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The Gilded Age

The Gilded Age. To cover with or as if with a thin layer of gold. To give an often deceptively attractive or improved appearance to. . Think of ALL the topics we have covered this year – what examples apply to this definition?.

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The Gilded Age

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  1. The Gilded Age • To cover with or as if with a thin layer of gold. • To give an often deceptively attractive or improved appearance to. Think of ALL the topics we have covered this year – what examples apply to this definition?

  2. "What is the chief end of man?--to get rich. In what way?--dishonestly if we can; honestly if we must.“ Mark Twain During the "Gilded Age," every man was a potential Andrew Carnegie, and Americans who achieved wealth celebrated it as never before. In New York, the opera, the theatre, and lavish parties consumed the ruling class' leisure hours. Sherry's Restaurant hosted formal horseback dinners for the New York Riding Club. Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish once threw a dinner party to honor her dog who arrived sporting a $15,000 diamond collar.

  3. While the rich wore diamonds, many wore rags. In 1890, 11 million of the nation's 12 million families earned less than $1200 per year; of this group, the average annual income was $380, well below the poverty line. Rural Americans and new immigrants crowded into urban areas. Tenements spread across city landscapes, teeming with crime and filth. Americans had sewing machines, phonographs, skyscrapers, and even electric lights, yet most people labored in the shadow of poverty.

  4. To those who worked in Carnegie's mills and in the nation's factories and sweatshops, the lives of the millionaires seemed immodest indeed. An economist in 1879 noted "a widespread feeling of unrest and brooding revolution." Violent strikes and riots wracked the nation through the turn of the century. The middle class whispered fearfully of "carnivals of revenge." Europeans were aghast. America may have had money and factories, they felt, but it lacked sophistication.

  5. WHICH ONE IS TRUE? • Grant’s Treasury Department officers demanded bribes from importers if they wanted their goods to be processed efficiently. • Voters would have a beard to vote in order to commit voter fraud convincingly. • President Garfield was assassinated by a man who was overlooked for a political job. • President Grant’s Secretary of War was impeached for a Whiskey Ring Scandal. • Republican Congressman, including future President Garfield, were involved in stock fraud with the railroads. ALL ARE TRUE

  6. The Gilded Age and the Progressive MovementText page 662 • Political machines were run by bosses and committed acts of voter fraud to control the government. • Machine bosses provided many free services to citizens to win votes and gave jobs to supporters. They highly overspent their means. • Corruption also existed in the federal government. • It was suggested that government employees would take an exam before being highered. Stuffed ballots, paid voters, voted numerous times, bribes William Tweed stole up to $200 million from the city, Tammany Hall intimidated voters Pendleton Act

  7. Reforms John Dewey Tenement House Act – settlement houses, Engineers improved, transportation and sanitation • Reformers worked to help the urban poor. • Progressives believed education would lead to a better society. • Improving the medical field. • Progressives tried to clean up politics. Attendance requirements, kindergarten programs, problem solving vs. memorization American Medical Association, increased education to public Voting: Seventeenth Amendment, recall, initiative, referendum Robert LaFollette : Wisconsin Governor, pushed for reform

  8. Can you define… Then try to match! • Allows voters to directly elect US Senators • Powerful organizations that used legal and illegal methods to get candidates into office • Allowed voters to approve or reject a law that had already been proposed • Journalists who exposed corruption and problems in society • Method of allowing voters to propose a new law if enough signatures are collected on a petition • A group of reformers who worked for improvements • A vote to remove an official from office • Political machines • Progressives • Muckrakers • 17th Amendment • Recall • Initiative • Referendum

  9. Progressive Reforms - disease - secret ballots - sanitation - education - 17th Amend. - transportation - housing - recall - housing - poverty - initiative - crime - referendum

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