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Period 6: 1865 – 1898
APUSH Review: Key
Concept 6.1
Everything You Need To Know About Key
Concept 6.1 To Succeed In APUSH
The New Curriculum

Key Concept 6.1 “The rise of big business in the United
States encouraged massive migrations and
urbanization, sparked government and popular efforts
to reshape the U.S. economy and environment, and
renewed debates over U.S. national identity.”
◦ Page 60 of the Curriculum Framework

Big ideas:
◦ What was the relationship between businesses and
government?
◦ What were reasons for migration within the country
and immigration during this time?
◦ In what ways did the South change and remain the
same? (Change and Continuity over time)
Key Concept 6.1


“Large-scale production – accompanied by massive technological change, expanding
international communication networks, and pro-growth government policies – fueled the
development of a ‘Gilded Age’ marked by an emphasis on consumption, marketing, and
business consolidation.”
– pg 60 of the curriculum framework

What is a “Gilded Age?” (1870s – 1900)

Government subsidies for transportation and
communication systems:
◦ Term coined by Mark Twain
◦ Increase in industrialization
◦ Many things appeared to be good on the surface, but
many problems were below
◦ Government provided $ and land for construction of RRs
◦ Impacts of subsidies – opened new markets in North
America
 Farms, lumber, and growth of cities

Redesigned financial and management structures:
◦ Monopolies – sought to have sole control over an industry
◦ Maximize exploitation of resources and labor force
 Carnegie – steel, Rockefeller - oil
Key Concept 6.1, cont.

Businesses and foreign policy makers looked outside
US borders to gain influence and control in markets
◦ Pacific: Hawaii – calls for annexation in the 1890s (sugar)
◦ Asia: Philippines – gained after the Spanish American War
 1899 – Open Door Policy in China; US could trade freely with
China
◦ Latin America: American-owned sugar plantations in Puerto Rico

Emergence of trusts and holding companies:
◦ Very powerful business organizations, controlled many aspects
of industries
◦ How did business leaders defend their status?
 Social Darwinism – rich argued they were a result of natural
selection

“Conspicuous consumption” vs. relative poverty in
cities and society
◦ Wealthy encouraged cities to spend $ on museums, libraries,
etc.
◦ Those living in poverty often lived in tenement houses
 Jacob Riis – How the Other Half Lives (1890)
Key Concept 6.1, cont.


“As leaders of big business and their allies in government aimed to create a unified industrialized
nation, they were challenged in different ways by demographic issues, regional differences, and labor
movements.” – pg 61 of the curriculum framework
Expansion of workforce:
◦ Internal migration: farmers moved to cities in increased numbers to work in
factories
◦ Immigrants (across national borders): “New” Immigration – predominantly
Southern and Eastern Europe; China as well
◦ Impact of workforce expansion?
 Diverse workforce, lower wages, more child labor
 Huge supply of workers led to lower wages

Labor vs. Management:
◦ Battles over wages, working conditions
◦ Local and national unions emerged to confront businesses
 Knights of Labor – Terrance Powderly, skilled AND unskilled workers, women and African
Americans; downfall was the Haymarket Square Riot
 American Federation of Labor – Samuel Gompers, skilled workers only; “bread and butter
issues”

The South had some areas of industrialization
◦ Leaders called for a “New South” – Henry Grady, editor of the Atlantic
Constitution, called for increased industrialization in the South; textile factories
began to appear in the South
◦ Sharecropping and tenant farming remained dominant
 Payment in land in the form of cash (tenant) or crops (sharecropping)
 Many African Americans were stuck as sharecroppers throughout the 1800s
Key Concept 6.1


“Westward migration, new systems of farming and transportation, and economic instability led
to political and popular conflicts.” – pg 61 of the curriculum framework
Government agencies and conservationist
organizations sought to extend public control over
natural resources:
◦ U.S. Fish Commission – created in 1871 to promote and
preserve fisheries in the US
◦ Sierra Club – founded by John Muir in 1892, advocate the
protection of wild places on earth

Farmer organizations to resist corporate control of
agricultural markets: (RRs)
◦ The Grange (1860s): sought to bring farmers together to
share techniques
 Hoped to elect state legislators favorable to their programs
 Granger laws – state laws that regulated RRs
◦ Southern Farmers’ Alliance: mostly a local organization
 Established stores and banks
 Excluded blacks…..
Key Concept 6.1, cont.

