1. Business and Politics 1870-1895
The Gilded Age
Business and Politics

2. Gilded Age
Called the Gilded Age based on a book of the same name by Mark Twain
Close relation of big business and politics
Characterized by the rise of industry and big business
2 great Wall Street scares and depressions in 1873 & 1893
Transformation of a rural society to an urban industrial society

3. Major Industries Railroads Over 193,000 miles of track by 1900
Jason “Jay” Gould
Steel
Closely tied to the rail industry
Cheaper and easier methods of production led to a boom in the industry
Andrew Carnegie

4. Industry
Oil
Used as a lubricant and source of lighting before the invention of the automobile
Standard Oil John Rockefeller
Banking
J.P. Morgan

5. The New South Solid Democrat region Small scale industrialization
Railroads were first industry to emerge
Textiles became the dominate industry
Iron and steel production also grew, but were mostly dominated by northern interests
Tobacco was the only truly profitable crop
Most of the South remained agricultural

6. Presidential Politics
Rutherford B. Hayes
Disputed election
Ended Reconstruction
Alienated himself from his party
James Garfield 1881
Assassinated on July 2, 1881
Vice-president Chester A. Arthur replaced Garfield
Civil Service Act 1883

7. Presidential Politics
Grover Cleveland
First Democrat since 1856
Scandal ridden campaign. Rivals claimed that Cleveland had an illegitimate child
Interstate Commerce Act 1887
Passed to govern railroads
Sherman Antitrust Act
Ended practice of limiting competition
1893 Depression began, and J.P. Morgan bailed out the economy with an influx of foreign gold
Harsh winter and government inaction led to the rise of Populism