The Gilded Age
Farmers became politically motivated over the issue of freight rates, so in the 1870s farmers formed the Grange Movement to put pressure on state governments to establish fair railroad rates. Railroad companies were very monopolistic
Series of 1 term presidents following Hayes
Gilded age Republicans favoured high tariffs and low government spending
Corruption
Tammany Hall - a democrat political machine that dominated party politics in the late 19th century and associated with corruption
Tweed Ring - William Tweed
Whiskey ring - involved tax evasion of whiskey distillers
Garfield
Arthur
Cleveland
Harrison
Cleveland
The Granger Movement eventually became the Populist Movement, which eventually died down and the Progressive Movement emerged
The populist party fought for 'free silver,' which meant increasing the amount of money in circulation, which would lead to inflation, and thus make money more readily available so that farmers could pay debts and loans easier and the prices of their produce would rise
Journalists known as 'muckrakers' began exposing poor standards in the meatpacking industry etc
Railroad industry - increased efficiency and productivity
Monopolisation
'Robber Barons' or Captains of Industry
Andrew Carnegie
John Rockefeller
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Railroads
US Steel
Standard Oil
Immigration, industrialisation and urbanisation
USA shifted from being an agrarian rural nation to an urban one
Innovation
Bessemer process - enabled mass production of steel
By 1913 the US produced 1/3 of the world's total industrial output
The railroad industry was one of the keys to America's industrial success, as railroads increased commerce and integrated the American market, allowing national brands to emerge
Railroad companies introduced time zones to make shipping and passenger standards more standard
Close links between the Republican Party and big businesses
Larger businesses would buy up failing smaller businesses to form a huge monopoly, for example, by the late 1880s, Standard Oil controlled 90% of the US oil industry. Small businesses could not compete with the huge cartels and trusts and went bankrupt
Working conditions
Labourers commonly worked 60 hours per week within pensions or injury compensation and the US had the highest rat of industrial injuries in the world: an average of over 35,000 people per year died on the job
The conditions led to the formation of Unions, which were mostly local but occasionally national. The first national union was the Knights of labour which
Social Darwinism
During the Gilded Age, people tended to follow the philosophy of social darwinism. Social darwinists believed that the theory of evolution should be applied to people and corporations, and that the government should not intervene in industry as the economy was better off left to grow without regulation, and bigger businesses would survive and eliminate smaller businesses, like Darwin's idea of the 'survival of the fittest'