The Gilded Age

The Gilded Age

“Who are the oppressed? The many: the nations of the earth, the

valuable personages, the workers; they that make the bread that the soft-

handed and idle eat...” --Mark Twain

1869- 1st Transcontinental RR is complete in Promontory, Utah.

1870- John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil Company.

1871- Boss Tweed is exposed for taking up $200,000,000 in fraudulent contracts.

1872- The Credit Mobiler Scandal erupts in the press about corruption during the building of the transcontinental RR.

1873- Panic of 1873 from overtrading, overproduction, and over-speculation: over 5,000 businesses fail.

1874- Joseph Glidden invents barbed wire.

1875- Whisky Ring Scandal where Republican leaders were co-operating with Whisky distillers- involving shakedowns & tax evasions.

1876- National League plays its first game.

1876-Centenial Exposition in Philly shows the telephone, telegraph, 2500 horsepower engine, etc.

1876-General Custer is killed at Little Big Horn during the Indian Plains War.

1877-Compromise of Rutherford Hayes/Sam Tilden election.

1877-Great RR Strike for better working conditions and 10% decrease in salaries.

1878- Thomas Edison (“Wizard of Menlo Park”) forms Edison Electric Company.

1880- George Eastman patents roll of film for cameras.

1880-Andrew Carnegie (“Gospel of Wealth) has monopoly of steel.

1881- James Garfield is shot by a disgruntled job seeker.

1882- Chinese Exclusion Act, which excludes immigration.

1883- Brooklyn Bridge is completed.

1884- 1st skyscraper is completed in Chicago with elevators (Louis Sullivan)

1886- Haymarket Square Riot 1,300 people to protest police brutality against striking workers.

1890- Jacob Riis’ book, How the Other Half Lives”, for poor living conditions.

1890- Sherman Anti-Trust Act is passed that restrains trade.

1892- Ellis Island opens. 20 million will be processed by time it closes in 1954.

1894- Pullman Strike erupts over a reduction in payroll.

1894- Eugene Debs calls for sympathy strike for RR workers on strike. Sherman Anti-Trust Act was used against the unions, as the strike was “restricting trade.”

1896- Plessy v. Ferguson

1899- Anti-Imperialist League is formed by Mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie, etc.

1901- J.P. Morgan incorporates U.S. Steel.

1903- Wright Brothers fly Kitty Hawk, NC

1905-Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) is organized by Bill Haywood.

1904- Teddy Roosevelt is elected president and is known as a “trustbuster)

1904- Teddy Roosevelt is 1st president to receive Nobel Peace Prize (Russo-Japanese War)

1906-The Jungle by Upton Sinclair leads to the Food & Drug Administration.

1908- Teddy Roosevelt starts the building of the Panama Canal

1908- Teddy Roosevelt begins the national park service.

1908-Henry Ford introduces Model T auto.

1911-The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in New York City kills 146 people.

1912-Woodrow Wilson is elected president.

1913- Wilson starts the Federal Reserve System.

1920- Women get the right to vote.

Key Terms

PhilanthrophyGospel of WealthSocial DarwinismVertical & Horizontal IntegrationPendleton Civil Service ActTammany Hall (Boss Tweed)Land Grant Act (led to universities: Illinois,

Minn.)John DeweyCross of Gold

Key Terms

Yellow JournalismIda Tarbell (Standard Oil attacks)Jane Addams (Hull House)Samuel Gompers (AFL)Credit Moblier ScandalMuckrakers Federal Reserve System