introduction for an essay about gilded age

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Lesson Plan: The Gilded Age

The Gilded Age: Introduction

Edward O'Donnell provides background information on this time period.

Description

The Gilded Age was a time of rapid growth in the U.S. As the country expanded, immigration was on the rise, there was an increase in economic growth and industrialization, transportation improved and innovations in science and technology were discovered. During this time, the country experienced wealth inequity, poverty and corruption. Below is a collection of video clips highlighting some of the key issues, organizations and events that emerged during this era. Use these videos with your students to support your curriculum on this era.

Step 1: Introduction

As a class, view the following two videos to provide background information on this time period. Students can take notes the accompanying handout. Then, discuss the questions below.

Handout: The Gilded Age (Google Doc)

Video Clip 1: The Gilded Age: Introduction (:30)

Edward O’Donnell provides background information on this time period.

Bell Ringer Video Clip: Lifestyles of the Wealthy during the Gilded Age (1:33)

Pamela Malcolm talked about the origin of the name "Gilded Age," its European influences and how some of the wealthiest families lived during the Gilded Age.

Explain the origins of the term "Gilded Age."

Describe how wealthy people lived during the Gilded Age.

• How was the Gilded Age in the United States affected by European culture?

Considering class time, students can view the following videos individually as Bell Ringers, as a homework assignment or a jigsaw activity. Ask students to take notes in the related sections on the handout and respond to the accompanying questions. Discuss students' responses to the questions as a whole class or have one student from each group share their team's answers.

Video Clip 2: Progress in the Gilded Age (3:55)

Edward O’Donnell talked about the progress in the U.S. during this era.

According to Edward O’Donnell, how was this era described by people at the time?

• Describe the growth that was seen across the United States during this era as Edward O'Donnell discusses.

Video Clip 3: Poverty in the Gilded Age (2:15)

Edward O’Donnell talked about Social Darwinism and perceptions of poverty during this time.

• Describe the various perspectives on poverty among people in the United States during this time.

Video Clip 4: Gilded Age Lifestyle (4:15)

Jeannine Falino describes the lifestyle for wealthy people during the Gilded Age.

Describe the sources of wealth in the United States during this era.

• Describe the lifestyle of the wealthy during the Gilded Age as portrayed in the painting presented by Jeannine Falino.

Bell Ringer Video Clip: Victorian Culture (5:36)

Professor Akim Reinhardt talked about Victorian Era culture in the United States in the last half of the 19th century. He described the societal customs of the upper and emerging middle class, which drove movements such as prohibition and established gender norms for the time period.

Describe the values that were being promoted during this time.

• Explain the significance of morality in the Victorian culture.

Bell Ringer Video Clip: Life in New York City's Tenement Housing During the Gilded Age (6:20)

History Professor Daniel Czitrom describes life in New York City's tenement housing during the Gilded Age.

Describe living conditions in NYC tenement districts in the late 19th century.

What did Jacob Riis mean when referred to tenements as “the murder of the home?” Explain the distinction that is made between a home and tenement life.

• What were some of the concerns that arose from tenement living conditions?

Video Clip 5: The Brooklyn Bridge (4:32)

New York School of Interior Design Architectural History Professor Barry Lewis talks about New York City in the 1800's and the growth that necessitated a bridge to Brooklyn.

Explain the reason for the growth of NYC during this time.

• How did this development affect the area?

Bell Ringer Video Clip: The Transcontinental Railroad (4:27)

David Kilton discussed the history, construction, and impact of the transcontinental railroad.

How long did the construction of the transcontinental railroad take?

What was happening prior to the beginning of the project?

What were some of Abraham Lincoln’s goals in the creation of the railroad?

What were the two companies that built the railroad? Where did each begin? Describe the problems that the companies faced during construction.

What impact did the end of the Civil War have on the construction of the railroad?

Why did the companies decide to hire Chinese workers for the building of the railroad? What issues did they face?

• Explain how the location where the construction would meet to complete the railroad was chosen.

Bell Ringer Video Clip: Manifest Destiny (4:03)

Professor Joseph Genetin-Pilawa talks about Manifest Destiny through John Gast's painting, "American Progress."

• Describe the symbols depicted in the painting. What message do you think is being conveyed?

Video Clip 6: Sources of Concern in the Gilded Age (7:42)

Edward O'Donnell talked about wealth, poverty and progress during this period.

According to Edward O’Donnell, what was at the core of American identity in the late 19th Century? Explain why this was a concern at the time.

Describe the anxiety over poverty during this period that Edward O'Donnell presents.

What was the concern regarding 'big business' during this era?

• Explain the inequality regarding wealth that was present.

Bell Ringer Video Clip: Tammany Hall (6:51)

Terry Golway presents different views of Tammany Hall.

Why was Tammany Hall considered by some people to be un-American in its methods and ideals?

What was Walt Whitman’s perspective on Tammany’s voters?

Describe the views of some people in Britain and Ireland regarding Tammany Hall’s politics.

Explain Francis Perkins’s experiences with Tammany Hall.

What was Senator Robert Wagner’s view on Tammany Hall?

• How did Franklin Delano Roosevelt describe the impact of Charles Frances Murphy?

Video Clip 7: The Labor Campaign of 1886 (9:38)

Edward O’Donnell talked about the labor movement during the Gilded Age and how it impacted the 1886 election.

How was Henry George selected to be a candidate for mayor of NYC in 1886?

Who did he run against in the election of 1886?

Describe how Henry George and the United Labor Party were portrayed in the press.

Explain the campaign style that Henry George and his party used during this election.

• What was the outcome of the election? Explain the impact this election had on the labor movement.

Step 3: Culminating Activities

Ask students to consider their notes from the videos as well as class discussion and discuss any parallels they see in our country today. Then, they can select one of the following activities to complete:

Classroom Museum Exhibit: Students can select one of the topics they learned about and create an artifact to include in the exhibit along with a written explanation describing its significance.

As a journalist, write a newspaper article describing the circumstances of one of the topics that was covered during this time.

Select a perspective from which you would like to create a journal entry describing your experiences living in this time period.

• Students can write an essay summarizing the key points of the Gilded Age.

Additional Resources

In this lesson students will learn about Mark Twain

The Gilded Age was a time in which the United States experienced economic growth, great social change and an increase in power. The country expanded, there was a rise in industrialization, innovations in science and technology were discovered, improvements in transportation emerged and big business developed. Along with this growth came poverty, wealth inequality and corruption. During this time Henry George emerged to share his solution to address the issues the country was facing during this time.

Timothy Messer-Kruse discusses anarchism, worker strikes, and the Haymarket Affair.

Edward O’Donnell explains the origin of Labor Day in NYC.

Historian Fiona Deans Halloran discusses Thomas Nast

George Mason University professor and author James Pfiffner on the spoils system, the merit system, and how they relate to our federal bureaucracy.

