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Industrializing a Continent. “The Gilded Age”. Coined by Mark Twain in 1873 Economic and population growth Industrialization Westward expansion Corruption “Robber barons”. The Second Industrial Revolution. First: textiles in England and New England Second: steel, machinery, chemicals
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“The Gilded Age” • Coined by Mark Twain in 1873 • Economic and population growth • Industrialization • Westward expansion • Corruption • “Robber barons”
The Second Industrial Revolution • First: textiles in England and New England • Second: steel, machinery, chemicals • Pittsburgh, Chicago, Detroit
New Inventions • Phonograph, light bulb, movies, telephone • Thomas Edison (1847-1931)
The New Working Class • 1890: 2/3 work for wages • Vs. farming, craft, owning a business • Immigration • Movement to cities
The Reality • 60 hours or more a week • No protection • 35,000 die a year in work accidents (1880-1900)
Go West! • The idea of the “frontier” • Frederick Jackson Turner’s thesis (1893) • “safety valve” • Freedom, democracy, economic mobility
The Myth of the West • Empty • Blank slate • Free enterprise • Individualism
The Reality • Family migration • Dispossession of Indians • Labor • Chinese and Mexican migrants • Large-scale agriculture in Cali
The Homestead Act (1862) • 160 acres of federal land for free • Lived on land 5 years, make improvement • 1.6 million homesteads given out • 270 million acres
The Western Economy • Mining • Cattle • Fruits and veggies in Cali • Wheat • Oil • Tourism in SoCal • Manufacturing in San Francisco & other cities
From Civil War to Indian War • US Army adapts methods to destroy Indian economy • Buffalo already reduced by overhunting, demand for hides
Fighting Back Geronimo, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse resist US Army
Resistance broken • Forced onto reservations • Indian children taken from families to boarding schools
The End • Dawes Act (1887) • Broke Indian lands into small farms • Sold off much of it to whites • Offered citizenship to “civilized” Indians • “Ghost Dance” and Wounded Knee Massacre
Global Process • “Settler societies” • Newcomers move into new territory • Canada • Australia • Argentina • American West
Big Picture • Westward expansion and industrialization linked • Civil War settled questions and opened up West to full exploitation • Creation of truly national market through: • new technologies • railroads • settlement • conquest of Indians