The Gilded Age PDF

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NativismAmericans descended primarily from Irishand German immigrants claimed that thenewly arriving southern and easternEuropean immigrants would not be ableto take in the American society. They sawthese immigrants as illiterate and poor,unable to learn English and with littleexperience living in a democratic society.Many of America’s Protestants alsodisliked the fact that many of the newimmigrants were Catholic, EasternOrthodox, or Jewish

Skyscrapers commercial 1939, mainly inThe early skyscrapers were a range of tall, Most cities in thebuildings built between 1884 and of low-rise buildings,New York City and Chicago. growth after the Civil WarUnited States were made up urban land encouraged thebut significant economic taller buildings beginning in theand intensive use ofdevelopment of1870s.

Tenement HousingAtypical tenement building was from five to six stories high, with four apartmentson each floor. To maximize the number of renters, builders wasted little space.Early tenements might occupy as much as 90 percent oftheir lots, leaving little room behind the building for priviesand water pumps and little ventilation, light, or privacy insidethe tenement. A tenement apartment might house asmany as from ten to twelvepeople at a time.

Problem due tourbanizationThe Gilded Age brought rapid industrializationand economic growth to the United States,but had many problems. Due to all of theimmigration people were crowded intotenement. Building being filled with morepeople than it should have became a badplace because of diseases. Working classneighborhoods turned into the slums wherepeople suffered because of unsanitary livingcondition and crime.

Political Machinesand Party BossesWealthy people bought their thereway into the government. They wouldbribe people for votes and and gainsupport. It was fraud andmanipulation. The boss won votes fortheir organization. The machinesstarted with the supreme chief. TheMachines would deal with citycontracts.

Tammany HallTammany Hall was the name given to theDemocratic political machine thatdominated New York City politics.TheTammany Society of New York City wasfounded in 1786 as a fraternal organizationwhose primary activities were social. By1798, however, the society's activities hadgrown increasingly politicized andeventually Tammany emerged as thecentral proponent of Jeffersonian policiesin the city of New York.

Social DarwinismSocial Darwinism is an application of thetheory of natural selection to social, political,and economic issues. Social Darwinismbasically means \"survival of the fittest,\"including human issues. This theory wasused to promote the idea that the whiteEuropean race was superior to others, andtherefore, destined to rule over them.

Gospel of WealthThe Gospel of Wealth, Andrew Carnegie's mostfamous essay, was written in 1889 and describesthe responsibility of the new upper class ofself-made rich. The main idea of Carnegie's essayis that the wealthy entrepreneur must assume theresponsibility of distributing his fortune in a mannerthat assures that it will be put to good use, and notwasted. The very existence of poverty in acapitalistic society, Carnegie believed, could begreatly reduced by wealthy businessmen andwomen.

Realism in artMany wealthy Americansyearned to have theirimage captured forposterity by having theirportraits painted. JamesMcneill Whistler and JohnSinger Sargent were themost sought after portraitartists of the time.

Populists and thepopulist partyThe Populists were an agrarian-basedpolitical movement aimed at improvingconditions for the country’s farmers andworkers. The Populist movement waspreceded by the Farmer’s Alliance. ThePopulists allied with the labor movement andwere folded into the Democratic Party in1896, though a small remnant of the People’sParty continued to exist until it was formallydisbanded in 1908.