Creation of the People’s (Populist Party)
◦ Mostly farmers
◦ Causes:
 Growth of corporate power
◦ (RRs) – high rates often hurt farmers
 Economic instability
◦ Panics of 1873 and 1893 hurt farmers
◦ Goals:
 Political reform – direct election of senators; government ownership of
RRs, telephones, and telegraphs
 Stronger government role in American economic system
◦ Graduated income tax; inflation of currency, :free silver”; abolishment of national
banks

Business interests vs. conservationists
◦ Establishment of national parks and other conservationist and
preservationist measures
 National Reclamation Act (Newlands Act) – federal $ for construction of
dams, canals, and reservoirs
 Park system grew under Teddy Roosevelt
 Roosevelt used executive powers to restrict development of land
Test Tips
 Multiple-Choice
Questions:
◦
◦
◦
◦
and Short Answer
Changes in business structure and their effects
Role of government during the Gilded Age
Plight of farmers
Goals of Labor Unions
 Essay
Questions:
◦ Comparing government during the Gilded Age vs.
other time periods
◦ Ways farmers and laborers resisted corporations
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Period 6: 1865 – 1898
APUSH Review: Key
Concept 6.2
Everything You Need To Know About Key
Concept 6.2 To Succeed In APUSH
The New Curriculum

Key Concept 6.2 “The emergence of an industrial
culture in the United States led to both greater
opportunities for, and restrictions on, immigrants,
minorities, and women.”
◦ Page 62 of the Curriculum Framework

Big ideas:
◦ Why were individuals attracted to cities? What
opportunities were there in cities?
◦ How did marginalized groups (women, minorities,
etc.) gain power during this time?
◦ How did the federal government encourage
westward expansion? What were impacts of this
expansion on Natives?
Key Concept 6.2



“International and internal migrations increased both urban and rural populations, but
gender, racial, ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic inequalities abounded, inspiring some
reformers to attempt to address these inequalities.”
– pg 62 of the curriculum framework
Movement of people into cities and the rural and
areas of the West
◦ Asia:
 Chinese Immigration (prior to Exclusion Act)
 Establishment of “China Towns”
 Worked in laundries and restaurants due to exclusion
◦ Southern and Eastern Europe: Italy, Poland, etc. (“New
Immigration”)
 10,000,000 came between 1860 and 1890
 Many immigrants settled in cities because they couldn’t afford
land; took unskilled jobs
◦ African American Migrations:
 Many blacks sought to escape sharecropping
 Cities in the North and South saw increased black migrations
 More migrations would come after World War I and II
Key Concept 6.2, cont.

Makeup of cities:
◦ Class:
 Low-income individuals lived in tenements
◦ Cities were often segregated by race and ethnicity
 Many groups lived in specific areas of cities “ghettoes”
◦ Cultures:
 Autonomy vs. assimilation
 Second-generation immigrants were more likely to
assimilate
◦ Many economic opportunities such as factories and
businesses proliferated
 Factories provided work for unskilled laborers and
immigrants
 New textiles, slaughterhouses, etc.
Key Concept 6.2, cont.

“Americanizing” of immigrants and maintaining
unique identities
 Many immigrants were forced to assimilate – English was
only language at schools and work
◦ New career opportunities for women, immigrants,
and African Americans, despite social prejudices
 Factory life provided income and opportunities for
women and immigrants
 Many blacks took jobs as servants, cooks, etc.
Key Concept 6.2, cont.

Access to power in cities was unequally
distributed:
◦ Political machines:
 Provided jobs (patronage), food, and $ for political
support – Tammany Hall
◦ Settlement Houses:
 Hull House – Chicago – helped immigrants adjust to
American life
◦ Women’s clubs and self-help groups targeted social
and political reform:
 Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU):
◦ Largest women’s organization to that point
◦ Sought to abolish saloons and alcohol
 National American Woman Suffrage Association:
◦ Anna Howard Shaw and Carrie Chapman Catt
◦ Advocated the right to vote for women
◦ Argued the right to vote would not challenge “separate spheres”
Key Concept 6.2, cont.


“As transcontinental railroads were completed, bringing more settlers west, US. Military
actions, the destruction of the buffalo, the confinement of American Indians to
reservations, and assimilationist policies reduced the number of American Indians and
threatened native culture and identity– pg 63 of the curriculum framework
Post-Civil War migration:
◦ Encouraged by:
 Economic opportunities:
◦ Mining opportunities, particularly in Nevada (Comstock Lode)
◦ Subsidies – RRs given many subsidies by federal, state, and
local governments
 Government policies:
◦ Homestead Act (160 acres – not always the best land)
◦ Land-grant colleges – (Morrill Land Act) – colleges, particularly
out West developed
◦ Caused:
 Violations of treaties with Natives to increase the amount
of land available to settlers
Key Concept 6.2, cont.

