APUSH: Period 6 Concepts (Gilded Age)

linked the U.S. from Atlantic to Pacific by both rail and telegraph. This accelerated the development and eventual closure of the frontier.

A business tycoon who amassed a fortune in the steamboat business and invested this fortune in the consolidation of many smaller rail lines under one company, the New York Central Railroad.

A railroad company founded by Cornelius Vanderbilt. It consolidated many smaller rail companies, standardized gauges, and popularized steel rails. It linked major cities on the East Coast and in the Midwest.

One half of the Transcontinental Railroad. It began building its portion from Omaha, Nebraska, and moved westward.

Led by Leland Stanford, it set out to build the most difficult stretch of the transcontinental railroad from Sacramento, California, through the Sierra Nevada mountains and eastward. Chinese laborers built most of the Central Pacific’s line.

He became a wealthy merchant during the California Gold Rush, and later served as Governor of California (1862–183) and as its Senator (1885–1893). Leader of the Central Pacific Railroad, Stanfold oversaw the construction of part of the transcontinental railroad. Considered a robber baron, he wielded tremendous wealth and influence due to his control over railroads in the American West. Later founded Stanford University.

The point at which the rail lines of the Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad finally met on May 10, 1869. This marked the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. Promontory Point, Utah, is just north of the Great Salt Lake.

 A pejorative name for investors who artificially inflated the value of their company’s stock, sold the stock to the public, and pocketed the profits. The company would then go bankrupt, leaving stockholders with nothing. Additionally, the fierce competition of the Gilded Age coupled with lack of federal regulation often led to dishonest business practices.

A Scottish-born scientist. He is best known for patenting the telephone in 1876. He also founded the Bell Telephone Company in 1879 and the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1885

Developed by an English inventor, this process revolutionized steel production by making it faster and cheaper. The increased availability and affordability of steel caused its use to increase in many industrial applications.

A Scottish immigrant who became a titan of industry. He cornered the railroad business in the 1860s, focusing on innovation, investment in technology, operating at full capacity, and keeping costs (including wages) low. Authored “The Gospel of Wealth,” which asserted that wealth was a result of God’s will and that, in turn, the wealthy had an obligation to give money away to better society. In contrast to rival J. P. Morgan, he favored driving competitors out of business.

A company founded and owned by Andrew Carnegie. At its height, it supplied over half the world’s steel. Sold to J. P. Morgan to form U.S. Steel.

The process of controlling every aspect of the production process for a product, from the acquisition of raw materials to the distribution of the final product. A favored practice by Andrew Carnegie.

A notable investment banker who helped railroads and other major corporations raise capital. After purchasing Carnegie’s steel business, he consolidated the industry to form U.S. Steel, the first corporation with a capitalization of over one billion dollars. He essentially bailed out the U.S. economy during the Panic of 1893. In contrast to rival Andrew Carnegie, he favored buying competitors out.

The first corporation in history with a capitalization of over one billion dollars, at a time when the entire U.S. stock market was worth roughly nine billion dollars. It was formed by J. P. Morgan, who purchased Andrew Carnegie’s steel business and then went on to consolidate that whole industry.

The richest American of all time, worth well over $300 billion when adjusted for inflation. He monopolized the oil industry with the Standard Oil Company. While an avowed Social Darwinist, in his later years he turned to philanthropy, such as by founding the University of Chicago among other schools.

An oil refining company owned by John D. Rockefeller. At its height, it controlled 95 percent of U.S. refineries through consolidation. This business strategy is called horizontal integration. In 1911, the Supreme Court ruled it an illegal monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act and split it into 34 companies.

The process of merging companies that all compete in one aspect of a long production process, such as refinement in the oil industry, thereby creating either a monopoly (total control by one company) or an oligopoly (control by few companies.

 Also called a corporate trust, it was a common form of monopoly around the turn of the twentieth century. Essentially, the stockholders of several companies would sell their stock to the owner of a larger company in exchange for trust certificates, which entitled them to a share of the profits as silent partners.

