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AMH 2020

Chapter 16 Study Guide

Factors that encouraged economic growth in the Gilded Age- Natural resources, growing supply of labor, expanding market for manufactured goods, availability of capital for investment. Govt promoted agricultural & industrial development. Enacted high tariffs to protect American industry from foreign competition, granted land to railroad companies, and used the army to remove Indians from western lands (yikes). Lots of strikes.

 Wage work- Paid people set amounts for works they did, made poor people stay poor and rich people stay rich. Everything controlled by Employers.

 Second Industrial Revolution- Explosive economic growth, see ‘Factors that encouraged economic growth…”

Railroads – impact- Private investments & massive land grants, opened new areas for commercial farming and manufactured goods. Created a national market, and gave way to time zones. Helped steel market as railroads would now use steel as to not rust.

 “Pools”- divided markets between supposedly competing firms and fixed prices.

 Andrew Carnegie- established steel company that incorporated “vertical integration”, or one that controlled everything from transportation to manufacturing to distribution. He got a lot of money, also dominated the steel industry. Horrible work conditions, but he donated to libraries and shit so that’s something I guess. People still died tho. Two 12-hour shifts, nonstop except for the 4th of July.

 John Rockefeller- Oil company guy, dominated the industry. People didn’t like him (his family also played a huge part in the American eugenics movement, but anyway).  Horizontal expansion, i.e. buy everyone out until you have a monopoly on oil. He did vertical expansion later tho. He gave away money to like, education and medical stuff, but given context that makes me kind of uneasy. He was a dick to his workers, was really against workers unions because god forbid people have living salaries. Mixed feelings from people at the time, but strong feelings.

 How the Other Half Lives- By Jacob Riis, shocking accounts of the urban poor in New York, along with pictures of the poverty people were in.

 Little Bighorn- Native American Victory of 1876, General George A. Cluster and 250 men died.

 Boarding schools for Indians- 1871, took many Native American children from their families and put them in boarding schools, where their culture was stripped from them and they were made to wear non-Native American clothes, given new names, and educated in white ways.

 Dawes Severalty Act- Broke Native American land into pieces (this is my last resort)…((sorry)) and distributed it to Indians, told them that if they could act ‘civilized’ that they could be American citizens. Kind of screwed over the Native American’s values and located them in very dangerous areas. Erosion of cultural tradition, and white people took formerly Native American lands. Oof.

 Ghost Dance- Religious Revitalization Campaign for Native Americans. Foretold a day when whites would disappear, buffalo would come back, and Native Americans could finally live with culture, free from disease, death, and misery. They sang and danced for days, until the US Govt came in and killed a bunch of them (Wounded Knee Creek). Native American population decreased significantly.

 The “Wild West”- A lawless place ruled by “cowboys and Indians”, marked by gunfights, cattle drives and stagecoach robberies. Violent and romantic frontier. Big Hollywood image.

 William Tweed- Considered an urban Robin Hood due to funding for food, fuel, and jobs among poor population. Corrupt guy though, plunged the US into debt with his organization. Lawmaker who held stock.

 Civil Service Act 1883- Merit system for federal employees which appointed via competitive examinations instead of political influence. Removed office holding from political machines)

 Interstate Commerce Commission- Ensured that rates people charged for good transport were reasonable, did not favor one or the other company. Had little impact because all they could so was sure, federally recognized.

 Sherman Anti-Trust Act, 1890- Banned combinations and practices that restrained free trade, vague language, hard to enforce.

 Social Darwinism- “Poor people can die and we shouldn’t help them” basically. Weird interpretation of Darwinism.

 Great Railroad Strike of 1877- Workers protesting a pay cut paralyzed railroad traffic, govt came in and started killing workers, so workers burned down railroad yards. President had them “put down by force”

 Henry George, Laurence Gronlond, and Edward Bellamy- H: Progress and Poverty, L: The Cooperative Commonwealth, E: Looking Backwards. Authors that called for a golden age of social harmony, optimistic remedies for the unequal distribution of wealth, best sellers.  Henry suggested that we fix poverty through a “single tax” to replace all taxes, Laurence wanted American socialism. Edward wanted nationalism, weird scifi booc.