At the conclusion of the Civil War, the country faced significant challenges as it began to rebuild the South and unite the states. Newly freed slaves were seeking ways to build their futures in the changing environment and communities were adapting and reacting to these circumstances. Below is a collection of video clips highlighting some of the key people, legislation, organizations and events that emerged during this era and made a lasting impact on the country.

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By: History.com Editors

Updated: June 13, 2023 | Original: February 13, 2018

“The Gilded Age” is the term used to describe the tumultuous years between the Civil War and the turn of the 20th century. The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today was a famous satirical novel by Mark Twain set in the late 1800s, and was its namesake. During this era, America became more prosperous and saw unprecedented growth in industry and technology. But the Gilded Age had a more sinister side: It was a period where greedy, corrupt industrialists, bankers and politicians enjoyed extraordinary wealth and opulence at the expense of the working class. In fact, it was wealthy tycoons, not politicians, who inconspicuously held the most political power during the Gilded Age.

Transcontinental Railroad

Before the Civil War , rail travel was dangerous and difficult, but after the war, George Westinghouse invented the air brake, which made braking systems more dependable and safe.

Soon, the development of Pullman sleeping cars and dining cars made rail travel comfortable and more enjoyable for passengers. It wasn’t long before trains overtook other forms of long-distance travel such as the stagecoach and riding horseback.

In 1869, the Transcontinental Railroad was finished and led to rapid settlement of the western United States. It also made it much easier to transport goods over long distances from one part of the country to another.

This enormous railroad expansion resulted in rail companies and their executives receiving lavish amounts of money and land—up to 200 million acres, by some estimates—from the United States government. In many cases, politicians cut shady backroom deals and helped create railroad and shipping tycoons such as Cornelius Vanderbilt and Jay Gould . Meanwhile, thousands of African American—many of them former slaves—were hired as Pullman porters and paid a pittance to cater to riders’ every need.

Robber Barons

Railroad tycoons were just one of many types of so-called robber barons that emerged in the Gilded Age.

These men used union busting, fraud, intimidation, violence and their extensive political connections to gain an advantage over any competitors. Robber barons were relentless in their efforts to amass wealth while exploiting workers and ignoring standard business rules—and in many cases, the law itself.

They soon accumulated vast amounts of money and dominated every major industry including the railroad, oil, banking, timber, sugar, liquor, meatpacking, steel, mining, tobacco and textile industries.

Some wealthy entrepreneurs such as Andrew Carnegie , John D. Rockefeller and Henry Frick are often referred to as robber barons but may not exactly fit the mold. While it’s true they built huge monopolies, often by crushing any small business or competitor in their way, they were also generous philanthropists who didn’t always rely on political ploys to build their empires.

Some tried to improve life for their employees, donated millions to charities and nonprofits and supported their communities by providing funding for everything from libraries and hospitals to universities, public parks and zoos.

Industrial Revolution

The Gilded Age was in many ways the culmination of the Industrial Revolution , when America and much of Europe shifted from an agricultural society to an industrial one.

Millions of immigrants and struggling farmers arrived in cities such as New York , Boston , Philadelphia, St. Louis and Chicago , looking for work and hastening the urbanization of America. By 1900, about 40 percent of Americans lived in major cities.

Most cities were unprepared for rapid population growth. Housing was limited, and tenements and slums sprung up nationwide. Heating, lighting, sanitation and medical care were poor or nonexistent, and millions died from preventable disease.

Many immigrants were unskilled and willing to work long hours for little pay. Gilded Age plutocrats considered them the perfect employees for their sweatshops, where working conditions were dangerous and workers endured long periods of unemployment, wage cuts and no benefits.

Gilded Age Homes

Homes of the Gilded Age elite were nothing short of spectacular. The wealthy considered themselves America’s royalty and settled for nothing less than estates worthy of that distinction. Some of America’s most famous mansions were built during the Gilded Age such as:

Biltmore , located in Asheville, North Carolina , was the family estate of George and Edith Vanderbilt. Construction started on the 250-room chateau in 1889, prior to the couple’s marriage, and continued for six years. The home had 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, 65 fireplaces, a dairy, a horse barn and beautiful formal and informal gardens.

The Breakers in Newport, Rhode Island , is another Vanderbilt mansion. It was the summer home of railroad mogul Cornelius Vanderbilt. The Italian-Renaissance style home has 70 rooms, a stable and a carriage house.

Rosecliff , also in Newport, was completed in 1902. The oceanfront home was contracted by Theresa Fair Oelrichs and built to resemble the Grand Trianon of Versailles. Today, it’s best known as the backdrop for movie scenes in The Great Gatsby , High Society , 27 Dresses and True Lies .

Whitehall , located in Palm Beach, Florida , was the neoclassical winter retreat of oil tycoon Henry Flagler and his wife Mary. The 100,000 square foot, 75-room mansion was completed in 1902 and is now a popular museum.

Income Inequality in the Gilded Age

The industrialists of the Gilded Age lived high on the hog, but most of the working class lived below poverty level. As time went on, the income inequality between wealthy and poor became more and more glaring.

While the wealthy lived in opulent homes, dined on succulent food and showered their children with gifts, the poor were crammed into filthy tenement apartments, struggled to put a loaf of bread on the table and often accompanied their children to a sweatshop each morning where they faced a 12-hour (or longer) workday.

Some moguls used Social Darwinism to justify the inequality between the classes. The theory presumes that the fittest humans are the most successful and poor people are destitute because they’re weak and lack the skills to be prosperous.

Muckrakers is a term used to describe reporters who exposed corruption among politicians and the elite. They used investigative journalism and the print revolution to dig through “the muck” of the Gilded Age and report scandal and injustice.

In 1890, reporter and photographer Jacob Riis brought the horrors of New York slum life to light in his book, How the Other Half Lives , prompting New York politicians to pass legislation to improve tenement conditions.

In 1902, McClure Magazine journalist Lincoln Steffens took on city corruption when he penned the article, “Tweed Days in St. Louis.” The article, which is widely considered the first muckracking magazine article, exposed how city officials deceitfully made deals with crooked businessmen to maintain power.

Another journalist, Ida Tarbell , spent years investigating the underhanded rise of oilman John D. Rockefeller. Her 19-part series, also published in McClure in 1902, led to the breakup of Rockefeller’s monopoly, the Standard Oil Company.

In 1906, activist journalist and novelist Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle to expose horrendous working conditions in the meatpacking industry. The book and ensuing public outcry led to the passing of the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act.

Labor Unions Rise

It soon became obvious that the huge disparity between the wealthy and poor couldn’t last, and the working class would have to organize to improve their working and living conditions. It was also obvious this wouldn’t happen without some degree of violence.

