Editing History of the United States (section)

=== After Reconstruction ===

The "[[Gilded Age]]" was a term that [[Mark Twain]] used to describe the period of the late 19th century with a dramatic expansion of American wealth and prosperity, underscored by mass corruption in government.<ref name=":28">{{Cite book |last=Trachtenberg |first=Alan |title=The Incorporation of America: Culture and Society in the Gilded Age |year=2007}}</ref> Some historians have argued that the United States was effectively [[plutocratic]] for at least part of the era.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pettigrew |first=Richard Franklin |title=Triumphant Plutocracy: The Story of American Public Life from 1870 to 1920 |year=2010 |publisher=Nabu Press |isbn=978-1146542746}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Historical dictionary of the Gilded Age |year=2003 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |isbn=978-0765603319 |editor-last=Schlup |editor-first=Leonard |publication-place=Armonk, N.Y. |page=145 |editor-last2=Ryan |editor-first2=James G.}}, (foreword by Vincent P. De Santis)</ref>{{Sfn|Beard}} As financiers and industrialists such as [[J.P. Morgan]] and [[John D. Rockefeller]] began to amass vast fortunes, many observers were concerned that the nation was losing its pioneering egalitarian spirit.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Piketty |first=Thomas |title=[[Capital in the Twenty-First Century]] |year=2014 |publisher=[[Belknap Press]] |isbn=978-0674430006 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780674430006/page/348 348]–349 |author-link=Thomas Piketty}}</ref>

An unprecedented wave of [[Immigration to the United States|immigration]] from Europe served to both provide the labor for American industry and create diverse communities in previously undeveloped areas. From 1880 to 1914, peak years of immigration, more than 22 million people migrated to the country.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Growth of U.S. Population |url=http://www.theusaonline.com/people/growth.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100123083235/http://www.theusaonline.com/people/growth.htm |archive-date=January 23, 2010 |url-status=usurped |website=TheUSAonline.com}}</ref> Most were unskilled workers who quickly found jobs in mines, mills, and factories. Many immigrants were craftsmen and farmers  who purchased inexpensive land on the prairies. Poverty, growing inequality and dangerous working conditions, along with [[History of the socialist movement in the United States|socialist]] and [[Anarchism in the United States|anarchist]] ideas diffusing from European immigrants, led to the rise of the [[Labor history of the United States|labor movement]].<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Bacon |first=Katie |date=June 12, 2007 |title=The Dark Side of the Gilded Age |magazine=[[The Atlantic]] |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/06/the-dark-side-of-the-gilded-age/306012 |access-date=March 24, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223114403/http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/06/the-dark-side-of-the-gilded-age/306012 |archive-date=December 23, 2016}}</ref>{{Sfn|Zinn|pages=264–282}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Fraser |first=Steve |title=The Age of Acquiescence: The Life and Death of American Resistance to Organized Wealth and Power |publisher=[[Little, Brown and Company]] |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-316-18543-1 |page=66}}</ref>

Dissatisfaction on the part of the growing middle class with the corruption and inefficiency of politics, and the failure to deal with increasingly important urban and industrial problems, led to the dynamic [[progressive movement]] starting in the 1890s. Progressives called for the modernization and reform of decrepit institutions in the fields of politics, education, medicine, and industry.<ref name="digital history progressive" /> [[Muckraker|"Muckraking" journalists]] exposed corruption in business and government, and highlighted rampant inner-city poverty. Progressives implemented antitrust laws and regulated such industries of meatpacking, drugs, and railroads. Four new constitutional amendments – the [[Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Sixteenth]] through [[Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Nineteenth]] – resulted from progressive activism, bringing the [[federal income tax]], direct election of Senators, prohibition, and female suffrage.<ref name="digital history progressive">{{Cite web |last=Mintz |first=Steven |year=2006 |title=Learn About the Progressive Era |url=http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/progressivism/index.cfm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012035636/http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/progressivism/index.cfm |archive-date=October 12, 2007 |access-date=February 6, 2008 |website=Digital History |publisher=[[University of Houston]]}}</ref>

