1. The Birth of Modern America: The Gilded Age
1860s-1900

2. The Gilded Age
A time period in America from the 1860s to the turn of the 20th century.
Enormous economic growth in the North and expansion in the West.
Immigrants from Europe came to America.
Increase in poverty.

3. Homesteaders
Homestead Act of settlers could purchase land grants for $10.
Person had to meet certain requirements
Did not fight against US Govt. (in Confederate Army during Civil War).
Be 21 years or older.
If qualified, apply for land ($10 app. Fee), live on land for at least 5 years and make improvements.

4. The Frontier Closes
In 1890 the Census Bureau believed that due to the rapid growth of the West, no land was available.
Reality, land was very much available.
This statement by the Bureau concerned people, growth for the West started to stagger.

5. Framing the Plains Frederick Jackson Turner.
Wrote The Significance of the Frontier in American History, outlining the Frontier Theory.
Frontier Theory- the theory that Europeans were transformed by the settlement of North America, giving them a new mentality, different from European.

6. Pacific Railway Act (1862)
Union Pacific & Central Pacific railroads oversaw construction of transcontinental railroad.
The companies received 10 (later 20) sections of land for each mile of track built
1 section = 1 square mile.
Companies received $16K-48K in loans for each mile of track built
Railroad would not have been built so quickly w/o govt. subsidies

7. Labor Shortages
1862- Civil War going on, immigrants used to construct railroads
Central Pacific- Chinese workers; later Mormon workers
Union Pacific- Irish immigrants; later former slaves & Civil War veterans

8. Transcontinental Railroad
Travel from coast to coast was made easier.
A massive railroad connecting each coast would cut down travel time to only 4 days instead of weeks.
This promoted growth out in the West.

19. Ranching
The Long Drive- cattle drive from Texas to Kansas, even as far as Montana.
Eventually cut short with the expansion of railroads and trains.

24. Natives vs. Government
American Indian Wars ( )- A series of battles, on/off, between Native Americans and settlers of North America.
Also includes failed treaties/negotiations b/t Natives and U.S. Govt. for Indian territory, forced movement to reservations.
Sand Creek Massacre- In November 1864, Native Americans were attacked and killed by Colonel John Chivington and his soldiers at Sand Creek in Colorado.
Number of Natives killed, unknown. Estimation between
Mostly Women and Children

25. Battle of Little Bighorn
On June 25, 1876, L. Colonel George A. Custer launched an attack on 2,500 Lakota and Cheyenne Native Americans in Montana.
Custer and 50% of the 7th Calvary were killed, 268 soliders.

26. Wounded Knee The last battle of the American Indian Wars.
Occurred December 29, 1890 in South Dakota.
Nearly 300 Lakota men, women and children were killed.
Including Sitting Bull
25 U.S. soldiers were killed.

27. Assimilation Assimilate-to be absorbed.
Americans felt bad for the Native Americans. They felt that if the Natives could assimilate into the American culture, they could live peacefully as landowners and citizens.

28. How to do this?
The Dawes Act- in 1887, Congress made into law that each head of household for Native Americans would get 160 acres of reservation land for farming. Single adults would get 80 and children would get 40.
Any land that remained would then be sold to settlers.

30. Problem!
Many Native Americans had very little training on how to farm.
The land given was too small to make any profit. Eventually that land would be sold.
More land was sold to settlers than was given to Native Americans.

31. Industrialization
The period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian (farming) society into an industrial one.

32. In America
The time period after the Civil War, the industrial revolution takes over.
New technologies and better products
Entrepreneurs- people who risk their own money to start a new business.

33. Free Enterprise System
Laissez-Faire economics was embraced by many Americans.
French for “let be” or leave it alone.
Supporters believe government should not interfere with economics.
With a free market enterprise, companies will compete, leading to greater efficiency and creates more wealth for everyone

34. Big Business A large-scale operation with corporation administration.
Corporations are organized industries.
Steel
Oil
Railroad

35. Innovations
Andrew Carnegie- uses a new process to be able to mass produce steel for cheap
Bessemer Process
Thomas Edison- discovers a way to use electricity, leads to invention of the light bulb, lights up the night.
Factories can operate at night
Homes no longer need kerosene lamps.

