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EXAM ONE STUDY GUIDE:

 

US IN 1877: The purpose of this lecture was to set the context for HIST 1302.  The point of the CLASS is to figure out how and when the modern United States developed – to look at the rapid rise of a nation that is unusual and rather unprecedented.  The course isolates the moments in our past that gave rise to our present and examines some of the individuals who created the current version of the United States.  This particular lecture tried to place the class in context by contrasting the economic and social status of the nation today with what existed back in the 1870s.  It examined some of the oddities of the modern nation, the origins of which will be explored in the course of the semester.

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There's a ton of information in these lectures.  What you want to do is understand HOW that information is telling us about the past.  Survey history like this is all about stories - stories of invention, war, economics, founders, tragedies and moments of incredible bravery and intelligence. 

 

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The more detail in a story, the better you'll identify with it and understand it from the perspective of the people involved. That's why the lectures have so much information.

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So, when you go through all the information on the study guide, don't try to learn each piece of information in its own bubble.  First, get the story to which the information belongs.  Then understand it in context.  

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Add a few dates here and there for historical context.  Add a few names you can toss out into an essay.  That's about i.

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KEEP BREAKING IT DOWN INTO STORIES.  

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IN THE FIRST LECTURE, ALL THIS INFORMATION IS THE STORY OF WHAT OUR NATION IS TODAY.   THIS IS THE STORY OF AN EXTRAORDINARY COUNTRY.

 

·   The tremendous wealth in the USA and its modern GPA.  

  • The Technologies that support the modern economy

  • The complexity of things like the oil industry

  • The fast-paced, high-tech way of life in the modern Country

  • The nature of poverty in the modern US

  • The international and political status of the modern US.

     

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ALL THIS INFORMATION TELLS A NEW STORY.  THIS IS ABOUT THE COUNTRY WE HAD BACK IN 1877.  BUILDING THE SECOND US OUT OF THIS PATHETIC, EARLIER COUNTRY WAS INCREDIBLE.

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  • The regional economy in 1877 and small numbers of businesses.

  • The low-tech industries of 1877. 

  • The small population of the 1877 nation.  It's uncomfortable, slow life.  The modern luxuries the people of 1877 didn't have.

  • The racism, sexism, lack of toleration in the 1877 country.

  • The presence of a frontier.

  • The diseases of the 1877 country.

  • Population and political differences between the 1877 nation and the modern United States. 

 

 

RISE OF INDUSTRY: The lecture started HIST 1302’s examination of how the United States evolved into its modern state. It explored the dramatic changes of the Gilded Age and examined how the destruction of slavery opened up investment possibilities that lead to the rapid emergence of a national economy.  The lecture explored the host of new inventions, industries, entrepreneurs, and resources that influenced economic growth.  It also looked at the economic changes and alterations to business culture that emerged in late 1800s as the nation’s economy shifted from regional to national.

 

THERE ARE A BUNCH OF STORIES WITHIN THIS LECTURE.  BREAK THEM DOWN.  

 

ALL THIS INFORMATION TELLS THE STORY OF THE PERIOD WHEN THE OLD NATION STARTED TO TURN INTO THE NEW.  THIS IS THE STORY OF THE GILDED AGE'S ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

 

  • The dates of the Gilded Age 

  • What the Gilded Age accomplished in such a short period of time.  

  • Why the Gilded Age happened when it did.

  • The significance of the industrial and technological revolution fo the late 1800s to the Gilded Age. 

  • The significance of the Civil War and the end of slavery to Gilded Age developments.

  • The significance of the investment bank to the Gilded Age.

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NOW THE STORY TURNS TO WHY THE GILDED AGE UNFOLDED SO RAPIDLY.  IT WAS HYPER-FAST.  THIS IS THE STORY BEHIND THE RIDICULOUSLY RAPID TRANSFORMATION.

 

  • The significance of the railroad to the speed of the Gilded Age's transformation of the US. (Remember how railroads invented modern business practices, cost analysis, and the modern middle class?) The role of the business class itself in enhancing the speed of the Gilded Age and saying goodbye to the old Civil War - era elites.

  • The presence of resources and a friendly national government in addressing the speed of the Gilded Age.

  • The E.C. Knight Case and the tariffs as evidence of how the government protected industry.

