U.S. HISTORY SINCE 1877 (Unit 1, Chapter 10 Vocabulary)THE GILDED AGE

Thomas Nast "-- Father of American Cartoons"; drew political cartoons during Reconstruction; created popular images of Santa, Uncle Sam, and the Donkey and Elephant political symbols

The age of the “fat cats”

FOREIGN IMMIGRANTS Ellis Island -- Immigration processing center that opened in New York Harbor in 1892

nativism -- A policy of favoring native-born individuals over foreign-born ones; arose in the 1840's and 1850's in response to the influx of Irish and German Catholics.

Americanization -- process of assimilating immigrants into American culture by teaching English, American history, and citizenship.

Chinese Exclusion Act -- barred Chinese laborers from entering the U.S.; stemmed from American workers feeling like Chinese laborers drove down wages and took away jobs"New" immigration -- A second major wave of immigration to the U. S. Unlike earlier immigration, which had come primarily from Western Europe, "New" Immigrants came mostly from Southern and Eastern Europe. Language barriers and cultural differences produced mistrust by Americans.

IMMIGRATION AND NATIVISM IN AMERICA(who is the president featured in the cartoon?)

RURAL (COUNTRY) LIFE IN 1800S AMERICA McCormick reaper -- mechanized the harvest of grains, such as wheat, allowing farmers to cultivate larger plots; fueled the large-scale establishment of commercial agriculture in the Midwest

NOT ALL LAND WAS A FERTILE AS IS SHOWN IN THIS IDEALIZED IMAGE

THE POLITICAL MONSTERS OF THE 1800s:

political machines -- powerful organizations that used both legal and illegal methods to get their candidates elected to public office; appealed to immigrants and urban poor; provided services in exchange for support Boss Tweed -- head of New York City's powerful Democratic political machine - Tammany Hall Tammany Hall -- a political organization within the Democratic Party in New York city, during the late 1800's and early 1900's, seeking political control by corruption and bossism

Tammany Hall was widely-satirized by the “muckraking” and “yellow journalism” newspapers of the Gilded Age period

THE WESTWARD MOVEMENT Homestead Act -- 1862; provided 160 acres of free land in the West; must live on land five years, build a home and plant crops; encouraged westward migration.Transcontinental Railroad -- completed in 1869 at Promontory, Utah; linked the eastern railroad system with California's railroad system, revolutionizing transportation in the west

… imagine traveling 1000-2000 mi. in one of these!

THE QUESTION OF NATIVE AMERICANS

The Dawes Act -- 1887; purpose was to "Americanize" the Native Americans; the act broke up the reservations into individual parcels of land to farm The American Indian Citizenship Act -- granted immediate U. S. citizenship to all Native Americans born in the United States; basically rescinded the Dawes Act

A FEW WESTBOUND EUROPEANS RESPECTED THE NATIVES & MOST TRIBES WERE FRIENDLY

CITY (RURAL) LIFE IN 18OOS AMERICA

tenement -- A building in which several families rent rooms or apartments, often with little sanitation or safety

MEDICALLY, MANY CITY DWELLERS WERE IN HEALTH DANGER DUE TO THE EXTREME SQUALOR

The Presidents of the time (2 were assassinated!):

Rutherford B. Hayes -- 19th President; ended reconstruction by removing federal troops; disputed Tilden/Hayes election resulted in the Compromise of 1877

James Garfield -- 20th President; assassinated by Charles Julius Guiteau after a few months in office

Chester Arthur -- 21st President; took Rutherford B. Hayes place when he was assassinated; passed the Pendleton Act

Grover Cleveland -- 22nd and 24th President; achieved the Interstate Commerce Commission and civil service reform; suppression of violent labor strikes

Benjamin Harrison -- 23rd President; introduced the McKinley Tariff; increased federal spending to a billion dollars

William McKinley -- 25th President; Spanish-American War; annexed Hawaii; put US currency on the Gold Standard; he was assassinated in 1901 by Leon Frank Czolgosz

Arthur was himself a well-to-do fellow who liked the super-rich moguls of the time

TERMS TO KNOW --

Gilded Age -- 1870s - 1890s; era looked good on the outside, despite the corrupt politics & growing gap between the rich & poorPhilanthropy -- Efforts to improve the well-being of humankind, generally through giving money depression -- A period of low economic activity and rising unemployment laisez-faire -- French term for "Hands off"; means no government intervention in business.

Some Gilded Age fat cats could afford to be philanthropists – considering many had the equivalent of what would today be $BILLIONS$ of dollars

The Captains of Industry

captains of industry -- a business leader whose means of amassing a personal fortune contributes positively to the country in some way

robber barons -- an American capitalist who acquired a fortune in the late nineteenth century by ruthless means.

The Gospel of Wealth -- Andrew Carnegie description on how rich people had the duty to redistribute their wealth to the poor.

Andrew Carnegie -- Creates Carnegie Steel; Gets bought out by banker JP Morgan and renamed U.S. Steel; used vertical integration by buying all the steps needed for production

John Rockefeller -- American industrialist and philanthropist, founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust.

Be the first to tell me which guy this is for 20 bonus pts.

New Inventions of the Era & New govt. acts legislated--

Bessemer Steel Process -- a manufacturing technique that cut the cost and increased the manufacturing of steel

Pendleton Act -- made compulsory campaign contributions from federal employees illegal, and established the Civil Service Commission to make appointments to federal jobs on the basis of examination rather than cronyism

16th Amendment -- Graduated income tax 17th Amendment -- Direct Election of Senators Sherman Anti-Trust Act -- law to limit trusts and monopolies

Some thought the 16th Amendment might slow down the bigwigs: IT DIDN’T

THE WORLD OF LABOR – included a huge lower class of society

American Federation of Labor -- Led by Samuel Gompers; union of skilled workers ; focus was issues such as higher wages, shorter hours, and better working conditions

Haymarket Riots -- which included a bombing, in Chicago in 1886; associated anarchists with the labor

entrepreneurship -- the process of starting, organizing, managing, and assuming the responsibility for a business

labor unions -- an organized association of workers, often in a trade or profession, formed to protect and further their rights and interests.

free enterprise system -- people are free to operate their businesses as they see fit, with little government interference.

horizontal integration -- Practice of joining or consolidating with ones competitors to create a monopoly.

vertical integration -- Practice where a single entity controls the entire process of a product, from the raw materials to distribution

It was from these times that we got our idea of an 8-hour work day: