1. Gilded Age

2. Political Machines
Political machines gained support of the populous by making improvements to urban infrastructures, providing jobs to immigrants and the poor, and giving favors to local businessmen. The expectation was to then have support from these groups, especially immigrants, at the ballot box
The most prominent political machine was Tammany Hall in New York led by William Boss Tweed.

3. Thomas Nast Cartoons

4. Transcontinental Railroad
Attracted settlers to the West, attracted immigrants for jobs working on the railroad, and significantly reduced travel time across the United States
Allowed for the transport of crops and cattle to markets creating economic expansion of the agricultural sector

5. Homestead Act (1862)
Attracted European immigrants to settle the Great Plains
270 million acres were claimed by homesteaders
In combination, the building of the Transcontinental Railroad and the passage of the Homestead Act allowed for economic development and settlement of the West thereby closing the vast frontier

6. Klondike Gold Rush late 1800s, in Northern Washington and Alaska
Human factors – thousands, hoping to ease the woes of economic depression, sold farms, dropped businesses, and boarded ships to follow their dreams north.
Physical factors – Alaska was seen as a large and distant source of raw materials.

7. Dawes Act
Government responded to growing tensions with policies that devastated American Indian tribal culture. Policies included destroying buffalo populations, stationing federal troops in the region, attempts at forced assimilation, removal of American Indians from tribal lands to reservations, and the passage of the Dawes Act, which granted small parcels of land to individual tribe members.

8. Scientific Innovation
Electric Power
**light bulb**- longer work days & higher levels of production
Telephone
Petroleum based products
Combustible gas
Automobile
Steel production
Bessemer process
skyscrapers

9. Industrialization
Industries and big business grew in response to technological innovations which enabled faster production of a stronger steel product. Other breakthroughs in electricity, mass communication, and shipping allowed factories to produce more, at a faster rate.
Large numbers of immigrants provided industrialists with more workers.
Shift from rural to urban society

10. Growth of Business
Industrialists and business leaders used horizontal and vertical alignment to reduce competition and expand their companies; many times big businesses reduced competition and concentrated capital which resulted in monopolies and trusts
Industrialists amassed fortunes
Socio-economic divisions widened as industries grew; jobs were created; labor unions formed

11. Chinese Exclusion Act
the first major law restricting immigration to the United States. It was enacted in response to economic fears, especially on the West Coast, where native-born Americans attributed unemployment and declining wages to Chinese workers, whom they also viewed as racially inferior.

12. Nativism
the policy of protecting the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against those of immigrants

13. Populist Movement
The movement appealed to farmers and ranchers who believed that industrialists and bankers took advantage of them by charging high prices, especially on loans and for shipping costs on trains.
argued for government ownership of the railroads, in order to keep large companies from being able to control prices.
called for a graduated income tax
direct election of senators
civil service reform
free coinage of silver in order to provide more access to money
The party’s platform issues were later adopted by the major political parties.

14. Civil Service Reform
Efforts to address political corruption were targeted at creating a civil service that hired individuals based on merit not as political favors.
The assassination of President Garfield propelled the topic from a local issue to a national stage.
The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883, which ended the practice of “patronage” and instituted an exam system for government jobs.

15. Robber Barrons
Industrialists such as Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan, and Vanderbilt amassed fortunes some of which was contributed to philanthropic causes
Some people viewed these men as “captains of industry,” while critics viewed them as “robber barons”

16. Social Changes Affecting women
Many young, single women worked in factories that made textiles, where wages were typically lower than men’s wages.
Affecting children
Many children worked in factories, performing dangerous jobs for lower wages than adult workers received. As the twentieth century approached many communities were enacting compulsory education for young children.

17. Philianthropy
Most notably during the Gilded Age was the “The Gospel of Wealth” (1889) idea set forth Andrew Carnegie who proposed that rich men are “trustees” of their wealth and should administer it for the good of the public.

18. Social Issues Affecting Minorities
The post-Reconstruction period was characterized by the introduction of legal discriminatory measures intended to reinforce the existing social order targeted at African-Americans.
included poll taxes
grandfather clauses.
lynching and racially motivated riots
(Jim Crow) segregation of minority groups from Anglos.

19. Plessy v. Ferguson
U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine.

20. Urbanization
Industrialization of cities was accompanied by urbanization. Cities were crowded and living conditions were often unhealthy as many cities lacked services to provide for sanitation and clean drinking water.
close proximity facilitated the spread of diseases
poverty resulted in high crime rates.
As the 20th century approached cities began to address sanitation issues with city codes.
Ethnic neighborhoods were established in cities where immigrants settled.

21. Jane Addams
Co-founder of the Hull House which helped new immigrant women with job skills, educational, and artistic programs to become successful and productive citizens
facilitated assimilation of immigrants