Chapter 15

The post-Reconstruction era was described as the Gilded Age, a term coined by Mark Twain. It implies that a thin but glittering layer of prosperity covered the poverty and corruption of society. (Gilded means covered with a thin layer of gold. Laissez-faire capitalism is the belief that government should play a limited role in business. Supporters believed that if the government does not interfere, the strongest businesses will succeed and bring wealth to the nation as a whole. Although people accepted Laissez-Faire economics in theory, they supported government invovement when it benefited them. A university profesor in Scotland, Adam Smith, argued that government should promote free trade and allow a free marketplace for labor and goods in his book, The Wealth of Nations. A subsidy is a payment made by the government to encourage the development of certain key industries. Under the spoils system, elected officials appointed friends and supporters to government jobs, regardless of their qualifications. This system appealed to many politicians because it ensured them a loyal group of supporters in future elections. Patronage is another concept of the spoils system. Regulations that prohibit certain private activities that are sometimes considered immoral are blue laws. REPUBLICANS Appealed to industrialists, bankers, and eastern farmers Strong in the North and upper Midwest Increased money supply backed by silver Tight money supply backed by gold Lower tariffs on imported goods High tariffs Higher farm prices Generous pensions for Union soldiers Less government aid to big business Government aid to railroads Fewer blue laws Limits on immigration Enforcement of blue laws DEMOCRATS

Appealed to the less privileged northern urban immigrants, laborers, southern planters, and western farmers.

Political parties supported their candidates by waving the bloody shirt blaming each other for the bloodshed of the Civil War. Presidential candidates did not take strong stands on controversial issues as to avoid offending party members. Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was elected in 1877. However, he refused to use the patronage system and appointed qualified politicians to Cabinet posts and fired employees who were not needed. By these actions, Hayes became the first president to reform the civil service, the governments nonelected workers.

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Hayes did not have congressional support, even from his own party. In fact, he further angered them by removing Chester A. Arthur from an important patronage position in New York and replacing him with one of his own appointments. The Republican party split into three factions: the stalwarts, half-breeds, and mugwumps. STALWARTS Led by Roscoe Conkling (New York) Supported the spoils system ex. Chester A. Arthur, vicepresidential nomination of 1880 election HALF-BREEDS Led by Senator James G. Blaine (Maine) Hoped to reform the spoils system while remaining loyal to the party ex. James Garfield, presidential nomination of 1880 election MUGWUMPS Also called goo-goos Opposed the spoils system Eventually left the party to join democrats

Garfield won to Democrat Winfield S. Hancock in the election of 1880. However, during his term, he was shot by a mentally unstable lawyer named Charles Guiteau in 1881. Guiteau was a loyal Republican and felt that he deserved a job. When the President passed over him, he was enraged. Garfield died three months later. Upon Garfields death, Vice President Chester A. Arthur became president. Arthur had been a strong supporter of patronage, but once in office, he urged Congress to support reform of the spoils system. He was easily able to obtain congressional support for this reform due to Garfields recent death, resulting in the Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883. The Pendleton Civil Service Act created a Civil Service Commission, which classified government jobs and tested applicants fitness for them. It also stated that federal employees could not be required to contribute to campaign funds and could not be fired for political reasons. In 1884, the Republicans nominated James G. Blaine for president. Democrats nominated Grover Cleveland. Focal campaign issues included high tariffs, unfair business practices, unregulated railroads, and scandals. James G. Blaine had supposedly received railroad stock options in return for favorable votes while in Congress. Cleveland had supposedly fathered an illegitimate child. Cleveland admitted the rumor was true. Grover Cleveland became the first Democratic president since 1856. He opposed high tariffs and generous pensions. On the other hand, he favored tight money policies and government regulation of railroads. Railroad regulation began in 1869, when Massachusetts investigated claims that railroad companies were abusing rates. By 1880, about 14 states had railroad commissions that looked into complaints about railroad practices. Some offered rebates, partial refunds, to favored customers. Others kept rates secret and charged different rates to different people for the same service. In 1877, the Supreme Court, in Munn. vs. Illinois, allowed states to regulate certain enterprise within their boundaries. However, railroads often crossed state boundaries. Lawyers for railroads argued that under the Constitution, only the federal government could regulate interstate

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commerce. In the Wabash case of 1886, the Supreme Court agreed.Thus, Interstate railroad traffic remained unregulated.

