The Gilded Age refers to the period from 1870 to 1900 in American history. During this time, businesses grew rapidly and profits soared due to laws passed by the government. However, corruption was widespread beneath the surface. Political machines controlled many local governments through networks of favors and bribes. Notorious bosses like William Tweed of New York used these systems to gain power. In response, muckraking journalists and progressive reformers worked to expose corruption and pass new regulations to protect consumers and the environment.

1. The Gilded Age
Chapter 19

2. The Gilded Age
Refers to American history
from about 1870 to 1900
 Businesses were growing
and making more money
than ever
 U.S. Government was
making laws that allowed
this growth to continue
 BUT there was a lot of
corruption and illegal
deals occurring beneath
the surface.


3. Spoils System vs. Civil Service
After the Civil War, most people employed
by the government got their job through
The Spoils System, where elected
officials gave jobs to their family, friends,
and political supporters.
 Starting in 1883, the Civil Service was
designed to give people jobs in the
government based on whether or not the
candidate was qualified for the job, not
whether or not they knew someone


4. The Gilded Age:
Era of Political Machines
A
Political Machine is a political
group that makes deals and runs
politics in an area through a series of
corrupt deals between politicians,
local businesses and citizens.

Political Machines provided goods and
services, like fire and police protection to
the poor in exchange for votes
– Accepted bribes from businesses to ensure
inspectors wouldn’t shut down the business

5. Thomas Nast Anti-Tweed Ring Satire, 1871

6. The Gilded Age:
Era of Political Machines

7. The Gilded Age:
Era of Political Machines
 The
leaders of these political
machines were called Party Bosses.
 The Most Notorious of these was
William “Boss” Tweed.
 He controlled New York City via a
corrupt network of connections.
 Tammany Hall was the building and
group that carried out all of Boss
Tweed’s political activity.

8. The Notorious Boss Tweed
I don't care who
does the electing,
so long as I get to
do the nominating!
The way to
have power is
to take it!

9. The Notorious B.I.G.
Move over Lucifer,
I’m more ruthless,
leave you toothless!

10. Progressive Movement
 Progressives
tried to sway people
towards more legitimate political
candidates with a new approach to
get voters more involved in the
process
 This included the creation of the
Primary Election in which voters
chose who they wanted to run for a
political office.
 Voters also were given the power of
Recall, Initiative, and Referendum

11. Muckraking Journalists
Newspapers had to find new ways to sell
stories
 One approach was through Muckraking,
or the attempt to expose corruption in big
business and government by digging up
the dirty details and publishing them in
the newspaper

– Ida Tarbell is famous for exposing the
business practices of the Standard Oil Trust of
John D. Rockefeller, which led to the breakup
of the business!

12. Raking the Muck

13. Welcome to the Jungle!
 One
of the most influential pieces
from the muckraking period was
Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle”
 This book focused on the disgusting
conditions within a Chicago Meatpacking plant.
 The book succeeded in
opening up people’s eyes to
how bad some of these
big business’s practices
were.

14. The Progressive
Presidents
Chapter 18 Section 2

15. Teddy Roosevelt the Progressive
 Theodore
Roosevelt becomes
President in 1901 after William T.
McKinley is assassinated.
 T.R. will devise the
Square Deal, plan
for America
focusing on
regulation of big
business,
conservation of
Natural Resources, and
protecting consumers.

16. Teddy Roosevelt
and
The Rough Riders

17. Teddy Roosevelt the Progressive
 Teddy
Roosevelt would pass the
Food and Drug Act after reading
Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle”, which
would set up the Food and Drug
Administration, which strove to
maintain safe standards for keeping,
processing, and serving food.
 T.R. also received the nickname of
Trustbuster, for his attempts to
shut down big business monopolies.

18. Teddy Roosevelt the Progressive
 Conservation
– is the attempt at
maintaining and preserving natural
resources and wildlife.
 Roosevelt’s love of nature and the
outdoors led to him working on a
number of conservation projects,
including:
– Setting up the National Forestry Service
– Creating the National Park System
– As well as the Antiquities Act

19. Taft the Somewhat Progressive
 William
H. Taft would be elected in
1908 as T.R.’s replacement, he is
ineffective because of major
problems with his
administration,
but still has some
successes in:
– Fixing working
conditions in mines
– Child Labor laws
– 8 Hour work day for
government workers

20. Wilson
the Democratic
Progressive

Woodrow Wilson is the
only Democrat Progressive
president, and stole the election of 1912 from
Roosevelt and Taft. Continued Progressive
reforms by:
– Establishing the Federal Trade Commission to
investigate business practices
– Signed New Anti-Trust legislations ensuring fair
competition, and
– Established the Federal Reserve to control money
supply through use of interest rates

21. The Rights of Women
and
The Struggle for Equality
Chapter 19
Sections 3 and 4

22. Prohibition
 Women’s
groups, like the Women’s
Christian Temperance Union led by
Francis Willard, believed that
America’s obsession with drinking
was destroying families.
– They pushed for Prohibition or the
elimination of alcohol from society
 In
1917 the 18th Amendment would
ban making, selling, or transporting
alcohol.

23. Prohibition: Saving Babies

24. Women’s Suffrage
 Carrie
Chapman Catt would
develop a plan to get the right for
women to vote in each state.
 These women who fought for the
right to vote were called
Suffragists.
 This would be passed as the 19th
Amendment, first ratified by only a
few states in 1919, and finally by
most of the others in 1920.

25. Suffrage VS. Suffering

26. Advancing
African American Rights
 Booker
T. Washington worked his
way from slavery to become one of
the most prominent AfricanAmerican minds in American society
– Booker T. believed that only through
proving their worth in the workplace
would African-Americans gain equality
– He founded the all-black Tuskegee
Institute, a college to teach these skills.

27. Advancing
African American Rights
 W.E.B.
Du Bois agreed with Booker
T. Washington about education and
skills as a necessity for AfricanAmericans.
– DuBois believed that segregation had to
be eliminated first before AfricanAmericans could take steps toward
progress and equality.
– DuBois founded the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored Peoples
to fight legal battles and promote the

28. Booker T. vs. W.E.B.

The wisest among my race understand that the agitation of
questions of social equality is the extremist folly, and that
progress in the enjoyment of all the privileges that will
come to us must be the result of severe and constant
struggle rather than of artificial forcing. -- Booker T.
Washington

We claim for ourselves every single right that belongs to a
free American, political, civil and social, and until we get
these rights we will never cease to protest and assail the
ears of America. -- W.E.B. Du Bois

29. More People!!!
 Mexican
Immigration would increase
in the early 1900’s as a famine and
revolution hit Mexico
 It is during this time that L.A. really
begins to grow.
 Roosevelt would feel pressure from
many sides to limit Asian
immigration, and would do just that.

30. Religious Intolerance
 Because
of Anti-Catholic AntiImmigrant Nativists in America, a
movement to establish Parochial
Schools sponsored by the Catholic
church
 There was also a great deal of AntiSemitism, or hatred for people of
Jewish faith.
– This would often follow them from their
old countries.