1. AP United States History Unit 6
The Gilded Age
AP United States History
Unit 6

2. Railroads (ca. 1900)

3. Miles of Railroad in the U.S.
Growth of the Railroad
Year
Miles of Railroad in the U.S.
1830 23
1850
9,000
1870
53,000
1890
164,000
1910
240,000
Today
140,490

4. Route of the First Transcontinental Railroad

5. Promontory Point

6. Individual’s Wealth as Percentage of Budget
How Rich is Rich?
Individual Wealth
Federal Budget
Individual’s Wealth as Percentage of Budget
Carnegie
$840 million
$1 billion (1890)
84%
Rockefeller
$900 million
90%
Gates
$50 billion
$3.1 trillion (2009)
1.6%
Buffett
$40 billion
1.3%

7. Child Labor

8. American Federation of Labor (AFL) Knights of Labor (KofL)
Labor Union “Formula”
Membership +
Goals/Tactics =
Results
Which union?
Skilled laborers
Limited membership (white, native-born men)
Modest goals (small wage increases, reduced hours, improved conditions)
Mild tactics
More likely to:
gain and keep member
achieve goals
earn acceptance from public
survive
American Federation of Labor (AFL)
Samuel Gompers
Unskilled laborers
Open membership (immigrants, blacks, women)
Ambitious goals (8-hour-day, end to child labor, end of trusts)
Stronger tactics (real or perceived)
lose members
be perceived as radical/dangerous
fail and fade away
Knights of Labor (KofL)
Terence Powderly

9. Knights of Labor
Terence V. Powderly

10. American Federation of Labor
Samuel Gompers

11. Great Railroad Strike (1877)

12. Federal troops put down the Great Railroad Strike

13. Haymarket Square Riot (1886)

14. Homestead Steel Strike (1892)
Henry Clay Frick

15. Pullman Strike (1894)

16. Cleveland on the Pullman Strike
If it takes the entire army and navy to deliver a postal card in Chicago, that card will be delivered!

17. The Pinkertons