United States History from 1877
to the Present Day
An Online United States History Course
The Gilded Age and Progressivism
(About two-weeks)
A young tailor at the Turn-of-the-Century in 1900 portrayed by St. Pius X High School alumni Iyvor Hypolite
Tenements were shabby, run-down apartment buildings in major American cities in the late 1800's. Mostly comprised of immigrants from European cities, they had barely livable conditions, rats, bugs, and little comfort.
Read more at the History Channel Website
"I don't care who does the electing, so long as I get to do the nominating."
--"Boss" William Marcy Tweed
Tenements
Corrupt City Governments
City governments' were often corrupt and ruthless in the mid to late 19th Century. They were often run by big city "Bosses" who cared little about the citizens of the area. These "governments' took money from taxes and "graft" to build lavish homes for themselves and eat expensive foods while much of the city starved.
The most famous of the "Bosses" was Boss William Marcy Tweed. He ran the Tammany Hall Gang in New York City. He was featured in the movie Gangs of New York directed by Martin Scorsese in 2002.
Galveston, Texas, Victorian time period House still in use today
Thomas Nast, Cartoonist
Thomas Nast began his work in newspapers and magazines sketching pictures of newsworthy events such as apartment fires. He later became famous for his cartoons of Tammany Hall and "Boss" Tweed. Nast helped to bring down the Tammany Hall political machine and end "Boss" Tweed's reign as mayor.
The video has more information.
Thomas Nast, cartoonist, drew images of "Boss" WIlliam Marcy Tweed for Harper's Weekly newspaper in the1800's.
Immigration
Over 15 million immigrants move to American the late 1800's and early 1900's. From every land, nation, religion and race, they come for the American dream. From the stories of golden paved streets and bountiful harvest of food and meat, they come to make their fortunes in the new land. Immigrants came for the promise of "streets paved with gold!" Link to Page
How the Other Half Lives
Jacob Riis became famous for his photographic
depictions of life in the tenements of New York City.
Link to Page
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire One of the most disastrous factory accidents in history occurred in New York City near closing time on March 25, 1911. Link to Page
"The Farmer and The Cowman" Dance Sequence - Rogers & Hammerstein's Musical Oklahoma!
The Wobblies
Eugene V. Debs, in full Eugene Victor Debs, (born November 5, 1855, Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S.—died October 20, 1926, Elmhurst, Illinois), labour organizer and Socialist Party candidate for U.S. president five times between 1900 and 1920. Continue Reading LINK
Impact of the Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Through the setting of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, the time period, and the location of the story, Mark Twain helps the readers understand the theme of human goodness and wickedness. The setting is the fictional town of St. Petersburg, Missouri. The time period is not specifically mentioned in the story, but readers can infer that it is during the 1840's where Negro slaves were widely common in almost every house in the village. In the small village where everybody knows everyone and where adults work together to watch out for each other's children and to discipline them by forcing them to go to school and to memorize Bible verses because for them, good image is necessary to have a good life. Twain believes that hypocrisy is one of the evil natures of man, just like those adults in the village who would rather pretend to be someone else than actually become one. On the other hand, Twain also shows the natural goodness of man when the villagers worked together to help search for Tom and Becky when they were lost in a cave. "Before the horror was half an hour old two hundred men were pouring down the highroad and river towards the cave... Many women visited Aunt Polly and Mrs. Thatcher and tried to comfort them. They cried with them too..."
