + cities
Tested >6000 filaments (quote)
“Wizard of Menlo Park” (NJ) – America’s greatest inventor
Other notable patents: electric vote recorder (1st), phonograph (favorite), stock ticker, electric power station (DC), motion picture camera, microphone
“Father of Movies” claim – even horror films
1881President James A. Garfield assassinated
Shot in DC train station by Charles Guiteau – deranged office seeker (quote)
Pres. Lingers for 13 weeks – dies
New president Chester A. Arthur – endorses civil service reform – signs the Pendleton Civil Service Act – counters spoils system
1882Chinese Exclusion Act passed by Congress
Forbade any further immigration of Chinese “laborers” into the USA – renewed until WWII
Law was the result of period of racism in California called the “Yellow Peril” in which whites formed a “Workingmen’s Party” against Chinese “Coolies” taking their jobs – scores of Chinese were lynched by mobs
“Coolie” – derogatory racial term (from Ku Li = hired muscle or day laborer)
1883Pendleton Civil Service Act passed by Congress & signed by President Chester Arthur
Resulted from tragic death of Garfield – Congress decided to reform civil service based on merit
Started system of competitive exams to get certain federal jobs – must pass to get job
Only covered 10% of federal jobs at first (now over 90%)
1883Brooklyn Bridge opens – world’s 1st steel-wire suspension cable bridge (longest at the time by 50%) – main span 1595 ft. – 135 ft. above East River – cost $15.1 Million – Towers 273 ft tall* -
Began by architect John Roebling – got foot crushed by ferry boat accident
Completed by son Washington Roebling – got the “Bends” supervising caisson foundations – crippled – wife Emily helped him complete job (she was 1st of 150,000 to cross on 1st day at 1¢)
1886Haymarket Square Riot – workers gather in Chicago to protest police violence directed against mostly German-born anarchist workers
Strike in progress vs. McCormick Harvester
Police try to disrupt anarchists’ rally – fight breaks out – bomb thrown at police killing 7 – police charge into strikers killing 10
Hasty trial – eight found guilty (ID of bomber never revealed) – four hanged (became martyrs)
1886“Liberty Enlightening the World” dedicated as gift to US from France commemorating US centennial – project held up by funding woes
Designed by French sculptor Bartholdi
Steel infrastructure by Gustav Eiffel
Pedestal designed by USA Architect Richard Morris Hunt
Dedicated by President Grover Cleveland in 1886
In 1903, “The New Colossus” poem by Emma Lazarus inscribed at main pedestal entrance
1886The American Federation of Labor organized by Samuel Gompers, cigar maker
AF of L only for skilled workers belonging to local “craft unions”
Avoided politics & runs for Congress/Pres.
Utilized collective bargaining to avoid strikes – highly successful method
1887Interstate Commerce Act passed by Congress = 1st law in which federal govt. attempted to regulate private business (previously laissez – faire )
Target – unscrupulous RR practices
Set up ICC – forced railroads to charge fair and reasonable prices, publish rates, and eliminate rebates (kickbacks)
Weakly enforced at first
1890Sherman Anti-Trust Act – forbids any business combinations for the purpose of controlling the trade of a product
Irony: misused by fed. govt. to control unions
Southern states begin restricting black voting rights using poll tax, literacy tests, & grandfather clauses to disenfranchise
1890Wainwright Building in St. Louis becomes one of the world’s first skyscrapers with inner steel frame (11 stories tall)
Designed by architect Louis Sullivan in the “New Modern” style – his first attempt to truly go vertical
Sullivan’s motto: “Form follows function”
1890Dec 29 – “Battle” of Wounded Knee, SD – last pitched battle of the Plains Indians War
Sparked by illness of peaceful Sioux chief Big Foot and influence of medicine man Yellow Bird (ghost dance cultist)
7th Cavalry escorting Sioux to reservation – search Indians for rifles – gun battle breaks out – 300 Indians killed, 31 whites killed
Aftermath of the Plains Indian War
End of way of life for Plains Indians – forced onto reservations like the Eastern tribes had been
Federal govt. tried to strip Native peoples of their culture. Forced native children to attend schools like Carlisle Indian School in Carlisle, PA (motto: “Kill the Indian, Save the Man”) started by Army Capt. Richard Henry Pratt
Goal: assimilate children from 140 tribes into mainstream American culture
Forced Assimilation of Native Americans
Cut boys’ hair, dressed pupils like whites, punished those who spoke Native languages, forced Christianity, teach “habits of industry” as opposed to “camp life”
1892 law – Dawes Severalty Act – offered Indians who disowned tribal allegiance a homestead of western land – dangled prospect of U.S. citizenship in “20 years”
1892Ellis Island opens its doors on Jan. 1st in NYC
