Aim: Why were the late 1800’s referred to as the “Gilded Age”?

Do Now: What is a Golden Age? Based on that, what do you think the “Gilded Age” means? (Gild is defined as:

“To cover with a thin layer of gold”)

The Gilded Age

• Period of rapid industrial and economic growth from around 1869-1900

• “Gilded Age”: Seems prosperous on the surface, but many problems underneath

• Large change in American life including:

• Rise of big business• Rise of unions• New wave of

immigration• Urbanization of

American life• Does not heavily effect

the South

The Second Industrial Revolution

• From 1865-1898• Wheat output increases

256%• Corn output increases

222%• Coal output increases

800%• Railway lines increase

567%

Black Gold

• Large increase in Oil production

• Used to power internal combustion engines, light lamps, run factories (automobile invented in 1886)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeSLPELpMeM

Steel

• U.S. rich in coal and iron• Bessemer Process:

Converts iron to steel• Steel: Stronger and

lighter than iron; allows production of new tools, railroads, bridges, skyscrapers, etc

• Thomas Edison establishes research laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey; perfects light bulb (R.I.P. Topsy)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ1Mz7kGVf0

• Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone

Railroads• Link up entire nation• Cause the creation of

many towns and cities across the country

• Employee hundreds of thousands of laborers

• Create Time Zones• Which of these

innovations do you think was most important?

The American Dream

Social Darwinism

• Darwin’s belief: Natural Selection (“Survival of the fit enough”)

• Social Darwinism: Survival of the fittest; applied to economics and society

• The rich get rich because of their skills, poor stay poor because of their lack of skills

• Government takes a Lassiez Faire (hands-off) approach

Horatio Alger

• Publishes hundreds of “rags to riches” stories

• Credited for creation of the “American Dream”, that one could rise to the upper class through “pluck and luck”

• Do you agree with this idea? Why or why not?

Captains of Industry v. Robber Barons

• Capitalism in America: Economic growth driven by the search for profit

• Trusts: Early corporations, formed to help manage large businesses

• Captain of Industry: Wealthy business leader who positively contributed to the country

Robber Baron: Wealthy business leader who negatively contributed to the country

John Rockefeller

• Born into poor family; America’s first billionaire

• Becomes wealthy during Civil War, begins investing in Oil

Standard Oil

• Rockefeller’s oil trust• Drives other oil

companies out of business by undercutting them (selling at a loss) then buying them out (“Horizontal Integration”)

• Large scale lets Rockefeller demand cheap transportations rates

• Positive• Large-scale oil

production; becomes available for the masses

• Negative• Workers paid very little• Fears that predatory

business practices and increase in monopolies can lead to uncontrolled price increases

Philanthropy

• Would donate over $500 million over his lifetime to fund schools, colleges, health programs, etc

• Most of the donations came in his later years

Andrew Carnegie

• From a poor family of immigrants

Carnegie Steel Company

• Follows process of “Vertical Integration”; owns all components needed to create his steel

• Owns coal mines used to power railroads and furnaces, iron mines to mine iron, railroads to transport his steel, etc

• Institutes limited profit sharing in his factories, although workers wages still low

• Lives a humble life; criticizes extravagant rich

Philanthropy

• Sells company to J.P. Morgan in 1901; spends rest of life as Philanthropist

• Builds 3,000 libraries, Carnegie Hall, etc

J.P. Morgan

• Born into wealthy family, father gets him important job at large bank

Banking Titan

• Makes fortune as a financier; buying up distressed companies, selling profitable ones, etc

• Creates U.S. Steel from Carnegie Steel

• Criticized for becoming wealthy through investments, as opposed to “creating something”

• Marks shift in American entrepreneurs into banking and finance, away from industry

• Heavily attacked by the government; many of his businesses and trusts are broken up