The plot structured of the story of Tom Sawyer helps readers understand further about the theme for it gives evidences of man's inherent imperfection. The story started with a catchy exposition as the writer uses diction within Tom and Aunt Polly's conversation. After tiring herself of looking for Tom for a long time, Aunt Polly finally found Tom hiding in her closet. "' Tom? Tom?'... a slight noise behind her and she turned just in time to seize the boy... 'What you been doin' in there?'...'Nothing'...' Look at your hands and your mouth. What is that truck?'... ' I don't know Aunt'... 'Well, I know it's jam. Forty times I've said leave that jam alone...'" This is successful for it clearly introduces the main characters right away, as well as what's going on, and in addition, it already introduces the theme of the story. The first words that Tom speaks in this story already show the evil nature of man, that he will do anything just to get away from trouble. In Tom's situation, he lied by saying "nothing" and "I don't know" when there is actually something and he obviously knows what he's been doing. With the theme, the characters, and the past already introduced during the exposition by using a contrived dialogue, the writer provided himself with the convenience and ease of setting the story on track.
Citation for this section: “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the Decade of the 1870s.” 1920s Technology, www.debold.com/webdesign/webdesign4history/marananjonathan/literature.html.
The term “Gilded Age” was coined by writer Mark Twain. Gilded means wealthy and privileged. Gilding means the process of applying gold leaf or gold paint.
In the United States, the Gilded Age represents a time period from the 1870's to 1919, where rapid growth in industrialization, an increase in the standard of living, and new inventions and technologies were seen. Laissez faire policies or a hands-off policy by the U. S. government, allowed American industries, such as railroads, steel and oil, to achieve rapid growth with little regulation. Businessmen such as John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie prospered while workers were forced to endure terrible working conditions. Many people moved from rural America to cities (urbanization) to find work in factories and construction. Workers, including children, were exploited by the rich and powerful robber barons of the day. The Gilded Age was a time of greed and self-indulgence with a glittering exterior that hid a corrupt political core and the growing gap between the few rich and the many poor.
“No country can be well governed unless its citizens as a body keep religiously before their minds that they are the guardians of the law, and that the law officers are only the machinery for its execution, nothing more.”
― Mark Twain, The Gilded Age
Tenement Apartment in new York City in the 1890's
The Presidents
The most progressive of the presidents include Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson. Many reforms and new laws are made for public safety and fair trade during this time period.
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevlet
William Howard Taft
Woodrow Wilson
City Government Reformation
Cities such as New York City and others followed Galveston's lead and changed to a new form of government called the commissioner form of government.
Read More
Galveston Map - 1871
Ellis Island Immigration Station near New York City
Women, "girls" they were called, at the sewing machines in the Triangle Factory before the fire.
To the left--a collage of the factory fire.
New York City Trolly Car Ride in the Late 1800's
The Great Storm - the Hurricane of 1900's Hits Galveston, Texas
WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN’S “CROSS OF GOLD” SPEECH ELECTED EXCERPT
But we stand here representing people who are the equals before the law of the largest cities in the state of
Massachusetts. When you come before us and tell us that we shall disturb your business interests, we reply
that you have disturbed our business interests by your action. We say to you that you have made too limited
in its application the definition of a businessman
. The man who is employed for wages is as much a
businessman as his employer. The attorney in a country town is as much a businessman as the corporation
counsel in a great metropolis. The merchant at the crossroads store is as much a businessman as the
merchant of New York. The farmer who goes forth in the morning and toils all day, begins in the spring and
toils all summer, and by the application of brain and muscle to the natural resources of this country creates
wealth, is as much a businessman as the ma
n who goes upon the Board of Trade and bets upon the price of grain. The miners who go 1,000 feet into the earth or climb 2,000 feet upon the cliffs and bring forth from
their hiding places the precious metals to be poured in the channels of trade are as much businessmen as the
few financial magnates who in a backroom corner the money of the world...
It is for these that we speak. We do not come as aggressors. Our war is not a war of conquest. We are
fighting in the defense of our homes, our families, and posterity. We have petitioned, and our petitions
have been scorned. We have entreated, and our entreaties have been disregarded. We have begged, and
they have mocked when our calamity came.
We beg no longer; we entreat no more; we petition no more.
We defy
them!
For text in printed format:
https://archive.org/stream/speechesofwillia00brya#page/240/mode/2up, from this Library of Congress
record: