The Gilded Ages Flashcards
everything looked prosperous, opulent, and shiny on the surface
gilded
positive of the gilded age
industrialization
economic growth
new inventions
growth of middle class and suburbs
negatives of the gilded age
working conditions poverty and living conditions gap between rich and poor increases farmers struggle political corruption lack of rights for women
scandals
grant
killed reconstruction
Hayes
assassination
garfield
assassinated
McKinley
developed around 1850 injected air into molten iron to remove impurities and make steel lighter, more flexible, and rust-resistant
Bessemer process
what is steel used for
railroads
farm equipment
canned goods
engineers use steel to create what
skyscrapers and longer bridges
Brooklyn bridge
stimulated the growth of other industries
helped cities grow
helped increase westward expansion
standard time zones were created to get everyone on correct time
railroad benefits
charged much higher rates to who
westward farmers
credit mobilizer scandal (grants administration)
Union Pacific
take construction company
bribed members of congress
corruption
perfected the light bulb
motion picture
organized power plants
organized first research lab
Thomas Edison
telephone (1876)
Alexander graham bell
camera
George Eastman
oil
John d Rockefeller
steel
Andrew Carnegie
railroad
Vanderbilt
began US steel
became first billion dollar corporation
responsible for General Electric bailed out the US economy on more than one occasion
industrialists
process in which an increasing proportion of a population lives in cities
urbanization
why did new immigrants begin to move
for work
what began to replace farmers
farm machines
who left the south
African Americans
poor standards of sanitation
housing shortages
struggled to keep up with growth
transportation
difficult to produce and transport
clean water
challenge and often neglected
waste removal
very common
great Chicago Fire
1871
fires
began to rise with urbanization
crime
the new rich
nouveau riche
spending money to show off their wealth
conspicuous consumption
a rundown apartment used to have large numbers of low income families
tenement
children as young as what worked for up to 14 hours a day
5
an organized group of people that controlled the activities of a political party
political machines
head of political machines
city boss
city bosses controlled jobs in what
police
fire
sanitation departments
city bosses controlled agencies that granted licenses to what
businesses
city bosses controlled money to fund
large construction projects
loved immigrants
political machines
rigged elections
became wealthy from kickbacks and illegal payments
control police force to stay out of trouble
political machines
used fake names and voted multiple times
voter fraud
granting favors in return for political support
patronage
return of money in exchange for a business
kickbacks
bribes
graft
became head of tommany hall, nycs powerful democratic political machine
led the tweed ring (group of corrupt politicians)
William M tweed
takes down tommany
Thomas Nast
Supreme Court decision
separate facilities did not violate the 14th amendment as long as they are equal
1896
plessy v Ferguson
between 20 million Europeans
mostly from southern and Eastern Europe
most were Jewish/ Catholic
more came from Mexico, Caribbean, and China
new immigrants
movement to ensure that native- born Americans recovered better treatment than immigrants
nativism
first union that accepts all people
8hour work day
the Knights of labor
accepted only skilled white males, won higher wages and shorter weeks for its members
the American federation of labor
head of AFL
Samuel Gompers
RR workers strike to protest wage cut
violence erupted in many cities for a week
great railroad strike of 1877
term came from mark twains book “a tale of today”
the gilded age
