1. Relative & Absolute Chronology… Cheesy words with an easy meaning!
Everything has it’s purpose and place in the world right? We are going to be spend time this year understanding how historical events shape our world & defined an era.
Absolute Chronology= Is your standard list with dates from earliest to latest
Relative Chronology= Doesn’t have any dates just which came first, second etc.
Archeologist use this term when studying artifacts that are not easy to identify and they essentially match the artifact to actual artifacts KNOWN to be made during that year/era.
In your journal draw a timeline. Start the timeline with 1865 and end it with Place the events below on the timeline in either absolute or relative order. You may not know the answer right now, but will be interesting to discuss your perception of time and what you think you know.

2. America In Transition
South surrenders at Appomattox Courthouse; Civil War comes to an end.
Railroads built in the West promoted settlers to start a new life, and clashed with the Plains tribes.
Alexander Graham Bell sends the first telephone message, “Mr. Watson-come here- I want to see you.”
Statue of Liberty as a gift from France will be viewed as a symbol for a new beginning in America.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Tragedy awoke many unions to stand up against deplorable working conditions in NYC.
Business giants like Rockefeller & Carnegie employed capitalist business tactics in hopes of reaping rewards for their risks they took.
In Plessy vs Ferguson the term “separate but equal” was another example of how Jim Crow laws in the South were used to intimidate blacks.
Nativism grew stronger as more immigrants especially southern & eastern Europe (Ellis) & Asians (Angel) brought cultural differences & skills.

3. As the silencing of the cannons of war left the victorious US with new set of problems more challenging than the war itself.
How would the South rebuild its shattered societies & economy after the war?
What would society look like for all the freed slaves and would the government help them adjust to their new freedom?
Should the former states be treated as they had never left the union or suffer for leaving?

4. Notes #1

5. Reconstruction Amendments
After Civil War, Congress passed a series of amendments known as the Civil War Amendments to the US Constitution which were aimed at protecting recently freed slaves.
The THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT, ratified in September 1865 by all southern states except Mississippi, outlawed slavery in America.
The FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT ratified on July 9, 1868, granted citizenship to all people “born or naturalized in the United States” and guarantees all people due process and equal protection under the law.
The FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT ratified February 3, 1870, gave black men the right to vote, but true suffrage would not come quickly or easily.
13- Freed Slaves
14-Made blacks citizens
15-Gave black men the right to vote
However, Congress wanted to control former Confederate state (Military rule) because racist laws like Jim Crow Laws made it difficult for a freed man to “feel free.”
Supreme Court case such as Plessy vs Ferguson (1896) would be upheld and welcomed in the south as “separate but equal” was made legal separate coloreds from all public facilities

6. Affects of Jim Crow & Plessy vs Ferguson

7. Pondering Question
How did all or any of these Reconstruction amendments pave the way for Americans throughout the course of history? Name one event and explain how that/those amendments affected that situation. (Consider- Did everyone in America still have the right to vote, and did Jim Crow Laws in the south seem fair?)

8. Who Settled The West?
With the Compromise of 1877; removing federal troops from the south, many blacks known as Exodusters (led by Pap Singleton) fled to the west to establish their own independent communities believing it was the “promise land.”
The majority of the White settlers traveling west came from the Mississippi Valley where land and supplies had grown very scarce.
From 1893 to 1896, some 12 millions ounces of gold were mined in Alaska & Northern Canada, which would later become known as the Klondike Gold Rush. This spurred further settlement of Russian Mennonites and Chinese who worked on railroads and in agriculture, developing boom & bust town, especially large sources of raw materials.
Other seeking a new life in the west Congress approved of the Homestead Act (1862) which gave a 160 acre tract of land to any citizen willing to live on and cultivate the land for 5 years with the option to buy for $1.25 an acre.
Many settlers adjusted to their newfound land by adopting dry farming techniques, growing sturdy crops, raising cattle, and building sod brick homes. Others who stayed in the south became sharecroppers.