36. Innovations cont…
American businesses became more profitable and efficient with the help of:
integration (vertical and horizontal)
Scientific Management- the theory that a company could become more efficient by managing time, breaking tasks down into small parts, and using standardized tools.
Use of cheap immigrant labor

37. Andrew Carnegie A Scottish immigrant
In 1880s, built Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Steel Company from the ground up.
Because of railroad boom, Carnegie became richest man in the world.

38. Carnegie cont…
Philosophy: “Watch the costs and the profits will take care of themselves.”
Vertical Integration- a company owning all the different businesses on which it depends for its operation.
Control all portions of manufacturing process from raw materials to distribution.

40. John D. Rockefeller Owner of Standard Oil in the 1860s.
Had friends in railroad industry, he could ship oil for cheap.
He would buy out other oil companies and integrate those companies into his own.

41. Rockefeller cont…
Undercut competition by lowering prices and then raising them after buying out rivals.
Success:
Vertical Integration: Controlled production and transportation of oil to markets.
Horizontal Integration- combining many firms engaged in the same type of business into one large corporation.
Controlled about 90% of U.S. oil refining capacity by 1879.

42. Exists when only one person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity.

43. Holding Companies The company does not produce anything.
It owns stock of companies that do produce goods.
It controls all of the companies it owns, effectively merging them into one large enterprise.

45. Trusts
1882, Standard Oil forms the first trust- a way of merging businesses that did not violate the laws against owning other companies.
A trust is a fiduciary arrangement that allows a third party, or trustee, to hold assets on behalf of a beneficiary or beneficiaries. Trusts can be arranged in many ways and can specify exactly how and when the assets pass to the beneficiaries.

46. Sherman Anti-Trust Act
Passed in 1890
Federal regulations on business activities that are deemed anticompetitive.
Government is going after big businesses and trust companies.

47. Thomas Edison
Inventor: phonograph, motion picture camera; perfected the light bulb
Established “invention factory” at Menlo Park, New Jersey
Came to symbolize inventive impulse of Americans

49. Impact of Industrialization
U.S becomes a major industrial power by 1900.
Environmental degradation
Using up raw materials, pollution, industrial waste into water supplies
Factory life, not an improvement over life on farm
Human degradation

50. Labor Unions
Trade Unions- unions limited to people with specific skills
Iron workers, Shoe makers.
Industrial Unions- unions that united all craft workers and common labors in a particular industry.
Railroad, steel, oil

51. U.S. Labor Force
Child Laborers almost 2 million children worked for wages. Very little supervision led to accidents.
Female Workers: Earned less money than male counterparts. By 1900: 17% of workforce was female.

58. General Working Conditions in 1900
“Old” vs. “New” perspective
Old: Laborers worked in small shops, took pride in their work and worked at their own pace.
New: Large factories were the norm; tasks were repetitive and pace was set by the “clock & whistle”
Average work week: hours
Dangerous Conditions
In 1889 over 2,000 railroad workers died and 20,000 were injured on the job.

59. Workers on Strike!
The Great railroad Strike of ,000 railroad workers walked off the job in protest of wage cuts across 11 states.
Governor called state militia to stop strikes.
Over 100 people were killed due to violence from these strikes.

61. The Knights of Labor Result of the Great Railroad Strike
Enough workers had joined by the 1870s to create this union to make it the first industrial union.
What they called for:
8-hour work day
Equal pay for women
Abolishment of child labor
Limit Chinese immigration

62. The Haymarket Riot
May 4, 1886, protests at Haymarket Square in Chicago turned violent.
3,000 protesters were gathered and someone threw a bomb at police.
Police returned fire. 7 police officers and 4 workers were killed.
Knights of Labor lost support when associated with violence.

64. The Pullman Strike
In 1893, workers at the Pullman railroad company in Illinois went on strike.
Wages were being cut
People getting fired
With no rail cars being moved, Pullman company attached U.S. mail cars to their trains.
Now becomes a federal issue, President Grover Cleveland sends in troops, court orders the strike to end.