  • The role immigrants played in the speed of the Gilded Age.

  • The role of the entrepreneur in the speed of the Gilded Age.

  • How the meatpacking industry was used to illustrate the development of large-scale industries and the importance of the Entrepreneur. (Remember Gustavus Swift.) 

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NOW FOR A NEW STORY ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED ONCE BIG BUSINESSES BEGAN TO DEVELOP.  THIS STORY IS ABOUT THE  TERRIBLE CONSEQUENCES OF COMPETITION IN A BIG-BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT AND THE SOLUTIONS DEVELOPED IN RESPONSE.  THIS STORY IS ABOUT THE NEW STEP IN HISTORY - THE EMERGENCE OF THE GRID.

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  • Horizontal Integration.  Why competitors felt it was better to work together.

  • The experience of the oil industry.

  • John D. Rockefeller and the Trust.  The Corporate Merger.

  • Vertical integration  as a defense mechanism.

  • THE GRID that resulted from all of this.  

  • How the Grid represented a new development in human history.

  • How it was not democratic or national. 

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LABOR:  This lecture discussed the social changes produced by industrialization and the national economy.  It also described the emergence of the modern workforce.  It considered the job opportunities and working conditions encountered by Gilded Age employee.  The lecture also addressed how labor responded to concerns about low wages, danger, and long hours, and looked at some of the landmark lawsuits and laws that changed the nature of labor.

 

You need to know the following:

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THE FIRST STORY IS ABOUT HOW LABOR WAS AFFECTED BY THE EMERGENCE OF BIG BUSINESS AND THE GRID - HOW THE NEW INDUSTRIES AND OPPORTUNITIES  IMPROVED AND HARMED THE QUALITY OF LIFE.  That story includes all of this information:

  • The new jobs available in the Gilded Age – middle class and working class. 

  • The rising numbers of workers and the emergence of a full-time industrial working class.

  • The benefits offered by new Gilded Age jobs. 

  • The drawbacks of Gilded Age jobs (be specific in learning this). 

  • Lillian Weitzmann  

  • The sweatshop 

  • The dangers and dangerous industries. 

  • Have a sense of exactly how dangerous working was in the Gilded Age.  How many workplace deaths and accidents are we talking about?

  • Avondale, Laurel Mine Explosions

  • Ashtabula Horror

  • Triangle Fire

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NOW THE STORY SHIFTS TO RESPONSES TO GILDED AGE LABOR CONDITIONS AND THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE BENEFITS OFFERED IN OTHER COUNTRIES AND CONDITIONS IN THE US:

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  • The international Gilded Age and what other countries offered their workers.  Know how the US differed from other nations in how its workforce reacted to the issues encountered in the Gilded Age.  Why didn't people in the US immediately secure certain benefits for workers?  

  • The unique/unusual characteristics of the American labor force.  The significance of those characteristics.  (This gets into how the labor force was extraordinarily diverse, how many of its members did not intend to stay in the US.)

  • Why "It didn't happen here" - in regard to socialism

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THE NEXT STORY IS ABOUT HOW AMERICAN WORKERS RESPONDED TO THE HARMFUL ASPECTS OF LABOR IN THE GILDED AGE - THE WAGE CUTS, HOURS INCREASES, DANGER.  Without a unified voice, American labor had to resort to the piecemeal strike.  

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  • The massive numbers of labor strikes in the Gilded Age and their impact on America society.

  • The Great Strike of 1877 and how it shifted focus away from the old Civil War issues and the old United States.

  • The warlike nature of the Homestead Strike 

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THE LAST STORY TURNS TO EFFORTS TO ORGANIZE AS WORKERS REALIZED THE ONLY WAY TO GET THE ATTENTION OF BIG BUSINESS AND THE GRID WAS BY FORMING SOMETHING LARGE ENOUGH TO GET ITS ATTENTION.

 

  • Industrial Unions and their history in the US.  This will be brief.  Really, just know that there were unions of specialized craftsmen that dated back to the 1700s.  There were also unions of specialized workers - miners, railroad, telephone - in the Gilded Age.

  • The Knights of Labor. Here's the first group to try to unite all workers together into one organization.  Know how this group started, what it tried to do, what it wanted, and the approximate time period in which they were the most active.   Why didn't the Knights survive and succeed?  Who founded the Knights? 

