Transcontinental Railroad
Completed 1869 with the Union Pacific and Central Pacific meeting at Promontory Point, Utah; bound the nation together and accelerated westward settlement.
Westward ExpansionDawes Act (1887)
Federal law breaking up Native reservations into 160-acre family plots to force assimilation; reduced Native lands from 138 million to 48 million acres.
Westward ExpansionBattle of Wounded Knee
1890 U.S. cavalry massacre of ~300 Lakota Sioux in South Dakota; marked the symbolic end of the Indian Wars and Native armed resistance.
Westward ExpansionHomestead Act (1862)
Civil War-era law (still operating in this period) granting 160 acres to settlers who farmed for five years; encouraged Plains settlement.
Westward ExpansionNew South
Henry Grady's vision of a Southern economy diversified beyond cotton with steel, textiles, and railroads; partial industrialization but South stayed largely agricultural and poor.
New SouthBessemer Process
Steel manufacturing method (1850s; widely adopted post-Civil War) producing strong, cheap steel — foundational to railroads, skyscrapers, and bridges.
TechnologyEdison & the Light Bulb
Thomas Edison's 1879 incandescent light bulb and his Pearl Street power station (1882) brought electric lighting to American cities, transforming industry and daily life.
TechnologyRobber Barons / Captains of Industry
Industrial leaders like Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan, and Vanderbilt — 'robber barons' to critics, 'captains of industry' to admirers.
Industrial CapitalismAndrew Carnegie
Scottish-born steel magnate; built U.S. Steel through vertical integration; wrote 'The Gospel of Wealth' (1889) urging philanthropy by the rich; funded 2,500+ libraries.
Industrial CapitalismJohn D. Rockefeller
Founder of Standard Oil; used horizontal integration and trusts to control 90%+ of U.S. oil refining by 1880 — the archetypal Gilded Age monopolist.
Industrial CapitalismTrust
Business arrangement (perfected by Rockefeller) where companies transfer stock to a board of trustees, enabling one entity to control multiple corporations and create monopolies.
Industrial CapitalismSocial Darwinism
Application of 'survival of the fittest' to society; used by Gilded Age elites to justify wealth gaps and oppose government regulation; promoted by William Graham Sumner.
Industrial CapitalismGospel of Wealth
Andrew Carnegie's 1889 essay arguing the wealthy had a moral duty to use their fortunes for the public good through philanthropy.
Industrial CapitalismSherman Antitrust Act
1890 first federal law against monopolies and trusts; initially used more against unions than corporations; later basis for trust-busting.
Industrial CapitalismKnights of Labor
1869 labor union welcoming all workers (skilled and unskilled, women, Black workers); collapsed after the 1886 Haymarket Affair tied unions to anarchism.
LaborAmerican Federation of Labor (AFL)
Samuel Gompers's 1886 federation of skilled craft unions; focused on 'bread and butter' issues (wages, hours, conditions) rather than radical reform.
LaborHaymarket Affair
1886 Chicago bombing during labor rally; killed police and workers; 7 anarchists convicted on weak evidence; destroyed the Knights of Labor.
LaborHomestead Strike
1892 violent strike at Carnegie's Homestead steel plant; Henry Frick's Pinkertons fought workers, weakening the steel union for decades.
LaborPullman Strike
1894 nationwide railroad strike led by Eugene V. Debs; President Cleveland sent federal troops to break it (citing U.S. mail interference); set precedent for federal intervention against labor.
LaborNew Immigrants
Late-19th-century arrivals from Southern and Eastern Europe (Italians, Poles, Russian Jews, Slavs); Catholic or Jewish; sparked nativist backlash.
ImmigrationChinese Exclusion Act
1882 first major federal law restricting immigration by ethnicity; banned Chinese laborers and barred Chinese from naturalization; lasted until 1943.
ImmigrationSettlement House Movement
Urban reform creating community centers in immigrant neighborhoods; Jane Addams's Hull House (Chicago, 1889) was the model — a forerunner of modern social work.
ImmigrationPolitical Machines
Urban political organizations (most notoriously Tammany Hall under Boss Tweed in NYC) that traded services for votes from immigrants; pioneered modern urban politics through corruption.
Politics & ReformPopulism
1890s farmer-led political movement (People's Party); demanded free silver, government ownership of railroads, income tax, direct election of senators, 8-hour workday.
Politics & Reform'Cross of Gold' Speech
William Jennings Bryan's 1896 Democratic Convention speech demanding free silver coinage; attacked the gold standard as crucifying farmers and workers.
Politics & Reform