 Social Gospel- Idea that freedom and spiritual self-development required an equalization of wealth and power, and that unbridled competition mocked the Christian idea of brotherhood.

 Haymarket Affair- Rally in Haymarket square to protest the killing of four strikers by police. Someone threw a bomb into the crowd, killing a policeman. The police opened fire, police raided offices of labor and radical groups. Employers used this to paint the labor movement as dangerous and un-American. 8 men were convicted, although the evidence was not a lot, 4 were killed, one hanged himself, and the other three were imprisoned until John Altgeld, a pro-labor Illinois governor, commuted their sentences in 1893.

[studysquidinfernalis]

AMH2020

Give Me Liberty Chapter 15 Study Guide

Gen. William T. Sherman’s Special Field Order 15- Set aside the Sea Islands and a large area along the South Carolina and Georgia coasts for settlement of black families on 40 acres plots of land.

 Effects of emancipation on ex-slaves and black families- Black citizens now had an expanded church, school, and strengthened family. Family became very important, with some freedmen walking 600 miles in attempt to find his family who were taken away from him. Freedwomen began to take up the role of a housekeeper and spent more time with their children, as before the emancipation this wasn’t possible for them. Eventually black women would go back to work due to the poverty of black families, but black men saw it as a badge of honor that their wives stay home.

 Importance of the black church- Black churches housed school, social events, political gatherings, and obviously a place of worship. Black ministers played a hugged role in politics, and many held public office.

 Emancipation’s impact on planters- Planters lost their slaves and, due to no longer having workers, some had to do physical labor for the first time in their lives. Many lost their life savings because of the emancipation, and lost money in worthless confederate bonds. Good.

 Freedmen’s Bureau- Agents were tasked with establishing schools, provide aid for the poor & aged, settle racial disputes, and secure equal treatment in the courts between white Unionists and freedmen. While these tasks were herculean at the time, they did impact healthcare and education greatly, and agents even medically aided both whites and blacks during and after war.

 Freedmen’s ability to own land- Freedmen owning land led to a new sort of independence for black people in America. Financial independence and land gave them a never-before had political standing in America and very little independence on white people.

 Andrew Johnson- Believed black people had no role to play in reconstruction and was deeply racists, could not compromise and was not as aware or cautious of public opinion as Lincoln was.

 Presidential pardons- Andrew Johnson was a racist asshole. He hated rich people, so he made them personally beg for him to take them back, but ultimately gave them land that was being owned by black families who rightfully deserved it. Poor people didn’t have to beg for their land. Freedmen were kind of obviously pissed at this since they were enslaved for years and now that they had some semblance of an ownership, it was being taken away by people who betrayed the union.

 Crop-lien system- Also sucked because people had to obtain supplies from merchants and pledge a part of the crop as collateral (the creditor could seize said property if debt was not paid). Farmers were mostly still in debt even after partaking in this due to the high interest rates and the low cotton price. Both black and white planters got caught in this system. They had to keep planting, though, to get loans. Totally sucked, everyone was poor, kind of like college but worse.

 Sharecropping- Black families would pay rent a part of the plantation, and at the end of the year the crop was divided between worker and owner. Freed people preferred it to gang labor because it offered them the prospect of labor without white supervision. It was still oppressive, and economic opportunities sucked because the price of farm products kept declining. Planters had a stable resident labor force.

 Petition of Committee on Behalf of the Freedmen to Andrew Johnson- Letter from Freedmen showing disappoint in Johnson’s pardons and the taking the land rightfully given to hard-working black Americans to give to former rebels.

 Black Codes- Laws passed by southern govt to regulate the lives of former slaves. Gave them right to legalized marriage, ownership of property, and limited access to courts, but denied them rights to testify against whites, serve in juries or state militias, or to vote. Yearly labor contracts had to be signed or black laborers would be hired to white landowners.

