APUSH (Period 6)

• The Gilded Age was the time of Rapid economic growth, industrialization and Corruption following the Civil War
• American industrialists


  • Dominated American Business by building corporations
  • Became some of America's first millionaires
• Vertical integration


  Controlling every stage of the steel production process from mining to shipping
• Horizontal integration


  Taking control of the oil refining industry by buying out competitors
• Robber barons


  • Used trusts as a means of consolidating power, controlling markets and monopolizing Industries
  • Used the theory of social Darwinism or economic survival of the fittest to justify their fortunes while paying low wages
• Andrew Carnegie was extremely philanthropic and argued in the gospel of wealth that the wealthy had a responsibility to give back for the betterment of society
• The industrial capitalists were able to thrive due to Laissez-faire government policies and benefited from a long line of pro-business Republican presidents
• Political corruption took place at the state and local levels often through the use of political machines who traded in votes for favors like jobs
• Political corruption


  • William Boss Tweed who ran Tammany Hall in New York
• The Pendleton Civil Service Act ended the spoils system after the assassination of James Garfield
• The Sherman Antitrust Act was passed in an attempt to limit the power of monopolies, but it was difficult to enforce
• Knights of Labor


  • Founded by Terence Powderly
  • Union open to all workers including skilled, unskilled, women and African-Americans
  • Declined following the violent Haymarket Riot
• American Federation of Labor


  • Founded by Samuel Gompers
  • Focused on skilled laborers and bread and butter issues like wages and working conditions
• Strikes


  • The Great Railroad Strike of 1877
  • The Pullman Strike
  • The Homestead Strike
• Strikes were generally ineffective for bringing about real change for workers
• Social Gospel movement


  • Encouraged Christians, especially from the middle class, to address issues such as poverty and homelessness
• Reformers


  • Jane Addams
  • Jacob Riis
• Innovations such as electricity, the typewriter and the telephone improved communication and working conditions, and also led to the development of streetcar suburbs as the middle class sought to escape problems associated with urbanization
• The mass influx of new immigrants led to a rise in nativism which resulted in the Chinese Exclusion Act
• After the Civil War and Reconstruction, the Southern economy still revolved around agriculture and cash crops, but some cities like Birmingham and Memphis adopted new industries like steel and lumber
• The South maintained racism and inequality through Jim Crow laws, which worsened after the Supreme Court upheld segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson
• The rapidly expanding population and infrastructure in the West had devastating negative effects on the Great Plains Buffalo populations and led to violent conflicts with Native Americans
• The Dawes Severalty Act supported the assimilation of Native Americans
• Farmers struggled with low crop prices, high shipping rates and crippling debt, which often caused farm foreclosures
• Farmers' alliances


  • Formed to combat their struggles and exploitation by big businesses
• Populist Party


  • Supported bimetallism, the direct election of senators, a graduated income tax, and government ownership of railroads
• The Populist Party's ideals were later adopted by the Democratic Party under William Jennings Bryan