The Philosophy of the Industrialists

1). Laissez-faire capitalistim: French for "leave it be", the idea that government shouldn't be regulating industries, stemming from Adam Smith's book "The Wealth of Nations".

Social Darwinism: "Survival of the fittest applied to society"- the poor are poor of their own accord and weaknesses. 

Gospel of Wealth: Permeated the belief that the wealthy had earned wealth through their own attributes and are responsible for making philanthropic improvements to mankind. 

2). Social Darwinism reinforces laissez-faire by spreading the belief that success is dependent on the individual, and that government intervention would prevent the gifted from becoming rightly successful. 

3). The Gospel of Wealth supported the philosophy of Social Darwinism by supplementing the idea that the best suited to be rich were the ones that became rich, and that by their wealth they can in turn increase the wealth of others. 

4). Rockefeller supports the philosophy if Social Darwinism, stating that the practice of rooting out other businesses is "merely the working-out of a law of nature"; he also supports the Gospel of Weath", calling success  "a law of god". 

5.) The cartoonist displays Rockefeller as cutting off the early buds himself, rather than allowing the law of nature to do so; this shows that the artist thinks it is the wealthy and empowered, rather than "nature", that control the economy. 

6.) The cartoonist implies that the source of wealth and power is the labor of the lower class. The protected businesses are those who pay tribute to the King. The booty represents American wealth and quality of livelihood, which are sacrificed by the lower classes at the expense of an extravagantly wealthy upper class.  The facial expressions suggest that the people are angry and extremely unhappy about having to submit to King Monopoly. The main idea is that the wealthy are exploitive of the lower and middle classes, and inherently unfair in their business tactics. King Monopoly represents the big business philosophy of horizontal integration and capitalism. This is demonstrated through his control over all other business sectors, such as manufacturers and farmers, and his title of "Monopoly". 

7.) Problems stemming from Social Darwinism include inspiring contempt in the poor, creating a roadblock to social reform; coorperations were maneuvered  in court to be treated as people, allowing them to take great advantage of interstate commerce. Laissez-faire ideology created problems such as low wages for workers, dangerous work conditions, an abundance of child labor, and immense poverty. 

8). The main idea of Carnegie's cartoon is that the wealthy are extravagant spenders of money that belongs rightly to the public. 

9). Carnegie's Gospel of Wealth does not solve problems created by Social Darwinism because not all capitalists are philanthropists, and giving money to the poor does not justify attempts to silence them and keep them from competing for wealth and rightful opportunity. 

10). The Gospel of Wealth can be seen in celebrities' charitable efforts, such as Angelina Jolie's work to empower people, especially women, in developing countries as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Social Darwinism is harder to justify in modern times, however, since many companies and copeperations distance themselves from religious roots so as to appeal to a wider customer base.

Labor Unions: The Failure to Gain Public Acceptance Part A

Labor Unions: The Failure to Gain Public Acceptance

Part B:

1).

Document A- Capitalist

Document B- Capitalist

Document C- Horatio Alger

Document D- American Public

Document E- Socialist

Document F- American Public

Document G- Capitalist

Document H- Anarchist 

Document I- Nativist 

2). Horatio Alger convinced America that a poor man could easily rise up in the socio-economic scale to fulfill the "rags to riches" fantasy, an idea so prevalent that it would later be recognized as the American dream. This, combined with the nativist philosophy of anti-immigration, worked to decrease the public's opinion of the foreign workers that primarily made up the labor movement. Capitalists took advantage of these sentiments to sway the values of the American public towards their cause. 

3). The aforementioned biases worked actively against the struggle of autonomous workers' rights; the immense popularity of Horatio Alger in American culture and high concentration of capitalist businessmen at the time lessened the voice of the already weakly heard minority of labor activists. 

Part C:

The most significant reason for the failure of the labor movement was the widespread industrialization of the US economy especially after the reintigration of the South into the manufacturing sector. Our economy relied on a large labor force to carry the majority of our exports and domestic products, and the grip that capitalism had on the nation was too strong to break. 

The New South- Slogan or Reality?

