THE GILDED AGE. Background What does “gilded” mean? – Thin gold coating – Term coined by Mark Twain – U.S. Society/Politics looked shiny on the outside,

THE GILDED AGE

Background• What does “gilded” mean?–Thin gold coating–Term coined by Mark Twain–U.S. Society/Politics looked shiny

on the outside, but underneath were dirty & corrupt

Background• What was happening in

the U.S.?–Reconstruction was ending– Industrialization booming–Economy growing• Division between classes

was wide–Rich = Extremely Wealthy,

Poor = Working Class

Background• Immigration Wave– Peaked between 1880-1920– Many from Germany, Ireland, and Eastern

Europe– Lived in tenement housing and worked in

factories• Made very little money• Poor living conditions

Row of tenement housing in Johnstown, PA

Tenement Apartment in NY

WEALTHY BUSINESSMEN• Andrew Carnegie – Steel industry, Gave most of

his money to charities

• John D. Rockefeller– Oil industry, “richest

person in history”

• Andrew Mellon– Banking and Industry

WEALTHY BUSINESSMEN• Viewed as “robber barons”– Exploited workers in order to gain wealth• Unsafe working conditions• Long hours• Little pay

• Eliminated competition by forming monopolies

WORKERS CALL FOR CHANGE

• Rise of Labor Unions– Knights of Labor, American Federation of Labor

• Protests and Strikes– Often violent (bombs, riots, deaths)– Railroad Strikes, Pullman Strike– Homestead Strike

• Pittsburgh, PA (1892), slashed wages, locked out workers, strike

• Violent – gunfire; state militia called in• Union leaders blacklisted, unions eliminated from

Homestead

HAYMARKET SQUARE RIOT• Chicago, 1886• Prior Day – 4 laborers killed

at strike• Laborers, Anarchists, and

Socialists gathered to protest

• Bomb thrown at police, riot begins, shots fired

• 7 police officers and 1 civilian killed

• 8 men arrested and tried in relation to the riot