9. Little Known Fact:
Seattle's business community continued to flourish as a result of the Klondike Gold Rush. Many miners who returned to Seattle invested their fortunes in local businesses. For example, John Nordstrom invested $13,000 of Klondike gold into a shoe store, owned by a cobbler he had met in the gold fields.

10. Native American Relations: A Clashing Culture
By 1850 most Native Americans lived west of the Mississippi River. Refusing to conform to settlers’ culture, Indians in the Great Plains posed a threat to these newcomers and were viewed as “Obstacles to the progress of settlement and industry”.
Most tribes were nomadic whose culture revolved around following the buffalo . After the desecration of the buffalo, the federal government tried to confine most western tribes to reservations. Although the government promised to protect them, prospectors and settlers frequently invaded them.
In efforts to assimilate Native Americans, Congress passed the Dawes Act in It dissolved many tribes as legal entities, did away with tribal ownership of land, and gave heads of individual families’ private ownership of tracts of land granting citizenship after 25 years on the reservations.

11. America’s First Major Industry: The Railroad
Between the end of the Civil War & the start of the Gold Rush, a population explosion occurred in the Far West.
Many pointed out the need for better communication and transportation, especially through the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains.
Through raising enough funds, Congress granting land, and the dangers task labor force of the Chinese, Irish, and blacks, on May 10, 1896 in Promontory Point, Utah, the Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific completed the first transcontinental railroad by ceremonially driving a golden spike into the ground creating one national market.

12. Farmers Rise up in Protest
New urban populations and increased foreign competition caused American farmers to produce more food
Improved farm machinery, loans, high interest, and shipping rates, overrode the selling price of their crops forcing many to give up their farms.
Known as the “National Grange Movement”, Oliver Hudson Kelley pushed for a philosophy known as populism, which favored the common person’s interest over wealthy business types.
Farmers’ Alliances won seats in Congress pushing proposed laws and eventually launching the Populist Party (movement)= 17th Amendment Direct election of US Senators (100th anniversary- 1913). Populism was the movement to increase farmers’ political power and to work for legislation in their interest.
What would the US Senate look like without the 17th Amendment-

13. Power to the People
Interstate Commerce Act (1887): farmers wanted to stop railroads from offering lower cost or secret rebates to larger businesses (Wabash vs Illinois
Many wanted to outlaw the gold standard (system of backing a country’s currency with its gold reserves) & create an unlimited coinage of silver to save our economy that was currently in turmoil.
William Jennings Bryan had a major impact on the Populist Party by attempting to run for president supporting the “silverites” over the “Gold Bugs” as a means for economic salvation.

14. Notes #2

15. Political Impact of the Populist
The world the farmers now felt they were losing influence on was more big business.
Politically, they wanted to restore the government to the people by means of :
Direct popular election of US Senators (instead of indirect election by state legislatures) which would lead to the 17th (1913) =Amendment which is direct election of US Senators
Enacting of state laws by voters themselves through initiatives and referendums, and recall (all accept or reject a particular proposal) placed on the ballot.
What would the US Senate look like without the 17th Amendment-

16. Economic Impact of the Populist
Economically the Populist wanted to advocate:
(1). unlimited coinage of silver to increase the money supply. (This rapid increase in the money supply without an accompanying increase in goods or sale caused inflation, or a decline in the value of money. As the paper money lost its value, the prices of goods soared- helping farmers pay off their debt).
(2). a graduated income tax (the greater a person’s income, the greater the tax) which would develop into the 16th Amendment.
(3). public ownership of railroads by the US government.
(4). telegraph and telephone systems owned and operated by the government.
(5). an 8 hour work day for industrial workers
At the time, the Populist movement seemed revolutionary not only because of its attack on laissez-faire capitalism but also because of its attempt to form a political alliance between poor whites and poor blacks.

17. What does Bryan say about the importance of farming?
William Jennings Bryan Cross of Gold Speech- Read the 2 excerpts & Respond to the questions
You come to us and tell us that the great cities are in favor of the gold standard. I tell you that the great cities rest upon these broad and fertile prairies. Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic. But destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country.
What does Bryan say about the importance of farming?
If they dare to come out in the open field and defend the gold standard as a good thing, we shall fight them to the uttermost, having behind us the producing masses of the nation and the world. Having behind us the commercial interests and the laboring interests and all the toiling masses, we shall answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to them, you shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.
Explain the point Bryan is making by using the thorns and cross metaphors to describe the gold standard.
What effect will the gold standard have on the common man? Does he feel it will do more harm than good?