The "New South" was more of a slogan in aspects such as political and social power dynamics and ideals, but the diversification of the economy was a reality of the south's recent progression and development. The Redeemers and Bourbon Democrats of the time were devoted to maintaining white dominance over blacks and restoring the region to it's former glory; contemporary critics of the Bourbons even said that they had "learned nothing from the civil war". Democrats implemented voting restrictions such as the Mississippi plan and literacy tests that kept blacks from participating in democracy while allowing Bourbons to stay in power, despite the passing of the 14th and 15th amendments. Socially, lynchings were at an all time high in the late 19th century, "separate but equal" battle cries rang out from Southern whites bolstered by the Plessy v. Ferguson case, which sent the signal of segregation being legal to the rest of the country. However, the diversification to the southern economy in it's expanding agricultural base of Louisiana rice, cane sugar, and two new types of tobacco, as well as growth in the textile industry, meant a new chapter in the Southern economy.

"The New South" Outline

I. Economic Diversification

    Main Idea: "King Cotton" and the South's lack of a diverse economy were main factors in it's downfall, leading to a pledge to diversify the "New South".

Factors of Diversification:
-Intellectuals such as Henry W. Grady viewed the South as a land for potential with a strong core,  diverse economy, growth over time, varied agricultural focuses, and increasing emphasis on      industrialization.
-Tobacco resurgence was due partly to the identification of two new varieties and opened up a new  export market.
-Seaman A. Knapp led the way for Louisiana rice and cane sugar to become economic staples, as  he introduced the development of a network of local and regional offices for agricultural education  and protection.
-Textile industries remained a strong point, as the number of cotton mills in the south increased from  161 to 400 after the Civil War.
-Rail Service allowed for the North and South the profit from the other's productivity and allowed  Southern crops to reach Northern markets. Birmingham, Alabama became known for its coal,  limestone, and iron production; this was essential in powering the trains.
-Hydroelectricity was significant in the south east USA.
-Souther pines provided soft, multi-use lumber, great to repair homes destroyed in the war. Luckily,  the forestry industry grew along with the pines, and the first forestry school was opened in Asheville,  1898.
-Others included lumber industry, clay, glass, stone, canneries and canned vegetables, mint juleps,
 and moonshine.

II. Political Changes

Main Idea: As Southerners turned towards local leaders known as "Redeemers", devoted to redeeming the racial dynamic and political structure of the Old South, the Democratic party rose to power with the primary goal to repress blacks at the expense of whites.

-"Bourbons" was a common derogatory name given to Redeemers by Republicans, Independents,  and Populists to demonstrate that the group had essentially learned nothing from the Civil War.  Although they were not officially affiliated with the KKK, they benefitted from violence and  aggression against blacks; they sought to regain local control and adopt a laissez-faire federal  government policy.

-Education in the South was deemed less important by Redeemers than business and industrial  efforts, and most Bourbons felt that the costs of education should be borne of private benefactors.  Philanthropists such as John F. Slater, who donated a million dollars to the development and  maintenance of black schools,  and George Peabody kept Southern education going. J.L.M. Curry  developed extraordinary programs still in use today, increasing literacy to 88% for whites and 50%  for blacks.

-Redeemer's programs of agriculture and public health helped Democrats win key Congressional seats in the election of 1874, a majority in the House of Representatives, and several prime seats in the Senate.

III. Race Relations in the South

Main Idea: Southern white expectations of black subservience and segregation furthered the perpetuation of violence against blacks, as well as obstructions of civil and political rights.

-White Landlords conveniently replaced the title of "slave owner"; landlords kept sharecroppers in constant debt, introducing a wave of black indentured servants using labor to pay off what they owe: an impossible feat, due to the landlord's building interest.

-The Populist Party of the 1890's needed numbers to gain more power, swaying them to attract black voters, which angered the Redeemers. This led to the development of literacy tests, which, along with poll taxes, were implemented solely to root out black voters.
-The Mississippi Plan took this a step further by stating that all voters had to live in the state for a minimum of two years. Blacks, who were mainly transient, moving to follow jobs through the South, were at a significant disadvantage. Rules were sometimes not enforced to white constituents.
-Plessy v. Ferguson: Plessy was a one eigth Black man forced to leave a whites only railway car. The Supreme Court ruled that this was justified, and it was taken as the green light for all segregation across the South. Because of this, violence against blacks rose drastically, as lynchings hit record highs in the late 1800s.
-Booker T. Washington urged blacks to focus on daily survival, rather than a grand uprising, believing that forming a strong economic base was more important and realistic than attaining equal rights; this was asserting in his famous Atlanta Compromise speech stating that blacks had to accept short term segregation.
-W.E.B. Du Bois however, believed in "ceaseless agitation" to gain equal rights, and was one of the founding members of the NAACP. He was outwardly critical of Washington and eventually moved to Ghana in 1961, tired of America's slow progressive pace.