Much of the violence, however, was between the workers themselves as they struggled to agree on what they were fighting for. Some simply wanted increased wages and a better working environment, while others also wanted to keep women, immigrants and blacks out of the workforce.

Although the first labor unions occurred around the turn of the nineteenth century, they gained momentum during the Gilded Age, thanks to the increased number of unskilled and unsatisfied factory workers.

Railroad Strikes

On July 16, 1877, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company announced a 10-percent pay cut on its railroad workers in Martinsburg, West Virginia , the second cut in less than eight months.

Infuriated and fed up, the workers—with the support of the locals—announced they’d prevent all trains from leaving the roundhouse until their pay was restored.

The mayor, the police and even the National Guard couldn’t stop the strike. It wasn’t until Federal troops arrived that one train finally left the station.

The strike spread among other railroads, sparking violence across America between the working class and local and federal authorities. At its peak, over 100,000 railroad workers were on strike. Many of the Robber Barons feared an aggressive, all-out revolution against their way of life.

Instead, the strike—later known as the Great Upheaval—ended abruptly and was labeled a dismal failure. Yet it showed America’s tycoons there was strength in numbers and that organized labor had the potential to shut down entire industries and inflict major economic and political damage.

As the working class continued to use strikes and boycotts to fight for higher wages and improved working conditions, their bosses staged lock-outs and brought in replacement workers known as scabs.

They also created blacklists to prevent active union workers from becoming employed elsewhere. Even so, the working class continued to unite and press their cause and often won at least some of their demands.

Gilded Age Cities

Innovations of the Gilded Age helped usher in modern America. Urbanization and technological creativity led to many engineering advances such as bridges and canals, elevators and skyscrapers, trolley lines and subways.

The invention of electricity brought illumination to homes and businesses and created an unprecedented, thriving night life. Art and literature flourished, and the rich filled their lavish homes with expensive works of art and elaborate décor.

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone and made the world a much smaller place for both individuals and businesses. Advances in sanitation and housing, and the availability of better quality food and material goods, improved quality of life for the middle  class.

But while the middle and upper classes enjoyed the allure of city life, little changed for the poor. Most still faced horrific living conditions, high crime rates and a pitiable existence.

Many escaped their drudgery by watching a vaudeville show or a spectator sport such as boxing, baseball or football, all of which enjoyed a surge during the Gilded Age.

Women in the Gilded Age

Upper-class women of the Gilded Age have been compared to dolls on display dressed in resplendent finery. They flaunted their wealth and endeavored to improve their status in society while poor and middle-class women both envied and mimicked them.

Some wealthy Gilded Age women were much more than eye candy, though, and often traded domestic life for social activism and charitable work. They felt a new degree of empowerment and fought for equality, including the right to vote through women’s suffrage groups.

Some created homes for destitute immigrants while others pushed a temperance agenda, believing the source of poverty and most family troubles was alcohol. Wealthy women philanthropists of the Gilded Age include:

Louise Whitfield Carnegie , wife of Andrew Carnegie, who created Carnegie Hall and donated to the Red Cross, the Y.W.C.A., and other charities.

Abby Aldrich Rockefeller , wife of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who helped create hotels for women and solicited funds to create the New York Museum of Modern Art.

Margaret Olivia Sage , wife of Russell Sage, who after the death of her miserly husband gave away $45 million of her $75 million inheritance to support women’s causes, educational institutions and the creation of the Russell Sage Foundation for Social Betterment, which directly helped poor people.

Many women during the Gilded Age sought higher education. Others postponed marriage and took jobs such as typists or telephone switchboard operators.

Thanks to a print revolution and the accessibility of newspapers, magazines and books, women became increasingly knowledgeable, cultured, well-informed and a political force to be reckoned with.

Jane Addams

Jane Addams is arguably the best-known philanthropist of the Gilded Age. In 1889, she and Ellen Gates Star established a secular settlement house in Chicago known as Hull-House .

The neighborhood was a melting pot of struggling immigrants, and Hull-House provided everything from midwife services and basic medical care to kindergarten, day care and housing for abused women. It also offered English and citizenship classes. Addams received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.

Carrie Nation

Temperance leader Carrie Nation gained notoriety during the Gilded Age for smashing up saloons with a hatchet to bring attention to her sobriety agenda. She was also a strong voice for the suffrage movement.

Nation’s belief that alcohol was the root of all evil was partially due to her difficult first marriage to an alcoholic, and her work with women and children displaced or abused by over-imbibing husbands.

Convinced God had instructed her to use whatever means necessary to close bars throughout Kansas , she was often beaten, mocked and jailed but ultimately helped pave the way for the 18th Amendment (prohibiting the sale of alcohol) and the 19th Amendment (giving women the right to vote).

Limits to Power

Many other pivotal events happened during the Gilded Age which changed America’s course and culture. As muckrakers exposed corrupt robber barons and politicians, labor unions and reformist politicians enacted laws to limit their power.

The western frontier saw violent conflicts between white settlers and the United States Army against Native Americans. The Native Americans were eventually forced off their land and onto reservations with often disastrous results. In 1890, the western frontier was declared closed.

Populist Party

As drought and depression struck rural America, farmers in the west—who vilified railroad tycoons and wanted a political voice—organized and played a key role in forming the Populist Party.

The Populists had a democratic agenda that aimed to give power back to the people and paved the way for the progressive movement, which still fights to close the gap between the wealthy and poor and champion the needy and disenfranchised.

End of the Gilded Age

In 1893, both the overextended Philadelphia and Reading Railroad and the National Cordage Company failed, which set off an economic depression unlike any seen before in America.

Banks and other businesses folded, and the stock market plunged, leaving millions unemployed, homeless and hungry. In some states, unemployment rose to almost 50 percent.

The Panic of 1893 lasted four years and left lower and even middle-class Americans fed up with political corruption and social inequality. Their frustration gave rise to the Progressive Movement which took hold when President Theodore Roosevelt took office in 1901.

Although Roosevelt supported corporate America, he also felt there should be federal controls in place to keep excessive corporate greed in check and prevent individuals from making obscene amounts of money off the backs of immigrants and the lower class.

Helped by the muckrackers and the White House , the Progressive Era ushered in many reforms that helped shift away power from robber barons, such as:

• trust busting
• labor reform
• women’s suffrage
• birth control
• formation of trade unions
• increased conservation efforts
• food and medicine regulations
• civil rights
• election reform
• fair labor standards

By 1916, America’s cities were cleaner and healthier, factories safer, governments less corrupt and many people had better housing, working hours and wages. Fewer monopolies meant more people could pursue the American Dream and start their own businesses.

When America entered World War I in 1917, the Progressive Era and any remnants of the Gilded Age effectively ended as the country’s focus shifted to the realities of war. Most robber barons and their families, however, remained wealthy for generations.

