Immigration Industrialization Urbanization Immigration The United States has
Immigration, Industrialization & Urbanization
Immigration The United States has always been a nation of immigrants. After the Civil War, however, industrialization drew an even greater flood of immigrants. From 1865 to l 900, some 13. 5 million people arrived from abroad. Not until the 1920 s would the numbers begin to dwindle. Immigration to the United States can be divided into three stages.
Colonial Immigration This period lasted from the arrival of the first people from England through the Declaration of Independence. People from England made up the largest part of these immigrants. However, Scotch-Irish, German, Swedish, and Dutch also came in significant numbers. Large numbers of Africans were also part of the colonial immigration.
Colonial Immigration REASONS FOR IMMIGRATION Some came seeking political and religious freedom. Others sought to improve their economic standing and their way of life. The Africans came unwillingly, as slaves.
Colonial Immigration AREAS OF SETTLEMENT English settlement spread along the Atlantic Coast from Maine to Georgia and inland to the Appalachians. Within this area, other ethnic groups became concentrated in certain regions. For example, many Dutch settled in New York and New Jersey, many Germans in Pennsylvania, and many Scotch-Irish in the backcountry areas of the Carolinas. Most Africans came at first to the Chesapeake region, then spread through the South.
Colonial Immigration DIFFICULTIES THEY FACED Immigrants came into conflict with the Native Americans. They also had to overcome the challenge of building homes, farms, and a new way of life in an unfamiliar region.
Colonial Immigration CONTRIBUTIONS The immigrants succeeded in establishing a culture much like the one they had left in Europe, yet heavily influenced by the geographic factors encountered in North America. In addition to their language, people coming from England brought forms of government, religions, family and cultural traditions, and economic patterns from their home country. Other groups contributed customs from their home countries. All worked to build a successful economy in North America.
Old Immigration The old immigration covered the years from the establishment of the United States until around 1850. Most immigrants came from northern and western Europe, especially Ireland, Germany, and Scandinavia.
Old Immigration REASONS FOR IMMIGRATION Massive famine caused by failure of the potato crop drove millions of Irish immigrants to seek opportunity in the United States. Revolution in Germany caused many immigrants to seek peace and stability in America. Many people continued to arrive in search of better economic opportunity.
Old Immigration AREAS OF SETTLEMENT The Irish largely settled in cities in the Northeast. Some Germans also stayed in cities, but many moved west to start farms, as did a large number of Scandinavian immigrants.
Old Immigration DIFFICULTIES THEY FACED Irish and German Catholic immigrants often faced hostility on their arrival in the United States. Some Americans feared economic competition from the newcomers. Since at this time the nation was predominantly Protestant, resentment toward Catholics and Jews was also strong.
Old Immigration CONTRIBUTIONS Irish workers helped build railroads and canals and labored in factories. Germans and Scandinavians brought, among other things, advanced farming techniques and new ideas on education such as kindergarten.
New Immigration The new immigration covered the time from roughly l 851 to 1924. This period was marked by a shift in sources of immigration to southern and eastern Europe, especially the nations of Italy, Poland, and Russia. In addition, substantial numbers of Japanese and Chinese arrived.
New Immigration REASONS FOR IMMIGRATION Hope of greater economic opportunity prompted many of these immigrants to come to America. Some also came seeking political freedom. Other groups, such as Russian Jews, sought religious freedom.
New Immigration AREAS OF SETTLEMENT Most of the new immigrants settled in cities, especially industrial centers and ports, and often were concentrated in ghettos, or urban areas (usually poor) that are dominated by a single ethnic group. Asian immigrants tended to settle on the west coast, usually in California.
New Immigration DIFFICULTIES THEY FACED Adjusting to life in the United States could cause strains in immigrant families. At school, immigrant children learned not only English but American tastes and customs. Immigrant parents often feared that their children were losing their religious and cultural heritage. In addition, the growing numbers of new immigrants produced reactions of fear and hostility among many native-born Americans whose ancestors had come from very different backgrounds. Newcomers faced discrimination in jobs and housing. (As low-wage workers, they also competed against other minority groups, such as African Americans. ) Popular pressure to limit immigration increased.
