The Gilded Age in the U.S. was characterized by a stark socioeconomic divide between the wealthy elite and the working class, with industrialization leading to both increased wealth for some and harsh conditions for many, prompting the rise of labor unions to fight for better treatment.
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Well hey there and welcome back to Heimler’s History. We’ve been going through Unit 6
of the AP U.S. History curriculum and in this video we’re going to be talking about
labor in the Gilded Age. So if you’re ready to get them brain cows milked, let’s get to it.
Now in the last video I gave my estimation of the Gilded Age which was that it
was kind of like a golden covered turd. And depending on what we’re talking about,
sometimes there’s more gold than turd, and other times there is more turd than gold. When
it comes to labor in the Gilded Age, the gold is so thin that it’s not hard to see the turd
underneath. Now if you want it in duller, more academic language,
then basically in this video we’re going to try to explain the socioeconomic continuities
and changes associated with the growth of industrial capitalism from 1865 to 1898.
So with the industrialization of America a great dividing line was drawn between the rich and the
poor, and let’s talk about the bourgie folks first. This class of wealthy business owners
largely surpassed the previous generation in terms of wealth, and one of the things they
liked to do with that wealth is put it on display for everyone to see. Economist Thornstein Veblen
coined a phrase for this kind of exhibitionism calling it conspicuous consumption. Case in point,
in 1895 construction was completed on what is the largest private residence in the nation:
the Biltmore House. This incredible structure boasts over 175,000 square feet of floor space, 35
bedrooms, and 43 bathrooms, which is a little over the top. Everyone knows that to be comfortable you
don’t need any more than 42 bathrooms in your house. Anyway, to further illustrate this
conspicuous consumption, here’s where I tell you that the Biltmore House was Vanderbilt’s
vacation home. This is his main residence in Manhattan. So what I’m laboring to show you is
not that everyone in this wealthy class was as opulent and gaudy as Vanderbilt,
but they all engaged in these kinds of practices.
Now, over on the other side of the tracks, many people lived in poverty. Wages were
well below what would be considered a comfortable standard of living,
and the working class suffered in the waves of economic turmoil. For example,
as a result of the Panic of 1873 and the Panic of 1893, the wealthy classes were
pretty well insulated but the working class found their wages dropping precipitously.
However, it’ll be important for you to know that even though everything I just said was,
in fact, true, it’s not the whole story. Because of the rise of mass production of goods, prices
on many common items decreased. At the same time, even though the wages of the working class were,
in general, meager, they rose across the board. And that meant that more goods and
services were available to industrial workers than ever before, whether they were immigrants
from Europe or migrants from the rural West. So the point is, even though the gap between the
rich and the poor grew during this period, many Americans saw their standards of living rise.
Okay, now despite the fact that standards of living were increasing, that didn’t mean that
the working class didn’t expend themselves to increase their own wages and force better safety
standards in their work place. After all, factory work, not to mention railroad and mining work,
was a dangerous business for the workers. During this period, the working class racked up
thousands of personal injuries and premature deaths owing to the nature of their work. However,
workers found it difficult to address this problem within the structure of the large corporations.
If any one worker walked up to the factory manager and demanded higher wages or better
safety standards, the manager could just fire that worker and find a giant pool of recently
arrived immigrants who would be happy to work for those wages and under the same conditions.
So the solution to this for workers was the formation of labor unions. Where one
worker’s voice was irrelevant, when they joined together into a large union, all of the sudden,
factory owners had to listen. Unions employed different tactics to fight
for fair treatment of workers including political action, slowdowns, and strikes.
As an example of the latter, let’s consider the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. In that year,
railroad companies cut wages to save money during a recession. And so unionized railroad
workers went on strike to protest. The strike spread to eleven states and shut down more
than 60% of the nation’s railroads. Eventually the strike grew so tense that violence broke
out and in response President Hayes sent in federal troops to restore order, but
once the dust settled over 100 people were dead. And so railroad employers were able
to behold the power of unionized resistance and therefore came to the negotiating table to hear
the grievances of the laboring class and work to improve their wages and working conditions.
Another significant strike was the Pullman Strike near Chicago. The
Pullman company manufactured sleeping cars for trains, and when the Panic of 1893 hit,
George Pullman decided that the best way to save money was to cut the wages of his workers. When
the union workers came to bargain with him, he just went ahead and fired them all. And
so the rest of the workers went on strike, and another union leader Eugene V. Debs directed the
members of his union not to work on any trains that had Pullman cars in them. Now, of course,
owners of railroads and owners of train cars are very closely tied together, and the railroad
owners, not surprisingly, were on Pullman’s side in this fight. And so they all cooked up a scheme
to fix the problem. What they did is to hook up Pullman cars to trains carrying federal mail and
that meant that if the workers interfered with the trains, then they had Big Daddy Government
to answer to. And so Eugene Debs and other leaders were eventually jailed for hindering
rail traffic of federally authorized trains, and the strike was essentially broken after that.
At this point, it’ll be helpful for you to know the names and goals of some of the biggest and
most influential labor unions. First, let me introduce you to the Knights of Labor which went
public in 1881. The Knights of Labor was a truly national union which opened its membership to
anyone who wanted to join. And I know what you’re thinking. Here’s the part where Heimler says,
“Yeah, anyone could join just as long as you were a man and white.” But don’t be so cynical,
the Knights of Labor actually opened their ranks to black laborers and women as well. Now the
main goals of this union was the destruction of trusts and monopolies as well as the abolition
of child labor. Child labor? Oh yeah, kinds as young as 10, and in some cases even younger,
were members of the industrial workforce. In fact, by the end of the nineteenth century,
children between the ages of 10 and 15 constituted something like 18% of the
workforce. And the reason this was odious to the Knights of Labor was because the children
were every bit as subject to injury and death as were the adult workers. And so with children
maimed and dead because of industrial work, the Knights of Labor worked to abolish such practices.
Now, at its peak, the Knights of Labor had over 700,000 members on its rolls and thus became a
very powerful voice for laborers. However, the organization basically fell apart after a single
event, namely, the Haymarket Square Riot in 1886. The story goes like this. In May of that year,
many members of the Knights of Labor gathered in Haymarket Square in Chicago to celebrate
the May Day labor movement. They protested peacefully for an eight-hour workday. However,
at one point a bomb exploded, and later it was discovered that the bomber was probably
an anarchist completely unaffiliated with the Knights. But unfortunately for them,
the American public largely associated this bombing with the Knights of Labor themselves
and the sentiment regarding labor unions shifted: all of the sudden they were seen as
violent and radical. And all of the sudden, their membership began declining rapidly.
Another labor union you’d do well to know is the American Federation of Labor which was
an association of craft workers led by the indomitable Samuel Gompers. By 1901 the AFL
boasted a million members, and their goals were much the same as the Knights of Labor:
higher wages, safer working conditions. And even though they began their work in this period,
much of the fruit of their labor won’t occur until the next period, so we’ll revisit the AFL later.
Thanks for watching. If you need more videos on Unit 6, then here’s the playlist right here. If
you need help getting an A in your class and a five on your exam in May, then click right
here and check out my APUSH Ultimate Review packet which will make all your dreams come
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