The Gilded

Age

Warm-up Activity for 9/9/15

Read the following quote and explain what you
think it might mean in your Interactive Notebook.

While the law of competition may be

sometimes hard for the individual, it is best
for the race because it ensures the survival
of the fittest in every department.
Andrew Carnegie

The Gilded Age

1877-1900
Key Individuals and Terms from
The Americans, Chapters 6-8

Analyzing the Term

Gilded objects
have a paper-thin
layer of goldGilded
Age

leaf over wood, plaster or metal. Today objects

are often painted gold to appear gilded.
Of course, the objects are not really made of solid
gold, they only look that way.
In the same manner, the Gilded Age
was
not really the golden age that it
might
appear to have been on the
surface. It
was a time in which
people faced
many economic and
social problems.
So, the expression,
Gilded Age, has a
double meaning.

Industrialization and
the Rise of

Big
Business
While
the early Industrial Revolution occurred

in Europe and America between 1750 and

1850, a second phase of the Industrial
Revolution took place in the late 1800s.
During this time period, huge corporations
were formed that employed thousands and
produced enormous amounts of goods. The
founders of these companies amassed great
wealth while their workers were poorly paid.

Captains of
Businessmen who
Industry
started companies

and employed
thousands of people.

In many cases they

gave millions of
dollars to charity.

Captains of
Andrew Carnegie was one of
Industry
the most famous self-made

men of this period.

He bought out his suppliers
and his competitors until he
controlled the steel industry.
Carnegie Steel produced most
of the nations steel in the latter
half of the 19th century.
Carnegie is also known for his
generous philanthropy and
charitable donations.

Captains of Industry

Railroads became one of the most powerful

and profitable industries in the late 1800s,
since almost all other industries depended
upon them for transportation.
The first transcontinental
railroad was completed
in
1869.
One man who made his
fortune in the railroad
industry was Cornelius
Vanderbilt.

The Vanderbilts Marble House

Estate in Newport, Rhode Island

John D. Rockefeller
was a businessman
Sr.who
and Jr.
created the
Standard Oil Company
and bought stock in his
competitors companies
until he controlled them.

John D. Rockefeller

What is a
Trust?

Sr. and Jr.

Illegal grouping
of companies to
increase profits
by eliminating
competition

John D. Rockefeller

Sherman Anti-Trust Act

(1909)
The Sherman Anti-Trust Act
was a law that make trusts
illegal.
Companies found ways to get
around this law.
In 1906, the government sued
Standard Oil and in 1911 the
trust was finally ordered to
dissolve.

The Problems of
There was almost no
Industrialgovernment
Workers
regulation of
businesses at this time,
therefore there was 1) no
minimum wage, 2) no
maximum number of hours
per week, 3) no higher pay
for overtime, 4) no regulation
of unhealthy or unsafe
working conditions, and 5)
no health insurance or other
employee benefits.

The Problems of Industrial

Workers

Industrialization created low-wage, lowskilled jobs that made employees easy to

replace. This led to the growth of labor
unions

The Early Labor Union

The first labor unions were formed within

Movement

certain trades or industries. They tried to

improve wages and working conditions by
collective bargaining and threatening strikes.
Between 1877 and 1893 there were several
huge strikes, like the Pullman railroad strike
in Chicago. These strikes often turned
violent when police, company guards or
federal troops were ordered to end them.
Union popularity declined because the public
associated labor unions with violence.

Radical Unionism
Eugene V. Debs, who was the leader
Developsof the railroad workers union.

He was put in jail during the Pullman

Strike & grew to be completely
disillusioned with capitalism.
He joined the Socialist Party and ran
for US president 5 times.
The Industrial Workers of the World
advocated government control of all
businesses.
Most unions were not as radical.

The Problems of
Because of the expansion of farming as settlers
Farmers
moved westward, there was an overproduction
of crops which led to a drop in farm prices.
At the same time, railroad rates were rising.
Farmers living in remote areas were very
dependent on the railroads to transport crops.
Farmers became deeply in debt.
Farmers began the Populist Movement asking
for railroad regulation and monetary reform to
relieve their indebtedness.

The Problems of Immigrants

The thousands of immigrants that came from

Southern and Eastern Europe from
1890-1915 were often poor and illiterate.

The Problems of
They
accepted
unskilled
jobs
in
industry
and
Immigrants
had to move into the overly crowded cities.

The Problems of
There
they
faced
a
triple
hardship:
low
Immigrants
wages, desperately poor housing conditions

and nativism (prejudice against immigrants).

Nativists encouraged the government to pass
immigration restriction laws.

The Problems of
Discrimination against African-Americans was
Minorities
legalized by the passage of Jim Crow laws

allowing segregation. The constitutionality

of these laws was upheld by the Supreme
Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson.
The right to vote promised by the Fifteenth
Amendment was undermined by the use of poll
taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses.
Asians also faced discrimination. The Chinese
Exclusion Act banned further immigration from
China.

Urban Problems

1)
2)

3)

The industrial cities of the 1800s grew rapidly and

poor workers lived in slums.
Police and fire departments were understaffed.
There was not enough clean water and sewer systems
were inadequate.
Tenement houses were crowded and unsafe.
City governments were often corrupt. These political
machines won the votes of the immigrants, but often
abused their power.
Graft is when a public official uses his office to make
himself rich, through bribery or stealing public funds.

Early Reformers

Harvard educated
W.E.B. DuBois
helped found the
N.A.A.C.P to help his
fellow AfricanAmericans achieve
fairer treatment.

Early Reformers

There were no welfare programs during this

time. The government did not help the poor.
Using private donations and her own funds,
Jane Addams established the first
settlement house in Chicago to provide
services to the residents of the slums.