1. The Gilded Age

2. Gilded means to cover something of poor quality with gold
Mark Twain
Gilded means to cover something of poor quality with gold
What does this imply about American Society?

3. Wealth and economic growth covered up the many problems that existed
Characteristics of the Gilded Age
Negatives
Working Conditions
Poverty and Living Conditions in Cities
Gap between Rich and Poor Increases
Farmers Struggle
Political Corruption
Treatment of Minorities
Positives
Industrialization
Economic Growth
New Inventions
Growth of Middle Class and Suburbs
Manifest Destiny

4. Middle Class and the Growth of Suburbs
commute to the city for jobs and shopping.
made possible by railroads, horse cars, and streetcars.
get away from poor immigrants
Quiet and healthier for family
Segregated Communities

5. Nouveau Riche The New Rich
Conspicuous Consumption- spending money just to show off wealth

6. Conspicuous Display of Wealth, Millionaire’s Row, New York
Carnegie Mansion
Vanderbilt Chateau
Carnegie resided on Millionaires' Row for over three decades, first in a brownstone adjoining the Vanderbilt chateau at 51st street, then in this four-story, sixty-four room mansion at 91st.The house was a marvel of modern technology. Outside air was brought in and heated or cooled to the desired temperature. In the sub-basement, a miner's cart carried coal along a railroad track from a massive bin to three large boilers. On a typical winter day, it took two tons of coal to heat the house.
The Vanderbilt chateau at 52nd Street, designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt, represents the first influential grafting of European history on unseasoned American wealth. It was grand and gaudy, inspired by great mansions of 15th-century France. It literally dripped with Europe, instantly becoming the standard for the mansions of Fifth Avenue and the palatial homes of Newport. To some, however, it seemed a bit much. Critic Louis H. Sullivan called it "a contradiction, an absurdity, a characteristically New York absurdity."

7. How did the other half live?

8. The Shift to the City
Urbanization- process in which an increasing proportion of a population lives in cities or suburbs of cities

9. MIGRATION FROM COUNTRY TO CITY
Immigration
improvements in farm technology meant less labor
Many rural people left for cities to find work
African Americans

10. Tenement
a rundown apartment used to house large numbers of low-income families.

13. “Home of an Italian Ragpicker,” 1888
Jacob Riis
Home of an Italian Ragpicker
1888

14. “One of Four Pedlars Who Slept in the Cellar of 11 Ludlow Street Rear,” c. 1892
Jacob Riis
One of Four Pedlars Who Slept in the Cellar of 11 Ludlow Street Rear
c. 1892

16. URBAN PROBLEMS Overcrowded Housing
Sanitation: garbage was often not collected
Polluted air
Lack of clean water
Crime
Fire
Harper’s Weekly image of Chicagoans fleeing the fire over the Randolph Street bridge in 1871

17. POLITICS IN THE GILDED AGE
As cities grew in the late 19th century, so did political machines
Political machines controlled the activities of a political party in a city
The head of the Political machine was known as the “Boss”

18. ROLE OF THE POLITICAL BOSS
The “Boss” controlled jobs, business licenses, granting of contracts and influenced laws and courts
Political Machines helped immigrants with naturalization (citizenship), jobs, and housing in exchange for votes
Boss Tweed ran NYC

19. Political Corruption was considered to be widespread
President Grant’s Administration
Voter Fraud- used fake names and voted multiple times
Patronage- granting favors in return for political support
Graft- bribes
kick-backs - Return of money in exchange for a business

20. Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall

21. THE TWEED RING SCANDAL
William M. Tweed, known as Boss Tweed, became head of Tammany Hall, NYC’s powerful Democratic political machines
Between , Tweed led the Tweed Ring, a group of corrupt politicians, in defrauding the city
Tweed’s ring stole between 40 and 200 million
Tweed died in Jail
Boss Tweed

22. Does History remember the Real Boss Tweed?

23. CIVIL SERVICE REPLACES PATRONAGE
Nationally, some politicians pushed for reform in the hiring system
The system had been based on Patronage; giving jobs and favors to those who helped a candidate get elected
Reformers pushed for an adoption of a merit system of hiring the most qualified for jobs
The Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883 authorized a bipartisan commission to make appointments for federal jobs based on performance
Applicants for federal jobs are required to take a Civil Service Exam