Fourth Party System [1890s–1932] I Flashcards
(39 cards)
Review - Timeline: Go West Young Man! Westward Expansion, 1840-1900
1848: California Gold Rush begins. 1862: Homestead and Pacific Railway Acts encourage westward migration; ‘Dakota War’ fought. 1869: Transcontinental Railroad completed. 1873: Barbed wire invented. 1876: ‘Battle of Little Bighorn’ fought. 1882: ‘Chinese Exclusion Act’ passed. 1887: ‘Dawes Severalty Act’ divides Indian tribal lands.
Timeline: Industrialization and the Rise of Big Business, 1870-1900
1870: John D. Rockefeller founds ‘Standard Oil’. 1873: Andrew Carnegie founds ‘Carnegie Steel’; ‘Panic of 1873’ triggers extended depression. 1876: Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone. 1877: ‘Great Railroad Strike’ lasts forty-five days. 1879: Thomas Edison invents the light bulb. 1886: Labor rally at Haymarket Square erupts in violence; ‘American Federation of Labor’ is founded. 1892: ‘Homestead Steel Strike’.
Review - Evolution of the Two-Party System Timeline
Political scientists and historians have divided the development of America’s two-party system into roughly six eras: (1) First Party System [1789–1824] between the Federalist Party and the Democratic-Republican Party; (2) Second Party System [1828–1854] between the Whig Party and Democratic Party; (3) Third Party System [1854–1890s] between the anti-slavery/discrimination Republican Party and pro-slavery/discrimination Democrats; (4) Fourth Party System [1896–1932] Republican and Democrats with Progressive Era and limited government; (5) Fifth Party System [1933–1972] Domination of New Deal Democrats; and (6) Sixth Party System [1972-Present] Liberal-Democrat and Conservative-Republican realignment.
Evolution of the Two-Party System Timeline: Fourth Party System (1896-1932)
The Fourth Party System was a period of American political history from 1896 to 1932, coinciding with the Progressive Era. The era saw a major realignment in both the Democratic and Republican parties as national attention shifted from racial and American Civil War-related issues (the Third Party System) towards the government regulation of railroads and large corporations, the gold standard, the protective tariff, the role of labor unions, child labor, the need for a new banking system, corruption in party politics, primary elections, the introduction of the federal income tax, the direct election of US Senators, racial segregation, efficiency in government, women’s suffrage, and immigration restrictions. The era saw the United States engage in the Spanish-American War, the Philippine-American War, the Banana Wars, and World War I and saw the onset of the Great Depression, which led to the New Deal and the rise of the Fifth Party System.
The Four Industrial Revolutions - Simple
The first industrial revolution used water and steam to mechanize production (~1765), the second used electric energy to create mass production (~1870), and the third used electronics and information technology to automate production (~1969). The fourth revolution with exponential expansion is characterized by merging technology that blurs the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres to completely uproot industries all over the world.
The Four Industrial Revolutions - First Industrial Revolution
《1765: First Industrial Revolution》Mechanization replaced agriculture with industry as the foundations of the economic structure of society; coal and the steam engine accelerated economic, human, and material exchanges.
The Four Industrial Revolutions - Second Industrial Revolution
《1870: Second Industrial Revolution》Electricity, gas, and oil with the combustion engine; the bessemer steel process helped mechanize manufacturing; chemical synthesis also developed to bring us synthetic fabric, dyes, and fertilizer; telegraph and telephone; automobile and the plane; Taylor and Ford were influential in centralizing research and capital structured around an economic and industrial models based on new “large factories” and the organizational models of production.
The Four Industrial Revolutions - Third Industrial Revolution
《1969: Third Industrial Revolution》Nuclear energy; transistor and microprocessor, along with telecommunications and computers; productions of miniaturized material leading to space research and biotechnology; in industry came high-level automaton in production from automation, programmable logic controllers, and robots.
The Four Industrial Revolutions - Nowadays
《Nowadays》Merging technology that blurs the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres to completely uproot industries all over the world: the internet, virtual world, cloud, big data analytics, and industrial internet of things.
Recognize the growth in America during the Second Industrial Revolution.