Over 12 million immigrants passed thru its doors from 1892 – 1954
1890s “New Immigrants” = mostly from Eastern & Southern Europe (Poles, Russian Jews, Slavs, Hungarians, Italians, etc.) --- more discriminated against than antebellum period “Old Immigrants” (Germans/Irish) b/c Eastern Euros are non-Aryans
Only 2% deported due mainly b/c diseases like “TB”
1892Andrew Carnegie, Steel King, forms Carnegie Steel Corporation, one of world’s most powerful corporations utilizing vertical organization
Carnegie born in Scotland, emigrated to USA in 1848, 1st job in textiles made $1.20 a week, fortune in steel making, multi-millionaire, preached the “Gospel of Wealth”
Business motto: “Watch the costs and the profits will take care of themselves”
Carnegie bribes workers with competitions and promise of libraries for productive steel mill communities
1892Homestead Strike – PA – by Carnegie Steel Co. after union refused to accept wage cut
300 Pinkerton guards open fire on picket lines beginning gun battle and riot that prompted state militia being called in – workers/union defeated
Carnegie had fled USA for castle in Scotland leaving #2 man Henry Clay Frick in charge – Frick shot and stabbed by anarchist Alexander Berkman – survives – Carnegie criticizes Frick
1893Coup against last queen of Hawaii, Lilliuokalani
Background – Americans first involved in HI in 1820s = New Eng. Missionaries, then Yankee whalers, then sugar growers
Sugar growers like Sanford B. Dole (son of missionaries) wish to avoid paying high McKinley Tariff of 1890
U.S. President “Grover the Good” Cleveland withdraws U.S. annexation treaty before Senate
Dole declared president of Republic of HI (7/4/1893) – HI as “bride left at the altar” until 1898 – waits for next president
1894Violent Pullman Strike – caused when George Pullman’s company, the Pullman Palace Car Co., reduced wages without reducing rents in company town of Pullman, IL
Strike called by Eugene Debs’ American Railway Union – President Cleveland breaks strike by getting an injunction and using federal troops – Debs arrested and sentenced to 6 months prison
1895Booker T. Washington makes the Atlanta Compromise Speech seemingly supporting racial segregation in exchange for whites hiring blacks
BTW background: former slave, educated at Hampton Institute in VA, founds Tuskegee Institute (HBC) in AL, hires G.W. Carver as botany professor, writes Up From Slavery
BTW is criticized by younger Black leader William Edward Burghart (W.E.B.) Du Bois as selling out to whites (“accomodationist”)
Du Bois background – born after Civil War, first Black to get Ph D from Harvard, teacher of history & economics at Atlanta U, co-founder of NAACP, dies in Ghana
Du Bois calls for complete racial equality
1896Plessy v. Ferguson decision upholds racial segregation if “Separate But Equal”
Homer Plessy sued East Louisiana RR’s Jim Crow policies (train station) - lost
Supreme Court mostly controlled by Southerners in 1890s
Upheld for next 60 years until Brown v/ Board of Ed. decision
1896Presidential election between William McKinley (R-OH) and William J. Bryan (D-NB)
Battle between industrialists vs. farmers
Issue – Gold Standard vs. “Free Silver” debate – McK is a “Gold Bug” – Bryan is “Silver Messiah” making “Cross of Gold” speech
1896McKinley’s “Front Porch” campaign run by friend Marcus Hanna
G.O.P. slogan “McKinley & the Full Dinner Pail”
Bryan vilified as dangerous socialist – talk of Bryan making $1 worth 50¢ if elected
McK wins 271 e.v. to Bryan’s 176
1898Congress declares war on Spain – thus beginning brief Spanish-American War
Background – yellow journalism, Spanish repression of Cubans, efforts of William Randolph Hearst (sent sketch artist Remington to Cuba) – famous quote
Spark: Mysterious explosion of USS Maine in Havana Harbor on Feb. 15 killing 260 – Spain denies involvement
“Wobbly Willie” caves in to public pressure (TR quote)
Hero Colonel Theodore Roosevelt – “Rough Riders” – Battle of San Juan Hill (Cuba) – TR quote
Hero Admiral George Dewey – defeats old Spanish fleet – Battle of Manila Bay (Phil.) – Dewey quote
“Splendid Little War” (John Hay title for Spanish-American War)Treaty of Paris of 1898 – Spain gives U.S. Guam, Philippines, and Puerto Rico
Sec. State John Hay quote on 5 month war
Truth: US badly mismanaged war, but got lucky (woolen underwear, cavalry without horses, “embalmed beef” scandal, diseases)
5000 Americans die – disease (bullets-400)
1898War opposed by “anti-imperialists” like Mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie, and Samuel Gompers
President McKinley claims God told him the US must take Philippines (quote)
US finally annexes Hawaii as territory of United States – not a state until 1959
1900McKinley reelected over Bryan
This time a new GOP Vice President on ticket = Theodore Roosevelt
NY State GOP bigwigs + Hanna hatch plan to “kick Roosevelt upstairs” as V.P. – hate TR b/c he is a “Goo Goo” Reformer
McKinley signs Gold Standard Act