 Radical Republicans – goals, achievements, failures- Wanted to remove confederate rebels from the government and guaranteed positions for black men instead, along with their guaranteed right to vote. Wanted equal rights for all, except women, I guess? Not really brought up. Thaddeus Stevens (a golden dude honestly) wanted “small independent landholders” of the freedmen, thought that didn’t pass because god forbid everyone is on board with equality. Rights Bill of 1866 didn’t pass because Johnson is an ass and no one liked him. Congress was too weak to exterminate his veto but they did muster up enough to pass the extension of the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill which is good.

 Fourteenth Amendment- Declared that every person born in the United States had citizenship and that the federal government was tasked in protecting their rights. Denied states the ability to abridge “privileges or immunities” or denying any person “equal protection under the law”.

 Radical Reconstruction- Lasted until 1877, Americans had long been suspicious of the federal government playing too large a role in the affairs of state. But the Radicals felt that extraordinary times called for direct intervention in state affairs and laws designed to protect the emancipated blacks. At the heart of their beliefs was the notion that blacks must be given a chance to compete in a free-labor economy. In 1866, this activist Congress also introduced a bill to extend the life of the Freedmen's Bureau and began work on a CIVIL RIGHTS BILL.

 Reconstruction Act, 1867- Divides the south into 5 military districts and called for new state governments with black men being given the right to vote. Congress getting REALLY sick of Johnson’s bull.

 Fifteenth Amendment- “I thought this was evident by the 14th amendment but apparently not, black people are citizens, let black people vote” “ok but only if they can guess how many jelly beans are in this jar”

Former Confederates can’t handle not being racist for like 5 minutes. Are sore losers, and also assholes, so literacy tests, property qualifications, and poll taxes implemented because only rich people can have opinions, I guess. Completely rigged due to the fact that black schools were poorly funded and black Americans already had loads of trouble financially due to how the economy works

 Reconstruction amendments- significance- 14th, 15th, and Reconstruction Act of 1867 marked a radical departure in American history and was a leap for equal rights, although it had its limitations (ex. Women did not have the right to vote)

 Hiram Revels & Blanche Bruce- Two black men appointed to government positions (specifically the senate) were put into office, which made a real difference in southern life, ensuring that black people accused of crimes would be tried before juries of their peers and enforced fairness in aspects such as govt. road repair, tax assessment, and poor relief.

 Carpetbagger- Northerners that moved south. Southerners can’t handle people who aren’t like them so they call them mean names. Big conspiracy from southerners that they’re there to take the benefits of the south. Most of these ‘carpetbaggers’ were Union soldiers who just wanted to remain in the south after the war. Not really anything to do with politics but southern folks are bitter.

 Scalawag- White republicans who were born in the south. Again, people in the south are bitter and call them ‘scalawags’, ‘race traitors’, ‘region traitors’ even though confederates are literal region traitors. Like literally rebelled against the Union. Some scalawags had money, but most of them were just non-slaveholding farmers from the southern upcountry who fought for the Union. They cooperated with the Republicans so that the former confederates wouldn’t pull anything weird. Honestly I hate Johnson for pardoning these guys.

 Colfax Massacre- Armed whites assaulted the town a small cannon, 100s of former slaves were killed included 50 militia men after they surrendered. Bloodiest violence during the reconstruction.

 Enforcement Acts, 1870 & 1871- Outlawed terrorist organizations such as the KKK. Allowed federal government to go after them. Klan became non-influential and almost non-existent due to threat of trial.

 Slaughterhouse Cases- Argued the 14th amendment didn’t alter traditional federalism. Most of the rights of citizens were still under state control.

 The Bargain (aka Compromise) of 1877- Democrats controlled the south, respected Hayes’s right to office and the political rights of black people. Hayes tell federal troops to stop guarding state houses in Louisiana, allowing Democrats to be governors. Of course southern democrats screw everything up and decide not to respect black people as equal citizens. Kind of ended the reconstruction era which sucks because racism was still rampant.