An economic depression caused by the failure of the Reading Railroad company and by over-speculation artificially inflating the price of stocks. The market did not recover for almost four years. Investors began trading in their silver for more valuable gold, depleting the already dangerously low supply of gold.

 When the members of a company’s board of directors also serve on the board of other companies, thus linking those companies at the management level. This practice often leads to accusations of corruption and conflict of interest. The Clayton Antitrust Act (1914) would later ban these by law if the companies were competing in the same industry, as such interlocking directorates would be creating what were functionally monopolies.

The total or near-total domination of an industry by one business. Monopolies can artificially fix prices and stifle innovation, as a lack of competition means they have little reason to reinvest their profits in improving their products.

 First articulated by the economist Adam Smith in his treatise The Wealth of Nations, laissez-faire economics states that natural market forces, not government regulations or subsidies, should control the marketplace. However, the growth of monopolies during the Gilded Age prevented any natural competition from occurring, leading to antitrust laws. The term derives from the French for “let do,” or in essence “Let the economy run itself.”

A nationwide strike that took place from July 14 to September 4, 1877. More than 100,000 railroad workers were ultimately involved, and the strike affected such cities as Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Chicago. The state National Guardsmen were often called in, but most militia members (and local residents) were sympathetic to the strikers. Ultimately, President Rutherford B. Hayes authorized the use of federal troops to break the strike. More than 100 workers were killed in the crackdown, and the strikers gained nothing. However, it led to more organized unionizing efforts.

Nineteenth President. Served 1877–1881. While a Civil War veteran and a Republican, he ended Reconstruction as part of the Compromise of 1877 to resolve the disputed 1876 election. Enacted modest civil service reform. Ordered federal troops in to break up the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. Pledged not to run for reelection and returned to Ohio.

A type of strikebreaker. Specifically, someone who crosses a picket line of striking workers in order to take up a striking worker’s job.

A practice where workers were locked out of their place of employment before a strike even started, in order to avoid a sit-down strike or work stoppage.

A method of subverting labor organizing. “Difficult” workers were barred from being hired, or forced to knuckle under and sign a yellow-dog contract.

A document that a prospective employee was forced to sign in order to secure a job. The worker agreed to not join a union.

The first attempt to organize all workers nationwide. Founded in 1866, its goals included better working conditions, higher wages, an eight-hour workday, and equal rights for women and African Americans (but also the exclusion of Chinese-Americans). Members included skilled and unskilled workers as well as farmers; these groups had different, sometimes incompatible, needs. The Panic of 1873 contributed to its decline, as did the failure of Great Railroad Strike of 1877.

A financial crisis that created an economic depression (1873–1879). It had several interlocking causes that reflected the period’s increasingly globalized economy. Initially referred to as the Great Depression until the far more severe economic crisis of that name in the 1930s.

Founded as a secret society in 1869, and elected Terence V. Powderly its leader the following year 1879. Under his leadership, the union announced itself in 1881. One of their strengths was that it was a broad industrial union: all wage workers (skilled, unskilled, women, and minorities) were invited to join. They advocated for both economic and social reforms, such as the development of labor cooperatives, an eight-hour workday, and federal regulation of business. They preferred to use arbitration rather than violent strikes. Entered terminal decline after the Haymarket Square Riot.

 Leader of the Knights of Labor. Elected in 1879, he preferred use of arbitration to settle disputes between labor and management, rather than violent strikes.

On May 4, 1886, a rally in support of the eight-hour workday was held in Chicago’s Haymarket Square. When police began to break up what had been a peaceful public meeting, someone in the crowd threw a bomb at the police, and police fired into the crowd. Several dozens were killed. Rumors circulated that alleged the Knights of Labor were tried to the anarchist bombing, which fatally weakened the Knights. However, Haymarket Square ultimately became a global rallying point for the eight-hour workday. May Day began, in part, as an international commemoration for Haymarket Square.

