Chapter 16-- America's Gilded Age

Industrial Economy: By 1913, the majority of the workforce…

were in non-farming jobs

Railroads & the National Market: How much did railroads grow from 1860-1920

Tripled from 1860-1880 and tripled again by 1920

Railroads & the National Market: How did the federal government support development?

Indian removals, subsidies to railroads, and tariffs.

Spirit of Innovation: What did the Atlantic cable allow?

telegraph communication between USA and Europe.

Spirit of Innovation: What did Thomas Edison invent?

The phonograph, lightbub, motion pictures, and system for generating and distributing electric power

Competition and Consolidation: What are trusts?

legal devices whereby the affairs of several rival companies were managed by a single director

Rise of Andrew Carnegie: what is vertical integration?

control of every phase of the business from raw materials to transportation, manufacturing, and distribution

Triumph of John D. Rockefeller: what is Horizontal expansion/integration:

buying out competing companies

Triumph of John D. Rockefeller: what are Robber Barons:

wield power without accountability in an unregulated marketplace.

Workers’ Freedom: what is Miner’s Freedom?

elaborate work rules allowing skilled underground workers to be free of managerial supervision

Worker’s freedom: What were worker conditions like?

60 hours/week with no pension, injury compensation, or unemployment protection. 35,000 workers died in 20 years.

Increasing Wealthy and Poverty: where did the working class live?

in city slums in desperate conditions

Diverse Region: what did the Morill Land-Grant Act do?

established public universities in Western states.

Farming on the Middle Border: what act gave many families farms?

Homestead Act

Bonanza Farms: what are Bonanza Farms?

farms that employed many agricultural wage workers and spanned thousands of acres.

Cowboy and Corporate West: why’d them there low-wage werkers driving cattle become less common.

farmers enclosed their land with barbed wire

Cowboy and Corporate West: what happen to coastal forests

Decimated.

Chinese Presence: most immigrants…

were men brought in by labor contractors

Subjugation of the Plains Indians: what happened at Battle of the Little Bighorn

Sioux and Cheyenne defeat General George Custer and his 250 men while defending tribal land.

Remaking Indian Life: what did the Bureau of Indian Affairs establish?

boarding schools that forced Anglo-assimilation onto Indian children and removed them from their families.

Dawes Act: What did the Dawes Act do?

broke tribal lands into individual plots and distributed them back to Indian families with remainder being auctioned off to white purchasers. promoted assimilation.

Indian Citizenship: what did Elk v Wilkins reinforce?

14th and 15th amendment didn’t apply to Native Americans

Ghost Dance and Wounded Knee: what was Ghost Dance?

a belief that whites would disappear, buffalo would return, and Indians could go back to traditional life.

Ghost Dance and Wounded Knee: what was the Wounded Knee massacre?

Gov. sent troops to open fire on Ghost Dancers. killed between 150-200, mostly women and children. Applauded by press, 20 soldiers awarded Medal of Honor.

Corruption of Politics: what did the Tweed Ring do?

plundered millions from the city and reached into every neighborhood

Corruption of Politics: what was Whiskey Ring?

Republican officials, tax collectors, and whiskey manufacturers defraud federal government of tax money.

Politics of Dead Center: what did most presidents from 1868 to 1900 have in common?

Fought in the union army, exception of James Blaine

Gov and Economy: what did the USA return to?

Gold standard

Gov and Economy: what did republican policy favor?

Eastern interest, a disadvantage to south and west.

Reform Legislation: what was Civil Service Act of 1883

created merit system for federal employees

Reform Legislation: what was Interstate Commerce Commission

ensured railroad rates for farmers and merchants were reasonable and just.

Reform Legislation: what is Sherman Antitrust Act?

banned combinations and practices that restrained free trade

Political Conflict: what did The Grange call for?

fair freight rates and warehouse charges?

Freedom in Gilded Age: what did Massachusetts Bureau of Labor statistic report

virtually every worker interviewed complained of overwork, poor housing, tyrannical employers

Freedom, Inequality, and Democracy: What did Liberal reformers fear?

feared lower-class groups seeking to use gov to advance own interests, democracy became a threat to individual liberty and rights of property.

Social Darwinism: what is Social Darwinism?

belief that evolution is natural in human society and gov must not interfere. “survival of the fittest”

Liberty of Contract: what groups embraced social darwinism?

business and professional classes

Liberty of Contract: what did labor contracts do?

reconciled freedom and authority in the workplace

Courts and Freedom: what did Liberty of Contract do?

defined 14th amendments true meaning— state laws cannot violate the citizens' rights

Overwhelming Land Question: what was the Great Railroad Strike?

workers protesting against a pay cut paralyzed rail traffic. Militia forced them back.

Knights of Labor: What were the Nights of Labor?

first group to organize unskilled workers as well as skilled, inclusive group. Involved millions.

Middle Class Reformers: what is Caesar’s Column (1891)?

novel that ended with civilized society destroyed in savage civil war between labor and capital.

Progress and Poverty: what did Henry George propose?

a single tax, replacing other taxes.

Cooperative Commonwealth: what ideas did it popularize for an American audience?

socialist ideas

Bellamy’s Utopia: what did Edward Bellamy write? what was it about?

Looking Backward-promoted socialist ideas while being nationalist.

Protestants and Moral Reform: what was Bible Belt?

place where political action revolved around religious principles

Social Gospel: what was the Social Gospel?

movement originated to reform protestant churches by expanding appeal in poor urban neighborhoods. Established missions and relief programs and encouraged construction of better working-class housing.

Haymarket Affair: what was Haymarket Affair?

people gather in Haymarket Square to protest killings in a prior strike. Bomb was thrown which killed a policeman. Policemen started open firing.