Even so, many bequeathed much of their wealth, land and homes to charity and historical societies. And progressives continued their mission to close the gap between the wealthy and poor and champion the needy and disenfranchised.

HISTORY Vault: The Astors

A look at five generations of the colorful and wealthy family. Follows their story from its 18th-century beginnings, when fur trader John Jacob Astor became the richest man in the world.

Chicago Workers During the Long Gilded Age. The Newberry. Gilded Age Reform. University of Virginia. The Doll House: Wealth and Women in the Gilded Age. Journeys Into the Past: An Online Journal of Miami University’s History Department . The Gilded Age. Scholastic. About Jane Addams. Jane Addams Hull-House Museum . Carrie A. Nation (1846-1911). The State Historical Society of Missouri: Historic Missourians . Lincoln Steffens Exposes “Tweed Days in St. Louis.” History Matters . The Breakers. The Preservation Society of Newport County . The Progressive Era (1890-1920). The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project . Biltmore Estate History. Biltmore . Margaret Olivia Sage. Philanthropy Roundtable .

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Course: US history   >   Unit 6

Introduction to the gilded age.

• The Gilded Age and the Second Industrial Revolution
• What was the Gilded Age?
• Social Darwinism in the Gilded Age
• Misunderstanding evolution: a biologist's perspective on Social Darwinism
• Misunderstanding evolution: a historian's perspective on Social Darwinism
• America moves to the city
• Development of the middle class
• Politics in the Gilded Age
• Gilded Age politics: patronage
• Laissez-faire policies in the Gilded Age
• The Knights of Labor
• Labor battles in the Gilded Age
• The Populists
• Immigration and migration in the Gilded Age
• Continuity and change in the Gilded Age
• The Gilded Age

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Video transcript

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Introduction to the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era

The Gilded Age and the Progressive Era in the United States spanned the years from the end of Reconstruction through the 1920s. Many historians overlap the end of the Gilded Age (1870–1900) with the beginning of the Progressive Era (1890–1929).

The Gilded Age was an age of movement. Populations changed, people moved, and trade increased. Migration to the American west, a dramatic increase in immigration to the United States from foreign shores, and the peak of European colonialism in Asia and Africa were aided by the proliferation of railroads, steamers, telegraphs, and the telephone. The Gilded Age was the era of the corporation, the heyday of the "Robber Barons" and "Captains of Industry."

While the Gilded Age brought outstanding prosperity to some, it was also deeply tarnished beneath its gold veneer. The poor became poorer, the tenement slums grew, and new immigrants endured increasing economic and social hardships. Some of the most successful corporate endeavors became monopolies. Consumer prices rose; corruption and industrial labor abuses increased.

The Progressives sought to solve many of the social injustices of the Gilded Age. Where the Gilded Age was highly individualistic, progressive reformers thought that governments had a responsibility to promote socially beneficial programs. Progressives who advocated the government regulation of industry asserted that economic and social policy could not easily be separated. The Progressive movement sought answers to social problems through scientific and methological study. The professions of medicine, social work , and law flourished. Progressive professionals sought to use their disciplines to increase public health and safety, reform prisons and tenement housing, and outlaw child labor .

This chapter includes some of the greatest progressive victories of the era. Temperance supporters championed prohibition as the means to reduce public and domestic violence, strengthen families, and increase worker productivity. The ratification of the 18th Amendment in 1920 began prohibition in the United States, though whether it fulfilled the promises of its progressive champions is debatable.

The Progressive era was the zenith of the muckrakers—journalists, photographers, writers, and film makers whose work exposed social problems. Muckrakers exposed corruption in political parties, governments, labor unions, and corporations (especially oil and railroads). They advanced Progressive causes of public health and worker safety, campaigned against child labor , and pushed for reforms in prisons and slums. Included in this chapter are the famous muck-raker works of Upton Sinclair and Jacob Riis. Sinclair's novel The Jungle exposed unsanitary conditions in the American meatpacking industry; Riis, a photographer and social reformer, captured the conditions of New York tenement life in How the Other Half Lives .

Finally, not all social policy during the Progressive era advanced human rights . Even the progressive and populist movements debated the role of women and minorities in politics and society, though both were more likely to advocate equality. Women won the right to vote in all elections in 1919, but the political and social opportunities of minorities were circumscribed by segregation. This chapter would be incomplete without an excerpt from the 1896 Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson , which upheld segregation laws.

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The Gilded Age & the Progressive Era (1877–1917)

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Suggested Essay Topics

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3 . What were the causes and consequences of Progressivism?

4 . Describe how three of the following shaped American politics in the early twentieth century: Ballinger-Pinchot AffairPayne-Aldrich TariffmuckrakersUnderwood TariffSquare DealProgressive Party

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• Unit 10.2: Enlightenment, Revolution, and Nationalism
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• Unit 11.3A: Building a Nation
• Unit 11.03B: Sectionalism & the Civil War
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Unit 11.5: Gilded Age and Progressive Era

• Unit 11.6: Rise of American Power
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Gilded Age and Progressive Era

The United States was transformed from an agrarian to an increasingly industrial and urbanized society.  Although this transformation created new economic opportunities , it also created societal problems that were addressed by a variety of reform efforts .

Unit 5 - Gilded Age and Progressive Era - Unit Plan

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Building Context: Impact of Railroads

Students will compare and contrast three maps to analyze the impact of railroads on the United States after the Civil War.  

Building Context: Gilded Age Graphs

Students will examine graphs detailing various aspects of the Gilded Age to make claims about changes in American population and economy.  

Differentiated version of Gilded Age Graphs Curricular Resource 

Industrialization & the Gilded Age See 10 items Hide 10 items

These curricular resources explore the impact of the post-civil war industrial revolution as well as the birth of the Gilded Age.  

Industrialization & the Gilded Age: Industrialization in the Gilded Age

Students will study how technology, natural resources, and transportation fueled the post-civil war industrial revolution by completing a graphic organizer and responding to a prompt.   

Industrialization & the Gilded Age: Causes and Effects of Industrialization (1870 - 1910)

Students will examine the various causes and effects of industrialization between 1870 - 1910 through group work. 

Industrialization & the Gilded Age: Labor Movement

Analysis: Students will compare and contrast  the Haymarket Riot, the Homestead Strike, the Pullman Strike, and the Ludlow Massacre.  

Industrialization & the Gilded Age: Media Bias and Labor Unions

Students will compare and contrast newspaper accounts of the Haymarket Riot and Pullman Strike.  

Students will compare and contrast newspaper accounts of the Haymarket Riot and the Pullman Strike. 

Industrialization & the Gilded Age: Immigration and Urbanization

Students will examine primary and secondary source documents to analyze the cause and effect relationship between immigration and urbanization in the gilded age.  

