The Gilded Age

Chapter 13 Section 3

Gilded Age

• Time period from about 1870 to 1900– Amazing new inventions led to rapid industrial

growth– Cities expanded– Electric Lights

• “Gilded Age”– If something is gilded it is covered with gold on

the outside but some cheap mess on the inside

Individualism

• Individualism – Americans believed that no matter how low they started in life they can rise in society

• Horatio Alger – Wrote numerous of “rags

to riches” stories

Social Darwinism• Herbert Spencer– Applied Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest to

the human race– Also applied with the theory of Laissez Faire

• Darwinism and the Church– Rejected Darwin’s theory because it contradicted the

Bible’s account of creation• Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth– Americans should engage in Philanthropy and use

their fortunes to create things that would help people help themselves

– Public libraries

A Changing Culture

• Realism – Edgar Degas and Edouard

Manet – Mark Twain – wrote in local

dialect with a sense of humor

A Changing Culture

• Popular Culture – people began dividing their lives into separate units – work and home– The Saloon• In cities saloons outnumbered groceries and meat

markets• Offered drinks, free toilets, water for horses, and free

newspapers• Offered the first “free” lunch – salty food that made

people thirsty

A Changing Culture

• Popular Culture – Amusements Parks and Sports• New York’s Coney Island • First professional baseball team – Cincinnati Red

Stockings• 1903 the first World Series was played between the

Boston Red Sox and the Pittsburgh Pirates• In 1891 Basketball was invented

A Changing Culture

• Popular Culture– Vaudeville• Adapted from the French theater – hodgepodge of

animal acts, acrobats, and dancers• Shows went on all day and night

– Ragtime• Music that grew out of riverside honky-tonks, saloon

pianists, and banjo players • Scott Joplin – African American ragtime composer

– Known as the King of Ragtime

Politics in Washington

• James Garfield was assassinated• Election of 1884– Democrats nominated Grover Cleveland -

WINNER– Republicans nominated James Blaine

Republicans Regain Power

• 1888 Election– Benjamin Harrison – The McKinley Tariff• Lowered the federal revenue causing a budget deficit• Cut tobacco taxes and tariff rates on raw sugar but

increased rates on other goods like textiles

The Rebirth of Reform

• Challenging Social Darwinism– Lester Frank Ward• Insisted people had succeeded in the world because of

their ability to corporate, competition was wasteful and time consuming• Government could regulate economy, cure poverty,

promote education

The Rebirth of Reform

• Looking Backward– Novel about a man who falls asleep in 1887 and

awakens in 2000– He finds that the nation is a perfect society with

no crime, poverty, or politics– Government owns all industry and shares the

wealth equally • Naturalism in Literature– People fail in life because they are caught up in

circumstances they cannot control

Helping the Urban Poor

• The Social Gospel– The church must demand protection for the moral

safety of the people– Churches built gyms

• The Salvation Army and the YMCA– Salvation Army offered practical aid and religious

counseling to the Urban Poor– Young Men’s Christian Association• Bible Studies , citizenship training, and group activities

Helping the Urban Poor

• The Settlement House Movement– Established settlement houses in poor heavily

immigrant neighborhoods– Jane Addams – Hull House in Chicago

• Public Education– Public Education grew rapidly– Public schools were teaching immigrants English

and American History and culture – Americanization