In 1881, President [[James A. Garfield]] was assassinated by [[Charles Guiteau]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=James A. Garfield - 20th President, Assassination, Civil War |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-A-Garfield/Presidency |access-date=2024-06-09 |website=Britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

====Unions and strikes====
{{Main|Labor history of the United States|Union violence in the United States}}
[[File:940721-remington-givingthemthebutt-harpersweekly.jpg|thumb|A ''[[Harpers Weekly]]'' illustration by [[Frederic Remington]] depicting hundreds of boxcars and coal cars looted and burned and state and federal troops violently attacked striking workers on July 7, 1894]]
Skilled workers banded together to control their crafts and raise wages by forming labor unions in industrial areas of the Northeast. [[Samuel Gompers]] led the [[American Federation of Labor]] (1886–1924), coordinating multiple unions. In response to heavy debts and decreasing farm prices, wheat and cotton farmers joined the [[People's Party (United States)|Populist Party]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mintz |first=Steven |date=June 5, 2008 |title=Learn About the Gilded Age |url=http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/gilded_age/index.cfm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516192932/http://digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/gilded_age/index.cfm |archive-date=May 16, 2008 |access-date=June 5, 2008 |website=Digital History |publisher=University of Houston}}</ref>

The [[Panic of 1893]] created a severe nationwide depression.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hoffmann |first=Charles |year=1956 |title=The Depression of the Nineties |journal=The Journal of Economic History |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=137–164 |doi=10.1017/S0022050700058629 |jstor=2114113 |s2cid=155082457}}</ref> Many railroads went bankrupt. Labor unrest involved numerous strikes, most notably the violent [[Pullman Strike]] of 1894, which was forcibly shut down by federal troops. One of the disillusioned leaders of the Pullman strike, [[Eugene V. Debs]], went on to become the leader of the [[Socialist Party of America]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sebakijje |first=Lena |title=Research Guides: Eugene Debs: Topics in Chronicling America: Introduction |url=https://guides.loc.gov/chronicling-america-eugene-debs/introduction |access-date=September 24, 2023 |website=guides.loc.gov |language=en}}</ref>

==== Economic growth ====
Important legislation of the era included the 1883 [[Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act|Civil Service Act]], which mandated a competitive examination for applicants for government jobs, the 1887 [[Interstate Commerce Act]], which ended railroads' discrimination against small shippers, and the 1890 [[Sherman Antitrust Act]], which outlawed monopolies in business.<ref name=":28" />

After 1893, the Populist Party gained strength among farmers and coal miners, but was overtaken by the even more popular [[Free silver]] movement, which demanded using silver to enlarge the money supply and end the depression.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Miller |first=Worth Robert |year=1993 |title=A Centennial Historiography of American Populism |url=http://history.missouristate.edu/wrmiller/Populism/texts/historiography.htm |journal=Kansas History |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=54–69 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100702202601/http://history.missouristate.edu/wrmiller/Populism/Texts/historiography.htm |archive-date=July 2, 2010}}</ref> Financial and railroad communities fought back hard, arguing that only the [[gold standard]] would save the economy. In the [[1896 United States presidential election|1896 presidential election]], conservative Republican [[William McKinley]] defeated silverite [[William Jennings Bryan]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harpine |first=William D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0LANgsuVoBwC |title=From the Front Porch to the Front Page: McKinley and Bryan in the 1896 Presidential Campaign |year=2006 |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |isbn=9781585445592 |pages=176–186 |access-date=June 27, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929001850/https://books.google.com/books?id=0LANgsuVoBwC |archive-date=September 29, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:McKinleyAssassination.jpg|thumb|The [[Assassination of William McKinley|assassination]] of [[William McKinley]] in [[Buffalo, New York]] on September 6, 1901, depicted in a portrait by [[Leon Czolgosz]]]]

