Homestead Act 1862

• Passed by congress under Lincoln

• Farming, mining ranching

• Promoted westward movement

• Indians pushed off

• 160 acres 10$ for 5 years

• 1.25$ per acre 6 months

• Failed to achieve goal long term

• ⅔ fail (weather, economics)

Pacific Railway Act 1862

• Gov gave land and money to railroad companies to build railroads

• Rep congress wanted a transcon railroad

• Resulted in transcon

• Increased transportation efficiency between west and east

• Westward expansion

• Moved Indians

Vertical integration 1848-1890

• Andrew Carnegie

• the process of a company acquiring all the complementary industries that support its business

• Carnegie was able to purchase companies handling steel production (mining companies, processing companies, distribution companies)

• Complete domination of the industry with little room for competition

• Vertical integration saw Carnegie amass mining operations, mills, and distribution methods under the umbrella of one company, thus increasing efficiency and profit and control over the product

John D. Rockefeller 1863

• Oil monopolist

• 1873 president of standard oil

• By the late 1880s, Standard Oil controlled almost 90% of the oil industry

• Maximize efficiency in refining

• his business grew he made many shrewd business moves, forcing his competitors to sell their companies to him, thus eliminating competition

• Horizontal integration

Horizontal integration 1863-1897

• A business strategy used by John D. Rockefeller

• Dominate a single crucial step in industry that everyone must interact with

• Rockefeller controlled 90% of oil refineries by 1879

• Accomplished by hurtng and buying out all rival firms in the same level to form a monopoly

Knights of Labor founded 1869 Philidelphia

• Large and active 1880s

• Labor union that also included women and blacks

• 700,000 members

• Successfully led many strikes

• Better pay, 8 hour days, health and safety

• Opposed child labor and wanted equal wage for women

• Opposed chinese immigration(competition)

• Discredited by hay market square riot

• Blamed for the violence and death

Munn v. Illinois 1877

• Pressure from grange movement caused state to cap railroad and storage cost

• Munn warehouse still overcharges and claims it is unconstitutional because it takes property without due process

• SC sides with farmers and state and says that the prices need to be capped

• Allows states to regulate intrastate commerce

• Massive victory for farmers

• Later repealed in wabash v illinois 1866

• Claimed that railroads are both intrastate and interstate

• Federal law>state law

• States cannot regulate railroads

Chinese Exclusion Act 1882

• Banned Chinese from coming to US

• Meant to last 10 years and renewed in 1892

• Repealed 1943

• California nativists blamed issues on Chinese like eco cuz they work for low wages

Haymarket Square riot 1886

• Labor protest in Chicago

• Became a riot after a bomb was thrown at police

• 8 people dead

• Discredited labor movements but also caused some to view convicted men as martyrs

Wabash v Illinois 1886

• Reversed munn

• Claimed that railroads are both intrastate and interstate

• Federal law>state law

• States cannot regulate railroads

Interstate Commerce Commission 1887

• Established by the commerce act of 1886 due to railroad complaints

• first federal regulation board

• Monitors and regulates interstate transportation

• Requires railroad prices to be fair and just

• Gave gov ability to regulate big businesses

• Controlled railroad monopoly

Dawes Severalty Act 1887

• Authorized the federal confiscation and redistribution of tribal lands

• ended the reservation system and tribal life

• aim of the act was to destroy tribal governing councils and assimilate Native Americans into mainstream US society by replacing their communal traditions with a culture centered on the individual

• tribal lands were parceled out into individual allotments, and only those Native Americans who accepted the individual plots were allowed to become US citizens

• Left over was sold

Gospel of Wealth 1889

• Written by Carnegie

• Wealthy have responsibility to pay it forward

• Disgraceful and immoral to not use wealth to help society

• Feels he is very lucky

• Carnegie payed for libraries

Booker T. Washington Atlanta Compromise 1895

• Speech

• For blacks to assimilate, they need to get better

• We need to prove we’re worthy and worth helping

• Don’t ask for too much immediately

• Later opposed by Dubois

Sherman Anti-Trust Act 1890

• First federal action against monopolies

• Any trust or monopoly that restrains trade or commerce is illegal

• No power or enforcement

• Rarely used against monopolies

• Mainly used against labor unions

• US v EC rendered it useless

Jacob Riis 1890

• Photographer and reformer who took photos of “the other side”

• Wanted to show wealthy whats happening

• Published book “How the Other side Lives” documenting horrible living conditions in NY slums

• Makes public aware of what’s happening

Pullman Strike 1894

• Pullman company manufactured sleeping cars for trains

• cut wages of his workers in response to the panic of 1893

• fired union workers who came to negotiate with them

• remainder of workers went on strike

• Union Leader Eugene V. Debs directed the members of his union not to work on any trains that had Pullman cars on them

• railroad owners siding with Pullman attached Pullman cars to trains carrying federal mail, and tampering with mail is a federal offense

• Forced gov to pass an injunction

• Sent troops caused violence

• Eugene Debs and other leaders were jailed for hindering with federal mail and strike ended

United States v. E.C. Knight Co 1895

• EC is a sugar monopoly

• SC says EC 90% control of industry is not in violation of Sherman Anti-Trust Act

• Sherman law is useless

• Shows power of monopolists

• 14th amend contribute to growth of big business because it made the 5th amend apply to states

Plessy v. Ferguson 1896

• Jim crow laws establish segregation due to racism after no slavery

• Plessy sits in white person seat on a train

• Refused to move and arrested

• Established “seperate but equal”

• Justifies segregation

Single tax –H. George

Social Gospel

"new immigration"

W.E.B DuBois

Wounded Knee

Hull House

A.F.L.

Bonanza farming

Coxey’s Army 1894

• Jacob Coxey

• Unemployment

Indemnity Zone Clause

• Gov paid railroads as compensation for injury or illegal action

• Money railroads sold instead of paying workers more