The term was first coined by Mark Twain in 1873 as the title of one of his books.

Twain used this term to describe the superficial luster that wealth applied to everyday life during the last years of the 19th century.

Underneath this golden glow was one of America’s most corrupt eras.

Industry and urbanization occurred nearly at the same time.

Cities provided both a supply of labor for factories and a large market to sell those manufactured goods

The move from rural to urban was obvious, by 1900 40% of Americans lived in large cities.

From 1850-1900, the U.S. population increased from about 23.2 million to 76.2 million, a huge jump in such a short period.

This population growth could be attributed in part to the 16.2 million immigrants that arrived in these years.

The immigrants could be classified in two categories, the new and the old

There are a variety of reasons that the immigrants left Europe and came to America.

01,000,0002,000,0003,000,0004,000,0005,000,0006,000,0007,000,0008,000,0009,000,000

1861-18701871-18801881-18901891-19001901-19101911-19201921-1930

““Pushes” out of Pushes” out of EuropeEurope

Many farm workers were displaced by mechanization in Europe

Overcrowding and joblessness in urban Europe as a result of a huge population boom

Religious Persecution, such as the Jews in Russia

““Pulls” to settle in Pulls” to settle in AmericaAmerica

A reputation for political and religious freedom

Economic promise of settling on the Great Plains

An abundance of jobs created by the industrial revolution.

The introduction of steamships allowed for relatively cheap passage to America

Old ImmigrantsOld Immigrants During the 1880’s the

majority of immigrants were from western and northern Europe, Britain, Germany, and Scandinavia.

They were usually Protestant, but there were also large numbers of Irish and German Catholics.

They had high occupational skills and usually spoke English.

This allowed for relatively easy assimilation into the American Culture.

New ImmigrantsNew Immigrants In the 1890’s, a new type

of immigrant came to America.

They were Italians, Greeks, Croats, Slovaks, Poles, and Russians.

They were usually from the lower class and illiterate.

They were largely Roman Catholic, Greek and Russian Orthodox, and Jewish.

Once in American, these “new” immigrants crowded into ethnic neighborhoods, creating subcultures in large cities.

This period was characterized by weak, forgettable presidents.

Presidents were plagued by the spoils system, the Democrats and Republicans demanded party loyalty.

Presidents ignored many of the problems created by the expansion of industry and the urban environment.

The politicians believed in a “do-little” government, which relied heavily on laissez-faire and Social Darwinism.

Famous Civil War General, he was an excellent commander, but unfortunately a not so good president.

Consistently used Congress as guidance for his decisions, he was seen as bewildered and lost.

People thought of him as an honest man even though he collected bribes from “admirers” and nearly got caught in the middle of a scandal that sought to corner the Gold Market.

Died in 1885 of throat cancer.

One of the better presidents during the Gilded Age, his election was the most controversial up to that point in American History.

After months of uncertainty, the final electoral vote was 185-184

A hard working man, he advocated temperance and honesty

He promised he would only serve one term, so he retired in 1881

Died in 1893

Another great civil war general, Garfield was the last of the “log cabin” presidents.

James Garfield worked hard against political corruption, and gained back much of the prestige that the president lost during the Reconstruction period.

Was assassinated by a bewildered lawyer named Charles Guiteau in 1881.

Guiteau used an early form of the “insanity defense,” but it failed.

He was vice president to James Garfield, but became president when Garfield was assassinated in 1881.

The assassination forced politicians to rework the corrupt spoils system that had plagued the government for years.

Surprisingly, Chester Arthur was the main reformer of the spoils system.

Under his administration the Pendleton Act of 1883 was passed. Enacted to curb the Spoils

system Also instituted a civil service

exam

He served 2 terms, one before and one after the Harrison administration

Cleveland was the only president from the period that did not serve in the civil war.

Won because the Republican party alienated the Irish-American voters in New York.

He was the first democrat in 28 years to take office.

A very solid supporter of Laissez-Faire, he once vetoed a bill that would have supplied aid to drought ravaged Texas.

Started using the spoils system again Had many problems with the Grand

Army of the Republic, he worked hard to try to stop the thousands of pension-grabbers

Turned to J.P. Morgan to bail the federal government out of a gold crisis.