New Immigration CONTRIBUTIONS The new immigrants found an abundance of jobs in the nation’s expanding industries. Yet the steady stream of incoming workers to fill such jobs kept wages low. Young Italian and Jewish girls worked in the sweatshops of the garment industry. Poles and Slavs labored in the coal mines and steel mills of Pennsylvania and the Midwest. Chinese workers helped build the transcontinental railroad. These immigrants aided America’s economic expansion and contributed to the nation’s rich cultural diversity.
Reaction Against Immigration • The flood of immigration in the late 1800 s brought with it a new wave of nativism. • Nativism was the belief that native-born Americans and their ways of life were superior to immigrants and their ways of life. • In the late 1800 s, descendants of the old immigrants were often among the nativists protesting the arrival of new immigrants.
Reaction Against Immigration • Nativists believed that immigrant languages, religions, and traditions would have a negative impact on American society. • Nativist workers believed that the many new immigrants competing for jobs kept wages low. A series of downturns in the economy added to fears that immigrants would take jobs from native-born Americans. • Immigrants thus often met with prejudice and discrimination. Jokes and stereotypes about the newcomers were common. Nativists also tried to influence legislation against immigrants.
Immigrants and American Society Over the years, sociologists and others who studied immigration developed different theories on how immigrants were absorbed into the larger society.
Immigrants and American Society • “MELTING POT” THEORY • According to this theory, people from various cultures have met in the United States to form a new American. • The contributions of individual groups are not easily distinguished. The resulting culture is more important than its parts.
Immigrants and American Society • Assimilation: According to this theory, immigrants disappeared into an already established American culture, • They gave up older languages and customs and became Americanized, adopting the appearances and attitudes of the larger society in order to be accepted. • Immigrants from Africa and Asia, who looked least like nativist Americans, had the hardest time assimilating.
Immigrants and American Society • Pluralism: This theory recognizes that groups do not always lose their distinctive characteristics. • They can live side by side, with each group contributing in different ways to society. • This approach is sometimes called the salad bowl theory, since groups, like different vegetables in a salad, remain identifiable but create a new larger whole.
Your Task • You will be asked to create an image of one of the three immigration theories: • Melting Pot Theory • Assimilation • Pluralism – You must be able to explain your image.
Reaction Against Immigration Know-Nothing Party • The party's members worked during the 1850’s to limit the voting strength of immigrants, keep Catholics out of public office, and require a lengthy residence before citizenship. • Also known as the American party, the Know-Nothing party achieved none of these goals and died out by the late 18505.
Reaction Against Immigration Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 • Some native-born Americans labelled immigration from Asia a "yellow peril. " • Under pressure from California, which had already barred Chinese from owning property or working at certain jobs, Congress passed this law sharply limiting Chinese immigration.
Reaction Against Immigration "Gentleman's Agreement“ • In 1907 President Roosevelt reached an informal agreement with Japan under which that nation nearly halted the emigration of its people to the United States.
Reaction Against Immigration Literacy Tests • ln 1917 Congress enacted a law barring any immigrant who could not read or write.
Reaction Against Immigration Emergency Quota Act of 1921 • This law sharply limited the number of immigrants to the United States each year to about 350, 000.
Reaction Against Immigration National Origins Act of 1924 This law further reduced immigration and biased it in favor of those from northern and western Europe.
A New Industrial Age The Gilded Age The “Gilded Age” comes from Mark twain and Charles Dudley Warner who believed this to accurately describe the greed and corruption that lurked below the polite and prosperous luster of late 19 th America.
A New Industrial Age Business and Industry • Business Organization • Proprietorships – Before the middle of the 19 th century, most Americans businesses were either single proprietorships with one owner or a • Partnership – a small business with two or more owners.
A New Industrial Age Business and Industry • Business Organization • In the years before the Industrial Revolution, the proprietorship and partnership were workable forms of business organization. • However, as American industry and business grew, facilitated greater amounts of capital, improved transportation, greater demand for products, and an available working force, small organizations proved to be inadequate.
A New Industrial Age Business and Industry • Corporations – Following the Civil War, the corporation became the major form of business organization. • By selling part ownerships of the business to the public through the sale of stocks and bonds, the corporation was able to raise the necessary capital for operations and expansions. • During the 1800’s, to encourage industry and commerce, states passed general incorporation laws, through limited liability and protection under the 14 th amendment.
