the gilded age

• The Gilded Age is often seen as a high point in America's history characterized by the rise of the industrialized economy after the Civil War
• The Gilded Age was a time when American business took off on a grand scale making several notable business people extremely wealthy
• Although the Gilded Age is remembered as a time of great affluence, it was also a time of great inequality and corruption
• The phrase "the Gilded Age" was taken from a satirical novel by Mark Twain published in 1873, implying that something that appears golden on the surface may be corrupt underneath
• Shortly after the end of the American Civil War in 1865, the U.S. underwent an enormous burst of economic activity brought about by a wave of industrialization
• The Gilded Age normally refers to the prosperous period between 1870 and 1900, which overlaps with the latter part of the Reconstruction
• While the Civil War had some devastating effects on the U.S., it also inaugurated important changes including the spread of the telegraph and a major expansion of the railways
• After the war, many European investors saw the U.S. as a good bed for business and soon a wave of money poured in from abroad
• The late 19th century saw many more immigrants arrive from the rest of the world, producing a much more diverse nation
• The Gilded Age is often remembered for some of its most important businessmen, many of whom became extremely wealthy at this time
• The late 19th century was the age of capital, a time when private corporations rose to prominence as wealthy men invested in large-scale industries and reaped great dividends
• The American government continued to push a pro-business stance in the 19th century, allowing private companies to develop the major infrastructure projects the nation needed
• The downside of this economic boom was that the few people who had enough money to invest in large-scale business enterprises tended to buy up most of their competition, soon forming multiple large monopolies
• The most well-remembered and notorious of these large monopolies were the Rockefeller oil monopoly, the Vanderbilt railroad monopoly, and the Carnegie steel monopoly
• JP Morgan was one of the Gilded Age's most famous money men, investing in businesses across the U.S. and making New York exceedingly rich
• While some of these tycoons spent millions on philanthropic projects, most "robber barons" were infamously ruthless and corrupt
• The Sherman Anti-Trust Act was passed in 1890 in an attempt to make the dangerous monopolies these men accrued illegal, but it had little effect on the monopolies that already existed
• It wasn't until the election of Teddy Roosevelt at the end of the Gilded Age in 1901 that at least some of the robber barons' power was broken
• Cornelius Vanderbilt was one of the major figures behind the enormous expansion of the railroads in the U.S. during the Gilded Age
• The railroads were particularly vulnerable to being taken over by monopolies because there was a very limited amount of train tracks in any given region
• In response to the eye-watering high fees charged by many railway companies, a collective of farmers known as the Granger movement campaigned for fairer prices
• The Granger movement would go on to inspire both the People's Party and the Greenback Party, important progressive political movements that campaigned for fairer economic conditions and more economic equality
• Many wealthy Americans increasingly believed in the theory of social Darwinism, an ideology that argues poor people deserve to be poor because they are naturally inferior
• In response to worsening conditions, many American workers unionized, and the American Federation of Labor that organized these unions was founded in 1886
• Tensions between workers and bosses led to several major disasters in the Gilded Age, including the Haymarket Riot in Chicago in 1886 and the Homestead Strike in Pittsburgh in 1892
• The Gilded Age was also a terrible time for race relations, with the Native Americans suffering greatly and the African-American population losing much-needed government protection after federal troops withdrew from the South in 1877
• The enormous wave of immigration also led to a wave of nativism, a form of resentment against migrant workers, with Italian and Irish immigrants being particularly picked upon
• Political machines, such as Tammany Hall in New York City, thrived during the Gilded Age by providing opportunities for poorer people and vulnerable migrants in exchange for their votes
• The problems of the Gilded Age would lead to another great era in American history, the Age of Progressive Politics, in which reforms rolled back the worst excesses of this grand age of wealth and expansion
• the civil rights act of 1875 banned discrimination on public transport but it wasn't enforced so had little impact
• republican presidents were grant, hayes, garfield, arthur, cleveland (democrat), harrison, mckinley
• the US government was dominated by republicans from 1865-90
• in 1877 federal troops were removed from the south meaning that there was no longer any protection for black citizens
• lynching became more common in the late 19th century, especially in the southern states where white mobs killed hundreds of blacks accused of crimes or insulting whites
• Jim Crow laws were passed in many southern states making segregation legal and forcing blacks into separate schools, hospitals and other facilities
• the supreme court ruled that states could not pass laws preventing black people voting or holding office
• by 1872 there were over 3 million members of the KKK across the south
• jim crow laws were passed in southern states making segregation legal
• the average american family income rose from $1000 per year in 1870 to $1500 in 1900
• by 1920 only 3% of all lynchings involved white victims