Gilded Age Flashcards
GILDED AGE
A time of big business, industrialization, westward expansion, immigration and Indian Policies
INDIAN POLICIES
The US governments treatment and actions towards Native Americans
1) Destruction of the buffalo, the primary food source
2) Forced removal and death marches moving tribes from one area to another
3) Assimilation - Idea was to make Indians like white people - learn english learn a trade go to church
DAWES ACT
Gave land allotments to Indians to make them farmers.
POLITICAL MACHINES
Groups that traded services for votes; gave jobs to immigrants; provided gfavors to local businessmen
BOSS TWEED
Leader of Tammy Hall, a political machine; he was very, very corrupt and went to jail
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM
Efforts to address the rampant political corruption of the time
1) Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act- instituted exams for government jobs
INDUSTRIALIZATION
The growth of factories and industry
BESSEMER PROCESS
Made steel quickly, efficiently and cheaply. Drove the building of factories and railroads
RAILROADS
Growth meant movement of people and products, aided in westward expansion and business growth
FARM ISSUES
Farmers wanted gold and silver coinage to makes things cheaper and make easier to repay loans
CATTLE INDUSTRY
A response to consumer demand for beef; aided growth of railroads
FREE ENTERPRISE
Starting businesses to make money
VERTICAL INTEGRATION
Where a business owns other businesses that are a part of the overall manufacturing process
Horizontal Integration
Where a business buys out competing businesses
Social Issues of the Age
1) Women - young, single women worked in factories at lower wages than men
2) children - worked dangerous jobs in factories at lower wages than adults instead of going to school
3) Immigrants - wanted for cheap labor, hated because they were immigrants; discriminated against
4) Urbanization - Rapid growth of the cities led to overcrowding, pollution, and crime
Nativism
Hostility towards immigrants, a preference for native-born workers and people
Chinese Exclusion Act
Barred Chinese immigrants from coming to the USA
Jim Crow Laws
Laws that discriminated against African-Americans, usually used to keep them from voting
Ku Klux Klan
A white supremacist group that terrorized minorities and targeted African Americans in particular
Konklide Gold Rush
HUMAN FACTOR: People wanted to strike it rich, moved to Klondike (Alaska/Washington area)
PHYSICAL FACTOR: Mountainous terrain made it hard to get there, was a far away source of raw materials
Westward Expansion
CAUSE: Homestead Act and Klondike Gold Rush
EFFECT: Populated the west, forced American Indians off of their land
Homestead Act
Gave away free land to people to encourage them to settle the western part of the USA
Urbanization
People moved the countryside to the city : CAUSE: Jobs drew people to the cities
EFFECT: Crowded cities, mostly in the Northeast.
EFFECTS OF POPULATION GROWTH DURING GILDED AGE
1) The cities grew
2) Pollution increased
3) Deforestation and loss of animal habitats
4) Railroad growth to meeth transportation and communication needs
5) Increased food demand; met by farming through Homestead Act and growth of cattle industry
New Technologies
1) Electric Power - Kept factories open 24/7 led to increase in productivity, cheaper goods
2) Telephone - instant communications aids business growth
3) Oil - Combustion engine, cars, machinery for factories
4) Steel - led to the surge in railroad and skyscrparer building