18. Allegory defined Background
symbolic work: a work in which the characters and events are to be understood as representing other things and symbolically expressing a deeper, often spiritual, moral, or political meaning
symbolic expression of meaning in story: the symbolic expression of a deeper meaning through a story or scene acted out by human, animal, or mythical characters
In the spring and summer of 1893, the stock market crashed as a result of overspeculation, and dozens of railroads went into bankruptcy as a result of overbuilding.
The depression continued for almost four years. Farm foreclosures reached new highs, and the unemployed reached 20% of the workforce.
Many people ended up relying on soup kitchens and riding the rails as hoboes.
President Cleveland dealt with the crisis by championing the gold standard and otherwise adopting a hands-off policy toward the economy.
However the Election of 1896 proved to be a battle between the Democrat “silverites”, and Gold bugs.
McKinley the Republic nominee practically sat back and watched the Democratic ticket crumple (split) when groups of people believed gold held more value, while William Jennings Bryan fought “bravely” against the Gold Bugs and Republicans believing that unlimited coinage of silver would salvage this nation.
Just as the election was coming to a close Gold was discovered in Alaska which was newly acquired and America implemented the gold standard (our dollars backed by gold).

19. Scarecrow – Western Farmer, “Knew little about policies”
Toto – Teetotalers – those who supported Prohibition
Originally silver to represent their “hero”
William Jennings Bryan- Fought bravely against the Democrats that supported Gold
Scarecrow- Western Farmer- Knew little about or understood political policies in DC.
Toto- Teetotalers were names given to those that supported Prohibition.
Emerald City- Dollars back by following the yellow brick road.
Oz itself is the term to measure gold in ounces.
Tinman- each time a person was injured they would be slowing chipped away body and pride till all that was left was a tin man.
Her red shoes are not originally red in the book, they are silver to represent the savior of the economy.
Emerald City-Green=$ Gold=follow the yellow brick road=oz measurement
Tinman – injury/pride
Bryan-Fight bravely against gold

20. Witch Witch is Witch? South/North Good = Consciousness
Green Witch = Witch of the West, evil brought on by greed, corruption, and harshness – died by Water- what did the west need to survive? WATER
Her sister the East crushed by Dorothys house from Kansas= farmers crushing ideas/policies of the East.
Pretty- Witch of the North and South represents her conscience
Green Witch- Witch of the West represents the evils brought on by greed, corruption, and harshness- What causes her to die? WATER. What does the west need? WATER
Red shoes- Wicked witch of the East Money, Big bankers, Irony that Dorothy’s house falls on her.

21. What message is the cartoonist trying to send?WW

22. Gold or Silver
A central political issue in the l890’s was whether to back the countries money supply with gold or silver.
Conservative Republicans wanted to back each dollar with GOLD keeping the supply of money and prices of goods down.
The Democrats and farmers wanted to back money with more abundant SILVER, increasing the money supply and raising prices.
Eventually GOLD would be set as the standard (till President Nixon’s ends the gold standard and replaces it with fiat money)

23. Why was the Second Industrial Revolution So Successful?
Unit 2 Notes 2
Why was the Second Industrial Revolution So Successful?
From 1865 to 1905 America entered a second industrial revolution emerging as a leading industrial power in the world exceeded their competitors of Great Britain, Germany, & France. How did this happen?
Large labor force made up of immigrants
Advanced transportation networks & raw materials
Businesses benefitted from government subsidies, protective tariffs, & laissez-faire (hands off of business) approach. Europeans recognized them as a good investment.
Entrepreneurs emerged as 440,000 new patents creating more labor saving techniques. The Bessemer Process allowed more steel to be made then all steel mills in Britain, increasing railroad and multistory buildings.

