The triangle fire and the gilded age A brief introduction
Feb 23, 2016
The triangle fire and the gilded age
A brief introduction
The Triangle factory fire• Workers
concentrated in factories
• Workers concentrated in urban areas
• Workers were mostly immigrants
• Workers respond by attempting to form unions
• Government responds by passing progressive laws
Main themesNow
• Industrialization
• Urbanization
• Growing inequality
Later• Immigration
• Unionization
• Progressive reforms
Two historical eras
• The Gilded Age• Roughly 1870-1900• Tremendous economic growth and increasing
inequality
• The Progressive Era• Roughly 1900-1916• Political reforms aimed at expanding women’s
and workers’ rights and making government more democratic
• The era in which the US becomes a modern nation?
industrialization• Technological innovation• Factory production• More people working in
factories• Women• Children
• Tremendous economic growth
urbanization• People leave farms and flock to cities
• 1800: 5% of population in cities• 1920: 50% of population in cities
• Reasons for urbanization:• Pull of factory work• Immigrants seek other immigrants
• Changes in cities• Transportation systems (Tremont St.
Subway, 1897)• Tenements; unsanitary living conditions• Skyscrapers (Ames Building, 1893)
Chicago, 1820Population 15
Chicago, 1854Population 55,000
Chicago, 1898Population 1,700,000
inequality• Extreme wealth and extreme poverty• Robber barons/captains of industry
• J.D. Rockefeller (1839-1937)• Standard Oil (founded 1870)• Vertical integration• Monopoly
• Urban poverty• Low wages, long hours, dire conditions• Women and children working