  • The AFL  - know its founder, its focus, and its contribution to US labor history.

  • The Clayton Act and its significance for labor

  • Relevant dates for labor developments 

 

URBAN AMERICA:  This lecture studied the rise of the city during the Gilded Age.  It examined the new appearance of the city and the manners and culture that developed within the urban environment.  This lecture also noted major elements of modern society that are rooted in Gilded Age cities.

 

THE LECTURE STARTED OUT WITH THE STORY OF HOW THE GILDED AGE RAPIDLY TRANSFORMED CITIES IN THE US.

  • Relevant dates for urban development. 

  • Know some of the basic statistics about the shift from rural to urban

  • Understand the incredible growth of Gilded Age Cities and the tremendous numbers of new cities that emerged in the US in the late 1800s.

  • Know why people moved to cities.

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THE NEXT STORY HAD TO DO WITH ALL OF THE ASPECTS OF OUR MODERN LIVES THAT ORIGINATED IN GILDED AGE CITIES:

  • The transportation developments brought about in the cities. The entertainment and shopping developments of the cities.

  • The rise of Grand Theaters and their insane performances.  The Vaudeville Theaters and what we get from them today.

  • The role cities had in encouraging sports and athletics.  Here, you want to know WHY urban Americans were so enthralled with sports and their concerns about men.  The impact this had on women is also important.

  • Murderdromes

  • The living conditions in the city - from the tenement to the apartment complex.

  • The dumbbell tenement 

  • The manners and defense systems that developed in Gilded Age cities. How did people behave in the urban environment?  What is the significance of people watching, wearing common clothing styles, etc.?

 

THE NEW SOUTH: This written lecture examined the development of a NEW South – an industrialized, modern South.  Written lecture.

 

THE FIRST STORY IS ABOUT CONTEXT OF NEW SOUTH DEVELOPMENT.  IT DESCRIBES THE OLD SOUTH:

  • The ways in which the Old South stood out in the United States and how it differed from the New South.

  • The appearance and nature of the Old South.

  • The Old South's rejection of equality and technology.

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THE NEXT STORY IS ABOUT THE INDIVIDUALS WHO SOUGHT TO CHANGE THE SOUTH AFTER THE CIVIL WAR:

  • The boosters and the type of southerners involved in bringing about the New South - merchants, bankers, etc.  What they argued in order to attract investors to the South.

  • Henry Grady 

  • The "New South" speech - where it was delivered, when, and what it argued.  

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NOW THE STORY TURNS TO HOW INDUSTRIES BEGAN TO SHOW UP IN THE SOUTH, CONVINCED BY THE BOOSTERS IT WAS TIME TO INVEST.

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  • The first investors into the New South.

  • North American Land and Timber Company and its effect on the rice industry.  The history of this company, and where its headquarters was located.

  • The significance of northern and European investors in the New South

  • The rise of iron production in the New South.

  • South Pittsburg, Indianola.

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A SIDE STORY APPEARS NOW, AS WE CONSIDERED THE SPECIFIC IMPORTANCE OF THE RAILROAD IN THE NEW SOUTH.  THIS TIES IN WITH THE OVERALL IMPORTANCE OF THE RAILROAD TO THE GILDED AGE IN GENERAL:

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  • Understand how much RR construction took place in the New South, and the effects that construction had on the region.

  • Understand the five big things the railroad did to the South to help it transform into the New South.

  • Be able to link the railroad to urban construction in the New South and identify the new cities with the railroad.

  • The industries, inventions and cultural developments of the New South that were linked to the railroad.   

  • Understand the specific stories of Birmingham, Alabama and Laury, VA, as these illustrate the rapid transformation of the South and the factors involved in that transformation.

  • Know some of the inventions of the New South – Coca-Cola, the Bonsack machine, etc. 

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FINALLY, THE LECTURE TELLS THE STORY OF THE SOUTHERNERS THEMSELVES WHO JUMPED ONTO THE NEW SOUTH BANDWAGON AND DEVELOPED BUSINESSES AND INDUSTRIES.

  • Robert Church 

  • Julian Carr and Bull Durham; the Duke family and the cigarette

  • The American Tobacco Company 

  • Relevant dates 

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