67. American Federation of Labor
In 1884, 20 members of different unions form to make the AFL.
Collective Bargaining- negotiations between employers and employees to reach agreement on work conditions.
Union of skilled workers
The first leader was Samuel Gompers.

68. Samuel Gompers President of the AFL Believed in 4 main goals:
Get companies to recognize unions.
Closed shops- companies could only hire union members
Promoted an 8-hour work day.
Employer liability for injuries on the job (workers comp.)

69. Urban America Immigration Urbanization Political machines
Social Darwinism

70. Immigration
Millions of immigrants migrated to the US from all over the world for various reasons.
Plenty of jobs in US
Avoidance of forced military service
Avoidance of religious persecution (especially the Jews in Poland and Russia)

71. Ellis Island Millions of European immigrants passed through the island
Medical inspections were taken at this time.
If passed, on to America, if failed, back to Europe, possibly splitting up families.

77. Statue of Liberty Donated by France
Construction began in 1870s. Completed in 1886
Words of Emma Lazarus on the base:
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.”

78. Asian Immigration Angel Island in San Francisco.
Unemployment, poverty and famine were reasons Asians came to U.S.
Chinese viewed America as the “Gold Mountain” since it offered prosperity and opportunity.

79. Immigrants and Big Business
Immigrants willing to work longer hours for cheaper pay
Provides US industries with investment capital.
More money for the business/industry
Takes away jobs of Americans, causes hatred towards immigrants

82. Americanization
Causing someone to acquire American traits and characteristics.
This process occurred to immigrant children while they went to school.
Schools taught immigrant children English, American history, and the responsibilities of citizenship.

83. Immigration Reform
Nativism- an extreme dislike for foreigners by native-born people and a desire to limit immigration.
Chinese Exclusion Act- In 1882, Congress passed this law that barred Chinese immigration for 10 years and prevented the Chinese already in the U.S. from becoming citizens.

84. Gentlemen’s Agreement
1907, U.S. and Japan had an informal agreement where the U.S. would not impose restriction on Japanese immigration, and Japan would not allow further emigration to the U.S.

85. Urbanization
The growing population of people moving out of the rural area to major cities.
Leaving the farm, looking for steady jobs in construction.
Skyscrapers, large department stores
Macy’s-1858 in NY; Sears, Roebuck, & Co Chicago
Great Migration- Hundreds of thousands of southern African Americans moved north in the early 1900s because of job opportunities in northern cities

86. Separation of Class High Society- the rich and powerful
Middle-Class Gentility- the American industrialization made it possible for a middle class of doctors, lawyers, managers, and teachers possible.

87. Separation of Class cont…
The Working-Class- in the “slums” of cities, residents lived in tenements- multi-family apartments. Many families had their children working in factories to help pay rent.

88. Social Darwinism
Herbert Spencer, English philosopher, used Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and natural selection to human society.
He argued that society progressed and became better because only the fittest people survived.
Believers in this theory were usually very rich people and they were called Social Darwinists

89. Urban Politics
Political Machine- an informal political group designed to gain and keep power.
Party bosses would tell the citizens what they wanted to hear in exchange for votes.

90. William “Boss” Tweed
Ran out of the Tammany Hall Democratic political machine.
Known for his corrupt dealings, including financial fraud known as grafts.
Using political authority for personal gain.

91. Thomas Nast
American cartoonist that exposed William Tweed and his corrupted politics.
Credited for creating the Elephant that represents the Republican Party and the modern version of Santa Claus.

92. Populism
The movement to increase farmers’ political power and to work for legislation in their interest.

93. Rise of the Third Party
The Populist movement called for these actions:
An increase in the money supply
A federal tax on people’s incomes
Election of the U.S. Senate by the people
Government loans to people in need
A secret ballot to end election fraud

94. The Gilded Age Consists of these main ideas and characteristics:
Expansion through innovation
Industrialization through big business
Urbanization through immigration
During this era, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.