Vocab
what is a robber baron?
Someone who becomes rich through ruthless business practices
Name 2 well-known businessmen of the time
Morgan, Carnegie, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt
Name 3 examples of poor living conditions in tenements
crowded, multiple families sharing one bathroom (often outside), poorly lit, disease spread fast, poor ventilation
What is a Pullman car?
sleeping cars on trains, passengers treated like royalty
What are tenements?
buildings divided into small apartments as a result of a housing shortage – families shared one room, poor living conditions. Urban living expanded upward not side to side
Who was Henry Frick and what is his role during the Homestead Strike?
Carnegie's plant manager; hired Pinkertons (private detectives) to come in and guard the replacement workers, erupted in violence and many dead
What is the difference between old money and new money?
Old money: inherited money, restraint, manners, wealthy, modest, suspicious of social climbers
New money: self-made wealth, immensely wealthy, flaunty, showy
Give an example of a push factor and an example of a pull factor
push: famine, poverty, crop failures, job shortages
pull: economic opportunity, religious & social freedom
What does the term Gilded Age mean?
looks beautiful on the outside, but underneath there is a huge wealth gap, harsh living conditions, political corruption
Who is Sitting Bull and what is he known for?
Chief of the Sioux tribe, victory against white settlers led by General Custer
What is the difference between blue collar and white collar workers?
Blue-collar workers: worked in factories, wore rougher clothing because they were working jobs that were dangerous and they could get dirty in
White-collar workers: worked jobs where their collars would be kept clean, careers, middle class, office buildings, no physical labor
What was the effect of westward expansion on Native Americans?
Native Americans suffered
Bison gone, whites moved in on their land, kidnapped children
Population went from 150K to 30K
In general, kicked off land, encourage to assimilate
what does the term "laissez-faire" mean?
lack of government involvement, particularly in economics
Who was Horatio Alger?
a children's book author who believed in the idea of "luck and pluck"
What was the experience for immigrants arriving at Ellis Island?
-crowded & unpleasant ship conditions
-literacy test and medical inspection upon arrival at Ellis Island
-marked with certain medical conditions, often changed their name to make it more Americanized
-often discriminated against, moved into cultural neighborhoods within larger cities that spoke their native language and ate native food
What party did Mary Elizabeth lease belong to and what were her beliefs?
Populist party
They believe industrial capitalism discriminates against them
They feel that both other parties are under the thumb of big business and too corrupt
Want to do something drastic
Explain how Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory "survival of the fittest" could be applied to humans during this time.
growth of big business was a product of survival of the fittest and the government should not interfere with business
what was Henry George's main point in his writing?
poverty is not a person's fault but rather due to flaws in the economic system -- very revolutionary thinking for the time period
What countries were immigrants mostly coming from during this time? What piece of legislation changed this?
Italy, Ireland, China
Chinese Exclusion Act
What challenges were farmers facing during this time period?
Railroads were “the engines of industrialization” especially on the plains → need for shipping for American farmers, feeding the cities on east coast and European cities
Farmers were not seeing benefits → prices declining, expensive to ship crops to market
Few laws to limit lenders from charging outrageous interest rates
Railroads were the only ways to get their goods to markets