The Second Industrial Revolution, also known as the Technological Revolution, was a phase of rapid industrialization from approximately 1870 to 1914. A number of its characteristic events can be traced to earlier innovations in manufacturing, such as the establishment of a machine tool industry, the development of methods for manufacturing interchangeable parts, and the invention of the Bessemer Process to produce steel. Advancements in manufacturing and production technology enabled the widespread adoption of technological systems, such as telegraph and railroad networks, gas and water supply, and sewage systems. The enormous expansion of rail and telegraph lines after 1870 allowed unprecedented movement of people and ideas, which culminated in a new wave of globalization. In the same time period, new technological systems were introduced, most significantly electrical power and telephones. Near its end, early factory electrification and the production line were in their early stages. Wages, wealth, capital, and GDP all rose at the fastest rate in the nation’s history (despite several recessions, notable bankruptcies, and unparalleled corruption).
Gilded Age
‘The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today’ was a famous satirical novel by Mark Twain set in the late 1800s and the term “Gilded Age” soon came to define the tumultuous years between the Civil War and the turn of the twentieth century. During this era, America became more prosperous and saw unprecedented growth in industry and technology. But the Gilded Age had a more sinister side: It was a period where greedy, corrupt industrialists, bankers, and politicians enjoyed extraordinary wealth and opulence at the expense of the working class. In fact, it was wealthy tycoons, not politicians, who inconspicuously held the most political power during the Gilded Age. Wages, wealth, capital, and GDP all rose at the fastest rate in the nation’s history (despite several recessions, notable bankruptcies, and unparalleled corruption).
Inventors of the Age (A)
Inventors in the late nineteenth century flooded the market with new technological advances. Encouraged by Great Britain’s Industrial Revolution and eager for economic development in the wake of the Civil War, business investors sought the latest ideas upon which they could capitalize, both to transform the nation as well as to make a personal profit. These inventions were a key piece of the massive shift towards industrialization that followed. For both families and businesses, these inventions eventually represented a fundamental change in their way of life. Although the technology spread slowly, it did spread across the country. Whether it was a company that could now produce ten times more products with new factories or a household that could communicate with distant relations, the old way of doing things was disappearing.
Inventors of the Age (B)
Communication technologies, electric power production, and steel production were perhaps the three most significant developments of the time. While the first two affected both personal lives and business development, the latter influenced business growth first and foremost, as the ability to produce large steel elements efficiently and cost-effectively led to permanent changes in the direction of industrial growth.
The Key Political Issues: Patronage, Tariffs, and Gold
All told, from 1872 through 1892, Gilded Age politics were little more than political showmanship. The political issues of the day, including the spoils system versus civil service reform, high tariffs versus low, and business regulation, all influenced politicians more than the country at large. Very few measures offered direct assistance to Americans who continued to struggle with the transformation into an industrial society; the inefficiency of a patronage-driven federal government, combined with a growing laissez-faire attitude among the American public, made the passage of effective legislation difficult. Some of Harrison’s policies, such as the ‘Sherman Anti-Trust Act’ and the ‘Sherman Silver Purchase Act’, aimed to provide relief, but remained largely ineffective.
Monetary Policy - Consider the Republicans’ support of industrialization and the Democrats’ anti-tariff allegiance.
In regards to monetary policy, farmers, debtors, and Democrats favored inflationary policies, while Republicans and industrialists wanted Americans to invest in industry and opposed inflation. After Nevada mines flooded the American market with silver from the ‘Comstock Lode’ (the discovery was made public in 1859) and created devastating inflation and contributing to the ‘Panic of 1873’, President Grant and Congress passed the ‘Fourth Coinage Act’ removing silver from being used as currency. This increased and stabilized the value of the dollar on the world market and increased big business investment, but hurt farmers, debtors, and small business owners.
Tariffs and Other Taxes - Consider the Republicans’ support of industrialization and the Democrats’ anti-tariff allegiance.
Tariffs that protected American manufacturers were kept high and even raised in this time frame. The federal governments main source of income was tariffs and excise taxes (basically, sales taxes on certain goods). Republicans generally supported increasing protectionist tariffs in order to protect fledgling American industries from European competitors. Democrats argued that tariffs only benefitted corporate owners, hurt consumers who had to pay higher prices, and hurt farmers who suffered from retaliatory tariffs from foreign countries.
Recall the toothless ‘Sherman Antitrust Act’ and discuss its aim of promoting competition.
