The Gilded Age1870-1890

Gilded means to cover something of poor quality with gold

What does this imply about American Society?

Mark Twain

Wealth and economic growth covered up the many problems

that existed

Positives

1. Industrialization 2. Economic Growth 3. New Inventions4. Growth of Middle

Class and Suburbs5. Manifest Destiny

Negatives

1. Working Conditions 2. Poverty and Living

Conditions in Cities3. Gap between Rich

and Poor Increases4. Farmers Struggle5. Political Corruption 6. Treatment of

Minorities

Characteristics of the Gilded Age

Middle Class and the Growth of Suburbs

• commute to the city for jobs and shopping.

• made possible by railroads, horse cars, and streetcars.

• get away from poor immigrants

• Quiet and healthier for family

• Segregated Communities

Nouveau Riche

• The New Rich

• Conspicuous Consumption- spending money just to show off wealth

Conspicuous Display of Wealth, Millionaire’s Row, New York

Carnegie Mansion Vanderbilt Chateau

How did the other half live?

The Shift to the City

Urbanization- process in which an increasing proportion of a population lives in cities or suburbs of cities

MIGRATION FROM COUNTRY TO CITY

• Immigration

• improvements in farm technology meant less labor

• Many rural people left for cities to find work

• African Americans

Tenement a rundown apartment used to house large numbers of low-income families.

“Home of an Italian Ragpicker,” 1888

“One of Four Pedlars Who Slept in the Cellar of 11 Ludlow Street Rear,” c. 1892

URBAN PROBLEMS• Overcrowded

Housing • Sanitation: garbage

was often not collected

• Polluted air• Lack of clean water • Crime• Fire Harper’s Weekly image of Chicagoans

fleeing the fire over the Randolph Street bridge in 1871

POLITICS IN THE GILDED AGE

• As cities grew in the late 19th century, so did political machines

• Political machines controlled the activities of a political party in a city

• The head of the Political machine was known as the “Boss”

ROLE OF THE POLITICAL BOSS

• The “Boss” controlled jobs, business licenses, granting of contracts and influenced laws and courts

• Political Machines helped immigrants with naturalization (citizenship), jobs, and housing in exchange for votes

Boss Tweed ran NYC

Political Corruption was considered to be widespread

• President Grant’s Administration

• Voter Fraud- used fake names and voted multiple times

• Patronage- granting favors in return for political support

• Graft- bribes• kick-backs - Return of

money in exchange for a business

Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall

THE TWEED RING SCANDAL

• William M. Tweed, known as Boss Tweed, became head of Tammany Hall, NYC’s powerful Democratic political machines

• Between 1869-1871, Tweed led the Tweed Ring, a group of corrupt politicians, in defrauding the city

• Tweed’s ring stole between 40 and 200 million

• Tweed died in Jail

Boss Tweed

Does History remember the Real Boss Tweed?

CIVIL SERVICE REPLACES PATRONAGE

• Nationally, some politicians pushed for reform in the hiring system

• The system had been based on Patronage; giving jobs and favors to those who helped a candidate get elected

• Reformers pushed for an adoption of a merit system of hiring the most qualified for jobs

• The Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883 authorized a bipartisan commission to make appointments for federal jobs based on performanceApplicants for federal jobs

are required to take a Civil Service Exam