Major Areas of Growth Transportation • Railroads – The nation’s first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869 with joining of the Central Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad at Promontory Point, Utah. • Automobiles - By 1914, with the help of assembly line production, 248, 000 Fords costing $490 were sold. • Urban Transportation – Cable cars, elevated tracks and subways allowed for mass transportation and free movement.
Major Areas of Growth Building Materials • During the late 20 th century the U. S. transitioned from using primarily wood for building structures to using iron and steel. • Steel beams allowed for larger building at greater heights.
Major Areas of Growth Energy Sources • Oil – Discoveries of oil reserves in Pennsylvania, and later in California and Texas, provided a major source of fuel in the 20 th century with the invention of the internal combustion engine. • By 1920 the U. S. produced 65% of the world petroleum, much controlled by John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil.
Major Areas of Growth Energy Sources • Electricity – Harvard President Charles W. Eliot pointed out the enormous change electricity brought to American life saying, “It is the carrier of light and power; devourer of time and space; bearer of human speech over land sea; greatest servant of man. ” • Thomas Edison developed the light bulb and alternate current to transfer energy over long distances.
Major Areas of Growth Communication • Telegraph: developed by Samuel F. B. Morse • Telephone: In 1876 Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone by 1885 the American Telephone and Telegraph was organized to put the new invention into widespread use.
Captains of Industry and the American Worker Robber Barons • Through financial wizardy, stock manipulation, and fierce competition, these men built corporate dynasties that eventually threatened the free enterprise system in the U. S. • Their management of business and the nations resources also lowered he cost of oil, steel, and other goods for America’s consumers and helped create the modern corporation
Captains of Industry and the American Worker John D. Rockefeller (1839 – 1937) • Rockefeller’s fortune was made in the oil and in 1870 he formed the Standard Oil Company. • By the 1880’s his Standard Oil Trust controlled almost all the nations oil refineries.
Captains of Industry and the American Worker Andrew Carnegie (1835 – 1919) • Working his way up through the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, Carnegie became rich investing in oil, ironmaking, and bridge building. • The Carnegie Steel Company became America’s largest steel company.
Captains of Industry and the American Worker Henry Ford • Electrical engineer with Detroit’s Edison Company, Ford developed and introduced the mass production of automobiles. • Copying the meat packing industry, Ford setup assembly lines to produce automobiles, which greatly reduced the time and expense of manufacturing cars.
Captains of Industry and the American Worker Puritan or Protestant Work Ethic • The American work ethic can be traced back to the Puritan settlements of the 1600 s in New England • The Puritans, followers of John Calvin, believed that good luck and success during one’s life on earth were evidence of the “elect status” necessary to gain entrance into heaven. • As Puritans were often anxious about their spiritual state, they devoted themselves to good works to help get to heaven, and to hard Work, self-examination, and Bible study, looking upon laziness and idleness as sure signs of damnation.
Captains of Industry and the American Worker Social Darwinism • After 1870 the economic doctrine of laissez-faire received additional support from the principle of Social. Darwinism. • This was the belief that social progress depended upon competition among human beings resulting in the “survival of the fittest. ” • Social Darwinism coexisted with the belief that individuals should be free to manage their property as they pleased and should not be prevented from entering contracts of their own choosing, workers and employers alike.
Captains of Industry and the American Worker Horatio Alger • A 19 th century American writer, Horatio Alger (18341899) advanced the American dream of success through hard work in over 100 novels based on the idea that virtue is always rewarded. • By leading an exemplary life entailing a valiant struggle with poverty and temptation, Alger’s heroes all come to wealth and honor. • His works were quite popular and left a strong mark upon the character of a generation of American youth.
Business Practices and Government Laissez Faire Invisible Hand • The principle of laissez-faire can be traced to Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. • By the late 1800’s three characteristics of laissez faire were prevalent in the American economy. • Labor should find its price in the market • The value of money should be subject to an automatic mechanism (use of gold standard) • Goods should be free to flow from country to country without restriction.
Business Practices and Government Business Combinations (legal and illegal) As competition among business during the second half of the 19 th century cut prices and profits, businesspeople sought ways to reduce price wars and increase profits.
Business Practices and Government Business Combinations (legal and illegal) A trust was a formal and permanent agreement. Stockholders of competing companies would turn their stocks and voting rights over to a central board of trustees who controls the member companies to eliminate competition. a). The result of the trust agreement was a monopoly, or near total control, of an industry. John D. Rockefeller, in an attempt to reduce competition in the oil industry, was the first to employ the trust arrangement with the formation of the Standard Oil Company.