Industrialization & the Gilded Age: Immigration: Arriving in America

Students will compare and contrast a primary (photograph) and secondary (poem) source to evaluate immigrant experiences upon arrival in America during the gilded age.  

Industrialization & the Gilded Age: Robber barons or Captains of Industry?

Students will use the evidence gathered from the primary and secondary sources to draft an essay describing the Gilded Age businessman.

Industrialization & the Gilded Age: Political Cartoons of the Gilded Age

Students will analyze various political cartoons from the gilded age, learning to use a cartoon analysis protocol that can be applied to any political cartoon or image.  

Industrialization & the Gilded Age: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

Students will analyze a primary source document, view a video clip, and analyze a second primary source document to learn about causes of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.  

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These curricular resources explore Progressive Era reforms and associated social movements.  

Reform Movements: Progressive Era Reform Movements

Students will analyze social and federal reforms of the Progressive Era, focusing on cause and effect.  Students will complete a graphic organizer, answer reflection questions, and respond to a written task. 

Reform Movements: Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois

Students will analyze a secondary source (poem) and three primary sources (Souls of Black Folks, Talented Tenth, and the Atlanta Compromise).  This will help them understand the responses of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois to the Jim Crow era and Gilded Age.  

Reform Movements: Pure Food and Drugs Act

Students will analyze artifacts from the progressive era to learn about the causes and effects of the Pure Food and Drugs Act as well as the Meat Inspection Act.  

Reform Movements: Populist Party Platform

How did industrialization impact farmers? What reforms did the Populist Party propose?  

Reform Movements: Living Wage

What is a living wage? Why was it a suggested reform during the Gilded Age? Students will analyze a primary source document related to this topic and compare it to modern day living wage debates. 

Reform Movements: 19th Amendment

Students will use evidence from the documents to compare and contrast the National Woman's Party & the National American Woman Suffrage Association.

Reform Movements: How the Other Half Lives

Students will analyze the historical context of the gilded age in order to study an important progressive era movement - muckraking journalism.  Students will read excerpts and review images from Jacob Riis's How the Other Half Lives. 

Reform Movements: DBQ: Women's Suffrage

Students will analyze various documents from the women's rights movement and analyze arguments for and against women's suffrage.

Students will use evidence from the documents to discuss the conditions that led Progressive Reformers to address their goal and the extent to which the goal was achieved.

Unit Synthesis Task See 1 item Hide 1 item

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HIS 1110: Introduction to American History - 1865-Present

• Gilded Age (1877 - 1900)
• Types of Sources
• Reconstruction (1863 - 1877)
• Western Expansion
• Progressive Era (1896–1917)
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Videos on the Gilded Age

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Gilded Age in Popular Culture

Important events of the gilded age.

• Chinese Exclusion Act The Chinese Exclusion Act is a notable example of discriminatory immigration policies in U.S. history. It reflects the prevailing anti-immigrant sentiment of the time and...
• Great Railroad Strike of 1877 The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 was a widespread labor protest and strike that began on July 14, 1877, in the United States. It marked...
• Panic of 1893 The Panic of 1893 was a severe economic depression that occurred in the United States, beginning in 1893 and lasting until 1897. It was one...
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Home — Essay Samples — History — Gilded Age — Social Changes in the Gilded Age

Social Changes in The Gilded Age

• Categories: Gilded Age

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Words: 716 |

Published: Mar 6, 2024

Words: 716 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

Table of contents

Introduction, the rise of consumer culture, the emergence of a new middle class, challenges faced by marginalized communities.

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A Spectrum of Perspectives: The Gilded Age and Progressive Era Through the Lens of the 1893 World’s Fair

Allegorical lithograph promoting the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, Rodolfo Morgari, Milan, 1893.

Library of Congress

On May 1, 1893, the World’s Columbian Exposition opened in Chicago. Also known as the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, the six-month event was planned to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s 1492 expedition to the Americas. Inspired by earlier national industrial expositions, the first modern world’s fair was held in London in 1851 , kicking off a century-long string of grandiose world’s fairs. Expositions have continued through the present, though on a smaller scale. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, imperial nations held world’s fairs to show off their cultural, technological, and colonial accomplishments and to strengthen their commercial ties. The Columbian Exposition drew exhibitors and visitors from across the United States and around the world, totaling about 27 million admissions.

This lesson, based on primary source analysis, uses the 1893 Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition as an entry point to introduce debates and developments of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. It addresses many themes and topics of the period, including sectional reconciliation after Reconstruction; the Panic of 1893; African American activism against segregation and oppression; women’s rights and suffrage; and colonialism, imperialism, and Indigenous resistance. The lesson positions students as historians and asks them to: 1. uncover the motives and messages of elite fair organizers, 2. analyze the diverse range of attitudes that Americans held toward the fair, and 3. explore methods for recovering the perspectives of Indigenous performers who were largely unable to document their experiences.

The corresponding teacher’s guide  The 1893 World’s Fair and the First Ferris Wheel provides an overview of the exposition within the broader historical context of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era.

Guiding Questions

What does the World’s Columbian Exposition reveal about the United States in the 1890s?

How do we make sense of the meaning and significance of the World’s Columbian Exposition, considering multiple historical perspectives?

How did people protest and resist unfair treatment and representation at the World’s Columbian Exposition?

What can primary sources tell us about the experiences of people who did not leave behind their own written documents?

Learning Objectives

Examine the goals and symbolism of the World’s Columbian Exposition within the broader context of American history.

Analyze primary sources such as prints, photographs, speeches, and newspaper articles.

Compare competing perspectives on the experience and meaning of the World’s Columbian Exposition.

Identify missing or marginalized perspectives within the documentary record.

Evaluate primary sources for evidence of Indigenous agency and resistance.

Lesson Plan Details

Our companion teacher’s guide The 1893 World’s Fair and the First Ferris Wheel provides an overview of the World’s Columbian Exposition and its connections to major historical themes of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, including urbanization and architecture, technology and leisure, colonialism and Indigenous resistance, racial segregation and Black activism, and women’s rights and representation.

For further background information, read this short essay about the exposition from the Chicago00 Project’s 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition virtual reality experience, funded in part by the NEH. The Encyclopedia of Chicago , also funded in part by the NEH, includes an entry on the World’s Columbian Exposition , written by world’s fair historian Robert Rydell. Finally, the NEH-funded podcast BackStory features an episode titled “ Shock of the New: The Legacy of the 1893 World’s Fair ,” introduced in this EDSITEment media resource .  

C3 Framework (9-12)

D1.4.9-12. Explain how supporting questions contribute to an inquiry and how, through engaging source work, new compelling and supporting questions emerge.

D1.5.9-12. Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration multiple points of view represented in the sources, the types of sources available, and the potential uses of the sources.

D2.His.1.9-12. Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.