Competition for land between whites, Indians,
and Mexican Americans led to increased violent
conflict
◦ Sand Creek Massacre –
 133 people, mostly women and children were killed
◦ Little Big Horn (Custer’s Last Stand)
 General Custer and his men were all killed
Key Concept 6.2, cont.

US generally responded to American Indian
Resistance with force
◦ Battle of Wounded Knee (1890) – 300 Natives died

Tribes were dispersed onto small
reservations
◦ Dawes Act – sought to assimilate Native Americans
 Native tribes were dissolved
 Heads of families would receive 160 acres of land

Assimilation sought to end tribal identities
◦ Through the Dawes Act:
 Many Native children sent to boarding schools
 Native Americans’ lives were changed – hunting to
farming
 Most of Natives’ land was lost
◦ US sought to end the Ghost Dance:
 Religious movement by Native Americans
 Hoped to see the return of buffalo and elimination of
whites
Test Tips
 Multiple-Choice
Questions:
and Short Answer
◦ Ways immigrants adapted to life in America (political
machines, settlement houses, etc.)
◦ Reasons for westward expansion
 Essay
Questions:
◦ Immigration patterns (comparing different types)
◦ Impact of westward expansion on Native Americans
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
Everything You Need To Know About Key
Concept 6.3 To Succeed In APUSH
Period 6: 1865 – 1898
APUSH Review: Key Concept 6.3

Key Concept 6.3 “The ‘Gilded Age’ witnessed
new cultural and intellectual movements in
tandem with political debates over economic
and social policies.”
◦ Page 63 of the Curriculum Framework

Big Idea Questions:
◦ Why did more citizens call for increased control of
the government?
◦ What were different examples of discrimination that
various groups faced in the late 19th century?
◦ How did business leaders and the wealthy justify
their wealth?
The New Curriculum


“Gilded Age politics were intimately tied to big business and focused nationally on
economic issues – tariffs, currency, corporate expansion, and laissez-faire economic policy
– that engendered numerous calls for reform.”– pg 63 of the curriculum framework
Government corruption encouraged the public to
demand more control – some minor, some major
changes to the capitalist system
◦ Reforms affected local, state, and national government
◦ Examples:
 Referendum:
Citizens could vote on laws
 Interstate Commerce Act:
Created to regulate RRs, more symbolic at first
Required RRs to publish their rates
Key Concept 6.1

Racism, nativism, and Supreme Court decisions
(Plessy) were used to justify violence,
discrimination, and segregation
◦ Examples:
 American Protective Association (APA):
 Similar to the Know-Nothing Party of the 1850s
 Wanted to ban Catholics from holding office and halt
immigration
 Chinese Exclusion Act (1883):
 Prohibited Chinese immigration
 Example of Nativism
 Plessy v. Ferguson (1896):
 Upheld the constitutionality of Jim Crow Laws
 “Separate but equal”
Key Concept 6.3, cont.
 “New
cultural and intellectual movements both buttressed (supported) and
challenged the social order of the Gilded Age.” – pg 64 of the curriculum
framework

Arguments used to justify success of the wealthy:
◦ Social Darwinism:
 Survival of the fittest
 Could use any business tactics to prosper
◦ Horatio Alger books:
 Hard work brings success
 “Rags to riches” stories

Some advocated that the wealthy was obligated to help less
fortunate:
◦ Gospel of Wealth:
Andrew Carnegie
Advocated philanthropy – duty of the wealthy to donate $ to help out with
economic inequality
Gave $ for 100s of libraries throughout the US
Key Concept 6.3, cont.

Many challenged corporate ethic and capitalism, and
offered alternate visions of good society through:
◦ Social Gospel:
 Protestant Church movement that sought to end social injustice
 Focused on poverty, economic inequality,

Women and African American challenged their “place” in
society politically, socially, and economically:
◦ Examples:
 Booker T. Washington:
Advocated vocational training for blacks
 Ida B. Wells-Barnett:
Journalist, outspoken critic of lynching, advocated a federal antilynching law
 Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Leading suffragist, advocate of interracial marriage
Key Concept 6.3, cont.

Multiple-Choice and Short Answer
Questions:
◦ Plessy V. Ferguson - impacts
◦ Examples of discrimination (APA, Chinese Exclusion
Act)

Essay Questions:
◦ Comparing forms of discrimination with other time
periods
Experiences of “Old” immigrants and “New”
immigrants
Test Tips