SS Gilded Age

Gilded

Covered thinly with gold; having attractive, but deceptive appearace

Industrialization led to…

Immense Wealth

J.P. Morgan -

Finance - gained control of key industries, bought stocks from troubled corporation and helped them elimiate competition adn earn more.

Cornelius Vanderbilt -

Shipping and Railroads

Andrew Carnegie -

Steel - Scottish immigrant who studied a less expensive way to make steel in England; built concert halls, universities, hospital, and libraries.

John D. Rockefeller -

Oil; introduced the trust; funded universities, medical research, arts, education, and $182 million to the Rockefeller foundation

Laissez Faire Government

Government leaves businesses alone and is not very involved with businesses or peoples’ lives

Urbanization

Building upwards

Tenements

Run down apartments, unclean and dangerous, little light, fresh air, or water, fire hazards, and diseases spread quickly

NYC Lower East Side 1890 person to space ratio - compared to Scarsdale

1 person/sq. ft. - 125 times more crowded than Scarsdale

New Immigrant Religion

Jewish, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, Not Protestant

New Immigrants Origin

Southern, Central, Eastern Europe (ex. Italy, Greece, Russia, Romania, etc.)

New Immigrants Characteristics

Limited English, largely non-educated

Nativism

Discrimination - native-born people think they are superior to immigrants

Chinese Exclusion Act

1943 - Banned Chinese Laborers

Gentlemen’s Agreement

Banned Japanese laborers

Emergency Quota Act

Restricted Eastern Europeans

Wealth Inequality

Rich vs. Poor

1890 Census

92% of families average income was less than $14,500/year

Progress + _______

Poverty

________ + Poverty

Progress

Laissez Fair Government examples

Little business REGULATION, few social supports (social services - public safety, healthcare, public schools, housing, food, income assistance, etc.)

Henry George (1839-1897)

Influential American economist and social reformer - 1879 book Progress and Poverty

Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915)

“Father of scientific management” - work could be managed using systematic methods leading to assembly lines and mass production

Five Effects of the Transcontinental Railroad

Helped people settle the West, Increased Immigration to the American West, Linked the Economies of the East and West, Created Standard Time Zones, Destroyed Native American’s Hold on the West

Capitalism (Free enterprise system)

Money-based economy where private individuals or businesses own and control preoperty and the forces of supply and demand freely set prices.

Five Key Principles of Capitalism

Private Ownership, Self-Interest, Competition, Freedom, Laissez Faire Government

Adam Smith

Society is balanced by an invisible hand - promotes wealth, invention, and innovation; Wealth of Nations book

Labor Unions

Organizations that organized workers in the same trade to fight for better wages and working conditions

Captains of Industry

Wealthy industrialists of the Guided age who used innovation and invention to build the industrial infrastructure that made America a modern economic powerhouse.

Monopoly

One company controls almost a whole industry; seen as a threat to free enterprise system

Trust

Group of companies that agree to not compete and act as one giant company instead

Two major antitrust laws:

Sherman Antiturst Act (1890) and Clayton Antritrust Act (1914)

Socialism

Economic and societal system that strives to make people more equal economically and raise standard of living for lower classes.

Socialism examples

Gov’t - production standards, minumum wage laws, regulate certain business practices, control businesses vital to society

Robber Barons

Wealthy industrialists who gained extraordinary wealth by manipulating the free market system, crushing competition, mistreating workers.

Free Enterprise System

Depended on free competition among businesses to provide public quality products at fair prices/.

Philanthropy, Philanthropist

Generosity to charities; A person who donates money to good causes