U.S. History – Unit 1 – Points to Remember – Settling the West and the Gilded Age
Important Points to Remember –Settling the West and the Gilded Age
Topics
General
Characteristics
of Westward
Expansion
Point
1
Events leading
to the settlement
of the west
2
3
4
5
6
Political Policies
toward Native
Americans
7
Summary
Westward Expansion, after the Civil War, actually refers to the settlement of the
west that occurs after the Civil War comes to an end in 1865 and as
Reconstruction continues from 1865 to 1877. Westward Expansion originally
started in the early 1800s with the purchase of the Louisiana Territory, expands
with the San Francisco Gold Rush of 1849, and continues until California is
annexed in 1860. However, the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 made it
difficult for the west to get settled and the country really got settled once the war
was over. The Klondike Gold Rush of 1896 expands the population in the west as
people moved to the west and Canada in order to try and capitalize on gold found
in northwestern Canada.
Henry Comstock discovered a huge amount of silver in Six-Mile Canyon, Nevada
which allowed the town of Virginia City, Nevada to become a boom town over
night. Unfortunately, when the silver ran out, the town became a ghost town just
as quickly. The find of silver became known as the Comstock Load.
During the post-Reconstruction era, mining grew throughout the west in areas like
Colorado, the Dakota Territories and the Rocky Mountains. Cattle drives across
vast areas of grasslands known as the open range helped improve the cattle
industry, particularly with long drives where cattle were driven north and sold for
10 times the price of what they would be sold for in the south.
• Chisholm Trail went from Texas to Abilene, Kansas.
• Barbed wire puts an end to the open ranges because ranchers fence off huge
chunks of land so that they can keep track of their cattle
Homestead Act (1862)– a person could file for a homestead (tract of public land
available for settlement) with $10 and live in it for five years, then get a title for
the land. This makes it so that people are motivated to settle the land and work it.
Wheat withstood drought better than other crops so it became the most important
crop of the Great Plains. Dry farming was used to plant seeds deep in the ground
where there was enough moisture for it to grow and farmers who plowed the soil
in the Great Plains were known as sodbusters. Large farms of wheat were known
as bonanza farms.
The Pacific Railway Act passed by Abraham Lincoln before his death allowed for
the expansion of railroad systems throughout the U.S., particularly between the
Union and Pacific Railway systems who were offered land along the way (land
grants) as they built the transcontinental railroad. Railroad investors bribed
congressmen in order to get them to pass more land grants because they could
make more money that way. When the Union and Pacifica Railway systems
merged, the Transcontinental Railroad was created and towns began to spring up
around the railway system, expanding the settlement of the west. Because people
were able to move families from one area to another very quickly, mass transit
became an important factor in settling the west and eventually the development of
urban centers through urbanization.
Natives were being forced into reservations in the Great Plains. Chief Little Crow,
Chief Red Cloud (Fetterman’s Massacre), Chief Black Kettle (Sand Creek
Massacre) lead several uprisings that lead to the development of the Indian Peace
Commission by Congress, which ultimately proposed the development of
additional reservations.
Mr. M.A. Rivera
Points to Remember – West and the Gilded Age
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U.S. History – Unit 1 – Points to Remember – Settling the West and the Gilded Age
Important Points to Remember –Settling the West and the Gilded Age
Topics
Point
8
General
Characteristics
of the Gilded
Age
9
Industrialization,
Urbanization,
and Immigration
10
11
12
13
Summary
U.S. passes the Dawes Act in 1887 in an effort to assimilate (or absorb) Natives
into American culture. They break up reservations into allotments in an effort to
give Natives their own land. Many natives were put into Indian Schools with the
attempt to get them to learn the “American Way of Life” and further their
assimilation. The Dawes Act and assimilation fail because Natives did not want to
assimilate and there were no real financial benefits to the allotments.
Many Native American tribes fought to maintain their sovereignty off of
reservations because they did not want to accept assimilation. Battles between
Union troops after the Civil War and Native tribes in the Southwest and Great
Plains of the United States in what became known as the Indian Wars. A group of
Lakota natives left their land to hunt in the Bighorn Mountains. General George
A. Custer is sent out to follow the Natives and he and his troops are killed by the
Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and the Lakota Sioux. Sitting Bull and his natives fled
to Canada after killing 264 soldiers. This event is known as Custer’s Last Stand.
Within two years, Crazy Horse was captured and many of the Sioux were forced
onto reservations. In 1890, a group of 300 Sioux men, women and children were
killed by machine guns in Wounded Knee, South Dakota. This became known as
the Wounded Knee Massacre.