Founded in 1886, the AFL was a federation of 20 craft unions (unions of skilled workers, each representing a particular trade). The AFL concentrated on what they considered to be basic economic issues, such as the eight-hour workday and higher wages, rather than social change. Because the AFL was made up of skilled rather than unskilled laborers, their workers could not be as easily replaced by scabs if a strike were called.

The practice of negotiating between owners and a designation group of employees that represent all other employees.

Businesses in which all employees had to be members of the union. Meant to deter exploitation of laborers by owners.

 The process of breaking a strike to avoid making concessions to workers, either through violence or through the use of replacement workers. In the nineteenth century, the government often sided with businesses, and would authorize the use of the National Guard or U.S. Army troops on striking workers.

A major strike in 1892 at the Carnegie Steel Company’s Homestead, Pennsylvania factory. After the workers went on strike, and the factory’s manager hired 300 private Pinkerton detectives to protect the plant and enable strikebreakers to enter and restart the steel operations. After an exchange of gunfire between the Pinkerton men and the workers, nine strikers and seven Pinkerton men were dead and many more people were wounded. Pennsylvania’s governor sent in 8,000 state militia to assist scabs to enter the mill. It was a major setback in unionizing the steel industry.

A company that manufactured sleeping cars for the railroads. Its owners constructed a “model town” for its employees outside Chicago, where the company controlled everything, to the point of only renting rather than selling homes to residents. When management, affected by the Panic of 1893, terminated half the workers and announced a 25 percent wage cut, Pullman Car workers went on strike. The protests spread nationwide. President Cleveland eventually intervened to break the strike. The Labor Day holiday was created as a conciliatory gesture towards U.S. labor in the aftermath of Pullman and other strikes, as an alternative to the more radical May Day.

Twenty-second and twenty-fourth President. Only president to serve non-consecutive terms, in 1885–1889 and 1893–1897. The first Democratic Party president since before the Civil War. Supported the gold standard. His second term was defined by the Panic of 1983, which caused a severe depression. Sent federal troops in to break up the Pullman Strike. His resolution of the Venezuelan crisis of 1895 began the reconciliation between the United States and British Empire.

A landmark 1895 Supreme Court case. It ruled that the use of court injunctions to break strikes was justified in the support of interstate commerce. In effect, the federal government had permitted employers to not deal with labor unions.

An idea articulated by historian Frederick Jackson Turner in 1893. He argued that the frontier’s existence shaped the American character: a propensity for democracy, egalitarianism, individualism, and violence, as well as a disinterest in high culture. However, by 1890 the U.S. had no unsettled lands left. The Frontier Thesis partly reflects a then-budding romanticization of the American West, leading to the preservation of wilderness by conservationist and such things as the name for Kennedy’s “New Frontier” agenda.

Nickname for an influx of immigrants to California in 1849 seeking riches in the gold rush. A number of immigrants were Chinese.

A third party formed in 1874 and disbanded in 1889. It existed alongside the Farmers’ Alliance. Its elements later merged into the Populist Party.

A law that provided a settler with 160 acres of land if he promised to live on it and work it for at least five years. About 500,000 families took advantage of the Homestead Act, while many more bought land from private purveyors. Unfortunately, the parcels of land on the Great Plains were difficult to farm, owing to lack of rain and hard-packed soil. Many homesteaders left the land behind and returned home.

A nickname for homesteaders on the Great Plains. Life was difficult there; drought was always a problem, and plagues of insects were a constant nuisance. About two-thirds of the original homesteaders left the Great Plains, draining the region of half of its population by the turn of the twentieth century.

Founded in 1867 by Oliver H. Kelley, it was a kind of fraternity of farmers and their families. The Grange sought to break the hold of railroad owners and middlemen who kept raising the cost of farming by charging exorbitant prices for shipping and storage. The Grangers gained cultivated significant political power, and they played an important part in the rise of the Populist Party.

Also known as the People’s Party. Their 1892 policy platform advocated for a silver standard, a graduated income tax, direct election of U.S. senators, and ownership of railroads, telegraph, and telephone lines. While the Populists won five Western states in the 1892 election, the Democrats absorbed their policies thanks to William Jennings Bryan.

