APUSH Unit 6

• Post-civil war expansion in the West included mining, farming, and the cattle industry
• The government established policies like the Homestead Act and the Pacific Railroad Act to facilitate westward expansion
• The government removed native people and forced them onto reservations to enable westward expansion
• Conservationist movement


  • Battle between government agencies/conservationist groups and corporate interests over control of natural resources
  • Department of the Interior established in 1849 to manage federal land and natural resources
  • US Fish Commission established in 1871 to preserve fisheries
  • John Muir establishes the Sierra Club in 1892 to fight for conservation
• Government policies towards Native Americans


  • Violent conflict
  • Assimilation policies
• Violent conflict


  • Sand Creek Massacre
  • Battle of Little Bighorn
  • Battle of Wounded Knee
• Assimilation policies


  • Forcing tribes onto reservations
  • Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 to end tribal land ownership
  • Native American schools to assimilate native people
• Industrialization


  • Large-scale production
  • Technological change
  • New inventions
  • Improved communication networks
• Techniques used by industry leaders


  • Horizontal integration to monopolize markets
  • Vertical integration to control production
  • Establishing monopolies, trusts, and pools
• Social Darwinism


  Belief that the rich are rich because they are hardworking and the poor are poor because they are lazy or inferior
• Laissez-faire policies meant the government did not regulate business
• Regional differences


  • West experiencing economic and population growth
  • North and Midwest industrializing
  • South attempting industrialization after Reconstruction, but remaining primarily agricultural with tenant farming and sharecropping
• Industrialization and urbanization brought economic opportunities for immigrants and workers, but also low wages and dangerous working conditions
• Labor movement


  • Knights of Labor founded in 1869, open to all workers
  • American Federation of Labor (AFL) founded in 1886, focused on skilled workers and practical issues
  • Successes in forming unions and confronting corporate power
  • Failures like the Homestead strike and Pullman strike
  • Divisions among workers and hostility from corporations and government
• Changing lives of farmers


  • Mechanization and need to buy new equipment
  • Dependence on powerful railroad companies
  • Falling crop prices
  • High costs of machinery and lack of access to cheap money
  • High tariff policies
• Farmer groups


  • Grange movement
  • Farmers' Alliance
  • Colored Farmers' Alliance
• Farmers faced unfair railroad business practices, such as being charged more than large farmers
• The high cost of machinery caused huge amounts of debt for farmers
• Tight money supply and lack of access to cheap money was a concern for farmers
• High tariff policies amongst many Republican administrations caused problems for farmers
• Key farmer groups


  • Grange movement
  • Farmers Alliance
  • Colored Farmers Alliance
  • Populist Party
• Grange movement


  Started off organizing social and educational activities, later lobbied state legislators for reforms
• Farmers Alliance


  Formed in the 1870s, mainly in Texas, divided between southern and African-American farmers
• Populist Party


  Formed as a political party, their strength was amongst farmers and workers, called for political reform and a stronger role of the government in the economy
• The Gilded Age was marked by rampant corruption and problems, with politics heavily tied to big business
• The Grange movement got Granger laws passed to protect farmers against railroad industry abuse, but these were later overturned
• The Interstate Commerce Act was passed to regulate trade between different states, but was initially ineffective
• The Sherman Antitrust Act outlawed trusts and monopolies, but was initially used against labor unions rather than monopolies
• Internal migration during the Gilded Age


  • Settlers moving west
  • Movement to urban areas for jobs
• External migration during the Gilded Age


  • Large-scale immigration from China
  • New immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe
• The rise of nativism led to attempts to exclude and limit immigration, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act and proposals for literacy tests
• Cities were divided by class, race, and ethnicity, with low wages and dangerous working conditions keeping many workers in poverty
• The wealthy engaged in conspicuous consumption, while many lived in tenement housing
• Child labor became increasingly common during this time
• Responses to urban challenges


  • Gospel of wealth
  • Settlement house movement
  • Social gospel movement
  • Socialist Party
• The effort to reform the problems of the Gilded Age eventually led to the progressive movement in the 1890s
• Social reforms during the Gilded Age


  • Women's suffrage movement
  • Advancement of civil rights for African Americans
• Booker T. Washington advocated for African Americans to acquire vocational skills to gain self-respect and economic security
• Ida Wells Barnett was active in the women's rights movement and the campaign against lynching