Examines the gilded age politics, culture and economics of America between 1880 and 1900

1. CHAPTER 18
The Emergence of Urban America and the
Gilded Age

2. The Emergence of Urban America
Chapter 18 Society and Politics in the
Gilded Age

3. America’s Move to Town
 Explosive Urban Growth
 1860-1910 population growth: 6 million to 44
million
 Majority lived in Urban areas

4. America’s Move to Town

5. America’s Move to Town

6. America’s Move to Town

7. America’s Move to Town
 The Allure and Problems of the Cities
 Unregulated urban growth created problems in
sanitation, health and morale
 Mortality rates
 Cholera, yellow fever and typhoid

8. Immigration
Steerage Deck on the S.S. Pennland, 1893.

9. Immigration
Registration Room at Ellis Island: 29 questions, “are you a polygamist?”

10. Immigration
 Immigration Restriction
 Immigrant communities
 Nativist groups
 Immigrants are dangerous
 Work for substandard wages
 Religious prejudice
 Congress
 Overturned Chester Arthur’s veto of the Chinese
Exclusion Act
 Federal law limiting immigration on the basis of race and
class

11. Popular Culture
 A Reading Public
 Newspapers
 Openly partisan
 Vaudeville
 Variety show: comedy, music, dance
 Saloon Culture
 Social club for poor
 Women segregated in smaller rooms

12. Popular Culture

13. Popular Culture
 Outdoor Recreation
 Relieved congestion of urban life
 New York’s Central Park established in 1858
 Bicycle: 1870’s
 Working Women and Leisure
 Church organizations
 Small groups

14. Popular Culture
Wheeling

15. Popular Culture
 Spectator Sports
 Football, Basketball, Baseball
 White players only
 African Americans in separate leagues
 Urban base in large cities

16. Popular Culture
Steeplechase Park: Coney Island, NY

17. Popular Culture
Baseball Card: 1887

18. Education and Social Thought
 The Spread of Public Education
 Prior to Civil War
 Education in private academies often centered around
a religious denomination
 Post Civil War
 Vocational training
 Morrill Act of 1862: Land Grant Colleges--30,000
Acres per representative to teach agriculture and
mechanics
 Vocational Training & “Americanize” Immigrants

19. Education and Social Thought

20. Education and Social Thought
 Pragmatism
 William James:
ideas gain validity
from their social
consequences and
practical
applications

21. Social Darwinism
 Application by of
Darwin’s theory to
social issues
 Man’s better
characteristics could
be passed on
 Man can manipulate
society so that best
men thrive

23. What does “The Gilded Age”
Mean?
 Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner
 The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1893)
 King John by William Shakespeare (1595
 "To gild refined gold, to paint the lily... is wasteful and
ridiculous excess.“
 A poor copy of the real thing: a thin layer of
gold over metal or wood
 Widespread corruption in public life: some live
well and others pay for it

24. “The Bosses of the Senate,” 1889

25. Politics is Personal
 Political party affiliations went back generations
 Both major parties had similar platforms so they relied
on personal attacks on candidates
 Cities often more powerful than state governments
due to party machines
 Patronage
 Republicans: Protestant, British, Scottish descent, African
Americans
 Dominated national politics
 Democrats: Everybody else, the South
 Local and state governments were main taxing
authority and spending authority
 Patronage

26. Rutherford B. Hayes & Civil
Service Reform
 Attempted to abolish “spoils system”
 Republican Party conflicts
 Stalwarts & Half Breeds
 Roscoe Conkling
 Elect Grant for 3rd term
 James Blaine
 Reform candidate for Republican nominee

27. Election of 1880
 Republican Ticket
 James Garfield (Half-Breed)
 Chester A. Arthur (Stalwart)
 Democratic Ticket
 Winfield Scott Hancock
 William English

28. de Thulstrup, Thur. “Miss Columbia (to
General H_____).” Harper's Weekly July
24, 1880, 465

29. Woolf, Michael Angelo. “Exultant Tammanyite.” Harper’s Weekly October 30, 1880,
695.

30. de Thulstrup, Thur. “The Friend of the Freedmen.”
Harper's Weekly October 23, 1880, 685.