Supreme Court ruling (1877) that held a state had the right to regulate the practices of a business if that business served the public interest. Because railroad transportation was very much in the public’s interest, according to the Court, state regulation of rates was appropriate. Despite these successes on the state level, federal laws still protected interstate commerce and allowed railroad companies to raise their long-haul rates in order to offset the losses on short hauls.

An 1887 law that which would regulate and investigate railroad companies that participated in interstate rail trafficking. The first example of the federal government regulating private industry in U.S. history.

Authorized under the Interstate Commerce Act, the ICC originally investigated railroad companies in order to ensure fair rates. However, in its early years the ICC lacked enforcement powers. Farmers did not gain much from its formation, as they lost most of the cases brought before it. In later decades, the ICC also regulated other sectors of interstate commerce, such as busing, telegraphs, and telephones. Dissolved in 1996.

 Sometimes called Custer’s Last Stand, it is the most famous victory of American Indian forces over the U.S. military (although not the largest in death toll). The Sioux killed over 260 troops and their leader, Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer. The Sioux were hunted down and killed by other U.S. forces.

A Lt. Colonel who marched his column of men deep into Sioux territory only to discover some 2,500 Sioux warriors waiting for them at the Little Big Horn River. He and his men were then destroyed at the Battle of Little Bighorn—also known as Custer’s Last Stand.

A Dakota Sioux movement that began in 1870. It intended to bring about a rebirth of native tradition and a repulsion of white incursion. As part of the U.S. government’s efforts to suppress it, the respected Sioux leader Sitting Bull, was killed.

A massacre of over 200 American Indian men, women, and children that took place in December 1890 in South Dakota. Over 20 soldiers involved were awarded the Medal of Honor.

An 1887 act which stripped tribes of their official federal recognition and land rights and would only grant individual families land and citizenship in 25 years if they properly assimilated. Former reservation land was sold, and the proceeds funded “civilizing” ventures for natives, such as so-called Indian Schools which were rampant with abuse and neglect. This forced-assimilation policy remained the federal government’s way of dealing with American Indians until 1934.

Landmark Supreme Court case (1896) that upheld segregation, codifying the doctrine of “separate but equal.” Partially overturned by Brown v. Board of Education. Functionally overturned by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Laws that enforced segregation, primarily but not exclusively in the South. The name references a famous nineteenth century blackface act called Jump Jim Crow.

A self-educated former slave, he advocated for the education of African Americans to allow them access to the growing economy. His Tuskegee Institute in Alabama was founded to instruct African Americans in the industrial arts and the ability to work within the system.

Prompted by racist attitudes toward Chinese immigrants in Los Angeles and San Francisco, this 1882 law restricted Chinese immigration to the United States.

Anti-immigrant activists in the nineteenth century. In this period, many native-born Americans were Protestants of English ancestry. They disliked the large numbers of Irish and Germans that began to arrive in the mid-1840s, especially due to their Roman Catholic faith, which attracted paranoia about them being a fifth column for the Pope. Many Central Europeans were also leftists fleeing from prosecution after the failed Revolutions of 1848. On the West Coast, Chinese immigrants prompted similar xenophobic sentiments.

A famous political machine in New York City. Led by Boss Tweed.

A famous leader of the Tammany Hall political machine. He and his fellow Irish gave aid to small business owners, immigrants, and the poor in exchange for votes. A muckraking 1871 news story exposed his corruption. Tweed fled the U.S., but was eventually captured by Spanish police. Died of heart failure in 1878.

 An authoritarian or oligarchical political organization that commands political influence, voting blocks, and corporate influence in such a way that they can decide (or strongly influence) the outcome of elections. Often corrupt and prone to political patronage. Usually active at the city level, but sometimes extends statewide. A target of reform during the Gilded Age.

A political cartoonist for Harper’s Weekly, became Boss Tweed’s archenemy as he drew scathing commentaries regarding the machine’s corruption and greed. His cartoons were so famous that they led to the fugitive Tweed’s 1876 capture in Spain.