Pressure mounted on Congress to take action on railroad abuses. As a result, Congress responded by passing the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887. The act required that rates be set in proportion to the distance traveled and the rates be made public. It also outlawed the practice of giving special rates to powerful customers. Finally, it set up the nations first regulatory board, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to enforce the act. However, the ICC proved to be unsuccessful when the Supreme Court ruled against them 15 out of 16 times. Private enterprise is subjected to government control. Tariffs were a focal point in the 1888 election. Benjamin Harrison, grandson of William Henry Harrison, won. Cleveland wanted a minor reduction, while Harrison wanted an increase. Most of Harrisons acts favored big business: he signed the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1980. He also approved a huge tariff increase in 1890 and awarded large pensions to Civil War soldiers. Cleveland was elected for a second term in 1892. He is the only president to serve two nonconsecutive terms. He inherited the treasury deficit from President Harrison. In 1894, Jacob S. Coxey demanded that government create jobs for the unemployed. He organized a march on Washington. He and his army were arrested for trampling the grass and carrying banners illegally. Republican William McKinley won to William Jennings Bryan of the Populist and Democratic party in the election of 1892. He won on a high tariff/gold standard platform and was supported by urban workers and the middle class. On September 6, 1901, mentally ill anarchist Leon Czolgosz shot the President. Mckinly died a few days later. Upon his death, Theodore Roosevelt becomes President. Immigrants moved to America because it offered freedom of religion and opportunity. They were fleeing crop failures, shortages of land and jobs, rising taxes, famine, and religions or political persecution. In the 1880s, a wave of pograms, violent massacres of Jews, occurred in Russia. Immigrants who could not afford cabins traveled in steerage a large open area beneath the ships deck. Steerage conditions were very poor. There were limited toilet facilities, no privacy, and bad food. More than 70% of immigrants came through New York City, the Golden Door to the United States. In 1892, the federal government opened Ellis Island in New York City by the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty, erected in 1886, is a national symbol representing refuge and hope. It was a gift from France. Emma Lazarus wrote The New Colossus, a poem displayed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. There were several other port cities from which immigrants entered the United States. Many Europeans came through Boston, Philidelphia, and Baltimore (East Coast). Asians entered through San Francisco or Seattle (West Coast). Information about the number and origins of the nations immigrants is not precise. A third of

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immigrants were birds of passage young, single men who worked for years or months, then returned home. Mexican immigrants were not counted until 1907. OLD IMMIGRANTS Between 1865 to 1890, an estimated 10 million immigrants arrived From northern, western, and central Europe Protestant Christians Catholics, Jews, and orthodox Christians Cuturally similar to original American settlers Culturally different from original American settlers NEW IMMIGRANTS Between 1890 and 1920, around 10 million immigrants arrived From southern and eastern Europe and the Middle East

In 1891, the federal government created the Office of Superintendent of Immigration to determine who could enter the United States. A quarantine is a time of isolation to provent the spread of disease. In 1892, the federal government required all new immigrants to undergo a physical examination. Those who were found to have a contagious disease faced quarantine or were deported. *The textbook says 1892, but in my notes I wrote 1893? In the book, The Making of an Insurgent, Fiorello La Guardia said, It was harrowing to see families separated. Criminals often hung around ports with fake offers of lodgings and jobs, stealing money and baggage from the unwary. A greenhorn refers to a newly arrived immigrant who is inexperienced and nave. Many newly arrived immigrants chose to live in ghettos, areas in which one ethnic or racial group dominated. They felt comfortable with the familiar language and traditions. However, some ghettos formed when ethnic groups isolated themselves due to threats from whites. Other ghettos resulted from restrictive covenants. Restrictive covenants were agreements among homeowners not to sell real estate to certain ethnic groups such as African Americans, Mexicans, Asian Americans, and Jews. In the mid-1800s, thousands of Chinese workers were hired to help build the transcontinental railroad, completed in 1896. Chinese immigrants had to work for their companies until they had payed the cost of their passage and upkeep. After their debts were paid, many began mining, farming, fishing, factory work, food preparation, or laundering. American laborers disliked Chinese immigrants. They thought that because the Chinese accepted low wages, they would affect the rates of pa of all workers. Other groups claimed that Asians were physically and mentally inferior to white Americans. A coolie is an unskilled laborer. Chinese immigrants wore queues long ponytails. In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in response to the demands of laborers. The act prohibited Chinese labors from entering the country. However, it did not prevent the

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entry of those who had previously lived in the United States. It was not repealed until 1943. In 1910, the federal government built an immigration center on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay. Immigrants had to undergo a medical examination and Chinese newcomers had to prove that they should not be excluded. By 1820, around 200,000 Japanese immigrants arrived in America through West Coast ports. In 1906, the school board in San Francisco ruled that all Chinese, Japanese, and Korean children should attend a separate school. The Japanese government was angered, so President Theodore Roosevelt made an informal compromise, the Gentlemans Agreement, with Japanese officials in 1907 to end San Franciscos school policy and stop issuing passports to laborers. California passed the Webb Alien Land Law in 1913, banning alien (noncitizen) Asians from owning farmland. The term Yellow Peril suggests that the mass immigration of Asians threatened white wages and standards of living.

In 1902, Congress passed the Newlands National Reclamation Act to promote the irrigation of southwestern lands. Over the next decade, irrigation turned millions of acres of desert into fertile farmland in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California. Due to the new farmland, new jobs opened up. Employers hired Mexican laborers for their skills and willingness to take difficult jobs at low wages. New opportunities pulled Mexican workers to America. The 1910 Mexican Revolution and civil war pushed them to leave Mexico. The Immigration Restriction Act of 1921 caused labor shortages, drawing more Mexicans across the border. By 1925, Los Angeles had the largest Spanish-speaking population of any North American City outside of Mexico. __ Motorized methods of transporations made communiting easier and advanced growth in the suburbs residential communities surrounding cities. Cities grew upward and outward as urban space became scarce. In 1852, Elisha Graves Otis invented a safety device that made passenger elevators possible. Jacob Riis published How the Other Half Lives 1890 to expose the horrendous living conditions in tenements to the American public. Nativists favored native-born Americans and felt that the problems of the cities stemmed from the presence of so many immigrants. The American Protective Association ___ A settlement house is a community center that offers social services. Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Star opened the first settlement house, Hull House, in 1889.

Reina Hoshino