Transcript The Gilded Age in American History 1865-1896

The Gilded Age
in American
History
1865-1896
What impact did the
Gilded Age have upon
the History of the
United States?
Gild
Main Entry: gild
Pronunciation: gild
Function: Transition verb
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English
gyldan; akin to Old English gold gold
1: to overlay with or as if with a thin covering of
gold
2a: to give money to b: to given an attractive but
often deceptive appearance to c archaic: to make
bloody
Gild-ed adjective
Why would an era be
referred to as “Gilded?”
The Gilded Age
A Tale of Today
Book gave name to the era
Time of gaudy excess and a new
class of wealth, political corruption
and conquest of the West
By Mark Twain and Charles
Dudley Warner
“Dinner party challenge”
Novel presents a time of hopes
and dreams coupled with bitter
disappointments
Story is of a woman who falls
from the highest place in society
to financial and social ruin.
Washington Square North, New York City by Fernand Lungren
Cliff
Dwellers
by
George
Bellows
The Gilded Age
Railroad building
Reconstruction of the South
Industrialization of the United States
Settling of Western Frontier
Immigration (the “New Immigrants”)
Rise of large urban centers (big cities)
Political Corruption
Era of the Railroads
Transcontinental Railroad
completed on May 10, 1869.
Railroad building triggered the
industrial revolution
Railroad building required steel, oil and other
resources provided by industry
Railroads helped move resources for industry.
Railroads connected the entire
nation and eased travel
Aided the economic growth of the
West
Goods shipped to the West & Western
products shipped back to Eastern markets
Many became wealthy because of
the railroads
Railroad building provided
employment for new immigrants
Railroads
Railroads were built by
using cheap immigrant
labor
Irish
Chinese
Railroads were built across
Native American ancestral
lands
Railroad companies owned
the best lands in the West
Railroad building was tied
to political corruption
Credit Mobilier scandal
Reconstruction
Former slaves were now freedmen & citizens of the United
States with “equal protection under the law” and “due
process” protections. (13th & 14th amendments)
Black men had the opportunity to vote (15th amendment) &
hold political office
Hope for better education, economic opportunity, reuniting
of families, and social progress
Reconstruction failed
Political war over Reconstruction
Impeachment of President Johnson
Military Rule of the South
Economic poverty
Death of King Cotton
Freedmen became sharecroppers and
tenant farmers
New South
The Redeemers & Home Rule
Thwarting of African American
rights
Black Codes
Voting Restrictions
Jim Crow segregation
Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896
Ku Klux Klan, and other
organizations hostile to blacks.
The Industrialization
of America
United States becomes a world
industrial power
Rise of dominant railroad, steel and
oil industries.
Rise of Titans of Industry
Andrew Carnegie
Leland Stanford
John D. Rockefeller
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Dynamic era of new inventions and
commercial products
Incandescent light bulb, Kodak
camera, Nickelodeon, typewriter &
plenty more
Thomas Alva Edison & Menlo Park
The Standard Oil Octopus
John D. Rockefeller’s company becomes a monopoly by
destroying all competition and gaining favorable
government policies.
Industrialization
Corrupt business practices
Credit Mobilier
Monopolies destroy
competition
Rockefeller & Standard Oil
Workers wages low
Dangerous working
conditions.
Child labor, no restrictions.
Labor Unions emerging,
but lacked strength and
viewed as radical
Knights of Labor
American Federation of
Labor
Settlement of the West
Railroad building connects
farmers in West with
Eastern markets
Land availability on the
Great Plains for farming
Cattle ranching and mining
industries thrive in the
West
Growth of Western cities.
Golden Age of the Cowboy
“Move On!”
Has the native American no rights that the naturalized
American is bound to respect?
Conquering the Western Frontier
Seizing lands from Native
Americans;Forcing Indians
onto reservations; Indian Wars
Railroad scheme to possess the
best available lands; Railroads
take advantage of farmers &
set high shipping rates
Took large acreages of land to
produce enough crop to make
a profit; Lands of Great Plains
difficult to farm; farmers
interests not addressed by the
government
Conflict between farmers and
ranchers over land use
Lawlessness throughout.
Cattle & Mining boom towns
New Immigration
Millions of Europeans and
Asians immigrate to the United
States from 1860s to early
1920s.
Immigrants come to escape
poverty, old social orders and
religious persecution and to
find freedom and opportunity
in America.
New immigrants come from
regions that had not supplied
past immigrants, new cultural
traditions added.
America becomes the “Great
Melting Pot”
The New Immigrants
Settled in ethnic Ghettos
and slums in American
cities.
Lived in squalid and
overpopulated tenement
houses.
New immigrants worked
jobs that paid the lowest
wages and did the toughest
work.
Nativism reemerged in
greater force in America
Immigrants faced
continued religious
persecution in America.
The Growth of the Cities
Cities became centers of
American industry
New York
Boston
Detroit
Chicago
St. Louis
Kansas City
America boasted some of
the largest cities in the
world
Cities became cultural
centers.
Urbanization
Cities were overcrowded
People lived in slums
Tenement houses were overcrowded
Unsanitary living conditions
Disease rampant
Immigrants lived in ethnic
communities
Crime rampant
Political bosses controlled city politics
City governments were corrupt and
mismanaged
Cities were dirty, filthy and trashinfested
Cities were fire hazards and worse. Photographs by Jacob Riis, a Danish
Chicago & Galveston
immigrant who became a reformer
through journalism & photojournalism
Politics in the Gilded Age
Age of Republican presidents
One Democrat, twice removed.
Grover Cleveland.
Political promise for African
Americans
Civil Service Reform
Pendleton Act
Farmers seeking a voice in the
political system
National Grange & Populists
Government aid to railroad
and industrial growth
Key issues were monetary
system, the tariff and civil
service reform.
Political
Cartoonist
THOMAS
NAST
“Boss”Tweed, Tammany Hall,
corruption & graft in NYC
politics
The “forgettable” presidents &
political corruption
Ineffective presidential leadership
Political corruption and scandals
Era of Good Stealings
Government ties to big business
No regulation of business practices
Kickbacks to political officials
Failure to secure goals of
reconstruction
Treatment of Native Americans
Farm protest from South and
West fail to unite
Emergence and end of Populism
Impact of the Gilded Age
on United States History
Prepared the United
States for its future as
an imperial power.
Settlement of the West and the
closing of the frontier, turned
the attention of the nation to
newer frontiers- overseas
territories.
Influx of new immigrants
added new ingredients into
American culture.
The descendants of these new
immigrants would be future leaders and
major personalities in the United States.
The growth of American industry
would help make the United States
a global industrial power and
further the engine of economic
progress of the 20th century.
Settlement and
farming of the Great
Plains would make
the region the
‘breadbasket of the
world.’
The corrupt business and
political practices of the era
called for reform.
The
discrimination
against African
Americans,
Native
Americans, new
immigrants,
and women
lead to a
greater call for
civil rights
protections.
The Gilded Age set the
stage for the Emergence
of Modern America.
The Gilded Age laid the foundation
for the United States of the 20th
Century, a SUPERPOWER!
Who we are now and
hope to be in the
future is based upon
who we were and how
well we understand
where we have come
from.