An influential Protestant social justice movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It stated that Christians had an obligation to improve the lives of those less fortunate, especially the poor. Its leaders encouraged many middle-class Protestants to join reform efforts, such as those calling for laws banning child labor and making school compulsory for children. Essentially, it was the religious wing of the Progressive movement.

 A social reform movement led by young female activists, as they could not become involved in the political process. It aimed to achieve social reform through mixed-incoming house, with people of different classes living in one house. These houses often offered education and daycare. The most famous of the settlement houses was Hull House in Chicago (1889).

 A pioneer in the field of social work and winner of the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize, Addams is a major figure of the Progressive Era. She innovated on the concept of the settlement house by having immigrants live with college-educated people in order to ease their transition into American society. Settlement house guests were taught courses in English, hygiene, and cooking. Addams and others also pioneered some of the first instruction in child care. Later, the pacifist Addams strongly opposed World War I and U.S. entry into it.

A long-running social justice movement that sought to reduce the consumption of alcohol. The Victorian ideal of strict moral decorum and the concern over Catholic immigration led to its revival after the Civil War. The movement eventually hardened into a prohibition movement. Served as a stand-in for social issues that could not be discussed openly, such as domestic violence, and also as a soft form of nativism against German and Irish Americans.

Founded in 1873, the group believed that prohibition would diminish threats to women and families that they saw as the direct result of alcohol over-consumption: domestic violence, misspent wages, and adultery. Later advocated for women’s suffrage under the leadership of Frances Willard. Conducted missionary work.

A Christian socialist who advocated for women’s suffrage and for prohibition. She became President of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union in 1879, giving the movement new life by adding a focus on lobbying for laws to prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages.

Founded in 1893, the ASL quickly became the nation’s leading prohibition advocacy group. It pushed aside earlier groups, like the WCTU, by incorporating modern business management practice to better foster its organization and goals.

A Kentucky-born member of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. Inspired by the death of her alcoholic husband, she traveled the U.S. smashing up bars with her trademark hatchet. She also crusaded against the evils of smoking tobacco, fought for women’s suffrage, and railed against the restrictive women’s fashions of the day.

The application of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution to society, specifically the concept of “survival of the fittest.” It attempted to explain economic and social differences by arguing that wealth belonged in the hands of those who were most fit to manage it. Many Social Darwinists believed that giving assistance to the poor went against the natural order.

An economic theory that argues the economy is best stimulated by low taxes for both businesses and the wealthy, thus allowing them to accumulate capital to spend. Thus, society as a whole benefits.

An American novelist famous in the latter-half of the nineteenth century for his “rags-to-riches” stories, such as Ragged Dick, that were intended to inspire the poor to become wealthy industrialists. This character arc trope became known as the “Horatio Alger myth.”

American suffragist and abolitionist who co-founded the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) in 1890 with Susan B. Anthony. Attended the Seneca Falls conference and was the principal author of the Declaration of Sentiments.

A noted abolitionist and women’s suffragist. She co-founded the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) in 1890. Died in 1906.

 Formed in 1890, it combined the once rival National Woman Suffrage Association and American Woman Suffrage Association to fight for a woman’s right to vote. The NAWSA organized several hundred state and local chapters.

A period from the 1870s to 1900. While marked by massive economic growth due to industrialization, it also led to equally massive economic inequality. Backlash to this period manifested in the reforms of the Progressive Era.

 A notable American landscape architect. He established open spaces in cities by designing spacious, densely planted, meticulously planned parks. His most famous and influential work is the landscaping of Central Park in New York City.

 A pioneer of yellow journalism in the 1880s and rival to William Randolph Hearst. He was associated with the Democratic Party in New York. Today best remembered for establishing the Pulitzer Prize, an award for achievements in journalism.

 A pioneer of yellow journalism in the 1880s and rival to Joseph Pulitzer. Owned a media empire. He was associated with the progressive movement. Today, he is best remembered for helping kick off the Spanish-American War with his news coverage, as well as for the thinly veiled portrayal of his biography in the 1941 classic Citizen Kane.