The Gilded Age refers to a time period between 1870 and 1900 when crime
increased, political machines and party bosses contributed to corruption between
government and business, fire and pollution developed in cities, contaminated
water and improper sewage contributed to epidemics like cholera and typhoid
fever, and yet there was a time of growth in the country. “Gilded” refers to
something being golden on the outside, yet rotten on the inside.
As industry grew because technology such as the light bulb allowed people to
work through the night, and corporate giants such as Rockefeller, Carnegie,
Morgan and Vanderbilt continued to make a lot of money, they continued to hire
people to work the factories in the cities. Industrialization, or the rapid growth of
industry and business, usually as a result of technology and innovation. was one
of the causes of urbanization, the rapid growth of cities.
Skyscrapers were built by people like Chicagoan Louis Sullivan because there
was a demand for larger, taller buildings in cities due to living confinements.
Meanwhile, there was a separation of classes in urban life. The wealthy tended to
live in the heart of the city while middle class people like doctors, lawyers, and
teachers lived toward the outer part of the city. The poorer people tended to live in
tenements, or dark and crowded multi-family apartments.
Vaudeville (French theater that combined animal acts, acrobats, gymnasts, and
dancers), ragtime music, amusement parks such as Coney Island, and watching
sports such as baseball, football, and basketball all became more popular
throughout the Gilded Age.
Immigrants moved into the U.S. in huge numbers between 1870 and 1900, nearly
tripling from about 10 million people to about 30 million. The U.S. offered
employment, few immigration restrictions, avoidance of military service, religious
freedom, and the chance to move up the social ladder, all of which attracted
immigrants to the United States in huge numbers.
Ellis Island (New York) was the place on the East Coast where most people from
eastern Europe ended up. Angel Island (San Francisco) was the place on the West
Coast where most people from Asia ended up. Some faced the possibility of
separating from family or possibly being sent back due to illness or disease.
Mr. M.A. Rivera
Points to Remember – West and the Gilded Age
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U.S. History – Unit 1 – Points to Remember – Settling the West and the Gilded Age
Important Points to Remember –Settling the West and the Gilded Age
Topics
Point
14
15
16
Big Business,
Economic
Growth, the
Government’s
Laissez Faire
Attitude
17
18
19
20
Summary
Immigrants remained in the cities working long hours for little pay but the
standard of living had gone up overall. Farmers also began moving to cities for
better-paying jobs, electricity, running water, plumbing and entertainment; this
also contributed to urbanization.
Immigrants who learned English, adapted to American culture, skilled immigrants,
those who had money, and those who lived among their own ethnic group tended
to adjust more easily and successfully. Assimilation was an important step in
helping immigrants become part of the “American Way of Life.” Those
immigrants that assimilated quickly were more likely to get better-paying jobs and
live a better quality of life. Those that did not struggled politically and socially.
Nativism was directed to Asian, Jews and Eastern Europeans in the early 1900’s,
while it had been directed toward the Irish in the 1840’s and 1850’s. In 1882,
Congress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act which barred Chinese immigration for
10 years and prevented Chinese in America from becoming citizens. It was
renewed in 1892, made permanent in 1902, and not repealed until 1943.
Huge industrial growth happens between 1865 and 1914 as the gross national
product (GNP), or total value of goods and services produced by a country, is 8
times what it was at the end of the Civil War.
 Transcontinental railroad makes it easy to move resources from one place
to another
 Entrepreneurs were people who risked their own capital in an effort to
grow a business and make more money
Government did not interfere with industry (laissez-faire attitude), limited tariffs,
and encouraged innovation and invention:
• Inventions such as the telephone (1876) by Bell, the phonograph (record
player), light bulb, electric generator, Dictaphone (recorder), and motion
picture by Thomas Edison, the power-driven sewing machine, and cloth
cutters all helped industry grow.
Integrated railroad cars help to shift the direction of a railroad car from one
direction in the country to a different one.
Social Darwinism was the idea that human society evolved through competition
and through competition society would become better and those who did not
would eventually “die out.” Herbert Spencer applied Charles Darwin’s Theory of
Evolution and Natural Selection to human society, and said that society improved
because the strongest would move forward. Realism was a movement in art and
literature that portrayed people in realistic situations instead of ideal or romantic
situations.
Industrial leaders, also known as Captains of Industry, agreed with Spencer’s
Social Darwinism and Andrew Carnegie was among the U.S.’s industrial giants at
the time. He had grown the U.S. Steel Company monopoly and had taken over the
steel corporations through deals and contracts. John D. Rockefeller created
Standard Oil through by building a trust that merged businesses without breaking
laws. J.P. Morgan made most of his money through banking and combining
industrial corporations at the time. Cornelius Vanderbilt built most of his wealth
through industry in the railroad companies and shipping of materials through the
use of his railroads. People who generally opposed these industrial giants’
methods for becoming wealthier called them robber barons because they took
advantage of others (robbed others) to get their wealth.