Business Practices and Government Business Combinations (legal and illegal) • b. mergers – when two or more companies are joined, resulting in a single corporation, a merger has taken place • In the final decades of the 1800’s mergers and consolidation took place in many industries, including sugar, steel, machinery, tobacco, and copper. • As combinations began to have adverse effects on American society, the U. S. government began to consider intervention.
Business Practices and Government Business Combinations (legal and illegal) • c. holding companies – In their efforts to avoid combinations and mergers that had been declared illegal, business people turned to the holding company. • This arrangement included a central “holding company” which brought a sufficient number of voting stocks in different companies, resulting in the ability to control “subsidiaries. ”
Business Practices and Government Sherman Anti-Trust Act 1890 • In a response to increasing pressure to halt the domination of the market by a small number of powerful corporations, Congress passed the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. • The provisions of the act included • 1)that every contract, combination , or conspiracy in restraint of trade among the states or with foreign countries was illegal • 2) that persons guilty of monopolizing trade or commerce were subject to fines or imprisonment.
Business Practices and Government Sherman Anti-Trust Act 1890 • Weaknesses of the act soon became apparent. • Although trusts were prohibited, holding companies soon started to replace them and were able to avoid the reaches of the law.
Business Practices and Government Interstate Commerce Act 1887 established the Interstate Commerce Commission, which had the power to: (1) require that railroads post their rates publicly; (2) require rates to be “reasonable and just”; (3)forbid practices such as pooling, rebates, and rate discrimination; (4)prohibit higher charges for short hauls than for longer hauls over the same line; and (5) investigate complaints against railroads and hand down rulings that could be enforced in courts.
Labor Organizations /Organized Labor Government Policies favored management A. Unions – grew during the Age of Industry because of working conditions, hours and pay. • Organized labor in America can trace its roots to 1792 when the journeymen Cordwainers (shoemakers) of Philadelphia organized a local union. • Following the Cordwainers cases, confusion existed concerning the status of labor organizations. Although the courts recognized the right of labor to organize, they ruled that any “coercive action that harmed other businesses” was unlawful. In other words, strikes were against the law.
Labor Organizations /Organized Labor 1. American Federation of Labor : • Founded in 1881 by Samuel Gompers, the AFL was organized as a federation of many separate skilled craft unions rather than a general organization of workers. • The goals of the AFL stressed “bread and butter” issues: higher wages, an 8 -hour work day, improved working conditions, use of union made products, and passage of state and federal legislation to benefit labor. • By 1900 the AFL claimed 500, 000 members.
Labor Organizations /Organized Labor 2. Knights of Labor Founded in 1869 by Uriah S. Stephens, the Knights of Labor started as a secret organization whose aim was to unite skilled and unskilled workers into one great national union. They advocated higher wages, 8 -hour working days, equal pay for equal work by men and women, abolition of child labor (under 14 years), arbitration of labor disputes, prohibition of foreign contract labor, safety and health laws, workers’ cooperative associations, a graduated income tax, and government ownership of railroads and other public utilities.
Labor Organizations /Organized Labor 3. Industrial Workers of the World (or Wobblies) formed in 1905 under the leadership of “Big Bill” Haywood. • They advocated militant agitation, willful obstruction of industry, and damage to businesses. • Although the IWW gained few victories, national attention was focused on the union in 1912 when 30, 000 textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts struck for better working conditions and higher wages. • The American Woolen Company met nearly all of the union’s demands. After America’s entry into World War I, the federal government prosecuted various IWW leaders for their attempt to obstruct the draft.
Labor Conflicts 1. Strikes Great Railway Strike of 1877 • Protesting wage cuts, railroad workers called a strike and attempted to stop the railroads from running. • Federal troops were called in to settle riots in Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Illinois. • Some $5 million worth of property was destroyed before the strike was broken and the railroad workers eventually returned at the lower wages set by the railroads.
Labor Conflicts • Homestead Strike • When the Carnegie Steel Company threatened to cut wages and crush the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers in 1892, workers picketed the plant. • Management called in Pinkerton guards to protect the plant but they were attacked by the strikers and run out of town. An appeal to the governor of Pennsylvania brought in the militia. • Although the workers struck for nine months, public opinion eventually turned against them and they went back to work, agreeing to the company’s terms. The strike crushed the Amalgamated Union and left the steel industry unorganized for 40 years.
