Division Reconciliation and Expansion 1850 1914 Historical Background

Division, Reconciliation, and Expansion (1850 -1914) Historical Background on the Age of Realism

Prelude to War • North—commerce is king – Industrial Revolution/cheap transportation – Immigration a major factor • South—cotton ruled – Also sugar, tobacco, rice – Technological progress-little impact here – Believed slavery vital to the South

Prelude to War, cont. • Fugitive Slave Law (1850) • Expansion of slavery – Bloody Kansas • Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, 1859 – John Brown attempts to provoke armed slave revolt – Executed for treason

Union Is Dissolved • 1860—Lincoln elected – New Republican party vowed to halt spread of slavery • Succession begins • Fighting begins—Ft. Sumter, Charlestown • Most anticipated short war – Lasted 4 years – 26, 000 dead at Antietam in one day – Siege of Vicksburg – Destruction of Georgia

After the Surrender • • • Lee surrendered in 1865 620, 000 dead 500, 000 wounded South destroyed Lincoln assasinated

Expanding America • Homestead Act of 1862 • Transcontinental Railroad • Disappearing frontier – Buffalo herds gone – Open range gone – Indian nations gone – West lived on in folktales

Changing Society • Second Industrial Revolution – Introduction of Electricity – “Modern” life begins – Mass production of consumer goods • Advertising – Urban life • Skyscrapers, department stores, mass transit • Noise, traffic jams, air pollution • Surge in immigration

Changing Society, cont. • New extremes of wealth and power – Industrial wages low – Child labor – Disease rampant in cramped working/living spaces – A handful of men made fortunes & lived like royalty • “The Gilded Age” – Discontent beneath the prosperity