How Gilded Was the Gilded Age Teaching the

How Gilded Was the “Gilded Age”? Teaching the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (1870 s - 1920)

Standard Views of the “Gilded Age” (1870 s-1890 s) robber barons stagnation malaise corruption stalemate paralysis

“Boss” Tweed (1860 s-1871)

“pallid politics” “noise [and] histrionics, meaningless hoopla” “politics of the status quo” “no great national debates; drained of drama”

Puck, 1884

Progressive Era (1900 – 1920) State-building & reform for an industrial era: • curb the power of monopolies and corporations • address poverty • enhance democratic participation • promote social welfare and social justice • preserve natural environment and resources

1889

“A Hint to Boards of Health, ” Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly, 1884

Yellowstone National Park, 1872

Mass. Board of Health provides clean water for Lowell: gravel filter beds, 1870 s; sand filters, 1892

Omaha Platform, People’s Party, 1892 • “We believe that the power of government— in other words, of the people—should be expanded (as in the case of the postal service) as rapidly and as far as the good sense of an intelligent people and the teaching of experience shall justify, to the end that oppression, injustice, and poverty shall eventually cease in the land. . ”

Corporate Regulation State Granger laws (1870 s) Lloyd, “Story of a Great Monopoly” (1881) Interstate Commerce Act (1887) Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) Tarbell, History of Standard Oil (1904) Hepburn Act (1906) Clayton Antitrust Act (1914)

Not Very Progressive? Empire, 1898 -1920 s

Rise of “Jim Crow” Segregation Courtesy Project LEGAL, Maxwell School of Citizenship, Syracuse University

withoutsanctuary. org

Impact of Disfranchisement in the South

Voter Participation in Presidential Elections, 1876 -1924

States with New Literacy Requirements for Voting, 1892 -1924 Alabama Arizona California Connecticut Delaware Georgia Louisiana Maine Massachusetts Mississippi New Hampshire New York North Dakota Oklahoma Oregon S. Carolina Virginia Washington

States with New Restrictions on Alien or Immigrant Voting, 1894 -1926 Alabama Arkansas Colorado Connecticut Florida Indiana Kansas Louisiana Michigan Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada North Dakota Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Dakota Texas Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

For Class Debate • How gilded was the “Gilded Age”? • How progressive was the “Progressive Era” (and when was it)? • What would you call this era of industrialization (1870 s-1920)?