APUSH Gilded Age Questions And Answers With Verified Study Solutions

The Gilded Age - The age between the Civil War and WWI when the American economy grew rapidly and individuals were able to use monopolies to amass great wealth. Marked by political corruption and shady business deals. Named after the Mark Twain book with "gilded" meaning having a thin veneer of gold, but no gold on the inside. A time of social unrest between the classes. Government Support for Railroads - The government granted of thousands of acres of public land to the railroads to help them build and paid the railroads a subsidy per mile. The government saw this as part of Manifest Destiny and pushed to connect Pacific coast to the east. Railroads benefited by selling lumbar and land. Government benefited from a transportation system for military and a better/cheaper way to move mail. Tens of thousands of immigrants from Ireland and China worked as laborers. Promontory Point, Utah 1869 - Located in Utah, it is the point where the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads met to connect the Atlantic and Pacific states. The occasion was marked by a grand celebration where a gold spike was used to connect the two lines. Cornelius Vanderbilt - Created a railroad empire worth millions by crushing competitors and ignoring protests from the public. By the time of his death in 1877, his companies controlled 4,500 miles of track and linked New York City to the Great Lake Region. Also a philanthropist. His son continued the empire. Railroad industrialization - The railway system was able to connect the country and make it cheap and easy to transport raw materials as well as finished goods. Even building the railroads stimulating the economy because of the need for workers and raw materials. Cities grew around railroad hubs. Railroad Corruption - Unhindered by government regulation, railroaders turned enormous profits using unethical methods. Union Pacific officials formed the dummy Crédit Mobilier construction company and hired themselves as contractors for huge profits. Several U.S. congressmen were implicated in the scandal after the company bribed them to keep quiet about the corruption. Railroads inflated the prices of their stocks and gave out noncompetitive rebates to favored companies. Tycoons such as the Vanderbilts were notorious for their lack of regard for workers. Some states passed laws to regulate corrupt railroads, the Supreme Court made regulation on a state level impossible with the 1886 Wabash case ruling, which stated that only the federal government could regulate interstate commerce.Wabash Case 1866 - Supreme Court severely limited the right of states to regulate businesses (especially the railroads) that dealt with interstate commerce. This meant only the federal government had a power that had been granted to the states. Farmers responded to this case with increased political organizing, and Congress responded by creating the first real business regulatory body: the Interstate Commerce Commission.