31. Keppler, Joseph. “Just the Difference.” "Puck." July 28, 1880,
43.

32. Nast, Thomas, “The Plumed Knight.” Harper's Weekly.
June 5, 1880, 353.

34. Keppler, Joseph. “A Merry Christmas to All.” “Puck." December 22, 1880, 45.

35. Political Party
Presidential
Nom.
VP Nom. # % # %
Republican
James A.
Garfield
Chester
A. Arthur
214
58.
0
4,453,
611
48.
3
Democratic
Winfield S.
Hancock
William
English
155
42.
0
4,445,
256
48.
2

36. July 2, 1881
 President Garfield assassinated by Charles
Julius Guiteau at the Baltimore and Potomac
Rail Station in Washington D.C.

37. President James Garfield
Charles Julius Guiteau

38. Diagram of the Train Station
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/guiteau/diagram.JPG

39. To General Sherman:
I have just shot the President. I shot him several times as I wished him to go as easily as possible. His
death was a political necessity.
I am a lawyer, theologian, and politician. I am a Stalwart of the Stalwarts. I was with General Grant and
the rest of our men, in New York during the canvass.
I am going to the Jail. Please order out your troops, and take possession of the jail at once.
Very respectfully,
Charles Guiteau.
Answer note by General Sherman addressed from "Headquarters of the Army, Washington, DC. July 2,
1881, "in which he states that "I don't know the writer. Never heard of or saw him to my knowledge..."

40. Guiteau’s Brain , The College of Physicians of Philadelphia
https://www.google.com/search?q=Charles+Guiteau's+brain&tb
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41. Chester A. Arthur
 Passed the Pendleton Civil Service Act
 1884 election
 Republicans dumped Arthur & nominated James
Blaine

42. Election of 1884
 Republican Ticket: James Blaine
 Mugwumps: published embarrassing letters
showing Blaine in the pocket of Railroad barons
 Democratic Ticket: Grover Cleveland
 Cleveland had an illegitimate child
 Media Frenzy

43. Nast, Thomas. “Death Before Dishonor.” Harper’s Weekly.”
June 21, 1884, 396-397.

44. Gillam, Bernhard. “Love’s Labor Lost.” Puck May 7, 1884, 160

45. “Ma! Ma! Where’s My Pa?”
Beard, Frank. “Another Voice
For Cleveland.” Judge,
September 27, 1884, xii.

46. “Gone to the White House. Ha! Ha!
Ha!”
Nast, Thomas. “What It Means.” Harper’s Weekly, November 15,
1884, 747.

47. Political Party Presidential Nom. VP Nom. # % # %
Democratic Grover Cleveland
Thomas
Hendricks
219 54.6 4,915,586 48.9
Republican James G. Blane John Logan 182 45.4 4,852,916 48.2

48. Grover Cleveland

49. The Tariff
 Primary revenue source for Federal government.
 Issue: Did Tariff create the big Trusts
(Monopolies)?
 Less competition = higher prices for big business
 Cleveland argued that the tariffs were too high
and must be lowered
 Election of 1888
 Grover Cleveland vs. Benjamin Harrison
 Democrats favored lowering the tariff
 Republicans favored keeping the tariff
 Republicans raised the most cash
 Cleveland won the popular vote
 Harrison won the Electoral vote

50. Democratic Grover Cleveland Allen Thurman 168 41.9 5,539,118
48.6
Republican Benjamin Harrison Levi Morton233 58.1 5,449,825 47.8

51. Harrison Presidency
 Secretary of State: James Blaine former
Republican Candidate for President
 Sherman Anti-Trust Act
 Forbade contracts, combinations or conspiracies
in restraint of trade to create monopolies
 Vague wording and difficult to enforce

52. What Form of Currency Should be
Accepted?
 Specie: money made out of a precious metal
 Gold
 Silver: opposed by many because it would add more
money to the supply and make the money in
circulation worth less
 Mint Act of 1792 mandate: weight of one silver
dollar = weight of a gold dollar
 1837 money based on a silver standard
 1873: silver coinage dropped
 Currency supply failed to keep up with population
growth