Served in the United States Senate, where he championed Indians. homesteaders, and Civil War veterans in the 1880’s.

Under his administration, the first peacetime Billion dollar budget was enacted.

The first president to try to slow down the trusts with the Sherman Antitrust act

The huge budget was created because of a huge surplus that was created through high tariffs.

However, the surplus was not bottomless and when the surplus disappeared so did much of the prosperity brought by it.

Under the Harrison administration, Congress passed it’s first billion dollar budget

The billion dollar surplus was created by high protective tariffs during Cleveland’s first term.

The budget included a Civil War Pension plan, a bill to protect African Americans(which was defeated by the Senate anyways), the Sherman Antitrust Act, and the McKinley Tariff, which created a monstrous protective tariff.

McKinley nearly always stayed with the majority opinion, his conservative and shy nature held him away from any major reform.

The tariff question that had plagued the country was finally settled with a huge 46.5% rate per person.

During the first part of McKinley’s term, prosperity began finally recovered, through the use of ultra high protective tariffs.

During his administration, Gold was firmly established as the basis for the treasury.

                                                       

By 1900, America was the leading industrial power in the world

It’s manufactured goods output was greater than its greatest competitors Britain, France, and Germany.

The nation’s first big business was the railroads, in the 35 years after the Civil War, the amount of track increased from 35,000 to 193,000.

The first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869.

The Industrial Revolution laid the groundwork for many of the urban and industrial problems that plagued the Gilded Age.

The huge boom in Industry created a new class of people, the millionaires.

These arrogant “new rich” were pushing over the long established patrician families in an insane scramble for power and prestige.

These included legendary men such as Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, and John D. Rockefeller; all of which could be considered the Bill Gates of their time.

The production was concentrated in steel, petroleum, electric power, and the industrial machinery to produce mass produced manufactured goods.

Portrayed as lordly tycoons that took advantage of the lower classes to increase their own worldly wealth.

The Robber Barons controlled the large trusts that normally engulfed the smaller and weaker competitors, until a monopoly was formed

John D. Rockefeller exeplified this new class, as he mercilessly crushed smaller corporations and took advantage of railroads to advance his corporation.

The Sherman Antitrust act was created to try to curb the actions of the Robber Barons.

Andrew Carnegie was the Sultan of Steel during his time.

He exemplified the American Dream, he was brought to America with out a penny in 1848 and worked from the very bottom to the top.

When he first came to America he was paid a measly $1.20 a week, but by 1900 he made over $25,000,000 a year.

By 1900 he was producing over 25% of the nations steel.

He sold his share of his steel company to J.P. Morgan for $400,000,000 in 1900

The most influential banker of his day, J.P. Morgan was known as the “Banker’s Banker”

Successfully bailed the Federal Government out of a crisis by loaning millions of dollars in gold to the U.S. Treasury

He bought Carnegie’s share of American Steel and transformed it into America’s first billion dollar company.

The organizer of Standard Oil, Rockefeller capitalized on the new and profitable oil business.

By 1877, Rockefeller controlled 95% of all the oil refineries in the country.

Rockefeller employed Social Darwinism in his business ethics, he did everything and anything he could to try to advance Standard Oil.

He was known to employ spies and extorting secret rebates from railroads to try to hinder his competitors

On the other hand, Rockefeller did supply a very superior product at cheap prices

Much of the laissez-faire capitalism relied on survival of the fittest, it was largely accepted that “The millionaires are a product of natural selection.”

The fact that many of the millionaires clawed their way to the top gave them the attitude that if they could do it, then only a lazy man would remain poor.

Even clergy jumped in on this, saying things such as “Godliness is in the league with riches,” and “There is not a poor person in the United States who was not made poor by his own short comings.”

Such attitudes were strong road blocks against social reform

The end of the Gilded Age truly came with the beginning of the Progressive Era in 1901

Began when the middle class became alarmed about the social unrest, excess of wealth, corruption in the government, and an obvious decline in morality.

Instead of believing in a Gospel of Wealth and social Darwinism, the Progressives believed that mankind can be improved and new programs such as Welfare.

The Progressives were also strong trustbusters, dismantling the behemoths that controlled industries.