The Gilded Age1865 - 1900

“Gilded Age” – 1870-1900

•Post-Reconstruction America

•Phrase coined by Mark Twain; used to represent America during this time

•Also, think of a beautiful, shiny, red apple… that is rotten on the inside

• This was America during this time period (1870-1900)

• On the outside, golden, shiny, beautiful:

• Expanding economy, population growth

• Extravagant displays of wealth by America’s upper class

The Biltmore

Cornelius Vanderbilt, railroad and shipping Captain of Industry, built the largest home in North America,

Hiding the rotten inside:

Robber Barons used political corruption,

scandals, greed, child labor, poor housing, racial discrimination, etc. to make

tremendous profits. Progressivism tried to

raise living standards and correct the wrongs.

The Gilded

Age

Industrialization

Immigration

Urbanization

Discrimination in the

South & West Political Corruption

Life in the 1860s• No indoor electric lights• No refrigeration• No indoor plumbing• Kerosene or wood to heat• Wood stoves to cook with• Horse and buggy• In 1860, most mail from the

East Coast took ten days to reach the Midwest and three weeks to get to the West Coast.

• A letter from Europe to a person on the frontier could take several months to reach its destination.

Life in the 1900s• US Gov’t issued 400,000

patents—electricity• Refrigerated railroad cars• Sewer systems and sanitation• Increased productivity made live

easier and comfortable.• Power stations, electricity for

lamps, fans, printing presses, appliances, typewriters, etc.

• New York to San Francisco to 10 days using railroad.

• 1.5 million telephones in use all over the country

• Western Union Telegraph was sending thousands of messages daily throughout the country.

•Natural Resources

•Capital / $

•US Government support

•Desire: Creative inventors and industrialists

•Transportation System

•Labor force (immigrants)

•Oil

•Mining

•Sugar

•Steel

•Meatpacking

•Beef/Cattle

•Construction

•Telegraph

•Telephone

•Railroad

•Marketing

•Sewing Machine

•Vacuums

•Typewriters

•Automobile

•Salt

•Coal

•Agricultural

•May 10, 1869 at Promontory, Utah

•“The Wedding of the Rails”

•Central Pacific and Union Pacific

Inexpensive, mass produced Steel

invented in 1856

Andrew Carnegie led US Steel, Skyscrapers

revolutionized the building

industry…..

Major city skylines would be dotted

with this new type of building as the

1900’s begin.

Railroads, bridges, farm machinery,

barbed wire

BETWEEN 1860 TO 1900•Elevator---1852

•Bessemer Process---1852

•Sewing Machine---1853

•Dynamite---1867

•Typewriter---1868

•Levi Blue Jeans/Basketball---1873

•Telephone---1876

•Phonograph Recorded music) ---1878

•Light bulb and cash register---1879

•Gasoline automobile and skyscraper---1885

•New York City---first city to have electricity--1890

•Radio---1895

•Subway---1897

•X-ray---1900

Between 1800 to

1900, US Govt.

issued 500,000

patents

Some other inventions created during Gilded Age• Coca-Cola (1886)

• Streetcars (1888)

• Record Player (1877)

• Skyscraper (1885)

• Airplane (1903)

Thomas Alva Edison

“Wizard of Menlo Park”

Edison Inventions helped to shape modern society•More than 1,000 inventions patented

•Light bulb •Phonograph

•Incandescent electric lamp •Starter for automobiles that eliminated hand crank

•Batteries•Perfected stock ticker

•New York City first city to powered by electricity•The motion picture camera and projector

•First used “hello” as phone greeting •Helped Alexander G. Bell with the telephone

“Wizard of Menlo Park”

The Airplane

Wilbur Wright Orville Wright

Kitty Hawk, NC – December 7, 1903

Model T Automobile

Henry FordI want to pay my workers so that they can

afford my product!

Ford “Model T” Prices & Sales

The assembly line using repetitive tasks and

interchangeable parts made an increasing number

of cars and decreasing prices.

BETWEEN 1860 TO 1900•Specialty stores----sold single line of goods

•Department stores---combined specialty stores

•Chain stores---stores with branches in cities

•Mail catalog stores

•New ways to advertise

Montgomery Wards, J.C. Penney, Macy’s, Sears and Roebuck and Woolworths

Causes of Rapid

Industrialization1. Steam Revolution from burning coal

powered machinery in the 1830s-1850s.

2. The Railroad fueled the growing US economy:

▪ Transported products cheaply across great distances

▪ The key to opening the West.

▪ Aided the development of other industries.

Causes of Rapid

Industrialization3. Technological innovations.

▪ Bessemer and open hearth process for mass producing steel

▪ Refrigerated railroad cars

▪ Edison o “Wizard of Menlo Park”

o light bulb, phonograph, motion pictures.

4. Unskilled & semi-skilled labor from farms and immigrants for factory work.

5. Abundant capital ($ for investment).

6. New, talented group of businessmen [entrepreneurs] and advisors.

7. US Market growing (more people to sell to) as its population increased.

8. Government willing to help at all levels to stimulate economic growth

9. Abundant natural resources like coal, iron ore, oil, lumber, gold and silver.

Causes of Rapid

Industrialization

John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil

(Corporation)Stanford Oil Company became a corporation in selling stocks

that were purchased by shareholders. The money for the stocks

were then used as an investment to expand the corporation. It

gained a monopoly or control in the oil industry by putting its

competitors out of business through corrupt or dishonest

methods. Eventually, the US government to passed the Sherman

Anti-Trust Act to increase competition and reduce oil prices.

Sherman Anti-Trust Act

The Sherman Antitrust Act was a law passed by

Congress in 1890 that was designed to combat

the monopolies. Industrial corporations and

trusts were free to form monopolies that drove

out competition. Price fixing was commonplace.

Finally, the government instituted a degree of

legal regulation with the Sherman Anti-Trust

Act. This is the beginning of the Federal

government’s role in limiting what businesses

can do and protecting citizens.

Immigrants and Nativists

Millions of immigrants left Europe to move to the US between

1870-1920. As their influence and numbers grew, some

Americans wanted to keep foreigners out and limit their impact

on the US culture.

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the first law to limit

immigrants and reflected the prejudice by nativists against

the Chinese and later the Japanese.

“What shall we

do with our

boys” is the

title. Why are

the Americans

portrayed

sitting on the

corner while

the Chinese

man is doing so

much work?

The Gilded

Age

Assembly Lines, Industrialization

Corporations

Immigration and Nativists

Urbanization: Growing cities with factories

and immigrants

Discrimination in the

South & West: Nativists

Jim Crow, the Chinese,

Catholics, etc.

Political Corruption

Monopolies, Trusts,

Robber Baron