Unit 6: Topic 11 - Reform in the Gilded Age Flashcards
What was the “single tax” solution?
Henry George, an economist and politician, believed in a “single tax” to solve the wealth gap issue during this period. The single tax on land would target the elites who owned large tracts of land and gained disproportionate wealth; increasing their tax would even out the playing field.
What is an example of utopian ideology challenging industrial capitalism?
Edward Bellamy wrote a novel, “Looking Backward,” where a man goes to sleep in 1887 only to wake up in 2000, where the US had transformed into a socialist utopia where capitalism has been crushed, and everyone’s needs were met.
This book was very popular during the late 1800’s and inspired many political and economic debates.
Why did socialism gain traction during the Gilded Age?
Socialism holds that all the means of production in a society should be owned and regulated by the community in order to benefit everyone equally. This theory was desirable to the working class, who suffered from the increasing wealth gap and believed capitalism had failed. Despite this increase in interest, it never gained the same hold on Americans as it did on Europeans.
Union leader Eugene V. Debs and others started the Socialist Party of America in 1901. He ran for President but did not perform well.
What was the Social Gospel?
The Social Gospel movement advocated that Christians work to improve the plight of the urban poor and cure society’s ills.
Many Protestant preachers sought social justice for the poor. They advocated that the middle class also contribute to solving urban poverty as their Christian duty.
As a result of this movement, charitable groups such as the Salvation Army and YMCA were created.
Describe the term “muckraker.”
Muckrakers were journalists who focused on issues such as the plight of the urban poor and the corruption of big business during the 1890s–1920s. They helped bring problems into the public eye and caused call to reform during the 1890’s.
The problems during the Gilded Age led to new political debates around issues such as citizenship, economic corruption, and civil rights. Many believed it was the federal government’s job to step in and regulate the problems the nation was facing.
How did women attempt to gain more rights during the Gilded Age?
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony founded the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) in 1890, which worked to secure the right to vote for women.
What role did women play in social reform during the Gilded Age?
Women took up the cause of Temperance, which is the fight against the consumption of alcohol. Alcoholism was a significant problem among urban working-class men and was a large cause of the growing impoverishment during the Gilded Age.
The Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was created to combat alcoholism. They fought for total abstinence from alcohol and had 500,000 members by 1898.
The WTCU and other organizations, like the Anti-Saloon League, worked mainly through peaceful methods like protests and lobbying Congress to pass laws.
There were also non-peaceful efforts. Carrie Nation was a woman who carried a hatchet into saloons and hacked into liquor barrels to spill their contents to show her support of Temperance in the name of Christianity.