Prosperity returned under McKinley. The gold standard was enacted, and the tariff was raised. By 1900, the U.S. had the strongest economy in the world.<ref name=":29" /> McKinley was [[Assassination of William McKinley|assassinated]] by [[Leon Czolgosz]] in 1901, and was succeeded by [[Theodore Roosevelt]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-05-28 |title=William McKinley - Biography, Presidency, Assassination, & Facts |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-McKinley |access-date=2024-06-09 |website=Britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

The period also saw a major transformation of the banking system, with the arrival of the first [[credit union]] in 1908 and the creation of the [[Federal Reserve System]] in 1913.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kazin |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fsWLGcZ7pyAC&pg=PA181 |title=The Concise Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political Turn up History |year=2011 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9781400839469 |page=181 |display-authors=etal |access-date=November 29, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160519113935/https://books.google.com/books?id=fsWLGcZ7pyAC&pg=PA181 |archive-date=May 19, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Credit Union History |url=https://www.acumuseum.org/credit-union-history |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612184356/https://www.acumuseum.org/credit-union-history |archive-date=June 12, 2018 |access-date=November 29, 2018}}</ref> Apart from two short recessions in [[Panic of 1907|1907]] and [[Depression of 1920–1921|1920]], the economy remained prosperous and growing until 1929.<ref name=":29">{{Cite journal |last=Morgan |first=H. Wayne |year=1966 |title=William McKinley as a Political Leader |journal=The Review of Politics |volume=28 |issue=4 |pages=417–432 |doi=10.1017/S0034670500013188 |jstor=1405280 |s2cid=145544412}}</ref>

==== Imperialism ====
{{Further|American imperialism|Spanish–American War}}
[[File:Victor Gillam A Thing Well Begun Is Half Done 1899 Cornell CUL PJM 1136 01.jpg|thumb|A cartoon reflecting [[Judge (magazine)|''Judge'' magazine]] view that the U.S. maintained imperial ambitions following its quick victory in the [[Spanish–American War]] in 1898<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Thing Well Begun Is Half Done |url=https://digital.library.cornell.edu/catalog/ss:3293822 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170726170633/https://digital.library.cornell.edu/catalog/ss:3293822 |archive-date=July 26, 2017 |access-date=July 22, 2017 |website=Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection |publisher=Cornell University}}</ref>|left]]

The [[United States Army]] continued to fight [[American Indian Wars|wars with Native Americans]] as settlers encroached on their traditional lands. Gradually the U.S. purchased tribal lands and extinguished their claims, forcing most tribes onto subsidized [[Indian reservation|reservations]]. According to the [[U.S. Census Bureau]] in 1894, from 1789 to 1894, the Indian Wars killed 19,000 white people and more than 30,000 Indians.<ref>{{Cite book |author=[[U.S. Bureau of the Census]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KWkUAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA637 |title=Report on Indians taxed and Indians not taxed in the United States (except Alaska) |year=1894 |publisher=Norman Ross Pub. |isbn=9780883544624 |page=637 |access-date=June 27, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518093120/https://books.google.com/books?id=KWkUAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA637 |archive-date=May 18, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Spanish–American War]] began when Spain refused American demands to reform its oppressive policies in [[Cuba]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Paterson |first=Thomas G. |year=1996 |title=United States Intervention in Cuba, 1898: Interpretations of the Spanish-American-Cuban-Filipino War |journal=The History Teacher |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=341–361 |doi=10.2307/494551 |jstor=494551}}</ref> The war was a series of quick American victories on land and at sea. At the [[Treaty of Paris (1898)|Treaty of Paris]] peace conference the United States acquired the [[Philippines]], [[Puerto Rico]], and [[Guam]].<ref name="Harrington">{{Cite journal |last=Harrington |first=Fred H. |year=1935 |title=The Anti-Imperialist Movement in the United States, 1898–1900 |journal=The Mississippi Valley Historical Review |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=211–230 |doi=10.2307/1898467 |jstor=1898467}}</ref> Cuba became an independent country, under close American tutelage. [[William Jennings Bryan]] led his Democratic Party in opposition to control of the Philippines, which he denounced as [[American imperialism|imperialism]].<ref name="Harrington" /> After defeating an [[Philippine–American War|insurrection by Filipino nationalists]], the United States achieved little in the Philippines except in education. Infrastructural development lost much of its early vigor with the failure of the railroads.{{Sfn|Stanley|pages=269–272}}

