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American History Unit 2: The Gilded Age

American History Unit 2: The Gilded Age. Mr. Chortanoff Overview and Insights for Chapters 17 and 18. Reconstruction Abandoned. Reconstruction Efforts: 1865-1877 Freedmen’s Bureau, $, Federal troops to protect blacks and enforce civil rights

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American History Unit 2: The Gilded Age

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  1. American HistoryUnit 2: The Gilded Age Mr. Chortanoff Overview and Insights for Chapters 17 and 18

  2. Reconstruction Abandoned • Reconstruction Efforts: 1865-1877 • Freedmen’s Bureau, $, Federal troops to protect blacks and enforce civil rights • Many whites were angered about black equality, government protection, gov’t programs and $ • Ku Klux Klan terrorizes blacks and supportive whites in the South. Lynching and Jim Crow Laws = aka Black Codes segregate races (P v. F, 1896) • Democrats and Republicans: Corrupt Bargain • Hayes is President, but he must end Reconstruction

  3. CHANGES AFTER THE CIVIL WAR • Immigration and Cities • American urbanizes, quickly • New immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe and Asia • Reformers work to improve life of urban poor • Western Frontier • Indians lose lands • Homestead Act • Transcontinental Railroad • Cattle boom (and Meatpacking Industry) • Mining boom • Business and Labor (capitalists/owners VS laborers/workers) • Corporations formed, soon monopolize the market on various goods and services • Union membership grows, mixed results

  4. Old vs. New Immigrants: Areas

  5. The Immigration Process • The immigrant decides (or is forced) to leave home. • Goal(s): seek pol. or rel. freedom, $, join family/friends Immigrant adapts to life in America Difficult Ocean Crossing Ship is overcrowded Disease spreads rapidly Finds a job Settles in a neighborhood of immigrants from the same native country Learns American ways while keeping older traditions (lang., food, customs) at home Immigrant is processed and inspected upon arrival

  6. Growing Cities: Urbanization Helping the Poor: Settlement house movement Government reforms Religious/Ethnic Organizations • Reasons for Growth • Immigration • Job opportunities • Growing population Urban Problems: Garbage Pollution Crime Hazardous tenements (poorly constructed row homes and apartment complexes) Settlement Patterns: $ Based Living Poor people crowd into tenements Middle class live in houses outside slums Rich live in mansions on city outskirts

  7. Life in the Cities

  8. Gilded Age Reforms Government: President Hayes fires corrupt officials Civil Service Commission created to conduct exams for federal jobs Big Business: Few Gov’t Regulations Interstate Commerce Act forbids RR pools and rebates Interstate Commerce Commission oversees railroads business deals Sherman Antitrust Act prohibits businesses from limiting competition

  9. Age of Railroads • Knitting the nation together: • Standardized track width creates a national network that speeds travel and transport • Improvements make rail travel safer and more comfortable • More transcontinental rail lines built • Consolidation makes rail travel more efficient and sometimes cheaper Eliminating Competition: Monopolizing or “Cornering the Market” Pools Rebates Fueling the Economy: Many jobs created in steel, lumber, and mining Thousands hired to build and maintain railroads lines and stations New areas opened to American settlement and growth

  10. Steel Industry Thrives • “Bessemer” process enables strong steel at low cost • Carnegie builds huge empire • Corporations develop and dominant • Mills spring up throughout the Midwest and Steelton (first mill designed to make steel) • Pittsburgh becomes steel-making capital! • Jobs and prosperity created (immigrants) • Air and water pollution produced

  11. Inventions Change America/World

  12. The Rise of Organized Labor • New Workplace • Corporations/Factories/Mass Production, Vast Wealth • Children, women at work • Hazards of work • The Rise of Organized Labor (unions) is a response • Knights of Labor (Haymarket Square, Chicago) • American Federation of Labor • Samuel Gompers organizes union for skilled workers • Becomes most powerful union • Hard Times for Organized Labor • Strikes, violence • Government sides with owners/capitalists • Slow progress toward “fair share”

  13. National Grange and Farmers’ Alliance • NG and FA are special interest groups • NG: • Organized in 1867 to boost farm profits and reduce RR shipping rates • Voted for candidates who supported their aims • Met in grange halls • FA: • Organized in 1870s • Popular in the South and Great Plain States • Tried to join forces with miners and factory workers • Women took an active role • NG and FA both supported the Populist Party

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