Unit 6: 1865-1898
The transformation of the United States from an agricultural to an increasingly industrialized and urbanized society brought about significant economic, political, diplomatic, social, environmental, and cultural change.
Key Concepts
6.1: The rise of big business in the United States encouraged massive migrations and urbanization, sparked government and popular efforts to reshape the U.S. economy and environment, and renewed debates over U.S. national identity.
6.2: The emergence of an industrial culture in the United States led to both greater opportunities for, and restrictions on, immigrants, minorities, and women.
6.3: The “Gilded Age” witnessed new cultural and intellectual movements in tandem with political debates over economic and social policies.
Chapter 19: The South and the West Transformed
Henry Grady
“New South”
What types of industries began to develop in the post-war South? How did they affect the economy?
Sharecropping/tenant farming
Crop-lien system
Bourbon “redeemers”
How were race relations transformed in the late nineteenth century South? How were blacks disenfranchised?
Jim Crow laws
Plessy v. Ferguson
Ida B. Wells
Booker T. Washington
Atlanta Cotton States Exposition Address (“Atlanta Compromise”)
W.E.B. DuBois
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
Great Plains (Great American Desert)
What kinds of people migrated to and settled in the American West? How did they transform the region?
Exodusters
How did mining impact westward expansion and the environment?
Comstock Lode
Indian Wars
-Red River War (1874-1875)
-Great Sioux War
Chief Joseph
Geronimo
Ghost Dance movement
Wounded Knee Massacre
Why did the buffalo herds diminish so dramatically in the late nineteenth century and what impact did this reduction have on the Plains Indians?
Helen Hunt Jackson
A Century of Dishonor
Dawes Severalty Act of 1887
Burke Act of 1906
Examine the dominant Indian policy of the federal government in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
How was the cattle industry transformed by the technological advancements of the nineteenth century?
Range wars
“bonanza farms”
Describe what life was like for frontier women.
Frederick Jackson Turner
“The Significance of the Frontier in American History”
Chapter 20: Big Business and Organized Labor
Causes of the Second Industrial Revolution
-interconnected transportation and communication network
-expanding national and international markets
-use of electric power
-scientific management
-growing labor pool
-available raw materials
-federal government assistance
How did the transcontinental railroads affect industrialization? How was the building of the railroads financed?
Inventions
-air brakes: George Westinghouse
-typewriter: Christopher Sholes
-telephone: Alexander Graham Bell
-lightbulb: Thomas Edison
Standard Oil Company
John D. Rockefeller
Vertical integration
Horizontal integration
Trusts
Holding companies
Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890
Andrew Carnegie
Bessemer process
J.P. Morgan
Sears and Roebuck
Why did standards of living rise at the turn of the century at the same time that working and living conditions remained precarious for many?
Child labor
Molly Maguires
Great Railroad Strike of 1877
Denis Kearney
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
National Labor Union
Knights of Labor
Terence V. Powderly
Describe anarchism’s development and the reasons for its spread in the late nineteenth century.
Haymarket Affair
American Federation of Labor
Samuel Gompers
Homestead Strike
Henry Clay Frick
Pullman Strike
Eugene V. Debs
In re Debs
Mother Jones
What was the relationship between socialism and the union movement?
Industrial Workers of the World (Wobblies)
Big Bill Haywood
Chapter 21: The Emergence of Urban America
Reasons for urban growth
-rural migration
-immigration
-industrial growth
-transportation innovations
-technology improvements (elevators, steel frame construction)
-black exodus from rural South
Streetcar suburbs
Political machines
Why was disease such a problem in late nineteenth century cities?
Why were so many immigrants drawn to the United States in the late nineteenth century? Where were most immigrants coming from in the late nineteenth century?
Ellis Island
Nativism
American Protective Association
Chinese Exclusion Act
Vaudeville
Saloon culture
Why did sport and recreational activities increase in popularity in the late nineteenth century?
How did public education and higher education expand and change in the late nineteenth century?
Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species
Social Darwinism
Herbert Spencer
William Graham Sumner
Reform Darwinism
Lester Frank Ward
Pragmatism
William James
John Dewey
Mark Twain
Stephen Crane, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets
Jack London
Henry George, Progress and Poverty
Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class
Social Gospel movement
Walter Rauschenbusch
Settlement house movement
Jane Addams
Ellen Gates Starr
Hull House
National American Woman Suffrage Association
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Susan B. Anthony
Anna Howard Shaw
Carrie Chapman Catt
National Consumers’ League
How did the struggle for suffrage and the rise of reform movements affect the roles and rights of women in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries?
How and why did states begin to regulate railroads and other businesses?
How and why did the Supreme Court interpret the Constitution in such a way as to thwart regulatory efforts?
Critical Thinking Questions/Possible Essays
Popular fascination with the cowboy, the pioneer, and stories of Horatio Alger in the period 1870-1915 reflected America’s uneasiness of transition from an agrarian to an industrial society. Support, modify, or refute this statement citing specific historical evidence.
Although the economic development of the trans-Mississippi West is popularly associated with hardy individualism, it was in fact largely dependent on the federal government. Support, modify, or refute this statement with specific reference to western economic activities in the nineteenth century.
Describe the thesis advanced by Frederick Jackson Turner about the relationship of the frontier to political democracy, and assess the principle arguments that later historians have made to attack or defend the thesis.
How were the lives of the Plains Indians in the second half of the nineteenth century affected by technological developments and government actions?
Americans have been a highly mobile people. Describe and account for the dominant population movements between 1820 and 1900.
Analyze the economic consequences of the Civil War with respect to any TWO of the following in the United States between 1865 and 1880.
Agriculture
Labor
Industrialization
Transportation
The reorganization and consolidation of business structures was more responsible for late nineteenth century American industrialization than was the development of new technologies. Support, modify, or refute this statement with specific reference to business structures and technology between 1865 and 1900.
Although the economic growth of the United States between 1860 and 1900 has been attributed to a governmental policy of laissez-faire, it was in fact encouraged and sustained by direct governmental intervention. Support, modify, or refute this statement citing specific historical evidence.
To what extent and for what reasons did the policies of the federal government from 1865 to 1900 violate the principles of laissez-faire, which advocated minimal governmental intervention in the economy? Consider with specific reference to the following three areas of policy:
Railroad land grants
Control of interstate commerce
Antitrust activities
The path to labor organization was marked by false starts and wrong moves. Support, modify, or refute this generalization for the period 1865-1900 citing specific historical evidence.
Analyze the impact of any TWO of the following on the American industrial worker between 1865 and 1900.
Government actions
Immigration
Labor unions
Technology changes
How and why did transportation developments spark economic growth during the period from 1860 to 1900 in the United States?
How successful was organized labor in improving the position of workers in the period from 1875 to 1900? Analyze the factors that contributed to the level of success achieved.
The United States in the Gilded Age (1865-1900) was a materialistic society, sterile in all forms of artistic expression. Support, modify, or refute this statement by discussing literature and the arts.
From the 1840s through the 1890s, women’s activities in the intellectual, social, economic, and political spheres effectively challenged traditional attitudes about women’s place in society. Support, modify, or refute this statement citing specific historical evidence.
Throughout its history, the United States has been a land of refuge and opportunity for immigrants. Support, modify, or refute this statement in view of the experiences of TWO of the following:
The Scotch-Irish on the 18th century Appalachian frontier
The Irish in the 19th century urban Northeast
The Chinese in the 19th century West
Identify and analyze the factors that changed the American city in the second half of the 19th century.
Analyze the primary causes of the population shift from a rural to an urban environment in the United States between 1875 and 1925.