1. THE GILDED AGE

2. Background What does “gilded” mean? Thin gold coating
Term coined by Mark Twain
U.S. Society/Politics looked shiny on the outside, but underneath were dirty & corrupt

3. Background What was happening in the U.S.? Reconstruction was ending
Industrialization booming
Economy growing
Division between classes was wide
Rich = Extremely Wealthy, Poor = Working Class

4. Background Immigration Wave Peaked between 1880-1920
Many from Germany, Ireland, and Eastern Europe
Lived in tenement housing and worked in factories
Made very little money
Poor living conditions

5. Row of tenement housing in Johnstown, PA

6. Tenement Apartment in NY

7. WEALTHY BUSINESSMEN Andrew Carnegie John D. Rockefeller Andrew Mellon
Steel industry, Gave most of his money to charities
John D. Rockefeller
Oil industry, “richest person in history”
Andrew Mellon
Banking and Industry

8. WEALTHY BUSINESSMEN Viewed as “robber barons”
Exploited workers in order to gain wealth
Unsafe working conditions
Long hours
Little pay
Eliminated competition by forming monopolies

9. WORKERS CALL FOR CHANGE
Rise of Labor Unions
Knights of Labor, American Federation of Labor
Protests and Strikes
Often violent (bombs, riots, deaths)
Railroad Strikes, Pullman Strike
Homestead Strike
Pittsburgh, PA (1892), slashed wages, locked out workers, strike
Violent – gunfire; state militia called in
Union leaders blacklisted, unions eliminated from Homestead

10. HAYMARKET SQUARE RIOT Chicago, 1886
Prior Day – 4 laborers killed at strike
Laborers, Anarchists, and Socialists gathered to protest
Bomb thrown at police, riot begins, shots fired
7 police officers and 1 civilian killed
8 men arrested and tried in relation to the riot