the time period after the Civil War in which society looked good on the outside but experienced conflict and corruption

#notasgoodasitseems

was the captain of the railroad industry

#conductor

wrote novels glorifying getting rich through honesty, morality, and hard work

#richtherightway

city political organizations designed to gain and keep power

#keepitall

required many jobs to be given based on a "civil service" exam and qualification, NOT the spoils system

#revamped

name given to businessmen who took advantage of government policies but hurt the country

#takersnotgivers

the authorized building of a transcontinental railroad

#buildup

pitted federal troops led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer (1839-76) against a band of Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne warriors.

#siouxvcheyenne

a book that criticized the history of broken treaties with and violence against Native Americans

#violenttreaties

witnessed the expansion of electricity, petroleum, and steel; 1870-1914

#secondup

captain of the steel industry; his steel was vital to the construction of railroads, factories, city buildings, etc.

#steelman

came seeking greater economic opportunity between the 1880s and 1920

#newnew

he drew political cartoons criticizing Tammany Hall; was bribed by Tweed, but continued; his work led to Tweed being arrested and jailed. 

#stoppedtweed

workers had to promise not to join a union if hired

#nounion

established sale of cheap land in the West—160 acres for $10

#cheap

small areas of land Native Americans were forced to move to, usually with few natural resources; rules and resources were controlled by government officials and are often corrupt

#corruptliving

this law offered individual native Americans 160-acre homesteads for farming; this failed because most of them refused to abandon tribes or assimilate

#failedfarmland

invented lightbulb, electricity distribution; these light bulbs led factories to boost production with a night shift; electricity powered big factory machines

#lightitup

captain of the investment banking; investing was vital to financing the growth of many businesses

#investormogal

an often used successor to the log cabin during the frontier settlement of the Great Plains of Canada and the United States. If the prairie lacked standard building materials such as wood or stone, sod from thickly-rooted prairie grass was abundant and could be used for construction.

#ourhouse

1873, a De Kalb, Illinois, farmer named Joseph Glidden submits an application to the U.S. Patent Office for his clever new design for a fencing wire with sharp barbs, an invention that will forever change the face of the American West.

#fencedup

an animal on Native American reservations that was not allowed to be hunted, Sitting Bull led people outside reservations to hunt them

#animalfun

a major Sioux leader who led people off reservations to hunt buffalo

#leadman 

this essay evaluated the role of the western frontier of the United States; It called the frontier a “safety valve” for Americans who were not content in the East; The frontier had been a place for economic opportunity and a fresh start; With this “safety valve,” closed, the United States had to address, not push away, Gilded Age issues 

#forcedissueresolution

captain of the oil industry; oil became a vital source of energy to fuel industrialization; was the richest American in history; his monopolistic business practices hurt competition and small businesses

#oiluproar

applied “survival of the fittest” principles to justify the gap between rich and poor as natural

#fittestsurvive

banned Chinese immigration to America in 1882 

#leftout

congressmen were bribed to let a railroad construction company overcharge taxpayer money

#unfairtaxes

it was a violent and defeated strike nationwide; The Panic of 1873 caused railroad companies to cut already low worker wages; Over 80,000 railroad workers NATIONWIDE went on strike, affecting 2/3 of the nation’s railroads; Angry workers became violent, destroyed railroads and equipment, and crippled the economy; President Hayes used federal troops to stop the violence and over 100 people died; Public perception of unions became more negative, and would continue to during the Gilded Age; State and federal governments sided with employers, not unions, and would continue to during the Gilded Age

#nationwidetranspotprob

helped create agricultural and technical colleges to teach skills needed in the West

#westskills

a major Nez Perce leader who resisted being placed on a reservation in Idaho

#reserveresist