The Gilded Age: Is Progress Always Positive?

Gold-Plated Era

100

The time period from the 1870s–1900s with new technology and huge inequality.

Gilded Age

200

The word “gilded” means something cheap covered with a thin layer of this metal.

Gold

300

The author who created the term “Gilded Age.”

Mark Twain

400

This term describes wealthy businessmen like Carnegie and Rockefeller (Three words).

Titans of Industry

500

During the Gilded Age, most people were either very rich or very poor. This is called wealth ______.

Inequality

All That Glitters is Gold

100

This invention let people talk across long distances without waiting for mail.

Telephone

200

 This invention let businesses stay open after sunset and workers work longer hours.

Light bulb

300

This invention helped cities grow “up” because land was limited in big places like New York

Elevator

400

This invention helped connect different parts of the country by letting people travel faster.

Automobile

500

The Titans of the Industry helped fund parks, libraries, and museums. This is called ______.

Philanthropy/Charity

Rust Under the Gold

100

Overcrowded apartment buildings with poor conditions are called _________. 

Tenements

200

Children working long hours in factories and mines is called this

Child Labor

300

Many tenements had no clean water, no proper plumbing, and no garbage system, which made people spread  _{______.} 
 

Disease 

400

Unsafe factory jobs often caused injuries because there were few safety ______. 

Regulations (rules)

500

This 1906 act required clean food and honest labels.

Pure Food and Drug Act

Was It Worth It?

100

Progress was positive because ______.

Technology/Invention/economic growth evidence

200

Progress was not always positive because ______.

Living conditions/child labor evidence/working conditions/food safety 

300

One example that shows BOTH sides of progress is ______.

Light bulb, industrial growth, philanthropy

400

Which group benefited more during the Gilded Age: wealthy businessmen or workers? Give one piece of evidence.

Any claim + valid support

businessmen made huge profits / workers had low wages and poor conditions

500

Why do historians say the Gilded Age looked successful on the outside but had serious problems underneath? Give one example.

Any explanation of “gilded” + evidence

Stand on Business

100

Give one example of progress during the Gilded Age.

Any correct example (telephone, light bulb, automobile, elevators, industrial growth, philanthropy, etc.)

200

Give one example of a negative aspect of the Gilded Age

Child labor, tenements, unsafe factories

300

Give one invention that helped the economy.

Any valid example + explanation of how

400

Which helped workers more: inventions or laws? Give evidence.

Any claim + support

500

What mattered more to businesses during the Gilded Age: making more money or improving workers’ lives? give evidence

Any clear claim + accurate evidence
(longer hours for production, child labor, unsafe factories, focus on profit)