The Gilded Age

The Gilded Age refers to the era of rapid economic and population growth in the United States during the post-Civil War and post-Reconstruction eras of the late 19th century. it have technology, big business, urbanization, immigration and reaction segment.

Technology, and an abundance of natural resources, were the driving forces behind the Industrial Revolution in the United States.

a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times.

Use of Natural Resources: Iron Coal Oil

Through the Bessemer process iron becomes steel which is used to construct everything during the industrial revolution and today.

Coal- coal provided the main source of primary energy for industry and transportation in the West from the 18th century to the 1950s

World War I, the first conflict where control of oil supply really mattered - needed for tanks, ships and planes. British Forces captured Baghdad in 1917

Railroad that stretches across a continent from coast to coast.

Samuel F. B. Morse Henry Bessemer Alexander Graham Bell Thomas Alva Edison

Samuel Morse proved that signals could be transmitted by wire

Samuel Morse proved that signals could be transmitted by wire in telegraph.

the first process for mass-producing steel inexpensively, essential to the development of skyscrapers

was an eminent scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone.

Laissez-faire capitalism ruled the day during the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the United States. In this atmosphere of unbridled money-making, numerous types of business organizations gave rise to Big Business

This was the style of capitalism in which the government had no interference with the economy.

Monopoly Conglomerate Pool Trust Holding Company

Andrew Carnegie John D. Rockefeller J. Pierpont Morgan Jay Gould Henry Ford

United States industrialist and philanthropist who endowed education and public libraries and research trusts (1835-1919)

Was an American industrialist and philanthropist. Revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of modern philanthropy.

an American financier, banker, philanthropist, and art collector who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. In 1892 Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thompson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric.

United States financier who gained control of the Erie Canal and who caused a financial panic in 1869 when he attempted to corner the gold market (1836-1892)

United States manufacturer of automobiles who pioneered mass production (1863-1947)

spending on goods and services acquired mainly for the purpose of displaying income or wealth. In the mind of a conspicuous consumer, such display serves as a means of attaining or maintaining social status

The desire to promote the welfare of others, expressed esp. by the generous donation of money to good causes.

Urbanization was a direct result of the Industrial Revolution in the United States. Burgeoning factories were centralized in cities which offered a central location for resources and workers to fuel their production.

1. Housing (tenements, slums, etc.) 2. Health (disease, sanitation, etc.) 3. Working Conditions (child labor, etc.) 4. Political Machines (Tamany Hall, graft, etc.)

1. New Technologies (elevators, skyscrapers, street lighting, water and sewage systems, etc.) 2. Cultural Benefits (museums, theaters, parks, libraries, education, etc.)

Puritan Work Ethic Social Darwinism (Horatio Alger, etc.)

Is a concept in sociology, economics and history, attributable to the work of Max Weber. It is based upon the notion that the Calvinist emphasis on the necessity for hard work as a component of a person's calling and worldly success is a visible sign or result (not a cause) of personal salvation.

It especially refers to notions of struggle for existence being used to justify social policies which make no distinction between those able to support themselves and those unable to support themselves.

People coming from different places, and in doing so they added to the culture of America. But was America becoming a "melting-pot," or a "salad-bowl" of differing cultures?

i) Colonial Immigration (time period, place of origin, difficulties, etc.) ii) "Old" immigration (time period, place of origin, difficulties, etc.) iii) "New" Immigration (time period, place of origin, difficulties, etc.)

Nativism Know-Nothing Party Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 ("Yellow Peril") National Origins Acts (1924, 1929)

A term used by scholars to refer to ethnocentric beliefs relating to immigration and nationalism.

The Know Nothing movement was a nativist American political movement of the 1840s and 1850s. It was empowered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by German and Irish Catholic immigrants, who were often regarded as hostile to Anglo-Saxon Protestant values and controlled by the Pope in Rome

The Chinese Exclusion Act was a United States federal law signed by Chester A. Arthur on May 8, 1882, following revisions made in 1880 to the Burlingame Treaty of 1868. Those revisions allowed the U.S. to suspend immigration, and Congress subsequently acted quickly to implement the suspension of Chinese immigration, a ban that was intended to last 10 years

Was a United States federal law that limited the annual number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 2% of the number of people from that country who were already living in the United States in 1890, down from the 3% cap set by the Immigration Restriction Act of 1921

"Melting-Pot" Theory Assimilation "Salad-Bowl" Theory (Pluralism)

It is particularly used to describe the assimilation of immigrants to the United States; the melting-together metaphor was in use by the 1780s.

The term assimilation is often used with regard to immigrants and various ethnic groups who have settled in a new land.

Classical pluralism is the view that politics and decision making are located mostly in the framework of government, but that many non-governmental groups use their resources to exert influence.

The Gilded Age was a period of immense change in the United States. All of the abuses and problems of the time generated many different reactions- most directed at reform. Slowly, government regulations began to reign in the abuses of big business. At the same time, social reformers actively sought to correct the problems evident in American cities.

Railroad Practices (pools, rebates, etc.) Railroads=Public Utility Bloc Voting Granger State Laws Munn v. Illinois (1877) Wabash Case (1886) Interstate Commerce Act (1887)

First federal action against monopolies, it was signed into law by Harrison and was extensively used by Theodore Roosevelt for trust-busting. However, it was initially misused against labor unions

The system or principles and theory of labor unions like: Collective Bargaining Knights of Labor American Federation of Labor International Ladies' Garment Workers Union

Thomas Nast Jane Addams (Hull House)

Newspaper cartoonist who produced satirical cartoons, he invented "Uncle Sam" and came up with the elephant and the donkey for the political parties. He nearly brought down Boss Tweed.

Social reformer who worked to improve the lives of the working class. In 1889 she founded Hull House in Chicago, the first private social welfare agency in the U.S., to assist the poor, combat juvenile delinquency and help immigrants learn to speak English.