D2.His.4.9-12. Analyze complex and interacting factors that influenced the perspectives of people during different historical eras.

D2.His.5.9-12. Analyze how historical contexts shaped and continue to shape people’s perspectives.

D2.His.8.9-12. Analyze how current interpretations of the past are limited by the extent to which available historical sources represent perspectives of people at the time.

D2.His.10.9-12. Detect possible limitations in various kinds of historical evidence and differing secondary interpretations.

D2.His.11.9-12. Critique the usefulness of historical sources for a specific historical inquiry based on their maker, date, place of origin, intended audience, and purpose.

D2.His.12.9-12. Use questions generated about multiple historical sources to pursue further inquiry and investigate additional sources.

D2.His.16.9-12. Integrate evidence from multiple relevant historical sources and interpretations into a reasoned argument about the past.

D2.Civ.5.9-12. Evaluate citizens’ and institutions’ effectiveness in addressing social and political problems at the local, state, tribal, national, and/or international level.

D2.Civ.10.9-12. Analyze the impact and the appropriate roles of personal interests and perspectives on the application of civic virtues, democratic principles, constitutional rights, and human rights.

D2.Civ.14.9-12. Analyze historical, contemporary, and emerging means of changing societies, promoting the common good.

Common Core State Standards (9-10)

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.2: Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.9: Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources.

Common Core State Standards (11-12)

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.2: Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.6: Evaluate authors’ differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing the authors’ claims, reasoning, and evidence.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.7: Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.8: Evaluate an author's premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.9: Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.

You may want to first familiarize yourself with the information and resources linked in the Background section, especially the companion teacher’s guide The 1893 World’s Fair and the First Ferris Wheel .

The three activities are intended to build on each other, but they can be used individually. Each activity works with primary sources in different ways, helping students develop different historical skills.

For students, some background knowledge of Reconstruction and the Gilded Age will be helpful, but they will learn the history of the fair and the broader history of the era through primary source analysis in the activities. Activity 1, in particular, is designed for students to uncover the symbolism and goals of the fair for themselves. However, you can provide a brief explanation of what world’s fairs were. 

For a visual introduction to the fair, you can show them the Chicago00 Project’s 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition virtual reality experience, including the NEH-funded video simulation, A Flight on the 1893 Ferris Wheel .

Before starting any of the activities, consider asking the students:

• Have you heard about world’s fairs or international expositions? What do you know about them?
• Have you heard about the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, otherwise known as the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair? What do you know about it?

Activity 1. Decoding the World’s Columbian Exposition

This activity asks students to trace the dominant messages of the 1893 Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition and consider the perspectives of fair organizers and government officials. Students will first examine and interpret an illustration promoting the exposition. After examining additional primary sources, they will reevaluate the illustration and its meaning.

Preparation

Plan to project the Activity 1 Sources document to the class or print enough copies for each student.

A. Analyzing an Allegorical Print

Present the students with source 1, an allegorical lithograph by Rodolfo Morgari .

Examine the image as a class or in small groups. The following questions should guide your analysis:

• What do you notice first?
• Who is depicted in the image? Which figures do you recognize?
• Which figures do you not recognize? Do you have any guesses for who they are or what they represent?
• What words or numbers do you see?
• What objects or other details do you notice?
• What do you think is happening in this image?
• When do you think this image was made?
• Why do you think this image was made?
• Who do you think was the audience for this image?
• What questions do you still have about this image? How would you go about investigating and finding answers?

After students have had a chance to analyze the image by itself, show them this annotated version of the image and reflect on the questions below.

Allegorical lithograph promoting the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, Rodolfo Morgari, Milan, 1893. Annotations based on information in Women Building History: Public Art at the 1893 Columbian Exposition by Wanda M. Corn.

• How does this image depict the relationship between the United States and other parts of the world? Between white Americans and people of color?
• How does this image depict the legacy of the U.S. Civil War?
• How does this image depict the role of women in U.S. history?
• How does this image depict technological advancements?
• Based on this image, what do you think were the goals of the organizers of the 1893 Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition?
• What messages do you think the exposition communicated to people in the United States and around the world?

B. Analyzing Written Sources

Present the students with sources 2, 3, and 4 . Analyze the sources as a class, in small groups, or individually.

• Who do you think was the audience for this source?
• What do you think was the purpose of this source?
• What can you tell about the perspective of the author?
• How does this source reinforce or reshape your interpretation of the Morgari lithograph?
• How does this source reinforce or reshape your understanding of the World’s Columbian Exposition and its organizers?

For additional context, you can share this optional secondary source, an entry in the NEH-funded  Encyclopedia of Chicago about the World's Columbian Exposition , written by world’s fair historian Robert Rydell.

C. Analyzing a Map

Present the students with source 5, a souvenir map of the fair . Analyze the map as a class, in small groups, or individually. Because the map has many small details, it might be helpful to pull it up on a screen so that you can zoom in.

Souvenir Map of the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, Illinois, 1893.

• What exhibits or thematic zones stand out to you?
• Do you notice any patterns in the layout of exhibits?
• What does the layout of exhibits reveal about the interests and priorities of the fair’s organizers?
• What information is missing from the map?

D. Analyzing Photographs

Present the students with sources 6, 7, and 8: photographs of the Grand Basin , Hagenbeck's Trained Animals attraction on the Midway Plaisance, and the interior of the Palace of Fine Arts . Analyze the photographs as a class, in small groups, or individually.

• What people do you see? What objects do you see?
• What is happening in this photograph?
• How would you describe the architecture shown?

E. Revisiting the Allegorical Print

Examine the Morgari lithograph again and discuss the following questions as a class:

Final Guiding Questions

• What do you notice or understand about the image that you didn’t before?
• What was the fair intended to celebrate? How did fair organizers attempt to portray U.S. history?
• How did fair organizers attempt to portray the United States compared to other parts of the world?
• How did fair organizers attempt to portray white Americans compared to people of color?
• How did fair organizers attempt to use art and architecture to shape the perception of the United States?
• What kind of future did fair organizers imagine for the United States and the world? What would cities look like? Who would have power and authority?
• Whose perspectives are missing from the sources we just examined?

F. Assessment

Ask students to write a short response reflecting on what they learned from this activity. Prompt them with the following questions:

• How did the Morgari lithograph and other sources connect to what you already knew about U.S. history, especially in the late nineteenth century?
• What new information or ideas did you encounter that broadened or extended your thinking and understanding?
• What questions emerged for you?

This assessment is adapted from the Connect, Extend, Challenge thinking routine from Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Business.

Activity 2: Exploring Diverse Perspectives Through World’s Fair Speeches

This activity first asks students to consider the 1893 Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition from the perspective of a specific individual, using a speech given on the fairgrounds. Split students into five groups and assign one speech per group to read and discuss. Then come back together as a class to put the speeches in conversation with each other. This will give students a chance to analyze the diverse range of attitudes that Americans held toward the fair, particularly along race and gender lines.

