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Cornelius Vanderbilt was born in New York, Vanderbilt started his own ferry service when he was 16 years old. He built his empire in railroads and shipping during the 1830's - 1850's.
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Andrew Carnegie made his empire in the steel industry. He used vertical integration to dominate the steel market. He sold his company to J.P. Morgan in 1901.
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J.P. Morgan built one of the most powerful banking houses in the world. He loaned money to the U.S. Treasury in 1893, and arranged an end to the panic in 1907.
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Rockefeller was known for founding the Standard Oil Company as well as monopolizing the oil market. He owned 90% of the countries oil, and used horizontal integration to get ahead of his competition.
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The term Political Machine refers to a corrupt relationship between citizens and people in power for political support. Corrupt politicians would bribe immigrants in exchange for votes. One of the biggest political machines was William "Boss" Tweed.
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This act gave land to people who would farm it. The land would either be sold for cheap, or the owner would take a percentage of the money made each season.
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20 million immigrants immigrated from Europe to the U.S., which created mass fear and led to "nativism". Nativism is an idea that native born citizens are better than immigrants. It was cheaper to hire immigrants rather than Americans, so after an influx of immigrants Americans lost a lot of jobs.
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Mark Twain popularized the name The Gilded Age in one of his books. The book also referred to it as the "superficial glitter" of the new wealth that developed in the late 1800's.
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This act stated that Chinese laborers weren't allowed to enter the country. It was specifically the Chinese because they were highly sought after by employers, which led to less jobs for Americans. The act was lifted during WWII in 1943.
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President Chester Arthur passed this act, which provided that federal government jobs had to be awarded through competitive exams instead of votes. This stopped political machines and based government employment on merit instead of corruption.