The Gilded Age

1
The Gilded Age

• Gilded To give a deceivingly attractive, or
  improved appearance to embellish

2
Westward Expansion

• As the Homestead Act gave out free land to
  settlers and the white man started expanding out
  west, life on the frontier began to change. The
  settlers moved to a dry barren land, and had to
  build their houses in the clay and hillsides. The
  Indians who originally lived on the plains began
  dying out as the white man moved in, killing out
  the buffalo for profit and taking the land.

3
Westward Expansion

• Drawn by the prospect of free land, the pioneers
  had no idea what to expect. There was no
  established government, or form of law
  enforcement, leaving every man to fend for
  himself. Trade with Asia brought new goods, and
  expansion was becoming official with the
  construction of the transcontinental railroads.

4
The Reconstructed South
The thirteenth amendment abolished slavery, the
fourteenth made them citizens, and the fifteenth
gave them a right to vote. These were a few of
the federal changes taking place during the
reconstruction of the south. The Freedmans
Bureau was established to help freed slaves
assimilate to their new freedom.
Industrialization was slowly moving south, while
sharecropping and tenant farming were still being
used as slavery under another name legal, but
unfair.
Hate groups emerged enforcing phony laws such as
the black codes and the Jim Crow Laws, leading to
legalized segregation for the recently freed
slaves.Cults like the KKK began to rise.
5
The Reconstructed South
The Freedmans Bureau was established to help
freed slaves assimilate to their new freedom.
Industrialization was slowly moving south, while
sharecropping and tenant farming were still being
used as slavery under another name legal, but
unfair.
Hate groups emerged enforcing phony laws such as
the black codes and the Jim Crow Laws, leading to
legalized segregation for the recently freed
slaves.Cults like the KKK began to rise.
6
The Northeast
Industrialization in the North was bring more
people into the cities. With immigration and
rural migration on the rise, the cities began to
encounter serious problems with overcrowding,
crime, poverty, and disease.
In business, Labor Laws and Unions were
established to protect workers from harsh unfair
conditions, and long hours particularly child
workers. Monopolies were also being created on
things like steel and oil, coinciding with the
creation of Political Machines. Wealthy
business men and monopoly owners were paying off
politicians, to viod bills being passed to tax
big businesses.
7
The Northeast
Along with working reforms, and industrialization
, new inventions were becoming available to the
public.
People were working better hours, and beginning
to have more free time, new forms of
transportation and household inventions were
helping to make life easier.
Things like the light bulb, telephone, washing
machines, and power. Steel was being used to make
bridges, and buildings, and the invention of the
automobile made transportation easy.
In their free-time people began to watch boxing,
and baseball. Restaurants and amusement parks
were opening, and T.V.s and radios, began
popping up in peoples homes.
8
Laissez-FaireNo government interference in a
publicly run business
Americas Laissez-Faire approach to business, led
to the formation of many Monopolies, (John D.
Rockefeller and oil.)
Without government interference, many employers
enforced unfair working conditions, wages, and
hours. There was no governmental say on the
regulation of work laws.
9
The Progressive Party

• Reformers pushing for a range of changes in
  society, started a movement called Progressivism,
  which had four major goals
• Protecting social welfare by easing the ills of
  urban society.
• 2. Promoting moral improvement. (ban of alcohol)
• 3. Reform the economy. (Eliminate Political
  Machines, and Monopolies.)
• 4. Making businesses more efficient and
  profitable.

10
The Progressive Party

• Economic Changes
• Breakdown of monopolies
• And political machines.
• Roosevelts Square Deal
• Taxes on Workers Income
• Lowered Tariffs
• Secret Ballot on elections
• Federal Reserve Board (regulate nations money
  supply, and improve nations banking system

• Social Changes
• Minimum wage
• Eight hour workdays
• Regulation of business practices
• Pure Food and Drug Act (F.D.A.)