24. An Innovation Nation
Many of the technological advances created a market for goods that was national in scale, and by so doing encouraged mass production, mass consumption, and economic specialization.
The resources used to build or promote these industries created new ones-coal, steel (Bessemer-1855), glass, rubber, oil (Edwin Drake-1859), & gasoline
Technological Innovations such as the telephone (Alexander Graham Bell -1876), light bulb (Thomas Edison -1882), airplane, sewing machine, passenger elevator, & typewriter all increased the standard of living.
As more people were moving into cities, urban transportation improved with the development of mass transit including trains, trolleys, and subways.
But as urbanization was grow overcrowding and congestion during the 19th century brought a rise to social tensions, transportation, and inadequate public services
Finally, the most important innovations of the railroads may have been the creation of the modern stockholder corporations and the development of complex structures in finance, business management, and the regulation of competition.

25. NYC… Dirty Now, Dirty Then
You have no idea. Going back 100, 150 years, American cities were disgusting — and New York City was notorious as the filthiest and stinkiest. We were a laughingstock. The rumor goes that sailors could smell the city six miles out to sea. -

26. The New Capitalist Spirit
Unit 2 Notes 2
The New Capitalist Spirit
Before the Civil War, the personal wealth of a few people operating in partnership financed most businesses, including many early factories (most were very small).
By 1900 everything had changed. Big business dominated the economy, operating vast complexes of factories, warehouses, offices, and distribution facilities.
Big business would not have been possible without the corporation. A corporation is an organization owned by many people but treated by law as though it were a single person.
A corporation can own property, pay taxes, make contracts, and sue and be sued. The people who own the corporation are called stockholders because they own shares of ownership called stock. Issuing stock allows a corporation to raise large amounts of money for big projects while spreading out the financial risk.
Competition provided consumers lots of choices, but in the battle to sell products companies slashed prices; profits fell, debt rose, & bankruptcy. Those that stayed felt they had to limit their competition.

27. In your journal respond to this question:
Notes #3
"What is the chief end of man?--to get rich. In what way?--dishonestly if we can; honestly if we must." Mark Twain-1871
In your journal respond to this question:
How would you describe someone who is considered successful by American standards? Does everybody have the same opportunities? Why or why not?

28. The Gilded Age 1878-1889 (Gold on the outside, but not on the inside)
Every man during the Gilded Age (Horatio Alger Myth) believed in the rags to riches opportunity. While the rich wore diamonds, the poor wore rags.
11 million of the 12 million earned less than $1200 some earning $380 per month.
The business tycoons (or Founding Fathers of our economy) of the Gilded Age; Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, Cornelius Vanderbilt, & J. P. Morgan lived at a moment of riotous growth — & real violence — establishing America as the richest, most inventive, and most productive country on the planet.
Those who worked in their mills noted "a widespread feeling of unrest and brooding revolution." Violent strikes and riots wracked the nation through the turn of the century as if they wanted a carnival revenge.
Many of the immigrants who filled the factory worked lived in tenements (crowded city apartments) spread across city landscapes, teeming with crime and filth.
For immediate relief, the urban poor often turned to political machines providing useful services but often stealing from their pockets.

29. Big Business & The Government
Corporations expanded & reduced competition in many ways:
Horizontal integration= Joining together as many firms from the same industry as possible. Rockefeller employed this tactic by buying or brutally bankrupting his competitors. By undercutting his competitors by making deals with railroads, he could cut his oil prices until they would be forced to sell their business to him. By 1882, Rockefellers Standard Oil company controlled 90% of the nation’s oil production.
Vertical integration= Taking control of each step in the production & distribution of a product. From the mining of the raw materials to manufacturing, packaging, & shipping. Andrew Carnegie expanded his steel company in Pennsylvania owning more steel mills than all of Britain!
These entrepreneurs turned their businesses into a monopoly which will completely dominate a particular industries products and services.
Trusts is a set of companies that are managed by a small group known as trustees. The trustees have the power to prevent companies in the trust from competing with each other.
Effect: impersonal, extremely profitable, & responsive to its investors.
Helpful in defining terms we use in Gilded Age.

