1. The Gilded Age

2. Today’s Objectives Describe early reforms in business and government How did too much power hurt the country

3. Too Much Power Some people used their wealth and power to change laws for their own gain Americans began to work to change this type of business

4. What is the Gilded Age? A time when wealthy lived very well They had a lot of money They did not care about the problems of the poor or problems with society

5. Two Major Problems 1) Corruption 2) Dishonesty

6. Gilded Age and Big Business Leaders were rich and powerful Used money to do good things Created jobs, helped the poor, built museums Some gave bribes to the govt. officials Tried to use govt. for their own gain

7. Used money and power to get laws passed to help their businesses Rockefeller, Vanderbilt were known to use money to get what they wanted

8. Corruption in Government Officials lied and cheated Officials took bribes from wealthy business leaders to get votes Officials also bribed voters to vote for their candidates

9. William “Boss” Tweed A political boss in NYC He controlled elections by giving gifts, jobs and favors to voters in exchange for their votes He got a kickback (money) in return (illegal) He gave himself extra money (cheated NYC) He was arrested and sent to jail

10. Civil Service Reform One reform was civil service (govt. workers are appointed than elected) Govt. jobs were given to supporters, this was wrong Presidents tried to fix this. Hayes, Garfield and Arthur Arthur supported the civil service test which Congress passed Test for skills related to job