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Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony was an activist, suffragist and abolitionist. She is significant for her role in organizing women's suffrage movements, most notably for forming the National Women Suffrage Association. -
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Eugene Debs
Eugene Debs was a strike leader and president of the American Railway Union (founded by Debs in 1893) where he employed unskilled railroad workers. He was significant because he led the biggest strike in America's history, the Pullman Strike, when he stopped handling Pullman railcars. -
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Urbanization and Industrialization
Urbanization and Industrialization - In the late 19th century and early 20th century, a large workforce with the influx of immigrants, an abundance of natural resources such as petroleum, and free enterprise led to the industrialization of the United States. The urban population had increased by the millions due to immigration. -
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Nativism
Nativism was the belief of white Americans that white Americans who were natives, born and raised in the United States, deserved greater privilege than their immigrant or colored counterparts. Nativism was gone for quite some time, but was "revived" during this era. -
Indian Removal
Just as the title suggests, native Indian tribes were foricbly removed from federal territory to the west under President Andrew Jackson. This is a significant part of the era because the systematic removal of these natives was carried on well into the 20th century. -
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Andrew Carnegie
Carnegie began his life in the United States after he immigrated to America from an impoverished Scottish family. Andrew Carnegie played a significant role in the Gilded Age, as he went from a poor messenger during adolescence and grew up to be one of the wealthiest men in America when his steel company, dubbed Carnegie Steel Company, was the biggest steel company in America. His company replaced iron railings and contributed to industrialization. -
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Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny was the belief that God wanted white Americans to settle the entire continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean despite the land being claimed by Native Americans and Spaniards. People wanted to go West in order to purchase land to become farmers, start businesses in western cities, and explore new populated land in order to find adventure. -
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Suffrage
Suffrage was one of the most significant political factors during the Gilded Age. Women's suffrage was made a reality when the 19th amendment was passed which gave women the right to vote thanks to the formation of women's suffrage associations by activists and suffragists alike who called for a law allowing women to cast their votes. -
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Third Parties Politics
The Third Parties Politics were significant because the Gilded Age politics known as the Third Party System where the parties had an idea of changing the system. The members of the Third Party would often win electoral votes more s than their Populist counterparts. The two parties, Democrats and Republicans, had very different views on things like labor unions which led to fierce competition between the two. -
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Clarence Darrow
Clarence Darrow was an infamous lawyer of two teenage killers who murdered a 14-year-old. Darrow was also the leader of the American Civil Liberties Union. He even participated in the Pullman Strike, helping defend labor workers and unions. -
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William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan was a lawyer and politician, a significant individual of the Gilded Age because of his local newspaper called "The Commoner", in which he advocated populism. He also tried to establish women's suffrage. -
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Jane Addams
Jane Addams was an educated activist, feminist, author and social worker. Addams' dream of world peace and gender equality in the workplace helped pave the way for offering education to immigrants and led to women's suffrage. Her contributions to Chicago's Hull House and Board of Education and presidency at the National Conference of Social Work further improved the lives of the underprivileged as well as minorities. -
Homestead Act of 1862
For a fee of $10, an individual could register for 160 acres of land which was made available to settle. If that person farmed, built a house or otherwise improved the land, then they got the title in 5 years. This was implemented during the Gilded Age and fixing up the land was a difficult task, but was worth it to many. -
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Ida B. Wells
Ida B. Wells was born a slave in Mississippi regardless of the passing of the Emancipation Proclamation, but was freed when the 13th amendment was passed. She was a suffragist and is most important in this unit for speaking out against lynching. She even helped find the NAACP. -
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Social Gospel
The Social Gospel Movement was a Protestant movement where Protestant Christians had a philosophy; in order to be close to God, one must act like God and put the needs of others before their own. This is an important movement in the Gilded Age because these Protestant liberals felt the need to put others needs before their own desires with the problems that ensued from the alarming rate of immigration and industrialization. -
The Gilded Age
The Gilded Age was the period in which Modern America was birthed. It was a time period after the Civil War which sparked another Industrial Revolution. The Gilded Age was a time where being an American at the time seemed glamorous, but the treatment of workers including children and women especially was inhumane (as well as their living arrangements which were cramped tenements) as big businesses were corrupt. -
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Immigration and the American Dream
During the Gilded Age, over 20 million immigrants moved to the United States in order to pursue the American Dream since they were looking for better job opportunities. Most were from Europe and had little experience/literacy, but everyone needed a job so businesses in the United States were booming. -