Mr. M.A. Rivera
Points to Remember – West and the Gilded Age
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U.S. History – Unit 1 – Points to Remember – Settling the West and the Gilded Age
Important Points to Remember –Settling the West and the Gilded Age
Topics
Point
21
22
Corruption in
Urban Politics,
and the Attempt
at Civil Service
Reform
23
24
25
The Masses
Respond to
Inequalities in
Industrialization
and Urbanization
26
27
Summary
Corporations grew between the 1860’s and 1910’s. Corporations were owned by
many people but treated by law as if it was a single person. Stockholders were
people who own a piece of a corporation, each piece or share of ownership is
called a stock.
• Corporations could produce more goods cheaply and efficiently.
• All businesses have two kinds of costs: fixed (which a company has to
pay whether or not it is doing business such as loans, mortgages, taxes),
and operating (that occur when a company is operating such as wages,
shipping charges, and supplies).
•
There are different types of companies. Vertically integrated companies own all
the different things related to one area of the company. For example, a meat
company would own the trains to transport cattle, the trucks to transport frozen
meat, the factories to pack the meat, etc. Horizontally integrated companies take
lots of companies doing the same thing and combine them. For example, GM takes
Saturn, Pontiac, Chevrolet, and other car companies and combines them.
Monopolies occur when a company takes hold of an entire market. AT&T was
once ruled a monopoly by the Supreme Court and was ordered to break up.
The Democrats and Republicans by the late 1800’s are well organized, while the
Republicans win most of the presidential races between 1876 and 1896, the
elections in 1876 and 1888 were so close that the presidential candidates lost the
popular vote, but won the electoral votes. Republicans win most, Democrats
control the HOR and Republicans who control the Senate don’t necessarily agree
with the president on most issues.
Something that contributed to the corruption in government were the political
machines, an informal political groups designed to gain and keep power, provided
essentials to city dwellers in exchange for votes. Party bosses ran the political
machines. George Plunket, an Irish immigrant, was one of New York City’s most
powerful party bosses.The party bosses had tight control of the city’s money.
Many of the politicians became wealthy due to fraud or graft—getting money
through dishonest or questionable means. The most famous New York Democratic
political machine was Tammany Hall also known as the Tweed Ring. During the
1860s and 1870s, Tammany Hall’s boss was William M. Tweed. He was arrested
for corruption and sent to prison in 1872.
The spoils system is a system where people allowed others they knew to work for
them, or patronage. This was, by the late 1870’s considered to be a form of
corruption. By 1883, the Pendleton Act was passed and forced people to apply for
government jobs by taking a test. These government jobs were known as civil
service. People who liked patronage were called “Stalwarts,” while people who
were in favor of reforming civil service were called “Halfbreeds.”
Unions formed in response to poor working conditions. Trade unions focused on
specific skills while industrial unions combined skilled workers with laborers in
one particular industry.
• To be blacklisted means to be put on a list of people who had been
troublemakers; union organizers were often blacklisted
• If unions were formed, companies might use lockouts (keeping workers
locked out without pay) or strikebreakers (people who would work in
order to replace the labor strikers) in order to continue business as usual.
Marxism, based on the ideas of Karl Marx was popular in Europe because he
believed that the class struggle between workers and owners would eventually lead
Mr. M.A. Rivera
Points to Remember – West and the Gilded Age
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U.S. History – Unit 1 – Points to Remember – Settling the West and the Gilded Age
Important Points to Remember –Settling the West and the Gilded Age
Topics
Point
28
29
39
31
32
The Government
Responds to
Social Issues
33
34
Summary
to a revolt that would implement socialism: the idea that everyone in a given
society is responsible for producing through their own labor, receiving the benefits
of their labor and making class structures disappear.
The first nationwide organized labor union, the Knights of Labor was formed in
the late 1870’s. They demanded an 8-hour work day, a government bureau of labor
statistics, equal pay for women, and end to child labor, and worker-owned
factories. The wanted arbitration – a process where an impartial third party helps
mediate between workers and management.
The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was formed by 20 of the nation’s trade
unions with 3 goals: 1) get companies to recognize unions and agree to collective
bargaining; 2) push for closed shops, where companies could only hire union
members; and 3) to promote an 8-hour work day. The AFL grew to over 500,000
members. Samuel Gompers became a national figure as he led the labor union
through huge growth and improved workers’ rights across the country. He worked
for shorter hours and higher wages through collective bargaining, the idea that the
corporation had to have one single contract for everyone working in one position
to ensure equality and make sure there were standards for employment.
