Overview
This lecture covers key events and themes in APUSH Period 6 (1865-1898), focusing on western expansion, industrialization, labor movements, reforms, and social change in the Gilded Age.
Post-Civil War Western Expansion
- The government encouraged westward movement with the Homestead Act (land grants) and Pacific Railroad Act (transcontinental railroad).
- Native Americans were forcibly removed to reservations; policies included violence (Sand Creek Massacre, Wounded Knee) and assimilation (Dawes Act, boarding schools).
- Conservation efforts began with the Department of the Interior, US Fish Commission, and activists like John Muir (Sierra Club).
Industrialization and Big Business
- Rapid industrial growth led by leaders such as Carnegie (steel) and Rockefeller (oil) through horizontal and vertical integration.
- Business practices created monopolies and trusts; Social Darwinism justified wealth inequality.
- Laissez-faire policies limited government regulation of business.
Regional Economic Differences
- The North and Midwest became highly industrialized; the South attempted industrial growth ("New South") but remained largely agricultural with tenant farming and sharecropping.
Labor and Workers’ Response
- Workers faced low wages, poor conditions, and organized unions (Knights of Labor, AFL, led by Samuel Gompers).
- Key strikes included the Haymarket Riot, Homestead Strike, and Pullman Strike; unions struggled due to internal divisions and corporate/government opposition.
Farmers’ Issues and Populism
- Mechanization and railroad monopolies hurt farmers; prices fell and debts increased.
- Farmers formed organizations like the Grange, Farmers’ Alliances, and the Populist Party, advocating for railroad regulation, coinage of silver, income tax, and political reforms.
Gilded Age Politics and Reforms
- Era marked by political corruption and close ties to big business.
- Court cases (Munn v. Illinois, Wabash) and laws (Interstate Commerce Act, Sherman Antitrust Act) addressed regulation, though often ineffectively at first.
Migration, Immigration, and Urbanization
- Internal migration west and to cities; African Americans began leaving the South (early Great Migration).
- New immigrants arrived from Southern/Eastern Europe; nativist responses included the Chinese Exclusion Act and American Protective Association.
- Urban areas saw class, ethnic, and economic divisions; tenement housing and child labor were widespread.
Social Reform Movements
- Philanthropy (Gospel of Wealth), settlement houses (Jane Addams’ Hull House), and the Social Gospel movement addressed urban poverty.
- The Socialist Party and authors like Edward Bellamy critiqued capitalism and injustice.
- Progressive reform began to emerge near the end of this period.
Expanding Rights and Social Change
- Women’s suffrage led by NAWSA (Stanton, Catt).
- African American leaders like Booker T. Washington (Tuskegee Institute) and Ida B. Wells-Barnett (anti-lynching, women's rights) advocated for civil rights.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Homestead Act — law granting settlers land in the West for a small fee.
- Dawes Act — policy to assimilate Native Americans by dividing tribal land.
- Laissez-faire — belief in minimal government intervention in business.
- Social Darwinism — ideology that justified wealth gap as natural selection.
- Populist Party — political party advocating for farmers’ and workers’ reforms.
- Knights of Labor — early inclusive labor union.
- AFL (American Federation of Labor) — major union for skilled workers.
- Sherman Antitrust Act — law to limit monopolies and trusts.
- Chinese Exclusion Act — law restricting Chinese immigration.
- Gospel of Wealth — belief that the rich should aid the less fortunate.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Review major court cases: Munn v. Illinois, Wabash, and related legislation.
- Study key strikes and labor unions of the period.
- Prepare for questions on the causes and effects of westward expansion, industrialization, and reform movements.