53. Agrarian Protest Movements
 Farmers debts rose as crop prices dropped
 domestic overproduction
 increasing international competition
 Tariff paid double taxes on domestic produce
shipped overseas
 Congress failed to act

54. I Feed You All

55. Granger Movement & Farmers’
Alliances
 The National Grange of the Patrons of
Husbandry (The Grange)
 1886 first attempt by farmers to form a political
alliance
 Farmers’ Alliances
 Collectives & cooperatives: community stores,
warehouses and debt repayment
 Avoid middlement

56. Farm Politics and Populist Party
 Farmers political action: local
 South: Democratic voting blocks of farmers won
elections at state and national congressional level
 1892 Association of farmers, labor and reform
groups formed the People’s Party aka Populist
Party
 1892 Populist Party Candidate for President:
James B. Weaver
 Republican Nominee: Benjamin Harrison
 Democratic Nominee: Grover Cleveland
 Cleveland won both electoral and popular vote

57. Grover Cleveland Adlai E. Stevenson 277 62.4 5,554,617
46.0
Benjamin Harrison Whitelaw Reid 145 32.7 5,186,793
43.0
James Weaver James Field 22 5.0 1,029,357
8.5

58. Depression of 1893
 Philadelphia & Reading RR declared
bankruptcy just before Cleveland was sworn
into office
 Overextended banks and smaller RR
companies
 Economic panic lasted 4 years
 Unemployment rate: 20%

59. New York Stock Exchange on
Friday, May 5, 1893

60. International Economic Crisis
 Great Britain still global financial center
 Failure of Large British Bank caused British
investors to sell holdings in U.S. for gold
 This drained U.S. gold supply making shortage
of currency greater
 Silver interests claimed coinage of silver would
end the panic
 1896 Election
 William McKinley, R
 William Jennings Bryan, D

61. http://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=HeTkT5-w5RA

62. Election of 1896

63. Race Relations
 Wilmington, North Carolina
 African American majority
 1894 & 1896 African Americans joined with
Republicans and Populists to choose a slate of
elected officials
 November 10, 1898
 2,000 white men and boys rampaged through town
destroying African American businesses and killing at
least 100 African Americans
 Forced newly elected officials out of office replacing
them with Democrats

65. Ida B. Wells
IDA B. WELLS

66. Booker T. Washington

67. W.E. B. Du Bois

68. Bibliography I
 de Thulstrup, Thur. “The Friend of the Freedmen.” Harper's Weekly October
23, 1880, 685.
 de Thulstrup, Thur. “Miss Columbia (to General H_____).” Harper's Weekly
July 24, 1880, 465.
 Gillam, Bernhard. “Love’s Labor Lost.” Puck May 7, 1884, 160
 Keppler, Joseph. “Just the Difference.” "Puck." July 28, 1880, 43.
 Keppler, Joseph. “A Merry Christmas to All.” “Puck." December 22, 1880,
45.
 Nast, Thomas, “The Plumed Knight.” Harper's Weekly. June 5, 1880, 353.
 Nast, Thomas. “Death Before Dishonor.” Harper’s Weekly.” June 21, 1884,
396-397.
 Nast, Thomas. “Death Before Dishonor.” Harper’s Weekly.” June 21, 1884,
396-397.
 Nast, Thomas. “What It Means.” Harper’s Weekly, November 15, 1884,
747.
 Woolf, Michael Angelo. “Exultant Tammanyite.” Harper’s Weekly October
30, 1880, 695.
 Bell, Charles Milton. “Chester A. Arthur.” 1882. Library of Congress (Public
Domain).

69. Bibliography II
 Unknown. Ida B. Wells,
 Wells, Ida B. Southern Horrors, Lynch Law in All its Phases.
New York Age Print, 1892
 Unknown. Booker T. Washington Library of Congress (Public
Domain)
 Purdy, J.E. W.E.B. DuBois. (1904) Library of Congress,
(Public Domain).
 Unknown. “The Vampire that Hovers Over North Carolina.”
Raleigh News and Observer, September 27, 1898 (Public
Domain)
 Cronenberg, Henry. “Armed Rioters in Front of Press
Building,” November 10, 1898 (Public Domain)