9th Grade U.S. History
Chapter 7; Review NOTES
p. 231-250
Name____________________________
Date________________ Hour_____
Daily Life in the Gilded Age
(1870-1915)
FOCUS:
 The Expansion of Education
Education was a lofty goal that was out of reach for more nineteenth-century Americans. As the century
came to a close, however, more __________________________________________________________.
 New Forms of Entertainment
New forms of entertainment and ____________ emerged during the late 1800s.
 The World of Jim Crow
African Americans found their hopes dashed in the years after Reconstruction. Yet many not only
________________________________, but achieved success in spite of the obstacles placed before them.
 Women in the late 1800s
Changes in women’s lives, including new ________, new educational opportunities, and new roles in the
home, fueled a debate on the proper _________________________ in society at the turn of the century.
Just the Facts: The Emergency of Modern America: The Gilded Age
1. In 1873, Mark Twain co-authored a book called “The Gilded Age.” It poked fun at America’s increasing
obsession with getting __________ quick.
2. Historians adapted this phrase to describe the period between 1870-1900, when growing
____________________ and prosperity thinly disguised the corruption of politicians and businessmen
that festered beneath the eras gold veneer.
The Gilded Age
3. America started to move from the farmland to the __________________.
4. In 1883, ____________________________ bought the Homestead Mills in western Pennsylvania.
5. Carnegie’s mills were immensely profitable due to an increased demand for ________________ in the
post-Civil War era.
6. The greatest demand for steel came from the rapidly expanding __________________.
The Railroad: Connecting the Coasts
7. By 1900, there were 193,000 miles of track, including four ____________ railroad lines that linked the
East and West Coasts.
8. The railroad cut travel time on the 3,000 mile trip from coast to coast from months to roughly
___________________.
Machine Power: Increasing Productivity
9. Large-scale ____________________ grew by raising the money to purchase the huge machines and by
utilizing the railroads to tap into new, larger markets.
Urbanization: Changing the Landscape
10. The majority of the new jobs were made available in the _________ of the nation’s largest cities.
11. City populations _________________ as a result.
12. The flood of ___________________ entering the country also made up a large part of the new workforce.
13. But much of the “American Dream” was denied to the immigrants, most of whom lived in poverty in the
cities’ _____________.
African Americans in the Gilded Age
14. By the late 1890s, African Americans were stripped of most of the ___________ that were promised them
after the Civil War.
15. In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson. The ruling stated that
______________ but equal facilities and accommodations were legal under the Constitution.
The Conquest of the West
16. Those Native Americans who survived were forced to live on _____________________.
The Victorians
17. These American “Victorians” filled their houses with ornate furniture and knickknacks, believing their
new found wealth could buy them everything, including _______________.
Seeking Reform
18. More and more workers were interested in the reforms that ____________ strove to achieve.
19. Whenever possible, unions were ___________________ and their leaders blacklisted.
20. Many Americans grew suspicious of corporations and businessmen, fearing price-fixing by all powerful
monopolies. They saw the Carnegies and Rockefellers of the world as ___________________ who fixed
prices and stole from honest, hard-working Americans to increase their personal fortunes.
Gilded Politics
21. Corruption ran rampant in the Gilded Age and extended to the highest levels of
____________________.
The American Empire
22. But a new frontier was just beginning, as economic prospects around the world lead businessmen to seek
new _______________ beyond the borders of the United States.
Innovations of the Gilded Age
23. The United States would also be impacted by four innovations of the Gilded Age: the electric light,
motion picture, ________________, and automobile.