Though few federal regulations existed, there were attempts to control predatory business practices. The ‘Sherman Antitrust Act’ (1890) allowed the federal government to break up trusts and restore competition, but this law, like many others, was not supported by the courts, mainly because its language was vague. Trusts helped business owners achieve a monopoly without violating other laws.
Recall the importance of Bessemer’s process to manufacturing.
The development of the Henry Bessemer steel process helped mechanize manufacturing. In 1855, Bessemer patented an inexpensive way to process steel, so it could be produced and used on a massive, industrial scale. The Bessemer steel process, in turn, allowed for the mechanization of industry. This alone began to change the composition of the labor force. Increasingly, factories were staffed by masses of unskilled laborers who performed repetitive tasks at machines.
Realize the power of corporations to dehumanize labor.
Scientific management, refined by Frederick Taylor (known as the father of scientific management), worked to make laborers more efficient and productive. Output did increase, but at the expense of dehumanizing workers. This created friction between management and labor. Taylor quickly became known as the father of scientific management for having revolutionized management practices, most of which are still being used today.
Compare horizontal and vertical integration to monopolize control over the free market.
Business organization also evolved in this era, as corporations sought ways to outsmart their competition and the free market. They already had a distinct advantage since the early 1800s when the Supreme Court decided to regard them as individuals. They might form pools, where the owners of related companies made informal agreements about production levels or prices, but a monopoly was the ideal. This might be achieved through horizontal integration, or trusts, that controlled a market for a certain good. It could also be done through vertical integration, by controlling the entire process from start to finish. Few government regulations existed to control these anti-competitive practices, though there were attempts late in the century, such as the ‘Sherman Antitrust Act’ (1890).
Business Trusts in the Second Industrial Revolution.
A trust or corporate trust is a large grouping of business interests with significant market power, which may be embodied as a corporation or as a group of corporations that cooperate with one another in various ways. These ways can include constituting a trade association, owning stock in one another, constituting a corporate group (sometimes specifically a conglomerate), or combinations thereof. The term trust is often used in a historical sense to refer to monopolies or near-monopolies in the United States during the Second Industrial Revolution in the 19th century and early 20th century. In business, such trusts, with corporate entities as the trustees, have sometimes been used to combine several large businesses in order to exert complete control over a market.
From Invention to Industrial Growth (A)
As the existence of monopolistic tycoons illustrates, the end of the nineteenth century was a period in history that offered tremendous financial rewards to those who had the right combination of skill, ambition, and luck. Whether self-made millionaires like Carnegie or Rockefeller, or born to wealth like Morgan, these men were the lynchpins that turned inventors’ ideas into industrial growth. Steel production, in particular, but also oil refining techniques and countless other inventions, changed how industries in the country could operate, allowing them to grow in scale and scope like never before.
From Invention to Industrial Growth (B)
It is also critical to note how these different men managed their businesses and ambition. Where Carnegie felt strongly that it was the job of the wealthy to give back in their lifetime to the greater community, his fellow tycoons did not necessarily agree. Although he contributed to many philanthropic efforts, Rockefeller’s financial success was built on the backs of ruined and bankrupt companies, and he came to be condemned by progressive reformers who questioned the impact on the working class as well as the dangers of consolidating too much power and wealth into one individual’s hands. Morgan sought wealth strictly through the investment in, and subsequent purchase of, others’ hard work. Along the way, the models of management they adopted—horizontal and vertical integration, trusts, holding companies, and investment brokerages—became commonplace in American businesses. Very quickly, large business enterprises fell under the control of fewer and fewer individuals and trusts. In sum, their ruthlessness, their ambition, their generosity, and their management made up the workings of America’s industrial age.
Explain why corporate leaders during the Second Industrial Revolution were called Robber Barons.
During the Second Industrial Revolution, corporate leaders who ran mega-corporations competed for dominance in the American economy. Sometimes known as Robber Barons (for their anti-competitive practices and exploitative relationship with their employees), these business tycoons were known for their innovative, if controversial, business practices (because of laissez-faire “hands-off” government), as well as their philanthropy. Notable ‘Captains of Industry’ or ‘Robber Barrons’ were John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, J.P. Morgan, Andrew Mellon, Cornelius Vanderbilt, J.J. Astor, and Andrew Carnegie.