Labor Conflicts • Pullman Strike 1894 • Workers at the Pullman Palace Car Company struck in protest over policies at the company town near Chicago and cuts in wages. • The strike spread, bringing railroad traffic west of Chicago to a standstill when the American Railway Union, under the leadership of Eugene V. Debs, aided the strikers by calling a boycott in which union members refused to work on any train with a Pullman car. • The railroads appealed to the federal government for protection. President Cleveland sent troops to Chicago to “protect the mails, ” but more probably to crush the strike.
Labor Conflicts • Pullman Strike 1894 continued • The federal government obtained a court injunction (order) that forbade the union to strike. Within a month the strike was ended and Debs was imprisoned for failing to abide by the court injunction to end the strike. • The Supreme Court upheld that an injunction was valid under the federal government’s power to remove obstacles to interstate commerce as provided by the Sherman Antitrust Act. • The injunction became a powerful weapon of employers to combat strikes.
Labor Conflicts • Haymarket Riot 1886 Following a nation-wide strike for an 8 -hour day by the Knights of Labor, trouble broke out in Chicago as sympathetic anarchists addressed a protest meeting held by the strikers. • After police entered the crowd to break up the meeting, a bomb was thrown, killing seven police and wounding sixty more. • Because of this incident, the Knights of Labor became identified with anarchism and violence and this led to the union’s decline. It also helped to turn American public opinion against labor unions.
Labor Conflicts C. Anti-Union Tactics • Blacklists list of people who agitated companies that was circulated to employers so they couldn't get jobs • Yellow Dog Contracts: requirement by the employer that a newly hired employee sign an agreement not to join a labor union
The Impact of Industrialization A. Urbanization – the process by which more of a nation’s population becomes concentrated in its cities. • Between the Civil War and 1910, the urban population nearly quadrupled while the rural population merely doubled – from 6. 2 million to 42 million. • Large cities such as New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago also saw extraordinary expansion.
The Impact of Industrialization A. Urbanization – continued… • People were attracted to the city because cities offered jobs. • During this growth cities became centers of resource, ideas, education and culture. • i. e. Carnegie Hall and Rockefeller Center
The Impact of Industrialization 1. City Conditions – • Widespread poverty • People lived in slums, the most famous was New York’s Lower East Side, where the poor lived in tenements and small apartments that lacked adequate space safety and sanitation. • Inadequate sanitation and the spread of disease became a byproduct of urban growth
The Impact of Industrialization 1. City Conditions – • Crime flourished in slums with poverty and over crowding. • Cities were also centers of tension due to mixing of races and nationalities. • Police force were still in there infancy and were easily corrupted.
The Impact of Industrialization 2. Work Conditions • An impersonal relationship existed between labor and management, and this relationship led to the deteriorating conditions for the average worker. • Long Hours • Low Wages • Child Labor • Dangerous Working Conditions
The Impact of Industrialization 2. Work Conditions – continued… • Child Labor was especially problematic as working in factories brought problems for children including a lack of education, emotional disruption, family breakdown, and physical abuse. • Working from “dark to dark” children toiled six days a week earning little for 12 to 13 hour shifts.
The Impact of Industrialization A. Women and Work • Throughout the 19 th century the supply of women looking for work increased with the arrival of immigrants. • Women were often exploited and usually hired at wages far below those paid to men. • In the late 1800’s business expansion and new inventions, including the typewriter and the telephone brought a greater need for office workers.
The Impact of Industrialization B. Women and Work – continued… • Many office jobs were filled by women, and by 1890 twice as many young women were finishing high school as men. • Another profession that always welcomed women throughout the 19 th century was teaching.
The Impact of Industrialization C. Growing Middle Class • Industrialization helped to create a growing middle class consisting of salaried workers, professionals, salespeople, and government workers. • A transformation took place in the lives of many Americans, in their homes, work and leisure time.
The Impact of Industrialization C. Growing Middle Class • The buying power and consumption of the growing middle class fueled further industrial growth. • American technology, mass production and productiveness provided goods such as readymade clothes and home appliances
The Impact of Industrialization D. Conspicuous Consumption • The spending of money on and the acquiring of luxury good and service to publicly display economic power - the income or of the accumulated wealth of the buyer. • As the turn of the century approached, incomes continued to rise as well as the amount of time spent at leisure. • American enjoyed baseball, football, art literature, and music more than ever before.
