THE GILDED AGE
APUSH - STEIKER
Unit VI: The Gilded Age - The Rise of Industrial America
(Closing of the West, The Gilded Age, Rise of Unions, Populism, Immigration, Urbanization, Progressivism)
KEY QUESTIONS:
 How did the Homestead Act affect westward expansion?
 What role did cattle play in the West?
 How did the railroads affect the destiny the American Indian population?
 How did the tide of materialism foster the concept of “Social Darwinism’?
 How successful was the Dawes Act?
 How did Frederick Jackson Turner interpret the West in American History?
 How did new technology revolutionize American life?
 Did the captains of industry of the late 19th century violate the principles of the American
economic system?
 What impact did Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Thomas A. Edison, & J.P. Morgan have on
American business and American life?
 How did monopolies and trusts come to dominate American business?
 To what extent did the government support free enterprise?
 Explain the ideas of Henry George, Edward Bellamy, and Henry Lloyd.
 What conditions gave rise to Unions?
 How built the railroads and filled the factories?
 What conditions enabled the “bosses” and “machines” to organize voters?
 How did cities modernize at the turn of the century?
 Explain why political leaders in the late 19th century avoided taking stands on public issues in
light of sectional, partisan, ethnic, and economic differences among the voters.
 Explain how and why the “Social Gospel” contrasted with tradition Protestantism and Catholicism.
 What conditions gave rise to the Populist Party?
 Why did the Populists advocate silver?
 What are the origins and philosophical basis of the Progressive Movement?
 What reforms were instituted at the city, state, and national levels?
 Was Roosevelt’s Square Deal effective?
 What were the reforms of the New Freedom?
 Did non-whites benefit from progressivism?
VOCABULARY:
INDUSTRIALIZATION AND THE RISE OF BIG BUSINESS
corporation
unlimited life
unlimited capital
limited liability
pooling agreements
trusts
holding company
mergers
cartel
monopoly
horizontal integration
vertical integration
scientific management
Subsidies
protective tariffs
immigration quotas
Government Aid to Industry
ROBBER BARONS
RAILROADS
significance of railroad on industrial development
Erie Railway Wars
Pacific Railway Acts 1862 and 1864
Transcontinental Railroad
corruption of railroad companies
Granger State Laws
Munn v. Illinois (1877)
Wabash Case (1886)
Interstate Commerce Act (1887)
Daniel Drew
George Westinghouse
Thomas Edison
John D. Rockefeller
Jay Gould
J. P. Morgan
Andrew Carnegie
Cornelius Vanderbilt
NEW INVENTIONS AND NEW INDUSTRIES
Bessemer process
Carnegie Steel
Standard Oil
American Telephone and Telegraph
economies of scale
new inventions (that help promote new
industries): sewing machine, typewriter, light bulb,
telephone, elevator, etc.
new product delivery: Montgomery Ward; Sears
and Roebuck; Department Stores
NEW IDEOLOGIES
laissez-faire
Social Darwinism
"Gospel of Wealth"
philanthropy
Myth of the "self-made man"
Horatio Algier: “Rags to Riches”
The American Dream
pragmatism
LABOR
unions
rank and file
closed shop
open shop
collective bargaining
strikes
lockouts
boycott
black listing
union busting
Yellow dog contracts
court injunctions
UNIONS
industrial unions
craft unions
National Labor Union (1870’s)
Kinghts of Laborn(1860’s – 1890)
- Uriah Stephens
American Federation of Labor (1886 -)
- Samuel Gompers
Molly McGuires (1870’s)
American Railway Union (1893-1895)
- Eugene V. Debs
The Industrial Workers of the World: The Wobblies
(1905 – 1950)
- William Haywood
“Bread and Butter” unionism
LABOR UNREST
Pinkertons
Railroad Strike of 1877
Haymarket Riot 1886
Molly McQuires
Homestead Strike 1892
Lockout 1892
Pullman Strike 1894
Anthracite Coal Strike 1902
Mary Harris “Mother” Jones
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire 1911
Immigration
old immigration
new immigration
 reasons for coming: political social and
economic
 issued faced
 impact of immigrants on city development:
ethnic communities, etc.
melting pot theory
salad bowl theory
assimilation
Americanization
European Immigrants
Chinese Immigrants
ghettos
quotas
Chinese Exclusion Act
Gentleman’s Agreement
Urbanization
urbanize
living conditions in the city
tenements
slums
suburbs
suburban sprawl
Effects of urbanization
 negative: political machines, unsanitary
conditions and poor housing
 positive: community improvement,
cultural opportunities, technological
advancements
Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives
Settlement Houses: Jane Addams
Tammany Hall
Boss Tweed
Gilded Age Culture
Mark Twain essay on the Gilded Age
John Dewy and progressive education
development public education
pragmatism
Americanization
Education: development of public school
scientific advances
architecture:
 bridges
 skyscrapers
 fancy homes
mass culture:
 leisure time
 publishing
 yellow journalism
 music (ragtime; marching band; early jazz)
Women’s Suffrage
Temperance
Populism
Grange Movement: Farmer’s Alliances
Granger Laws
Populist Movement
Omaha Platform: secret ballot; direct election of
senators; initiative, referendum and recall, direct
primary
Gold vs. Silver and William Jennings Bryan
Progressivism
The Progressives: “Middle Class Reformers”
 Jane Addams, Lillian Wald, Margaret
Sanger, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B.
Dubois
muckrakers: (Know who they are and their books
or contributions)
 Thomas Nast: political cartoons
 Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives
 Ida B. Wells, A Red Record
 Frank Norris, The Octopus
 Ida Tarbell, The History of the Standar Oil
Company
 Lincoln Steffens, Shame of the Cities
 Upton Sinclair, The Jungle
 Roosevelt’s Response to The Jungle
Hull House
Visiting Nurse Services
POLITICS AND REFORM:
City Reforms:
 City Commissioner Plan
 City Manager Plan
State Reforms:
 Secret Ballot
 initiative
 referendum
 recall
 direct primary
Federal Reforms:
 Newlands Reclamation Act (1902)
 Elkins Act (1903)
 Pure Food and Drug Act (1906/1911)
 Meat Inspection Act (1906)
 Hepburn Act (1906)
Federal Reserve Act (1913)
Clayton Antitrust Act (1914)
Federal Trade Act (1914)
Constitutional Amendments: 16th ; 17th;
18th; 19th
Trustbusting:
 Sherman Anti-Trust Act 1890
 Northern Trust Case 1904
 Standard Oil Decision 1911
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GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION
 Bosses of the Senate
 Credit Mobilier
 Ullysses S. Grant
 Roscoe Conkling
 James G. Blaine
 The Stalwarts
 The Half Breeds
 Bourbon Democrats
 Mugwumps
 mudslinging
 “waving the bloody shirt”
PRESIDENT THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Government Reform:
 Roosevelt’s New Nationalism
 Civil Service Reform
 Pendleton Act;
Square Deal:
 Pure Food and Drug Act 1906
 Meat Inspection Act 1906
 Interstate Commerce Act
 Hepburn Act
 Sherman Anti-Trust Act
 Conservation Movement
PRESIDENT WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT:
 Roosevelt’s Protégé or Backlash?
 16th amendment: federal income tax
 17th amendment: direct election of
Senators
 Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act
 Dollar Diplomacy
 Bull Moose Party

PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON
New Freedom:
 Federal Reserve Act 1913
 Clayton Anti-Trust Act 1914
 Federal Trade Act 1914
 Adamson Act 1916