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| | But there was also phenomenal successes during this era. Businessmen like Andrew Carnegie, who immigrated from Scotland without any money and ended up with massive wealth from founding the Carnegie Steel Co. (later became U.S. Steel Co.), amassing a fortune that he then donated to build structures like Carnegie Hall, Carnegie-Mellon University, and the enormous New York Public Library (plus 2800 other public libraries). He wrote the "Gospel of Wealth" in 1900 to describe his vision of capitalism. | | But there was also phenomenal successes during this era. Businessmen like Andrew Carnegie, who immigrated from Scotland without any money and ended up with massive wealth from founding the Carnegie Steel Co. (later became U.S. Steel Co.), amassing a fortune that he then donated to build structures like Carnegie Hall, Carnegie-Mellon University, and the enormous New York Public Library (plus 2800 other public libraries). He wrote the "Gospel of Wealth" in 1900 to describe his vision of capitalism. |
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| | + | '''Debate: it wasn't the "Gilded Age," it was the "Golden Age."''' |
| | + | '''Debate: caveat emptor, or government regulation of monopolies and robber barons?''' |
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| | == Bimetallism == | | == Bimetallism == |
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| | Westerners wanted more silver purchased, and the debtors and farmers wanted more inflation. They forced passage of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1890, which required even greater purchases by the government of silver. The Silver Purchase Act required the government to issue notes (like large-denomination dollar bills) to purchase 4.4 million ounces of silver each month, regardless of its value in dollars. The bill passed in a compromise with the Northerners, who obtained a high tariff at the same time through passage of the McKinley Tariff Bill. | | Westerners wanted more silver purchased, and the debtors and farmers wanted more inflation. They forced passage of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1890, which required even greater purchases by the government of silver. The Silver Purchase Act required the government to issue notes (like large-denomination dollar bills) to purchase 4.4 million ounces of silver each month, regardless of its value in dollars. The bill passed in a compromise with the Northerners, who obtained a high tariff at the same time through passage of the McKinley Tariff Bill. |
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| − | But the notes used to buy the silver each month were redeemable in gold, which was more valuable than the increasingly plentiful silver. So pretty soon the public was demanding gold from the government in return for these new notes. This created a “run” on the gold reserves of our Nation, with its total supply falling below $100 million and headed quickly towards zero. | + | But the notes used to buy the silver each month were redeemable in gold, which was more valuable than the increasingly plentiful silver. So pretty soon the public was demanding gold from the government in return for these new notes. This created a "run" on the government's gold reserves of our Nation, with its total supply falling below $100 million and headed quickly towards zero. |
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| − | The Panic of 1893 hit just after Democrat Grover Cleveland became president for his second term. He persuaded Congress to repeal the Silver Purchase Act in order to stop the run on gold. A big Wall St. banker, J.P. Morgan, arranged for more gold to be imported from Europe to protect the government reserves. The “run” on our valuable gold reserves stopped.
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| − | There was a huge bestselling pamphlet called “Coin’s Financial School” which was published just after the economic depression of 1893. In this fictional work, professor Coin lectures gold-standard advocates on the benefits of monetizing silver at a 16:1 ratio. The pamphlet swept the country, much as Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” did, and laid the foundation for William Jennings Bryan’s “Free Silver” presidential campaign in 1896 against pro-gold Republican William McKinley. Ultimately Bryan rocked the country with the most famous political speech in American history, his “Cross of Gold” speech to the Democratic nominating convention in 1896:
| + | This became the Panic of 1893, and the Silver Purchase Act was repealed in order to stop the run on gold. An immensely wealth Wall Street banker, J.P. Morgan, arranged for more gold to be imported from Europe to protect the government reserves. The "run" on the government's gold reserves then stopped. |
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| − | :“There are two ideas of government. There are those who believe that if you just legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous, that their prosperity will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous their prosperity will find its way up and through every class that rests upon it. …
| + | There was a bestselling and influential pamphlet called "Coin's Financial School" which was published just after the panic and economic depression of 1893. In this fictional work, professor Coin lectures gold-standard advocates on the benefits of monetizing silver at a 16:1 ratio. The pamphlet swept the country, much as Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" over a century earlier, and laid the foundation for William Jennings Bryan's "Free Silver" presidential campaign in 1896 against pro-gold Republican William McKinley. Bryan, one of the greatest orators in history, delivered his famous "Cross of Gold" speech to the Democratic nominating convention in 1896: |
| − | :If they dare to come out in the open field and defend the gold standard as a good thing, we shall fight them to the uttermost, having behind us the producing masses of the nation and the world. Having behind us the commercial interests and the laboring interests and all the toiling masses, we shall answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to them, you shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.”
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| − | '''Debate: it wasn't the "Gilded Age," it was the "Golden Age."'''
| + | :There are two ideas of government. There are those who believe that if you just legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous, that their prosperity will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous their prosperity will find its way up and through every class that rests upon it. ... |
| − | '''Debate: caveat emptor, or government regulation of monopolies and robber barons?'''
| + | :If they dare to come out in the open field and defend the gold standard as a good thing, we shall fight them to the uttermost, having behind us the producing masses of the nation and the world. Having behind us the commercial interests and the laboring interests and all the toiling masses, we shall answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to them, you shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold." |
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| | == Unions and Immigrant Workers == | | == Unions and Immigrant Workers == |