Gilded age review

Gilded Age

A time in the late 1800s when America grew very rich and built big industries, but also had deep problems with corrupt leaders, unfair rules, and poor working conditions.

Comstock Lode

A giant pile of gold and silver found in Nevada in 1859 that made thousands of people rush out West to get rich.

Long Drive

The long trip cowboys made to herd thousands of cows across the open grass from Texas up to train stations in the Midwest.

Homestead Act (1862)

A law that gave settlers 160 acres of free land if they moved West, built a farm, and lived on it for five years.

Oklahoma Land Rush

A giant race in 1889 where thousands of people rushed onto Native American land in Oklahoma to grab free property.

Frederick J. Turner

A historian who argued that living on the Western wild frontier shaped how Americans act and think.

Transcontinental Railroad

The first railroad line across the entire country, finished in 1869. It was built mainly by Irish and Chinese workers and made moving people and goods fast.

Robber Barons

A mean nickname for rich business owners who used sneaky or unfair tricks to build huge fortunes and ruin their competitors.

Cornelius Vanderbilt

A rich business owner who bought up rail lines across the East and started using safer, stronger steel tracks.

Alexander G. Bell

The man who invented the telephone in 1876, making it easy for people to talk across long distances.

Thomas Edison

A famous inventor who made the light bulb, record player, and movie camera, bringing electricity to big cities.

Vertical Integration

When one company owns every single step needed to make a product, from getting raw materials to shipping the final goods.

Trust

A trick where several competing companies are run by one group of people so they can stop fighting over prices and control the market.

Horizontal Integration

When a business buys up or ruins all its direct competitors so it becomes the only company selling that item.

Andrew Carnegie

A rich leader in the steel industry who built a huge business, made steel cheap, and later gave away millions to build public libraries.

Cult of domesticity

An old idea that a woman's only job was to stay inside the home, take care of children, and be a good wife.

Interlocking directorate

When the same group of bosses sits on the boards of competing companies so they can secretly control an entire industry.

J. P. Morgan

A powerful banker who bought up failing train lines and businesses, eventually combining them into the world's biggest steel company.

John D. Rockefeller

A business owner who built the Standard Oil company and controlled almost all the oil in America.

Standard Oil Company

A massive oil business owned by Rockefeller that grew into a huge monopoly before the government broke it up.

Nouveau Riche

A phrase for people who recently became super rich and liked to show off their money with expensive things.

Social Darwinism

The unfair idea that rich people were just naturally better and smarter, while poor people were poor because they were lazy.

Herbert Spencer

A thinker who came up with the idea of "survival of the fittest" in human society and said the government shouldn't help the poor.

Gospel of Wealth

An essay by Andrew Carnegie saying rich people had a duty to give away their money to build helpful things like libraries and parks.

Ironclad oaths / yellow dog contracts

Forced work contracts where employees had to promise never to join a union if they wanted a job.

National Labor Union

The first big group of workers in America to join together to fight for better conditions and an 8-hour workday.

Great Railroad Strike

A giant 1877 strike across 14 states where train workers stopped working after pay cuts, until the government sent in soldiers to stop them.

Knights of Labor

A large group that let almost anyone join—including women and Black workers—to fight for better pay and safer workplaces.

Terrence Powderly

The leader of the Knights of Labor who wanted workers to team up peacefully instead of going on strike.

Great Upheaval

A wave of huge worker strikes and fights with bosses that broke out across the country in 1886.

Haymarket Square Bombing

A violent event in Chicago where someone threw a bomb at a police line during a worker protest, making unions look dangerous to the public.

American Federation of Labor

A group of unions created by Samuel Gompers that only allowed skilled workers to join.

Bread and butter issues of labor

Simple, basic worker needs like higher pay, shorter working hours, and safer job conditions.

Homestead Strike

A famous, violent fight at a Carnegie steel plant where workers fought against armed guards sent to break up their strike.

Pullman Strike

A huge train strike that stopped train travel across the country until the government ordered soldiers to stop it.

Newsboys Strike

A strike led by kids who sold newspapers in New York City, forcing rich publishers to give them a fairer deal on unsold papers.