AI Notes

I. Introduction

• Context: Post–Panic of 1873 economic stagnation + railroad wage cuts (despite subsidies/dividends) created explosive labor unrest.

• Great Railroad Strike of 1877 (Great Upheaval):

  • Spread from Baltimore to St. Louis; shut down national rail traffic (key to the economy).

  • Government response: local police often refused/failed → governors deployed state militias; when militias failed/refused, federal troops intervened.

  • Violence and escalation: property destruction, crowd shootings (Baltimore 11 killed; Pittsburgh militia violence; Reading 10 killed; St. Louis 18 killed; Chicago 20 killed).

• Significance:

  • Marked a new era of class conflict and state alignment with capital.

  • Encouraged growth of unions and pushed businesses to seek stronger political influence and state support.

  • Set pattern: courts + injunctions + police + troops used to break strikes.

II. The March of Capital

• Industrial transformation drivers:

  • Tech innovations lowered production/distribution costs; railroads expanded national markets.

  • New corporate management structures + national credit agencies reduced uncertainty.

  • Advertising and national media helped standardize and nationalize consumer demand.

• Taylorism / scientific management:

  • Subdivide tasks; increase speed/efficiency; make labor interchangeable.

  • Supported mass production and larger firms.

• Mass production examples: Singer sewing machines, meatpacking “disassembly” lines, McCormick reapers, Duke cigarette rollers; Ford popularized assembly line.

• McCormick case study (1880s):

  • Shift from skilled craft production to standardized interchangeable parts → output surged.

• Global rise: by 1900 U.S. leading manufacturing nation; by 1913 produced ~one-third of world industrial output.

• Economies of scale and competition problem:

  • High fixed costs made firms desperate to keep producing; competition threatened profits.

  • Firms tried pools, trusts, price-fixing, market division; then moved to mergers.

• Great Merger Movement (1895–1904):

  • ~4,000 firms consolidated; many industries dominated by a few giants.

  • 1901 U.S. Steel (J. P. Morgan) became first billion-dollar company.

• Significance: Consolidation/monopoly intensified conflicts over labor, fairness, and democracy.

III. The Rise of Inequality

• Gilded Age paradox: huge productivity/wealth alongside poverty and corruption.

• Robber barons: Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Morgan (symbolize extreme concentration of wealth).

• Wealth concentration:

  • By late 1800s, top fractions owned large shares of assets; inequality accelerated by 1900.

• Ideologies legitimizing inequality:

  • Social Darwinism (Spencer): “survival of the fittest” applied to society; charity/welfare viewed as harmful.

  • American proponents (e.g., Sumner) framed inequality as “natural,” discouraging state intervention.

• Politics and policy:

  • Both parties often supported business; Republicans especially aligned with capital.

  • Protective tariff shielded American industry from foreign competition.

• Significance: Economic power shaped political power; ideas justified limited regulation and harsh responses to labor.

IV. The Labor Movement

• Worker conditions:

  • Long hours, dangerous work, unstable employment; wages often below poverty line.

  • Family survival frequently required women/children working; urban overcrowding worsened hardship.

• Union growth after 1877:

  • Knights of Labor: inclusive of skilled/unskilled; welcomed women; aimed at cooperative society but pursued practical gains via local unions.

  • Peak mid-1880s; damaged by association with radicalism/violence after Haymarket.

• Major conflicts:

  • Southwest Strike (1886) vs Jay Gould rail lines; use of Pinkertons, Rangers/militias; violence hurt public perception.

  • Eight-hour day movement (May 1, 1886): mass strike wave (hundreds of thousands).

  • Haymarket Affair (1886): bombing + police violence; anarchists convicted with weak evidence; national backlash undermined Knights and eight-hour campaign.

  • AFL: craft-union federation; “pure and simple” unionism; practical workplace goals, more conservative tactics.

  • Homestead Strike (1892): Frick vs steelworkers; Pinkerton battle; state militia breaks strike; union devastated.

  • Pullman Strike (1894): wage cuts + company town rents; ARU boycott led by Debs; federal injunction + troops; Debs jailed and radicalized.

• Significance: Demonstrates recurring alignment of courts and federal power against strikes; sets stage for later Progressive-era labor reforms and radical unionism.

V. The Populist Movement

• Roots of agrarian crisis:

  • Industrialization + commercialization lowered crop prices; farmers increasingly dependent on banks, railroads, middlemen.

  • Debt and land loss pushed farmers toward wage labor; especially severe in the South.

• Farmers’ Alliance:

  • Began in Texas (1877); expanded nationwide through newspapers, meetings, cooperative vision.

  • Promoted collective bargaining, shared machinery, cooperative buying/selling.

  • “Philanthropic monopolies” (cooperatives) often failed financially but built organizational power and political consciousness.

• People’s (Populist) Party:

  • 1892 Omaha convention; nominated James B. Weaver; strong showing (over 1 million votes; 22 electoral votes).

  • Omaha Platform: proposed major federal intervention:

    • Nationalize railroads/telegraphs

    • Postal savings banks

    • Subtreasury plan (federal warehouses + loans)

    • Free silver (inflationary policy) to ease debts

    • Direct election of senators, secret ballot, graduated income tax

• Race and regional limits:

  • Southern Democrats used fraud and racial demagoguery; Populists often compromised on white supremacy.

  • Colored Farmers’ Alliance faced violent repression; interracial coalition difficult.

• Significance: Most influential third-party movement; ideas later adopted in Progressive reforms.

VI. William Jennings Bryan and the Politics of Gold

• Bryan’s role: Democratic orator-politician who championed farmers/workers through free silver and anti–gold standard politics.

• Key moment (1896): “Cross of Gold” speech at Democratic convention; secured nomination.

• Election of 1896: Bryan energized mass turnout but lost to William McKinley, backed by business and gold standard.

• Aftermath:

  • Democrats “fused” with Populists (Populists also nominated Bryan), weakening Populism as an independent force.

  • Gold Standard Act (1900) ended major monetary debate; Bryan lost again in 1900 and 1908.

• Significance: Populist issues absorbed into major-party politics; shows how two-party system can neutralize third-party movements while borrowing their reforms.

VII. The Socialists

• Core argument: capitalism concentrates wealth/power; workers face wage slavery despite productivity gains.

• Organizations and leaders:

  • Socialist Party of America (1901): won local offices; elected members of Congress; grew membership by 1913.

  • Eugene V. Debs: major figure; presidential candidate with significant vote share in 1912.

  • IWW (1905): radical union welcoming all workers; confrontational tactics.

• Decline factors:

  • Progressive reform co-opted some socialist goals.

  • Internal disputes and public suspicion of socialism.

  • Government repression and censorship (especially during/after WWI).

• Significance: Socialist activism influenced labor politics and reform culture even as the party weakened.

VIII. Conclusion

• Industrial capitalism reshaped life: created immense wealth and a growing middle class but also severe poverty, land loss, and labor insecurity.

• Americans debated how to balance markets, democracy, and fairness amid corporate consolidation.