The Gilded Age (part 1)

When You “GILD Something, What are you doing?

Answer: You make it more attractive or appealing than it really is.Our Social, Political and Economic system in America had several serious problems after the Civil War.

We made our country appear attractive to the immigrants

Immigrants and Urbanization

Melting Pot

War was over but did it actually change people’s mind about Slavery?

NOPE!!!!!!!!! Let’s stay in the South and put up with this.

And This Sharecropping Anyone?????Another form of Slavery

And This: Life in the Big Cities of the South

Atlanta Georgia

Charleston SC

Sherman’s “March To The Sea”

Leaves behind Death, Destruction, Despair, Hunger &

STARVATIONAll of this makes me want to

stay---------NOT

The only thing several had left was “HOPE”

Relocate to the area between the great prairie lands and Rocky Mountains.

HOPE, Opportunity, Cheap Land, Fresh Start and escape

destruction of Civil War

Former Slaves and New Arriving Immigrants move to new areas open to be settled

Homestead Act of 1862

Live on the land,Improve it,And it is yours

New Technologies Help with the Migration

Railroads and telegraph help

Oklahoma Land Rush 2 million acres(NOON 4/22/1889 50,000 settlers each could claim up to 160 acres)

Result of this population shift

Indian Conflicts and New States

Cowboys and “Open Ranges”

“INJUNS”

Cattle Drives and Map connecting to RR lines for shipment to the East Coast.Open Ranges

The Wild West and Cow Towns are Created

Wyatt Earp Wild Bill Hickox Dalton Gang

DocHolliday

Earp Brothers and DocHolliday

Abilene KansasDodge City KansasWhichita KansasCheyene WyomingFort Worth Texas

BarbwireCloses the range and

cattle drives

ImmigrationSocial, Political, Economic and Religious reasons such as war famine and disease pushed or pulled people to

the U.S.

Ellis IslandOne week trip in Cargo Section

Where did they come from?

Before 1871 they mostly came from northern and western Europe.

After that people mostly came from Southern and Eastern Europe

Ellis Island Arrival/Inspection Center

Some were sent back home. This is as far as they got.

Why do they Come????????

HOPE

How did they get here? This is what they did to chase their dreams

Anyway they can!

Assimilate??????

To change your life style to be more like the culture of your new environment.

Immigrants tended to settle in the same parts of cities and or states and let the assimilation be done by their children.

Melting Pot? We are a culture of many nations

Resentment toward the Immigrant!!!!!!!

We are a nation of immigrants but this new group of immigrants were resented by those who were all ready here “NATIVISM”.CAN YOU SAY HYPOCRITE!!!!!!!

I wonder what he thought of us when he 1st saw us

WHY the Resentment???????

They were not literate.They had strange customs.They worked for lower wages.They were society’s outcasts.They reminded us of ourselves.

So many wanted to come that US created a “Quota” of how many could come each year.

Give me your sick tired and poor. Oh, wait, too many of you are coming in!

Urbanization: Cities grew faster then they

were prepared for due to large amount of Immigrants.

1871 Chicago Fire Orange Area

NYC Row Housing & Filthy Conditions

With improvements in farming it did not take as many people to produce enough food to feed the masses. People were leaving the farms and moving to the cities to seek their fortunes. People fled Europe to escape disease, war and famine.

Everyday life in the big Cities

LOOKS LIKE FUN-----Imagine the SMELL

Sometimes there was not even Sewers, Trash collection or adequate fire protection for those in the cities

Child Labor & FactoriesLOWELL

TEXTILE

MILLS

We are all immigrants except for one race and even they have added to the melting pot of America