Feared that factory owners would use immigrants to keep wages low and to replace striking workers
Gospel of wealth
NAWSA
Worked to secure voting rights for women
John D. Rockefeller
Pioneered horizontal integration, where one company controls every seller in the market.
Labor unions
Workers formed labor unions to have more negotiating power and fight for better pay and working conditions
16 million immigrants (mostly from Europe) came looking for better economic opportunities
Changes in farming
A new focus on cash-crops in the north and west, and a shift to more expensive mechanized farming methods put smaller farms out of business. Big trusts that farmers relied on (like railroads) also raised prices, making it even harder for farmers to make a living
All the industrialization created a new type of work for managers and administrators who ran the factories instead of working in them
After a railroad car manufacturer cut wages, and the union tried to negotiate, the company failed them all. The railroad union decided to not work on any trains with Pullman cars in them. The railroad owners tied the Pullman cars to mail trains in order to get the government to keep them moving, and the union members were jailed
Reservation system
Sherman antitrust act
Made monopolizing an entire market illegal
Knights of labor
National union open to ALL laborers. Wanted to end child labor and end trusts
Panic of 1893
A severe economic depression during which nearly a quarter of railroads declared bankruptcy. This caused bankers to buy up many of the railroads, leading to consolidation.
Railroads
Massive extension of the railroad system created a truly national market for goods
Homestead act
Gave settlers 160 acres of land if they lived there for 5 years.
Anti-Saloon league
Worked to close down saloons
Chinese exclusion act
Tammany Hall
The most famous political machine organized and met the needs of immigrants and the poor in exchange for votes
Dawes act
Broke up tribal organizations and divided up tribal land and gave U.S. citizenship to natives who "Americanized" themselves
By 1890, the U.S. Census Bureau declared that the frontier was officially settled
Social and educational collective aimed at brining farmers together. Soon became political to lobby for farmers
Starting in 1865 many Americans started pushing westward again after the interruption of the civil war
Pioneered vertical integration, where one company controls every stage of the manufacturing process
The new south
Idea that the future of the south would be based on economic diversity and industrial growth. Massive growth of population, industry, and railroads. Only in limited industrial centers though.
Booker T. Washington
former slave who trained other black men to become economically self-sufficient, and argued this was a better way to gain power than to campaign for better voting rights
There was an extreme lack of government regulation of the economy at the time
Women's Christian Temperance Union
Worked to ban alcohol, had over 500,000 members
International migration society
Wanted to correct the concentration of power held by banks and trusts. Proposed the Omaha platform: Direct election of senators, more referendums, graduated income tax, and an 8-hour workday
American protective association
Heavily anti-catholic and Social Darwinists
