Period 6 Overview: Key Points and Important Details

Introduction

• Focus on Period 6 in American history.
• Gilded Age marked by rapid economic growth, industrialization, and corruption post-Civil War.

Key Industrial Figures and Business Practices

• Andrew Carnegie: Steel industry - vertical integration (control of all production stages).
• John D. Rockefeller: Oil industry - horizontal integration (buying out competitors).
• Cornelius Vanderbilt: Railroads.
• J.P. Morgan: Banking.
• Use of trusts to monopolize industries and consolidate power.
• Social Darwinism justified wealth and low wages.

Philanthropy and Economic Policies

• Andrew Carnegie: Advocated for wealth redistribution through "Gospel of Wealth."
• Laissez-faire government policies favored industrial capitalists.
• Political corruption with financial contributions to politicians.

Political Machines and Reforms

• Boss Tweed: Tammany Hall's political influence through vote-buying in New York.
• Thomas Nast: Exposed corruption through political cartoons.
• Pendleton Civil Service Act: Ended the spoils system post-Garfield assassination.
• Sherman Anti-Trust Act: Attempted to limit monopolies (weak enforcement).

Labor Movements

• Response to low wages, poor working conditions, long hours.
• Knights of Labor: Inclusive union, declined after Haymarket Riot.
• American Federation of Labor: Focus on skilled labor.
• Major strikes: Great Railroad Strike (1877), Pullman Strike, Homestead Strike.

Social and Urban Reforms

• Social Gospel Movement: Encouraged addressing poverty and homelessness.
• Jane Addams: Settlement House Movement, Hull House in Chicago.
• Jacob Riis: Highlighted poor urban conditions in "How the Other Half Lives."
• Urban innovations: Electricity, typewriter, telephone improved jobs and communication.

Migration and Immigration Patterns

• African-Americans: Mass exodus from Jim Crow South (economic opportunities, freedoms).
• Immigrants: Continued influx from Ireland, Germany; new immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe.
• Chinese Exclusion Act: Response to rising nativism against Asian immigrants.

Southern and Western Developments

• Southern economy: Agriculture, cash crops, and the "New South" industrialization (Henry Grady).
• Jim Crow Laws: Upholding racial inequality.
• Booker T. Washington: Advocacy for economic independence for African-Americans.
• Western development: Homestead Act, Transcontinental Railroad led to rapid settlement.

Native American Conflicts and Assimilation

• Conflicts over land: Nez Perce, Navajo, Plains tribes (Sand Creek Massacre, Battle of Wounded Knee).
• Helen Hunt Jackson: Exposed Native American mistreatment.
• Dawes Severalty Act: Supported assimilation (e.g., Carlisle School).

Farmers' Struggles and Populism

• Issues: Crop prices, shipping rates, debt.
• Populist Party: Advocated for bimetallism, direct election of senators, graduated income tax.
• William Jennings Bryan: "Cross of Gold" speech for silver coinage.

Exam Preparation

• Focus areas for exams: Causes of big business rise, effects of westward expansion.
• Comparison questions: Gilded Age reforms vs. Period 4 reforms, immigration changes.
• Economic changes: New labor practices, business structures.

Conclusion

• Additional study resources: A Plus Ultimate Review Packet, timelines, guides.
• Encouragement to engage with study materials and subscribe for further content.