Rapid Industrialization
This transportation network expanded rapidly after the Civil War and fueled industrial growth by moving goods and raw materials.
What are railroads?
Unregulated and unsanitary multi-family apartment buildings primarily housing immigrant laborers in major cities like New York.
What are tenements?
Tightly organized, influential political entities that maintained power by controlling votes and local governance through patronage, corruption, and social services.
What are political machines?
Progressives helped expand democracy by giving citizens the power to vote directly for U.S. senators through this 1913 amendment.
What is the 17th Amendment?
This Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist led the massive expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century, becoming one of the richest people in history.
Who is Andrew Carnegie?
Revolutionized by the Bessemer process, this industry supplied the material used to build railroads, factories, bridges, and skyscrapers.
What is the steel industry?
This growing social issue arose as industrial workers struggled with low wages, long hours, and child labor, leading to the formation of labor unions.
What are labor strikes or the "Great Upheaval"
This system allowed citizens to propose new statutes or constitutional amendments directly on the ballot, bypassing state legislatures.
What is initiative?
Settlement houses, like Jane Addams' Hull House, helped immigrants access education, childcare, and healthcare.
What is social reform or support for immigrants?
This African American scholar and activist co-founded the NAACP and argued for immediate civil rights and higher education for Black Americans.
Who is W.E.B. DuBois?
Through practices like horizontal integration and trust formation, this company came to dominate over 90% of the nation's oil refining and create incredibly profitable monopolies.
What is Standard Oil?
The rapid growth of factories and coal-powered cities released large amounts of smoke, soot, and industrial waste, creating this widespread problem that affected air and water quality.
What is pollution?
After tragedies like the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, Progressive reformers pushed for these laws to limit working hours, protect women and children, and improve factory working conditions.
What are workplace safety laws?
The work of muckrakers like Ida Tarbell led to greater government oversight over the breaking up of monopolies and trusts that stifled competition, exploited consumers, and engaged in unethical practices.
What is trust-busting?
This notoriously corrupt American politician who led New York City's Tammany Hall political machine gained vast wealth through graft, kickbacks, and controlling city contracts.
William "Boss" Tweed
This 1876 invention helped accelerate corporate expansion and national integration during industrialization by shrinking the limits of distance.
What is the telephone?
Overcrowded cities with contaminated water and failing sewage systems during the Gilded Age sparked reformers to push for changes in this area
What are public health and sanitation reforms?
Ratified in 1913, this amendment allowed to federal government to collect income taxes, giving it funds to support reforms and social programs.
What is the 16th Amendment?
This 1908 Supreme Court case an Oregon law limiting women's work hours to 10 per day, paving the way for protective labor laws for women for decades.
What is Muller v. Oregon?
This Progressive leader promoted the Square Deal, enforced the Sherman Antitrust Act against monopolies, and supported conservation through national parks.
Who is Theodore Roosevelt?
This business strategy allowed companies to lower costs and increase efficiency by controlling every step of production, from the collection of raw materials to product distribution.
What is vertical integration?
Powerful corporations dominated entire industries during the Gilded Age, prompting reformers to push for these laws to break up monopolies and protect consumers.
What are antitrust laws?
What is the Pure Food and Drug Act?
What is the Federal Reserve Act?
This Progressive leader supported the Federal Reserve Act, the Clayton Antichrist Act, and expanded government regulation of business under his "New Freedom" program.
Who is Woodrow Wilson?