America in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era

The key historical forces that characterize the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era; the competing ideals that define these eras; the US in 1865; the extraordinary social, political and economic changes unleashed by the devastation of the Civil War.

The Reconstruction era following the Civil War; governmental policies and legislation enacted to safeguard the welfare of former slaves and average citizens; these policies are progressively dismantled, the South comes under the rule of the whites.

The story of the conquest of the American West; key myths surrounding the West and how it is settled; the motives and realities of westward migration; the components of the western economy; the conflicts with Native Americans that lead to violence.

America rises from a developing nation status in 1865 to become a great industrial power by 1900; the unfolding of the American industrial revolution; the advent of big business in the railroad, steel and oil industries; consumerism and advertising.

The notion of the self-made man pervades Gilded Age America; this idea takes on unprecedented popularity in the 19th century; it is strongly promoted by figures from Horatio Alger to Andrew Carnegie; the ideal becomes entwined with social Darwinism.

In the late Gilded Age, there is agreement that troubling trends threaten the young republic; public anxiety over the power of big business; the era's economic inequality and conflict between labor and capital; how businessmen respond to critics.

Widespread immigration during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era transforms American society; the diverse factors underlying immigration; the perceived threats and social problems posed by immigrants; how immigrants fundamentally change the nation.

The growth of cities is a hallmark of the Gilded Age; the forces leading to massive urbanization, such as industrialization, migration and revolutionary technologies; social problems such as crime and political corruption; scrutiny from reformers.

The transformation of American art and entertainment during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era; the accomplishments of the Ashcan School of painting; the birth of ragtime, blues and jazz; spectator sports, stage entertainment; the new medium of film.

Technological changes in late 19th-century America; the evolution of electrical power; the impact of electric lighting and electrified machinery.; the changes brought about by the automobile; the cultural effects of recorded music as big business.

The world of American workers; the social problems that accompany industrialization; technological changes in the industry affect the living conditions for workers; labor movements, violent strikes and conflict between labor unions and management.

The American middle class is a product of industrialization; the features of the middle-class lifestyle, encompassing suburban living, consumption and leisure; middle-class values such as respectability and personal hygiene; the cult of domesticity.

The multimillionaire industrialists that emerge in the Gilded Age as a visible public presence; contrasting the earlier American mindset of republican simplicity with the new rich who flaunt their wealth through European-style aristocratic living.

The rise of the Populist movement, which aims to address broad economic suffering; the People's Party, a political party that demands governmental changes to curb injustice and oppression; a fire that lives on in the reforms of the Progressive Era.

The process by which the U.S. reverses its policy of isolationism to become actively involved in global affairs; the core ideas that build a case for American internationalism; the events of the Spanish-American War; the building of the Panama Canal.

The lives of American women change during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era; late-19th-century social trends that lead to more public roles for women and emerging ideas of women's rights; the women's suffrage movement; voting rights for women.

The Progressive movement rises in the late 19th century; the unbridled power of large corporations; defining American economic freedom; actions taken under presidents to dismantle railroad, meatpacking and oil trusts; reforming banking and taxation.

Reformers' efforts to address the miserable conditions of industrial workers; new labor laws that follow the events of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and the Bread and Roses Strike; eradicating child labor; federally regulating food and medicines.

The origins of the conservation movement in the 19th century; its initiatives to establish federal protection of wilderness; the conservation record of Theodore Roosevelt; a wide spectrum of national parks, wildlife preserves and national forests.

Reformers respond to the troubles of cities through urban planning, new thinking about poverty, settlement houses and social work to aid the urban poor; addressing alcohol abuse and prostitution; reforming housing, urban sanitation and public health.

Progressive reforms change the face of American politics; the transformation of urban political machines into players in political reform; political reforms at the state and federal levels; the civil service system; popularly elected senators.

African Americans fight racism and violence in the early 20th century; the system of white supremacy called Jim Crow; its oppression; civil rights activism and legal victories that lay the footing for the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s.

The events that lead the United States into World War I; an initial federal policy of neutrality changes to one of preparedness and then intervention, amid conflicting public sentiments; the after-effects of the war on U.S. foreign policy.

The turmoil that follows World War I; the wave of labor strikes, anti-radical hysteria and race riots of the post-war years; the economic, political and social factors that lead to renewed isolationism and conservatism during the Roaring 20s.