By 1908, however, Americans lost interest in an empire and turned their international attention to the Caribbean, especially the building of the [[Panama Canal]]. The canal opened in 1914 and increased trade with Japan and the rest of the Far East. A key innovation was the [[Open Door Policy]], whereby the imperial powers were given equal access to Chinese business, with none of them allowed to take control of China.{{Sfn|Jensen et al.}}

==== Women's suffrage ====
{{Main|Women's suffrage in the United States}}
[[File:Suffragists Parade Down Fifth Avenue, 1917.JPG|thumb|A [[Women's suffrage|Women's suffragists]] parade in [[New York City]] in October 1917, featuring placards with the signatures of more than a million women<ref>{{Cite news |year=1917 |title=Suffragists Parade Down Fifth Avenue – 1917 |url=http://www.nytstore.com/Suffragists-Parade-Down-Fifth-Avenue--1917_p_5258.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150106222925/http://www.nytstore.com/Suffragists-Parade-Down-Fifth-Avenue--1917_p_5258.html |archive-date=January 6, 2015 |access-date=August 17, 2017 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>]]

The women's suffrage movement reorganized after the Civil War. By the end of the 19th century, a few Western states had granted women full voting rights,<ref name=":11" /> and women gained rights in areas such as property and child custody law.{{Sfn|Riley|2001|p=?}}

Around 1912, the [[feminist movement]] reawakened, putting an emphasis on its demands for equality and arguing that the corruption of American politics demanded purification by women.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kraditor |first=Aileen S. |title=The Ideas of the Woman Suffrage Movement: 1890–1920 |year=1967 |author-link=Aileen S. Kraditor}}</ref> [[Alice Paul]] split from the large, moderate [[National American Woman Suffrage Association]] (NAWSA), led by [[Carrie Chapman Catt]], and formed the more militant [[National Woman's Party]]. Suffragists were arrested during their "[[Silent Sentinels]]" pickets at the White House and taken as [[political prisoner]]s.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Adams |first1=Katherine H. |title=Alice Paul and the American Suffrage Campaign |last2=Keene |first2=Michael L. |year=2007}}</ref>

The anti-suffragist argument that only men could fight in a war, therefore only men deserved the right to vote, was refuted by the participation of American women on the [[United States home front during World War I|home front in World War I]]. The success of women's suffrage was demonstrated by the politics of some U.S. states that were already allowing women to vote, including Montana, which elected the first woman to the House of Representatives, [[Jeannette Rankin]]. The main resistance came from the South, where white leaders were worried about the threat of black women being allowed to vote. Congress passed the [[Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Nineteenth Amendment]] in 1919, and women first voted in 1920.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Frost-Knappman |first1=Elizabeth |title=Women's Suffrage in America |last2=Cullen-Dupont |first2=Kathryn |year=2004}}</ref> Politicians responded to the new electorate by emphasizing issues of special interest to women, especially [[Prohibition in the United States|prohibition]], child health, and world peace.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dumenil |first=Lynn |title=The Modern Temper: American Culture and Society in the 1920s |url=https://archive.org/details/moderntemperamer00dume |year=1995 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/moderntemperamer00dume/page/98 98]–144 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=9780809069781}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Andersen |first=Kristi |title=After Suffrage: Women in Partisan and Electoral Politics before the New Deal |url=https://archive.org/details/aftersuffragewom00ande |year=1996 |publisher=University of Chicago |isbn=9780226019574 |author-link=Kristi Andersen}}</ref>