1. Division, Reconciliation, and Expansion (1850-1914)
Historical Background on the Age of Realism

2. Prelude to War North—commerce is king South—cotton ruled
Industrial Revolution/cheap transportation
Immigration a major factor
South—cotton ruled
Also sugar, tobacco, rice
Technological progress-little impact here
Believed slavery vital to the South

3. Prelude to War, cont. Fugitive Slave Law (1850) Expansion of slavery
Bloody Kansas
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, 1859
John Brown attempts to provoke armed slave revolt
Executed for treason

4. Union Is Dissolved 1860—Lincoln elected Succession begins
New Republican party vowed to halt spread of slavery
Succession begins
Fighting begins—Ft. Sumter, Charlestown
Most anticipated short war
Lasted 4 years
26,000 dead at Antietam in one day
Siege of Vicksburg
Destruction of Georgia

5. After the Surrender Lee surrendered in 1865 620,000 dead
500,000 wounded
South destroyed
Lincoln assasinated

6. Expanding America Homestead Act of 1862 Transcontinental Railroad
Disappearing frontier
Buffalo herds gone
Open range gone
Indian nations gone
West lived on in folktales

7. Changing Society Second Industrial Revolution
Introduction of Electricity
“Modern” life begins
Mass production of consumer goods
Advertising
Urban life
Skyscrapers, department stores, mass transit
Noise, traffic jams, air pollution
Surge in immigration

8. Changing Society, cont. New extremes of wealth and power
Industrial wages low
Child labor
Disease rampant in cramped working/living spaces
A handful of men made fortunes & lived like royalty
“The Gilded Age”
Discontent beneath the prosperity