30. What do you see is going on in these cartoons? (name 5)
What is the artist point of view towards big business?
How does America portray big business today? You?
Video on men who built America?

31. Government Leaves Businesses Alone
By 1800s Americans realized big business was limiting competition.
The lack of competition which helped producers but not consumers was a policy known as laissez-faire (allow to do). This doctrine was a belief that the market through supply and demand would regulate itself and the government didn’t interfere.
Social Darwinism held that the best-run businesses led by the most capable people would survive and prosper. Succeed or fail on their own- “Survival of the fittest”
Govt actually gave land, resources, protective tariffs, which would help our exports double.

32. From Industrialists to Philanthropist
From steel rose from 77,000 tons to 11 mil, oil from 5 mil barrels -63 mil a year, and RR from 53,000 miles to 200,000 over years.
Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Vanderbilt all started as entrepreneurs- risk takers to start a new business.
Once they accrued their fortunes they became philanthropist-a person who gives money to support a worthy cause.
Who & what impact have these people made?

33. Doing some good with all that $$$$
Person
Organization
Purpose
Oprah (21)
Angel Network
Making people lives better
Warren (9) Buffet
Girls Inc & Gates Foundation
$37 bn
Education/Recreation risk girls
Bill Gates
Gates Foundation
World Health educ
Mark Zuckerberg
Silicon Valley Comm Foundation
Fixing educ challenges in Cali

34. Government Takes Some Action
Increasing public concern finally provoked a response from the federal government.
The Sherman Anti-trust Act (1890) outlawed trusts, monopolies, and other forms of businesses that restricted trade (feeble attempts to enforce it).
For example the Supreme Court blocked government efforts to break up sugar trust that controlled most of the nation’s sugar manufacturing. In US vs E.C. Knight Co., the Court ruled that the Sherman Act applied only to trade, not to manufacturing.

35. The Political Machine & Spoil System Reform
Unit 3 Notes #4
The Political Machine & Spoil System Reform
By 1900 many cities were controlled by political machines which consisted of full-time politicians whose goal was to keep political power, influence & money that went with it.
At the top of this corrupt scheme was the political boss who controlled the machine and it’s politicians. William “Boss” Tweed of New York’s Tammany Hall cheated the city as much as $200 million.
Ward bosses and precinct captains offered the residents (immigrants) assistance in exchange for votes (police, fire, sanitation, schools, funeral) at election time, providing benefits (welfare) that most state or local governments did not provide.
Corporations often bribed state legislators to elected favored candidates to Senate= Millionaires Club- rich with close ties to powerful industries- gave $$ to limit competition.
Politicians frequently engaged in patronage- giving job to friends & supporters.
1883 Congress passed the Pendleton Civil Service Act set up guide lines for hiring civil service employees- non military
A commission would set up exams to new applicants for government jobs based on score & merit (pass the exam and have credentials)
(GONY)

36. Notes # 4

37. The New Working Class
Unlike European countries, the US didn’t have monarchs or noble families who held economic power, but in the Gilded Age a class system emerged based on wealth and power.
In the late 1800’s thousands of African Americans moved north in search of jobs, but even in the north black workers were given low paying, dangerous jobs.
The number of American female workers doubled between the years and number of laborers under the age of 16 also doubled in this time.
Throughout the 1800s child labor became a large part of the work force employing children as young as 6-8 working in coal mine and cotton fields under extreme conditions. Few laws passed to protect them.
Cities provided both a central supply of labor for factories and also a principal market for factory made goods. By 1900 almost 40% of Americans lived in urban communities than in rural areas.

38. Life of the Poor
Life for those in poverty in the late 1800’s usually was marked by crowded living conditions, long hours and poor sanitation.
Most were forced to live in rundown, poorly built apartment buildings called tenements, 4-6 stories usually housing four families on each floor.
Tenements were known for poor sanitation, terrible smell and a lack of privacy and safety, different immigrant groups created distinct ethnic neighborhoods where each group could maintain its own language, culture, church or temple, and social club.

