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20 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
- 3rd side (hint)
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What was the relationship between the federal government, businesses, and citizens during the Gilded Age?
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-Moving West: The government encouraged settlers
-business ownerd owned a lot ex. Big Four (Railroad guys) -Citizens either working for government or fighting for land, coal... (in West) |
-Homestead Act
-Union Pacific and Central Pacific -ex. Populist Party |
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TC Durant
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-Union Pacific leader
-Wanted $ and glory -"Schemer" |
Big Four member
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The Gilded Age as an age of extremes
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Underneath:
-underpaid workers -in unsafe, unsanitary conditions --> workers had little or no political voice -railroad workers died -presidents weak/corrupt -polititions controlling economy -aristocracy => wealth in the hands of a few -women work in mills--> no representaion |
machines, dirt, death, mute
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Federal Government adopted policy on Native Americans
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1.) Turn white, Christian (assimilate)
2.) push them away (reservations) --> "so we can't be infected by their ideas" 3.) Kill them (extermination of Native Americans |
"White is superior"
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What does "Gilded" mean?
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It looks nice from the outside but look closely and there are problems
-problems are masked but are there *corrupt individuals in gov't *flourishing economy -- starving, poor farmers *electricity, iron, steel -- corrupt companies, unpleasant conditions |
Gold plated crap
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What was the role of the government in the settlement of the West?
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-Homestead Act = US enacted law encouraging settlers to move out and cultivate the free land (160 acres) the gov't was offering
-transcontinental railroad made country "smaller" -Droughts in west --> gov't created projects for dams on rivers and for relief in general |
Infomercial
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How did the government push the transcontinental railroad along?
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-gives $
-gives land - gov't subsidizes constitution of the railroad through land grants |
stepping in
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Effects of gov't pushing transcontinental railroad along
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-railroad enables settlers to move west
*increased settler population --> leads the gov't to change policy toward Native Americans -Railroads transport goods from Great Plains to cities east -railroads make secret agreements that allow them to control prices --> bad for farmers who get crapped on by this -farmers fight the power of the railroad |
what comes with building a railroad and greedy men
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To what extent was the Gilded Age characterized by laissez-faire economics?
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-Businesses controlled major projects
-gov't only did things with Native Americans and land |
what gov't did and what businesses did
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What type of economical society developed in the West after the Civil War? Why?
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-Commercial and industrial
-Because: Great Migration and natural resources help economy |
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What qualities make this era the "Gilded Age"?
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-scummy presidents--more power to business owners
-Native Americans being pushed off land onto reservations -given laws to mask that they didn't even want rightd, just their lives back to normal -railroads looked nice, were handy --> but a lot of blood was shed for them |
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Gilded Age: An age of extremes
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-industrial spread (railroads)
-US became a major global power, highest rank -steel -oil -inventions (lightbulb...) -new fortunes -nobodies becoming rich and famous (Andrew Carnegie and the fictional Horatio Alger) -banking and financial services |
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Examples of Federal Government encouraging people to move West
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-Homestead Act
-Morrill Act (1862-1890 = setting up colleges -Hatch Act = education/knowledge to farmers |
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How did the government and many Americans respond to the growing and shifting patterns of immigration?
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-Many of the Americans were nativists, meaning they disliked the large numbers of immigrants
-The immigrants took a lot of the American’s jobs because the immigrants were willing to work for cheaper *In response, the government tried to limit the amount of immigrants entering the United States annually. |
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Tammany Hall
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New York City’s powerful Democratic political machine, in 1868.
-Headed by Boss Tweed -Boss Tweed led the Tweed Ring (a group of corrupt politicians who defrauded the city) |
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Turner’s Thesis
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-Frederick Jackson Turner’s thesis that the wellsprings of American exceptionalism and vitality have always been the American frontier, the region between urbanized, civilized society and the untamed wilderness
-In the thesis, the frontier created freedom, constantly named as civilization, "breaking the bonds of custom, offering new experiences, [and] calling out new institutions and activities." |
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Chinese Exclusion Act
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-a law, enacted in 1882, that prohibited all Chinese except
students, teachers, merchants, tourists, and government officials from entering the US |
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Andrew Carnegie
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·telegraph clerk at seventeen, then secretary to the head of the Pennsylvania railroad, then broker in Wall Street selling railroad bonds for huge commissions.
·By selling the bonds he became a millionaire. ·Traveled to London where he saw the “Bessemer” method of producing steel -He then returned to the US and built a million-dollar steel plant ·No foreign competition because of the high tariffs set by Congress ·By 1880- he was producing 10,000 tons of steel a month (1880 he was making $1.5 Million a year, but by 1900 he was making $40 million a year.) ·Sold his steel company to J.P. Morgan for $492,000,000. |
“man of steel”
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John D. Rockefeller
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·Started as a bookkeeper in Ohio, then became a merchant
·Realized that, “in the oil industry, who controlled the oil refineries controlled the industry” ·Bought his first oil refinery in 1862 ·By 1870 he set up Standard Oil Company of Ohio -he also made secret agreements with railroad to ship his oil with them if they gave him rebates- discounts- on their prices, ultimately running his competition out of business ·The Standard Oil Company by 2899 was a holding company which controlled the stock of many other companies -(profit= $45 million a year) ·Estimated fortune of $2 billion ·Later moved into iron, copper, coal, shipping and banking (Chase Manhatten Bank) |
“the rock”
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J.P. Morgan
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·Son of a banker who began selling stocks fro the railroads for good commissions
·During Civil War he bought five thousand rifles for $3.50 each and then sold them to a general in the field for $22 each -(the rifles were defective and would shoot off the thumbs of the soldiers) ·Escaped military service in Civil War by paying $300 to a substitute ·His company (J.P. Morgan & Company) headed a bank that offered to give the government gold in exchange for bonds -The bank then resold the bonds at higher prices, making $18 million ·Brought rationality and organization to the national economy ·Linked railroads to one another, all of the railroads to banks, and then the banks to insurance companies -(kept the system stable) ·By 1900 he controlled 100,000 miles of railroad (half the countries mileage) ·Three of his insurance companies had $1 Billion in assets ·Bought Carnegie’s steel company ·Formed the US Steel Corporation, combining Carnegies corporation with others ·He sold stocks and bonds for $1,300,000,000 and took a fee of 150 Million for arranging the consolidation ·At his peak sat on the board of 48 corporations |
“Million”
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