The Age of Industry and Immigration A. Old Immigration 1609 - 1860 • Immigrant coming from the Northern and Western Europe • Including people from the British Isles, Dutch, Swiss, Swedes, Irish and Germans.
The Age of Industry and Immigration B. New Immigration • Immigrant coming from the Southern and Eastern Europe • Including Italians, Greeks, Russians, Jews, Poles and Romanians.
The Age of Industry and Immigration C. Reactions to New Immigrants • Nativism – In the early years of settlement, there was little opposition to immigration because labor was needed in the growing country. • However in the 1850’s nativists, those in favor of native born Americans formed the “Know Nothing Party. ” • Their opposition was directed at the Irish and German Immigrants who they claimed would threaten native jobs
The Age of Industry and Immigration C. Reactions to New Immigrants • Later nativist opposition was felt by Italians, Chinese, Jews Poles and Japanese. • Stereotyping became a common form of discrimination • Other nativists organization that discriminated against individuals because of race, religion, political beliefs and economic fears included • American Protective Association • Ku Klux Klan • Immigration Restriction League
The Age of Industry and Immigration D. Government Restriction • Chinese Exclusionary Act - Restricted Chinese Immigration for a 10 year period. • Gentlemen’s Agreement – Japan was persuaded to deny passports to those who wanted to emigrate to the U. S. because of American fears of “yellow peril”
The Age of Industry and Immigration E. Immigrants and Work • America’s greatest attraction was the opportunity for social mobility through economic opportunities • Growing industries needed inexpensive labor. • The New immigrants took jobs that older immigrants were less likely to tolerate the deteriorating conditions od unregulated industrial expansion.
The Age of Industry and Immigration F. Immigrants and Politics • Immigrants were often used as political combatants. • Political corruption existed in the form of political machines, like New York Cities Tammany Hall. • Led by political bosses their main goal was to obtain and keep political power. • To achieve this goal graft and bribery were often used.
Politics During the Gilded Age A. Political Machines • During the late 1800’s organized groups headed by a city boss, controlled the activities of a political party in a city • The machine offered services to voters and businesses in exchange for political or financial support.
Politics During the Gilded Age A. Political Machines • Party Bosses controlled city government, as well as jobs in police, fire, and sanitation departments. • Bosses also controlled city agencies that granted licensees to businesses, and funded construction projects, • By controlling the cities finances, bosses won loyalty and influence. • Many bosses were immigrants and could help immigrants in exchange for votes.
Politics During the Gilded Age A. Political Machines • Graft - Political machines provided city dwellers with vital services. But as they gained power, many bosses became corrupt. • They became rich through graft, or the illegal use of political influence for personal gain. • To win elections, some bosses filled the list of eligible voters with the names of dogs, children, and people who had died. They then used those names to cast votes for themselves.
Politics During the Gilded Age • Patronage -For many decades, presidents had complained about the problem of patronage. • This is the giving of government jobs to people of the same party who had helped a candidate get elected. • As a result, many unqualified and corrupt workers were hired. Reformers wanted to end the patronage system. • They called for a merit system, in which jobs in civil service—government administration—would go to the most qualified people, regardless of their political views.
Politics During the Gilded Age B. Tammany Hall-New York City’s most powerful Democratic political machine. • One of the most powerful political bosses was William Marcy Tweed, known as Boss Tweed. He became the head of Tammany Hall. • The Tweed Ring was a group of corrupt politicians led by Boss Tweed.
Politics During the Gilded Age • Thomas Nast, a political cartoonist, made fun of Tweed in newspapers. • Eventually, the public grew outraged by Tweed’s corrupt practices. Authorities broke up the Tweed Ring in 1871. • Tweed and many of his followers were sentenced to prison.
Politics During the Gilded Age Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883 This act created a civil service commission to give government jobs based on merit, not politics. It helped reform the civil service. However, the Pendleton Act had mixed results. More qualified workers did fill government positions. But because politicians had no jobs to offer, they had trouble seeking money from supporters. As a result, some politicians turned to wealthy leaders for financial support. This strengthened the ties between government and business.
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