The class will be divided into five groups, each assigned one of five Perspective documents. Print enough copies so that each student has their group’s corresponding Perspective document, or print enough documents for all students to have one of each.

• Perspective 1: Grover Cleveland
• Perspective 2: Frederick Douglass
• Perspective 3: Bertha Honoré Palmer
• Perspective 4: Fannie Barrier Williams
• Perspective 5: Simon Pokagon
• Perspectives 1-5 combined document

A. Small Group Discussion

Ask each group to discuss the following questions and prepare to share their answers with the class.

• Who is the speaker? Who is the audience?
• What is the main message of this speech?
• How do you think the speaker’s identity (in terms of race, gender, class, occupation, etc.) shaped their message?
• In reading the speech and background context, what conflicts or debates stand out? These could be conflicts about the fair or broader issues, conflicts between individuals, conflicts between groups of people, or the speaker’s own internal conflicts.
• What do you think the World’s Columbian Exposition meant or symbolized to the speaker?

B. Class Discussion

Ask each group (in order from 1 to 5) to present their answers to the above questions to the class. Then discuss the following questions together:

• Considering the speeches together, would you change or add to any of your responses? In particular, do any new conflicts stand out?
• Why do you think the World’s Columbian Exposition was such a contested event? Why did it matter to Americans?
• What does the World’s Columbian Exposition tell us about life in the United States in the late nineteenth century? 
• Thinking as a historian, what does the World’s Columbian Exposition mean or symbolize to you?
• Whose perspectives on the fair are missing from this collection of sources?

C. Assessment

Ask students to write a short response reflecting on what they learned from this activity. First, present them with this quote published by the Chicago Daily Tribune shortly after the closing of the World’s Columbian Exposition:

Chicago reluctantly bids good-by to a little ideal world, a realization of Utopia, in which every sight was beautiful and every day a festival, in which for the time all thoughts of the great world of toil, of injustice, of cruelty, and of oppression outside its gates disappeared, and in which this splendid fantasy of the artist and architect seemed to foreshadow some far-away time when all the earth should be as pure, as beautiful, and as joyous as the White City itself. “Good By to the Fair,” Chicago Daily Tribune , Nov. 1, 1893, 4.

Then prompt them with the following questions:

• I think this claim is true/false/questionable because…
• What is your conclusion or stance on this quote?
• What new questions or ideas do you have? 

This assessment is adapted from the True for Who? thinking routine from Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Business.

Activity 3: Recovering Indigenous Agency

This activity introduces students to the concepts of agency, resistance, and reading primary sources against the grain. Students will read a page-long introductory essay, examine a set of newspaper articles and excerpts about Indigenous performers at the World's Columbian Exposition, and identify examples of agency and/or resistance. This can be an in-class group activity, an in-class individual exercise, or a homework assignment.

Start by reading the introductory essay on the Activity 3 Worksheet . Print enough copies of the Newspaper Excerpts document for each student. Print enough copies of the worksheet for each small group or each student.

A. Small Group or Individual Worksheet

Individually or in small groups, students will read and complete the Activity 3 Worksheet , based on the sources in the Newspaper Excerpts document . Note that these excerpts reflect the prejudices of the time they were written and include offensive terminology. You can also encourage students to search for their own articles in the Chronicling America newspaper database, using the tutorials and other EDSITEment resources laid out in the  Chronicling America teacher's guide .

Discuss the following questions as a class:

• How would you define "agency"? How would you define "resistance"?
• What are some examples of agency and resistance that you identified in the newspaper excerpts?
• What assumptions, exaggerations, insults, sarcastic remarks, etc. did you notice? 
• Can a source with exaggeration or misinformation still be useful in historical analysis?
• What strategies could you use to corroborate (or challenge) a source?
• How would you continue or expand your research into Indigenous agency and resistance at the World's Columbian Exposition? What strategies would you use? What other kinds of sources would you look for?
• Make a claim about Indigenous participation in the World's Columbian Exposition. You can argue that the experience was empowering, harmful, a combination of both, etc. You can focus on a specific group (or individual), or you can make a broader, more general claim.
• Identify support for your claim.
• Pose a question related to your claim or evidence. What is unknown or left unexplained?
• How would you go about researching or answering your question?

This assessment is adapted from the Claim, Support, Question thinking routine from Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Business.

D. Extension

To extend the activity, ask students to select one newspaper excerpt and rewrite the narrative as it might have been published in an Indigenous-run newspaper or as one of the Indigenous participants might have documented it in a diary entry or personal letter.

After completing the lesson activities, invite students to respond to this DBQ essay prompt , which features primary sources from the lesson plan.

Independent Research

Students can research a specific topic related to the exposition (a person, building, invention, artwork, event, incident, etc.) and produce a short essay or presentation on their findings and the research process. Ask students to select a topic by browsing the images available on the Chicago History Museum’s website . Note that some illustrations include racist imagery.

They can search for newspaper articles in Chronicling America and books, periodicals, and pamphlets in HathiTrust Digital Library . EDSITEment has many resources for searching the Chronicling America newspaper database , including this basic search tutorial , this advanced search tutorial , and the multipage Race and Ethnicity Keyword Thesaurus for Chronicling America .

Encourage students to rethink or revise their topic as they begin research. Some topics won’t have enough information available, and students might need to broaden their scope or pursue a different topic. For other topics, students might need to make the research more manageable by narrowing their focus.

Ask students to respond to the following, in addition to providing an overview of their topic:

• How does this topic connect to broader themes and developments of the Gilded Age?
• How did you decide on your topic? Did you need to pivot or change your approach?
• What challenges did you encounter in your research? What would you do differently for a future research assignment?
• EDSITEment Teacher's Guide: The 1893 World’s Fair and the First Ferris Wheel : an overview of the exposition's history and its connections to major historical themes of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, with links to relevant EDSITEment resources
• EDSITEment Media Resource: BackStory : "Shock of the New: The Legacy of the 1893 World's Fair" : comprehension questions and EDSITEment resources, grouped by segment of the podcast episode
• Chicago History Museum Images: 1893 World's Columbian Exposition : digitized photos and other visual sources related to the exposition, from the museum's collections
• " A Wheel with a View :" digital exhibit on the original Ferris Wheel
• " Souvenir Music from the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 ": digital exhibit on the exposition's souvenir sheet music
• EDSITEment Media Resource: A Flight on the 1893 Ferris Wheel : discussion questions and EDSITEment resources to pair with Chicago00's video simulation of the original Ferris Wheel
• "Grandeur, Progress, and Innovation for Some: The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition" by Julius L. Jones : brief essay on the legacy of the exposition
• EDSITEment Teacher's Guide: Chronicling America : History's First Draft : tutorials and tips for searching the database, plus activities and lesson plans that incorporate Chronicling America  
• " World’s Columbian Exposition ": entry on the exposition written by prominent world's fair scholar Robert Rydell