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Political Machines
Political Machines were sure to control political activites of various political parties. Candidates promised jobs in exchange for worker's votes and loyalty. -
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Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair was a writer of the Gilded Age. His most notable work, "The Jungle" (1906), granted him fame due to it's factual content regarding the horrid and inhumane working conditions of workers under big businesses including chlld labor. It shifted the public's view of the government's way of handling the situation. -
Civil Service Reform
The Civil Service Reform was a federal law that called for the reform of the way in which applicants obtained jobs under corporate businesses. It is important because it tried to put a stop to political and economic conrruption. -
Haymarket Riot
The Haymarket Riot was a planned nationwide strike that encouraged the adoption of eight-hour workdays as opposed to 10+ hours for all. It is significant because in May of 1886, labor workers on strike were attacked by Chicago police at Chicago’s Haymarket Square. -
The Dawes Act of 1887
The Dawes Act of 1887 was significant during this time period because white settlers tried to force Native Americans to assimilate themselves into American culture and way of life. The Dawes Act granted land to be alloted to the Natives, and decades later in the early 1930's, nearly 70% of the land that had been granted to Natives were taken right back from them. -
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Populism and Progressivism
Populism is the political doctrine in which elites, such as corporate heads of big businesses, were appealed to. It is significant in that it failed because numerous problems faced the doctrine, such as urbanization which led to high prices on agricultural items as well as racism. Progressivism was the regulation of corporate business and was significant due to the problems it enacted social reform, labor conditions and income taxes. -
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Klondike Gold Rush
The Klondike Gold Rush was a frenzy where people tried to mine gold in order to have a substantial amount of money along the Klondike River in the Yukon region of Canada. Most foreign media covered the gold rush, leading to a large influx of immigrants to North America in hopes of scoring some gold and wealth. Many died due to severe weather conditions. -
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Initiative, Referendum, Recall
Initiative, Referendum and Recall are all legislative/political processes. Initiative is when a group of citizens wished to propose a new law, referendum is when a state/legislature votes on a certain bill and place the bill on a ballot for voters to vote on. Recall is when voters can choose to vote an elected official out of office. These delve into the Progressional Era because many believed state legislature to contribute to corruption. -
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Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt (presidency)
Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th president of the United States. He served from 1901 to 1909, serving two terms. While president, he issued that the United States should use military force and political power in order to expand the country and solve diplomatic issues. Roosevelt played a significant role in the Gilded Age because he ordered the construction of the Panama Canal which decreased travel time from the Pacific to the Carribbean and changed foreign affairs. -
Muckraker
Muckraker was a term used to describe critics of the Gilded Age who fought to expose the corruption within the era's society consistinf od big business elites. Muckrakers wanted to make the public aware of the labor abuses taking place and poor living conditions of workers and their families as well as the corporations that were responsible for the social difficulties that were extremely prevalent throughout the Gilded Age. -
Pure Food and Drug Act
The Pure Food and Drug Act was a federal law passed in 1906 which banned adulteration, or the substituting of one substance for another in food, beverage and drug products. It also made selling, making and distributing/transporting adulterated products illegal and required that contents of patent drugs must be labeled. It was important because it was made in order to protect the public from adulterated food and drugs to ensure their safety. -
Dollar Diplomacy
"Dollar Diplomacy" was a foreign policy implemented by President Woodrow Wilson in which the United States' international financial interests of its citizens were promoted. This is an important part of the Gilded Age because it's goal was to encourage investment enlargements of capital goods in foreign countries. -
16th Amendment
The congressional government was given the power to collect income tax in order to pay for government-sponsored pograms without diving it among the states. It is important in the unit because before the Gilded Age, the government's spending money was derived from tariffs. -
17th Amendment
The 17th Amendment made it possible for citizens to vote for 2 senators per state as opposed to state legislators casting their votes. This is significant because the people of the United States had the power to elect their leaders. -
Federal Reserve Act
The Federal Reserve Act allowed for private banks to control money making as appointed by the U.S. president with the approval of the Senate. It is significant becuase it allowed for improved supervision among banks and changed the banking system in America. -
18th Amendment
The 18th Amendment prohibited the making and distribution of alcohol. This is important because it was ratified during the Gilded Age and it angered so many that it was repealed by the 21st Amendment. -
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Teapot Dome Scandal
The Teapot Dome Scandal was dubbed the most appalling political scandal in U.S. history. Teapot Dome was a geographical oil deposit in Wyoming where drilling of the deposit was done in secrecy under Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall who was bribed with the deposit to lease it to private companies. Bribery was very common in the Gilded Age, as most corporate leaders were hungry for money. -
19th Amendment
This amendment gave women in America the right to vote. It is also important because it helped establish prohibition which was a big motivator for activists of the Gilded Age.
