Contextualizing Period 6 in two minutes
- Period 6 ran from 1865 to 1898. Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner's 1873 novel The Gilded Age, a satire of speculation and corruption, gave the era its name.
- In these years an agricultural nation grew increasingly industrial and urban. Immigrants and rural migrants filled the cities, and new wealth sharpened arguments over labor, money, and government's role.
- Earlier developments set the stage: the market revolution built canals and railroads, the Mexican War added California and its gold, and the Civil War strengthened federal power and Northern industry.
- In 1862, with Southern members absent from Congress, Republicans passed the Homestead Act, the Pacific Railway Act, and the Morrill Land-Grant College Act.
- Railroad mileage grew from about 35,000 in 1865 to nearly 167,000 in 1890, and workers completed the first transcontinental line at Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10, 1869.
- On November 18, 1883, railroads adopted four time zones, which Congress did not make law until 1918, and by the 1890s the United States led the world in industrial output.
- On the exam: contextualization means linking a source to what came before, such as the market revolution, the Civil War, and Reconstruction; the period leads into the Progressive Era and imperialism.
Topic 6.1 key terms
- Transcontinental railroad
The first rail line across the American West, joining Omaha and Sacramento. It was finished on May 10, 1869, when the Central Pacific (building east) met the Union Pacific (building west) at Promontory Summit, Utah. A trip that took months by wagon now took about a week.
- Pacific Railway Act (1862)
The law that paid for the transcontinental railroad. For every mile of track, Congress gave the companies federal loans (bonds) plus alternating square miles of public land along the route, and doubled the land in 1864. More track meant more money, so both companies raced.
- Telegraph
A way to send messages as electric clicks along a wire, in Morse code. The first line across the continent opened in 1861. News that once took weeks now took seconds, which is why the whole country could 'hear' this ceremony.
- Homestead Act (1862)
A law that let a citizen claim 160 acres of western public land for a small filing fee, and keep it after living on it and farming it for five years. Congress passed it the same year as the Pacific Railway Act.
- Contextualization
Showing how a development fits into the bigger picture around it. Ask: what came earlier that helps explain this?
- Industrial capitalism
An economy of big, machine-driven industries, paid for by investors and selling to national markets. In the Gilded Age, railroads, steel mills and mines led the way.
- Standard time
One official clock time for a whole region. Before 1883, every town set noon by its own sun. That day the railroads split the country into four time zones, and Congress made them law in 1918.
- Gilded Age
Twain and Warner's 1873 title, later used for the years 1865–1898: gold-plated glitter on top, with the problems of farmers, workers and cities festering underneath.
Transcript
Quotes are from the historical record and name their source. Lines marked Dramatized are reconstructions.
DONE
May 10, 1869
Key terms: Transcontinental railroad, Pacific Railway Act (1862), Telegraph, Homestead Act (1862)
Promontory Summit, Utah Territory May 10, 1869
Western Union operator at Promontory
Almost ready. Hats off; prayer is being offered.
Two railroads had raced toward each other for six years. One started in Sacramento, one in Omaha.
The ceremony ran two days late. Unpaid workers chained a vice president's car to a siding until he wired for their pay.
Western Union operator at Promontory
The signal will be three dots for the commencement of blows.
Wires ran from spike and maul, so the country could hear each blow.
Leland Stanford, president of the Central Pacific, lifted a silver-plated maul. Hold it there. The crews who built this railroad are all around him.
By most accounts, he missed.
Western Union operator at Promontory
DONE.
The operator sent it anyway.
Then everyone posed for the Union Pacific's photographer, Andrew J. Russell. Look for the men who laid the Central Pacific's track.
Russell had photographed the Chinese crew laying the last rail minutes earlier. Almost nobody reprinted that picture.
Right after the ceremony, the golden spike came out. An iron one went in.
Washington gave the West away. The land was free.
So why did the people who farmed it end up owing everybody, and what did they do about it?
The Gilded Age
1865–1898
Key terms: Contextualization, Pacific Railway Act (1862), Industrial capitalism, Standard time, Gilded Age
The word didn't stay at Promontory. Follow the wire.
The news reached every big city at once. New York, Harper's Weekly reported, took it calmly. Then it rang Trinity Church's chimes.
In 1865, the country had 35,000 miles of railroad. By 1890, nearly 167,000. By 1898, the largest economy on earth.
None of it came from nowhere. From the market revolution, canals and railroads. From the Mexican War, California and its gold. In 1862, with the South's seats empty, Congress passed three laws. The Homestead Act. The Pacific Railway Act. A land-grant college act.
On November 18, 1883, the railroads put the country on four time zones. Congress made it law in 1918.
In 1873, Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner named the age with a novel: The Gilded Age. Gilded means a thin coat of gold over something cheaper.
Period 6 asks who gets the new wealth, and what government owes everyone else. It starts out West, where Washington gave the land away.