The Gilded Age
The Rise of Industrial America by Noelle Gunderson.
Captains of Industry
John D. Rockefeller
Headed the Standard Oil Company. BY 1904 his company controlled 91% of oil production and 85% of final sales
Monopolies
The exclusive possession or control of a trade in commodity or servics. Some were Andrew Carnegie, and John Rockefeller
Fun Fact
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-born immigrant who owned the largest steel industry in the world.
Great Inventors
Henry Bessemer
Invented the process known as "vulcanizing" or the hardening of rubber.
Alexander Graham Bell
Invented the telephone, telegraph, photo phone, and many others
Fun Fact
The can opener was invented in 1858 by Ezra J. Warner, almost 50 years after the can.
Class Conflicts/Rights
Child Labor
Children as young and 8 years old were working in the factory, because they could fit in between machinery.
Samuel Gimpers
Organized the American Federation on Labor to end labor.
Fun Fact
Sweatshops are a factory or workshop, especially in the clothing industry, where manual workers are employed at very low wages for long hours and under poor conditions.
Railroad/Westward Expansion
Union Pacific
Began working on the Transcontinental Railroad near the Iowa/Nebraska Border, going west.
Central Pacific
Began building the Transcontinental Railroad in Sacramento, California, building east.
Fun Fact
The final stake joining the two railroads was gold and nailed in 1869.