Gilded Age and Progressive Era

Gilded Age

Period in the late 1800s when the U.S. experienced rapid industrial growth and inequality.

4 factors of industrialization

Natural resources, workers, new inventions, and limited government involvement.

Natural resources

Coal, oil, iron, and other resources that powered U.S. industry.

Workers

Immigrants provided a large workforce for factories and businesses.

New inventions

New technology made production faster and easier.

Limited government

The government mostly stayed out of business, allowing companies to grow.

Big Business

Large companies that became very powerful during industrialization.

Pros of Big Business

Created jobs, produced more products, lowered prices, and helped the economy grow.

Cons of Big Business

Created monopolies, gave companies too much power, and often treated workers poorly.

Monopoly

When one company controls most or all of a market.

Labor union

A group of workers who join together to fight for better pay and working conditions.

Why labor unions formed

Workers faced low pay, long hours, dangerous conditions, and little job security.

Push factors

Problems that cause people to leave their home country.

Pull factors

Things that attract people to a new country.

Immigrant push factors

War, hunger, poverty, persecution, and lack of jobs.

Immigrant pull factors

Jobs, higher wages, freedom, and better opportunities.

Nativism

Favoring native-born Americans and opposing immigration.

Challenges immigrants faced

Crowded housing, language barriers, low wages, discrimination, and nativism.

Urbanization

The growth of cities.

Problems of urbanization

Overcrowding, dirty water, disease, crime, pollution, and poor housing.

Tenement

A crowded, low-cost apartment building.

Progressives

People who wanted the government to fix problems caused by industrialization and urban growth.

4 Progressive goals

Social welfare, moral improvement, economic reform, and efficiency.

Muckraker

A journalist who exposed problems in society and pushed for reform.

Jacob Riis

Exposed poor living conditions in city tenements using photographs.

Upton Sinclair

Exposed horrible conditions in the meatpacking industry.

Ida B. Wells

Exposed lynching and racial injustice.

17th Amendment

Allowed citizens to directly elect U.S. senators.

Recall

A process that allows voters to remove an elected official before their term ends.

Referendum

A vote by citizens directly on a proposed law.

Temperance Movement

Movement to reduce or ban alcohol.

Prohibition

The nationwide ban on alcohol.

Settlement houses

Places that provided help and services to immigrants and poor people.

Progressive economic reforms

Regulated monopolies and created laws to protect workers.

Booker T. Washington

Believed Black Americans should focus on education and economic skills first.

W.E.B. Du Bois

Believed Black Americans should demand immediate social and political equality.

Washington vs. Du Bois

Washington focused on economic progress first; Du Bois focused on immediate equality.

Unrestricted submarine warfare

Germany's use of submarines to attack ships without warning.

Zimmermann Telegram

Germany's message encouraging Mexico to attack the U.S.

Why the U.S. entered WWI

Unrestricted submarine warfare, the Zimmermann Telegram, and the goal of making the world safe for democracy.

Woodrow Wilson

U.S. president during WWI who supported entering the war to protect democracy.

Homefront

Life and activities in the U.S. while a war is happening overseas.

WWI economy

The government took control of parts of the economy to produce war supplies.

Sedition Act

Law that limited certain speech criticizing the government or war effort.

Women during WWI

Women filled jobs that were left open when men went to fight.