Materials & Media

Spectrum of perspectives, activity 1: sources, spectrum of perspectives, activity 2: perspective 1, spectrum of perspectives, activity 2: perspective 2, spectrum of perspectives, activity 2: perspective 3, spectrum of perspectives, activity 2: perspective 4, spectrum of perspectives, activity 2: perspective 5, spectrum of perspectives, activity 2: perspectives 1-5 combined, spectrum of perspectives, activity 3: worksheet, spectrum of perspectives, activity 3: newspaper excerpts, spectrum of perspectives: dbq, related on edsitement, the 1893 world’s fair and the first ferris wheel, backstory: shock of the new: the legacy of the 1893 world’s fair, a flight on the 1893 ferris wheel, having fun: leisure and entertainment at the turn of the twentieth century, carl sandburg's "chicago": bringing a great city alive, american indian history and heritage, the industrial age in america: robber barons and captains of industry, lesson 3: the battle over reconstruction: the aftermath of reconstruction.

Gilded Age and Progressive Era Introductory Essay

The decades after the American Civil War witnessed a vast array of social, economic,technological, cultural, and political changes in the American landscape. These changes transformed the United States from a largely local to a national society. This new society was characterized by a more integrated nation with large institutions and a broad, national outlook.

The economy experienced significant growth during the late nineteenth century that built on the beginnings of the industrial revolution that had begun before the Civil War. The rise of the factory system depended on technological change and new power sources that made the mass production of goods possible. The expansion of the railroad created a national distribution network for the goods. The modern business corporation grew as a response to managing the national production and distribution of goods. The practices of big business came under media and regulatory scrutiny as equal opportunity seemed to shrink.The great wealth of several industrialists was also scrutinized by those who feared their influence and were concerned about growing inequality.

American workers were the backbone of this new industrial economy as they worked with machines to secure the raw materials from the earth and used them to create a finished product. Millions of workers saw great changes in the nature of their work in the factory system.They earned higher wages and enjoyed greater standards of living but sometimes at a great cost due to dangerous, unhealthy conditions.Workers organized into labor unions to meet the growing power of big business. The labor unions gave workers a sense of solidarity and a greater bargaining position with employers. Waves of strikes and industrial violence convulsed the country, and led to an uncertain future for organized labor.

American farmers were caught between two competing trends in the new industrial economy. The future seemed bright as new western lands were brought under cultivation and new technology allowed farmers to achieve much greater production. However, banks and railroads offered mixed blessings as they often hurt the farmers’ economic position. Farmers organized into groups to protect their interests and participate in the growing prosperity of the rapidly industrializing American economy. At the same time, difficult times led many to give up on farming and find work in factories.

American cities became larger through out the period as the factory system drew millions of workers from the American country side and tens of millions of immigrants from other countries. The large cities created immense markets that demanded mass-produced goods and agricultural products from American farms.The cities were large, impersonal places for the new comers and were centers of diversity thanks to the mingling of many different cultures. The urban areas lacked basic services and were often run by corrupt bosses, but the period witnessed the growth of more effective urban government that offered basic services to improve life for millions of people.

The tens of millions of immigrants that came to the United States primarily settled in urban areas and worked in the factories. They came for the opportunities afforded by large, industrial economies and provided essential low-skill labor. The “new immigrants” were mostly from southeastern Europe, Asia, and Mexico. They had to adapt to a strange new world, and in turn brought with them new ethnicities, languages,religious practices, foods, and cultures. This tension over assimilation led to debates about American values and the Americanization of immigrants. Some native-born Americans wanted to restrict the number of immigrants coming into the country, while others defended the new comers.

The changes in the economy and society created opportunities and challenges for millions of other Americans. The status and equal rights of women experienced a general,long-term growth. Many women enjoyed new opportunities to become educated and work in society, though these opportunities were still limited when compared with men. The history of women during the late nineteenth century was not monolithic as white, middle-class women often had a very different experience than women who were poor, or from a minority or immigrant background. Because many women entered the workforce, a debate occurred over the kinds and amount of work that women performed, which led to legal protections. The women’s suffrage movement won the biggest success for equal rights in the period with the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, granting women the right to vote.

African Americans did not participate in the growing opportunities and prosperity that other groups in American society did. The long and bloody Civil War had ended with the freeing of African Americans from slavery. This was followed by further gains of constitutional and legal protections, however, many of these rights would soon evaporate. During the late nineteenth century, African Americans found in equality and racism in the segregation of the South, but they were also victimized by in equality and racism in northern cities in the early twentieth century as they moved there in increasing numbers. Black leaders debated the right path to full equality, civic participation,and economic opportunity in American life.

The changes that affected the American economy and society led to a growth in the federal government. The important issues of the nineteenth century were increasingly contested on the national rather than local levels. Businesses, organized labor, farmers,and interest groups turned to the national government to resolve their disputes. The executive branch saw an expansion of its role and influence as it increased its regulatory power over the many aspects of American life. A widespread reform movement called “progressivism” introduced many reforms that were intended to address the changes in society resulting from the modern industrial economy and society. This increased government’s responsiveness but also dramatically increased the size and powers of the federal government.The national government therefore began to supplant the local and state governments in the minds of many Americans and in the American constitutional system.

The late nineteenth century also us he red in great changes in how the United States interacted with the rest of the world. For the first century of its existence, the United State straded with other countries, acquired territory for continental expansion, and fought in a few major wars. However, the United States was generally neutral in world affairs and focused on its domestic situation. That changed as America entered the world stage as a major global power. This expansion in world affairs led to an internal debate over international powers and responsibilities. Americans also struggled over the character of its foreign affairs. Debates raged over the growth of American military power and whether Americans had a duty to spread democracy around the world.

The changes in the late nineteenth century were bewildering to most Americans who experienced them. Many debates took place to make sense of the changes and to consider howto respond to them. Americans rarely found easy answers and often conflicted with one another on the different solutions. The vast changes that occurred laid the foundation of modern America.The questions and challenges that they faced are still relevant and are debated by Americans today in the twenty-first century. Americans continue to discuss the power and regulation of banks and large corporations. Workers grapple with the globalization of the economy, stagnant wages, and changing technology. Farmers still struggle to make an income amid distant markets determining commodity prices while keeping up with changing consumer tastes about organic and locally-sourced food. Headlines are filled with news of African Americans suffering racism and police brutality. Issues related to the equality of women continue to be debated even as women run for president. Smartphones, social media, the internet, and other technologies change our lives,the culture, and the world economy every day.After more than a century since the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, the fundamental challenges of the era still face us today.