Writer and humorist, Mark Twain, wrote the novel The Gilded Age ridiculing Washington D.C. and many of the leading
figures of the day
The growth of industry and a wave of immigrants marked this period in American history. The production of iron and steel rose dramatically and western resources like lumber, gold, and silver increased the demand for improved transportation. Railroad development boomed as trains moved goods from the resource-rich West to the East. Steel and oil were in great demand. All this industry produced a lot of wealth for a number of businessmen like John
D. Rockefeller (in oil) and Andrew Carnegie (in steel), known as robber barons (people who got rich through ruthless business deals). The Gilded Age gets its name from the many great fortunes created during this period and the way of life this wealth supported.
Choose Another Time Period
The Gilded Age
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| A Warrior on the Sports Field
"World-Class Athlete Jim Thorpe Was Born"
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| A Woman on the Dollar?
"Susan B. Anthony Supports Women's Suffrage Amendment"
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| Dancing Down Broadway
"Bill "Bojangles" Robinson Was Born"
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| Dear Diary
"Theodore Roosevelt Wrote in His Diary"
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| Disaster
"The Johnstown Flood"
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| Does Anybody Know What Time It Is?
"Four Standard Time Zones for the Continental U.S. Were Introduced"
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| Give My Regards to Broadway
"George M. Cohan Was Born"
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| Going to the Met
"The Metropolitan Opera House Opened in New York"
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| Have a Coke and a Smile
"The First Coca-Cola Served"
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| Hello, Is the Sun Shining?
"Alexander Graham Bell Invented the Photophone"
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| How a River Can Light Your Home
"The World's First Hydroelectric Power Plant Began Operation"
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| Labor Takes A Holiday
"The Very First Labor Day"
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| Lady Liberty Steps Foot in America
"The Statue of Liberty Arrived in New York Harbor"
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| Let There Be Light!
"First Public Demonstration of Edison's Light Bulb"
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| O Captain! My Captain!
"Walt Whitman Wrote A Letter"
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| One Dakota, Two Dakota...
"North Dakota and South Dakota Were Admitted to the Union"
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| Perfection in Housekeeping
"Good Housekeeping Magazine Debuts"
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| The Big Sneeze
"Thomas Edison Patented the Kinetoscope"
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| The Creole State
"Louisiana Ratified a New State Constitution"
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| The Kid Escapes
"Billy the Kid Escaped from Jail"
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| The Last of the Red-Hot Mamas
"Entertainer Sophie Tucker Was Born"
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| The Pineapple Express
"Hawaii"
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| Too Young to Work
"Reformer Grace Abbott Was Born"
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| Wash Those Hands!
"Charles J. Guiteau Shot President Garfield"
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| Washington Monumental Trivia
"The Washington Monument Was Completed"
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| You Go Girl!!
"Alice Paul Was Born"
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What are the major events of the Gilded Age?
Jan 10, 1870. Rockefeller Incorporates Standard Oil. ... . Mar 4, 1871. Curtis Heads Civil Service Commission. ... . Dec 19, 1872. Carnegie Imitates Bessemer Steel. ... . Sep 4, 1872. Crédit Mobilier Scandal. ... . Nov 5, 1872. Ulysses S. ... . Dec 19, 1873. Mark Twain Publishes The Gilded Age. ... . Sep 18, 1873. Panic of 1873. ... . May 10, 1875.. What were 3 major problems of the Gilded Age?
Most cities were unprepared for rapid population growth. Housing was limited, and tenements and slums sprung up nationwide. Heating, lighting, sanitation and medical care were poor or nonexistent, and millions died from preventable disease. Many immigrants were unskilled and willing to work long hours for little pay.
Which event is the most significant of the Gilded Age?
Some historians have dubbed Presidents Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, and Benjamin Harrison the “forgotten presidents.” Indeed, it might be argued that the most notable event that occurred during the Gilded Age was the assassination of President Garfield in 1881.
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