1. The Gilded Age and Progressivism A quick review

2. Always Remember! Make connections between events in History. Ask yourself, as you’re studying, “why is this important?”

3. What does “Gilded” mean? “Gilded” means nice on the outside, but bad underneath, like a knock-off watch dipped in gold. In other words, this era was good on the surface, but bad things were happening underneath…to the common man it was a nightmare. Coined by Mark Twain.

4. What does “Progressive” mean? “Progressives” try to make life better for the common man and woman. They do this by trying to get society to progress to a point where everyone benefits. They fight poverty and social injustices.

5. Lightbulb Thomas Edison harnessed electricity and perfected the light bulb. Allowed for longer work hours and better standard of living. Previously, when the sun went down, the day winded down. NOT ANYMORE!

6. Bessemer Process Allowed for the mass production of stronger steel. What does this allow to happen? The growth of railroads, industry, and cities (upward and outward). We can now build stronger, taller buildings.

7. Light bulb + Steel=big cities and booming economies

8. Transcontinental Railroad Trans=across Continental=Continent Transcontinental= Across the continent. With the completion of the Transcontinental RR at Promontory Point, Utah in 1869 East and West were united by fast travel. Opened the West to more settlement.

9. National Market The Transcontinental Railroad connected the country and opened up a National Market. Goods could be traded rapidly between East and West.

10. Alexander Graham Bell Invented the telephone. Most of you have a phone in your pocket, purse, or backpack. You know how important this is. So, thank Mr. Bell. Give him a ring. Buh-dum-tiss. Greatly speeds up rapid communication between people.

11. Laissez-Faire HANDS OFF! An economic policy where the government tries to have as little influence as possible on business. GOOD for capitalism and creativity. BAD because it can lead to corruption like the corruption that led to poor working conditions of the Gilded Age and the stock market crash that led to the Great Depression.

12. Free Enterprise System Encourages competition. Competition is good for innovation. You are FREE to pursue whatever enterprise (action) you want to.

13. Entrepreneur Someone who masters the Free Enterprise system and, usually, makes a ton of money through innovation, action, and ingenuity.

14. Corporation From the latin for “body” Many units make up a whole. Those units then control a larger company.

15. Captains of Industry/Robber Barons Men like Rockefeller, Carnegie, Vanderbilt, and J.P. Morgan who built up the American economy during the Gilded Age. Like the Gilded Age they are good and bad. Built America up BUT used ruthless business tactics that hurt the common man and led to corruption. Captain = Good Robber = Bad

16. Andrew Carnegie Scottish Immigrant who rose from nothing to become Captain of the Steel industry and the richest man in the world. Kind of a jerk towards the common man at first. Late in life developed a policy of philanthropy (love for your common man) and the Gospel of Wealth, donating much of his fortune to educating the poor so that they can better themselves.

17. John D Rockefeller Developed a monopoly in the Oil industry. A monopoly or a trust is a situation when one company or group of companies controls all of production of a good. By controlling all the oil he could set prices and become filthy rich. His monopoly, Standard Oil, would eventually be broken up by antitrust laws.

19. Interstate Commerce Act A government institution created to oversee trade between the states. Once a good is traded between states it becomes a Federal Government issue. With the growth of railroads this became more and more important.

20. Sherman Anti-Trust Act 1890 act to break up trusts, but initially used by businessmen to break up labor unions. Used by Teddy Roosevelt to bust up Trusts. Replaced by the more powerful Clayton antitrust act.

21. What is this cartoon illustrating?

22. Child Labor Children were used in coal mines and factories to get to those hard-to-reach (and dangerous) places. Rather than be learning and playing, kids were made to do dangerous work that shortened lives and left many permanently injured. Progressives fought to end Child Labor and instead open schools.

23. Labor Unions Knights of Labor AFL Samuel Gompers led the AFL in successfully demanding better pay, working conditions, and shorter hours.

24. William Jennings Bryan The Bernie Sanders of his day. A “third party” populist who championed the will of the people. Never won the presidency, but got the Democratic Party to become the party of the people “You will crucify mankind upon a cross of Gold,” if you do not give the common people access to more money.

25. Social Gospel Movement A religious movement appealing to people’s religious and moral beliefs. Urged people to do what was right, not what was cheap.

26. Muckraker Investigative reporters who raked up the muck of American Society to uncover all the bad parts of the Gilded Age and Industrialization. Examples include Jacob Riis who showed how bad life in the tenements in cities was and...

27. Upton Sinclair Wrote The Jungle which outlined the gross conditions meat was prepared for consumers. Meat was often packaged with saw dust, wax, rat feces, and by people sick with tuberculosis. Led to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which still looks into the cleanliness of your food.

28. Ida B. Wells African American woman who successfully brought attention the the problem of lynching (hanging a person without a trial) in the South

29. Jane Addams A progressive woman who opened “Hull House” in Chicago that taught children how to read, housed them, and taught English to immigrants so that they might have a better chance at getting a better life.

30. W.E.B. DuBois The first African American to receive his PHD from Harvard. Dr. DuBois founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples (NAACP) which would become an important, driving force in the Civil Rights movements of the 50s and 60s. Demanded equality for blacks in America.

31. 17 th Amendment Made it so that we, the people, choose and elect our Senators in congress rather than men who could be bought by monopolies and trusts. So WE vote for our leaders, not potentially corrupt officials.

32. Theodore Roosevelt America’s ultimate badass. Won the Medal of Honor for his heroics in the Spanish- American War. Won a Nobel Peace Prize for coordinating peace talks between Japan and Russia. As president busted trusts and promised Americans a Square Deal (rhymes with “Fair Deal) where they would fairly know what they were buying and work for fair wages.

33. William H. Taft Roosevelt’s portly successor who, ultimately, was too weak for Roosevelt’s taste. He didn’t go after trusts aggressively enough so Roosevelt ran against him in 1912, splitting the Republican vote. This allowed Woodrow Wilson to become president.

34. Woodrow Wilson Even more progressive than Roosevelt, but too academic to know how to manipulate congress to pass the laws he wanted. Still, successfully increased anti-trust laws, created the Federal Reserve Bank, and the National Park System.

35. Federal Reserve Act A system to deliver money to the every growing population centers of America. Without this, banks in El Paso and other places might have had to wait weeks to get money in their vaults.

36. National Park Service Created to preserve America’s shrinking wilderness for future generations (you guys) to enjoy. If you’re not enjoying them, you’re missing out on America’s coolest, and most majestic, asset.

37. Women’s Suffrage (Right to Vote) Led by Susan B. Anthony 19 th Amendment Remember…women got the right to vote with the 19 th in ‘20 (1920).