A second increase in industry resulted in a need for better-trained workers; this
increased the amount of education being offered. The number of colleges, libraries
and grammar schools (now divided into 8 grades) increased dramatically during
this time.
• Booker T. Washington founded the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama in
1881.
• The Morrill Land Grant Act gave federal land grants to states for the
purposes of establishing agricultural and mechanical colleges.
Christian movements also made their way through reform attempts. The Social
Gospel movement aimed to improve social problems through “Christian Law.”
The idea of the movement was based on bettering conditions in the city through
charity and justice such as gyms, social programs and daycare. Jane Addams was
part of the settlement house movement, which aimed at providing better living
conditions to the poor by providing many homeless a place to live. Hull House
was the name of the Addams’ settlement house and provided medical care,
recreation programs, and English classes.
Andrew Carnegie wrote the “Gospel of Wealth,” an article aimed at convincing
people that society must take care to avoid having money fall into the wrong
hands. In his article, Carnegie states that philanthropy, or giving back to society
based on extensive wealth, was an important responsibility of the wealthy. He felt
that the rich must make sure that the money that they earned be given back to
society in some way. As a result, Carnegie established libraries, the Carnegie
foundation, which uses charity to give money back to society based on specific
goals, and artistic venues such as Carnegie Hall.
1886 - Wabash v. Illinois – Demos and Republicans believe that govt. should not
interfere in corporations’ property rights (laissez-faire), Supreme Court rules that
the state of Illinois could not restrict rates charged for interstate commerce, only
the federal govt. could. 1887 – Interstate Commerce Commission is signed into
law.
Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 – makes trusts (making a company that represents
another business with the intent of developing a monopoly) illegal, but the court
Mr. M.A. Rivera
Points to Remember – West and the Gilded Age
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U.S. History – Unit 1 – Points to Remember – Settling the West and the Gilded Age
Important Points to Remember –Settling the West and the Gilded Age
Topics
Point
35
36
37
38
39
Summary
does little to enforce it.
Populism – a political belief or philosophy aimed at defending the interests of
common people against self-serving elite, begins to take hold, particularly among
farming communities in the 1890’s.
• Inflation – amount of money being distributed grows quickly while there
are not as many goods for sale. The money is not as important and the
prices of products go up.
• Deflation – Congress stops making silver coins, stops making greenbacks,
and country doesn’t have enough money to meet the supply needs, value
of money goes up and prices on things go down.
Farmers’ organizations such as the Grange (which was not that strong) and the
Farmers’ Alliance work to organize large cooperatives for the purpose of forcing
farm prices up and making loans for farmers at low interest rates.
The People’s Party, or Populists, worked to help farmers solve their problems.
They held their first convention in 1892 and wanted a graduated income tax, a tax
that taxes higher earnings more heavily. The Panic of 1893 caused by the
bankruptcy of Philadelphia and Reading Railroads resulted in a stock market
crash, closing of many banks and by 1894, a deep depression.
William McKinley wins the election of 1896 by promising workers a “full dinner
pail” and business leaders liked him because he didn’t like the idea of using silver
as the country’s currency. Major gold strikes in Alaska and Canada make the use
of silver outdated and so the Populist Party also dies out.
African Americans were repressed, discriminated against and given barriers after
the 15th Amendment had been put into play. Black Codes were sets of laws that
described the role of African-Americans as inferior to whites and oftentimes made
it impossible for them to progress socially and economically.
• Racism was a means to get the poor white vote in southern states
• 1890 – Mississippi imposes a poll tax which required people to pay a tax
before they could register to vote. They also required a literacy test and
because African Americans were given no education, they did not pass the
tests – other states followed – African American and poor whites voting
numbers dropped dramatically.
• Segregation (separation by race) was imposed by the Jim Crow Laws –
laws that allowed “separate but equal” but equal was never the case.
• Plessey v. Ferguson – another important court case where the Supreme
Court endorsed “separate but equal” facilities for African Americans –
legal basis for discrimination – 50 years
• 1883 – Supreme Court rules that private organizations and businesses
were free to practice segregation
• 100’s of lynchings took place in the south, (executions without proper
court proceedings) – most were African Americans
• Booker T. Washington – African American educator who believed AAs
should focus on achieving economics rather than political or legal goals
• W.E.B. Dubois – challenged Booker T. in – said Blacks should demand
their rights, especially voting rights to gain full equality.
Mr. M.A. Rivera
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