39. Labor Begins to Organize
In the late 1800’s , labor unions began to fight for shorter hours, better working conditions, & higher wages for the American worker.
Must of union’s powers came from the threat of a strike, simply refuse to work until demands met. Many businesses pressured workers to sign “yellow dog contracts,” pledging not to join a union or blacklisting those suspected of being a member.
After the Civil War local unions started cooperating with each other and joined forces to form a national labor federation or group of unions.
In practice each of these national labor organizations acted as a union, engaging in collective bargaining, negotiations between employers & employees (wages, conditions, etc) calling strikes when it failed.

40. Heroes of the Labor Movement
Rose Schneiderman
Became a union leader in NYC in the early 1900s. After the 1911 fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, she worked as a leader with the International Ladies Garment Workers Union to enact fire safety laws.
Samuel Gompers
Started as a cigar maker & local union leader in NYC. Founded American Federation of Labor for 40 years. Favored cooperation over strikes & resisted socialist efforts into the AFL
Marry Harris “Mother” Jones
Roamed the country helping coal miners, textile workers form unions. Known as a “hell-raiser” she was considered one of the most dangerous women in America.
Eugene V Debs
Worked as a locomotive fireman. Later founded American Railway Union, & Industrial Workers World. Father of the Socialist Party. Ran for president while in prison.
Video embedded in Rose S face of Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

41. National Labor Unions: Common Goal, Different Strategies
Year & Leader
Goals
Members
Strategies
Knights of Labor
1869, Terrence Powderly
8 hr workday
Abolish child labor
Regulate trust
Equal pay men & women
Education for working class
Skilled & unskilled
Women
African Americans
Arbitration
Boycott
strikes
American Federation of Labor
1886, Samuel Gompers
Increased wages
Improved working conditions
Limitation of work hours
Only skilled workers in a particular trade
Negotiation
Strikes
Industrial Workers of the World
1905,
Eugene V Debs, Daniel De Leon
William Haywood
Organization of all workers into a single union
Overthrow capitalism
Lumbermen
Miners
Textile workers
Dockworkers
Boycotts
Sabotage

42. Strikes Erupt Nationwide
As labor unions gained strength, workers showed a willingness to strike.
In 1886, Haymarket Affair started when nonunion workers were brought to replace striking workers. Anarchist called for a meeting at Haymarket Square, bombing the crowd killing several police, and 4 protestors.
1884, The Pullman Strike, supported management against striking workers. The Pullman Company made fancy railcars and the entire town made up of all the workers who worked for the company (food, school,etc). During an economic depression the company cut wages. Workers reacted by linking non-working Pullman Cars to the US mail cars which was a federal offense. Federal troops sent in to stop the strike.

43. The Immigration Process
The journey to America was often difficult, immigrant passengers traveled in steerage (a cramped, poorly ventilated area below decks).
Millions of immigrants were processed through Ellis Island in New York or Angel Island in San Francisco
Immigrants were interviewed and inspected, any immigrant with serious mental or physical health problems were deported, but most passed inspection
From 1891 to 1910, 12 million immigrants came to the US to escape poverty or persecution; many hoped to make money and return home and buy land.

44. Why Europeans Immigrated to the US

45. Immigration Restrictions
Nativists (hatred toward foreign born, esp from Asia, southern and eastern Europe) in the late 1800’s an Anti-Chinese movement began in the labor unions of California.
The Workingmen’s Party excited crowds and some Chinese were attacked and killed.
In 1882 Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act which denied citizenship to Chinese and stopped immigration of Chinese laborers (10 years).
In 1894 the Immigration Restriction League sought to impose literacy test on all immigrants but President Cleveland vetoed the bill.

46. Urban Reforms & Social Gospel Movement
Some patriotic organizations pushed for Americanization of immigrants, pushing American values, history, and citizenship.
Jane Addams Hull House lead many educated young women on a mission to help the poor and later to press for women’s suffrage.
Many middle class women joined Protestant churches to apply Christian principles to address the problem of poverty and churches offered counseling, job training, libraries and other social services.
By 1900, most states had passes Compulsory Education Laws which required parents to send children to school; by 1900, 72% of American children were in school.
A more educated public created a demand for books and newspapers written for the average American.