Gilded Age Study Guide

Homestead Act

Law law signed by Lincoln that granted any American 160 acres of western land. They had to work and live there for 5 years to earn it

Promontory Point

Where the two companies met while building the TCRR(Transcontinental Railroad)

Disparity

The difference between the rich and the poor

Mass Production

factory production of goods in large quantities

Entrepreneurs

a person who starts a new business, introduces a new product, or improves a management technique

Corporation

type of business or organization owned by many people but treated by law as though it were a person

Stocks

shares of ownership a company sells in its business

Shareholder

a person who invests in a company by buying stock

monopoly

a market where there is only one provider

trust

a combination of firms or corporations formed by a legal agreement, especially to reduce competition

Holding company

a company used to avoid legal problems and control operations

Robber Barons

Companies that created monopolies, exploited workers, and took control of the gov

sweatshop

a shop or factory where workers work long hours at low wages under unhealthy conditions

Labor union

organization of workers who seek better pay and working conditions by striking

strike

a work stoppage by employees as a protest against an employer

emigrate

to leave one's homeland to live elsewhere

immigrate

the permanent movement of people into one country from other nation(moving into a country)

assimilate

to become part of a larger culture

Melting Pot

various ethnic groups, losing their culture and blending into American culture

Nativism

belief that native-born Americans are superior to foreigners

Chinese Exclusion Act

A law that restricted Chinese Immigration

Immigration Act of 1917

A law that limited immigration

urbanization

the process of making an area more urban(more like a city)

tenement

a type of residence that is often run-down and crowded

What is the meaning of the Gilded Age

A time period characterized by a greatly expanding economy and the emergence of plutocratic influences in gov and society

Who coined the term Gilded Age

Mark Twain

What was the Gilded Age like?

It was full of corruption and innovation

Exodusters

African Americans who moved west for more freedom and less discrimination after the Homestead Act

What is the significance of the Transcontinental Railroad(TCRRT)?

Created the Homestead Act, almost caused the extinction of the bison, and expanded industry out into the west

Who worked on the transcontinental railroad?

Immigrants such as the Irish or Chinese

Native Americans and the railroad

Native Americans attacked the railroad across the Great Plains

Henry Bessemer

Created the Bessemer Process.

Thomas Edison

Inventor of the lightbulb

Alexander Graham Bell

Inventor of the telephone

Henry Ford

Creator of the Model-T and assembly line

The Wright brothers

Creator of the airplane

What is the significance of the Bessemer Process

Quicker production of steel

What is the significance of the elevator

made transport easier and allowed for building to have higher floors

What is the significance of the skyscraper?

Allowed for more growth in the cities

What is the significance of the lightbulb?

Made streets safer and made it easier to work at night

Carnegie(industry and how their monopoly was made aka: type of integration they used)

Made a steel monopoly through vertical integration

Morgan (industry and how their monopoly was made aka: type of integration they used)

Bought Carnegie steel and created General Electric

Vanderbilt (industry and how their monopoly was made aka: type of integration they used)

Shipping monopoly through vertical integration

Rockefeller (industry and how their monopoly was made aka: type of integration they used)

Oil monopoly through horizontal integration

Monopoly

When one person or business is exclusively suppling a good/service

Horizontal integration

Buying the competition

Vertical integration

buying multiple stages of production

trust

when an owner surrenders control of a company, but maintains the profit

Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890

An act passed by congress that outlawed “non-competitive” business operations(trusts)

What is laissez-faire and how did it effect the economy?

a hands off gov practice that resulted in monopolies

How did US economy shift in late 1800s?

America shifted from an agrarian(farming based) economy to an industrial economy. America also became self-reliant.

Be able to analyse political cartoons like this

What were working conditions like for most people during the Gilded Age?

Harsh, unsafe, underpaid, and extremely long

Be able to identify images related to child labor like this

Haymarket affair

A protest for an 8-hour work day. A fight broke out and a pipe bomb was thrown. The violence was named on the Knights of Labor

Homestead strike

Andrew Carnegie stopped recognizing the union and Mr. Fick didn’t properly match wages until people left the union. It ended in many deaths as the US militia ended the strike

Pullman Strike

over 3,000 workers strike after a wage reduction. Federal troops were sent and strikers were put on a blacklist.

Knights of Labor

The first union to accept all races and genders. They fought for an 8hr work day, = pay for = work, and the end of child labor. They disappeared after the Haymarket affair

Samuel Gompers

The leader of the AFL

AFL

A union that only accepted skilled white workers and used tactics still used today

What things tactics did the AFL use that are still in use today?

Boycotts, collective bargaining, closed shop(have a shop staffed by only union workers), mediation, and strikes

Mary Harris aka :“Mother” Jones

Organized the United Mines Workers and lead the “Children’s March”

Immigrant

Someone who enters a new country permanently

Emigrant

Someone who leaves their home country

Push factors

Taxes, bad gov, no land, fear

Pull factors

Safety, freedom, opportunity, stability

Old Immigrants

Came during the 1600s-1800s, came from N & S Europe(Eng, Fra), Protestant(except Irish Catholic), White, Litterete and Eng speaking, skilled jobs w/ money, similar backgrounds, had connections, assimilated easily, and had many connections

New Immigrants

Came during 1840s- early 1900s, E & S Europeans(Italy, Poland), Catholic, Orthodox, or Jewish, Slovak, Asian(ppl w/ diff physical characteristics), illiterate & non-eng speaking, unskilled workers with little pay, different cultures & backgrounds, refused/struggled to assimilate, had few or no connections

What is this a picture of?

The Statue of Liberty/The New Colossus

Ellis Island vs. Angel Island

Ellis Island: Nicer, on the East coast. Angel Island: Less kind, kept out many Chinese, on the West coast

Why did immigrants establish isolated communities (ghettos) in large cities?

Because they didn’t want to assimilate

What does this political cartoon depict?

A Chinese man being kept out of the US because of his race, while others are allowed in.

What is this a picture of?

Tenements

Why are cities “in crisis” in the Gilded Age?

Overcrowded, sanitation problems, health problems, poverty, crime