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There was a large increase in immigration during the Gilded Age, with around 11.7 million people from Europe and Asia immigrating to the U.S.

People moved due to crop failure, conflicts, and job shortages and were looking for economic opportunities

Created a large diverse workforce, caused a population boom, and urbanization in major cities

This caused a wave of nativity in the U.S. and for work conditions to worsen as well

The U.S. passed restrictions on immigration, the Chinese Exclusion Act, targeting ethnic groups and not allowing any to come onto U.S. soil for 10 years

Progressive Era:

Immigration was initially handled poorly, as cities overpopulated and public safety worsened

Congress passed The Immigration Act of 1924 where they limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the United States through a national origins quota

Started to require visas

MB MR

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No concern for the workers

675 workers were killed a weak

Mind numbingly repetitive tasks

Work stations were dirty and poorly ventilated resulting in harm to the lungs

Workers seen as expendable

Factory owners cared about profit more than human life

Factory workers could form unions eventually

There were around 4,000 strikes annually by 1900, involving over 700,000 workers a year

The Progressive Era allowed strikes and labor unions to be formed. With the Massachusetts Act of 1877 which let Government Inspectors inspect factories and verify that the owners were following the labor and safety laws. Eventually, an inspection force would be created by 1879.

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2/3 of child labor was done on farms

During the year 1900 6-10 workers on farms were children of the farmers.

These children helped their parents make money for the farm and cut down on labor costs.

This was a problem not just in the North or South, but everywhere at the time and the kids would even harvest oysters or shrimp if they lived near the coast.

The children would not be directly paid for their labor, instead, it would just be added to the family's pay.

Children would impact how much the family would make by 28-33 percent in a family that was natively born.

Even larger impact on immigrant families up to a 46 percent increase in family pay as a result of child labor.

Many progressives worked to solve the issue of child labor through protest, and it led to many reforms being instituted.

The Federal Child Labor Act of 1904 restricted child labor, which led to resistance from the southern states

Congress attempted to pass child labor restriction laws in 1916 and 1918, but they were both blocked by the Supreme Court due to violating the Constitution.

Congress would finally be able to define Child Labor regulations in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. This only occurred due to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt appointing Democratic justices who supported child labor restrictions.

By Andrew Lord and Luke Wikstrom

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Industrialization brought increased production which brought increased pollution. The pollution started to negatively impact the environment.

Natural resources were exploited and industrial city air was polluted with thick smog

Waterways were heavily polluted with oil and debris

During the Gilded age, new technology was introduced leading to faster production of items and comsumption of material, this increased the number pollutants into the environment

Factory emissions caused by the coal-powered steam engine were released into the atmosphere. Waterways were polluted with oil and debris from improper industrial practices

The amount of carbon dioxide released into the Earth’s atmosphere steadily increased and the demand for fossil fuels started a trend of harmful emissions into the air

The damage on the environment was not recognized until later. Air pollution caused thick layers of smog caused by factories to cover industrial cities. This caused health risks, such as respiratory illnesses, to residents and harmed wildlife.

Water was impacted. Improper disposal of sewage, debris, oil, and other waste affected waterways. Damaging pollutants seeped into rivers, streams, lakes, and oceans causing diseases and other illness outbreaks

The increased use of natural resources led to the destruction of land and wildlife habitats, which decreased biodiversity as people were creating mines and wells (oil, coal)

Air pollution caused by use of oil and coal when used in factories and homes in industrial cities. Improper mining practices also led to toxic pollutants going into waterways

Cities, neighborhoods, and suburbs formed as the population increased rapidly. The human development caused habitat deterioration and destruction. Some animal populations decreased because of excessive hunting. Other populations decreased because of pollution and loss of habitat from people

Environmental Disasters

Cuyahoga River Fire: Cuyahoga River in Ohio had several fires occured on it. The river caught fire because of a build-up of oily debris under wooden trestles located under the train tracks.

Progressive Era

Conservation of the nation's resources put an end to wasteful uses of raw materials, and the reclamation of large areas of neglected land have been identified as some of the major achievements of the Roosevelt era.

Women educated citizens on the health dangers of smoke, and their activism led to smoke-pollution-control laws in every major city in the United States.

Men took control of this issue within legislative circles, stressing technology as a way to reduce smoke or burn the coal more efficiently.

Thao Pham, Haley Moger

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Industrialization resulted in a concentration of wealth, with 90 percent of the country's wealth controlled by the richest 10 percent.

From the abundant earnings of corporation heads, large mansions and brownstones arose primarily in the New York area.

Elite threw lavish parties in Fifth avenue estates.

Contrasting to this luxury, middle class citizens and immigrants overcrowded these cities, resulting in tenements concentrated mostly in the lower east side.

More than two-thirds of the city’s population was living in cramped, unsanitary, and poorly regulated conditions in this housing system.

These tenements were crowded with disease as well, especially with close living quarters and no plumbing.

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Jim crow laws segregated African Americans, preventing them from integrating with white society "separate but equal"

Introduction of voting tax and literacy tests preventing African Americans from participating in voting and being on jurys

Lynching was prevalent in the south

"Nativists" were against immigration into America

Irish Catholics were discriminated against for their manners and perceived laziness

The Ku Klux Klan not only was against African Americans, but was also against Irish and Italian immigrants

In 1891, the mayor of New Orleans was found shot, and the mayor blamed "Sicilian gangsters", 19 of which were put on trial. Although found not guilty, 11 of these 19 were lynched

Women were often paid less then men in the work force

Women additionally were not allowed suffrage until the early 20th century

More discrimination started after pulling the Union Army from the south

Many African Americans still ended up working on plantations for very small wages

Progressive era helps fight for equal rights of African Americans in the South

African Americans in the rural south, such as George Washington Carver begin to focus on environmentalism

Women were given suffrage in the 1900's, something they have been fighting for for over a century.

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By the year 1890, the United States' 4,000 millionaires held 20% of the country's wealth.

Some of the most significant business leaders include:

Andrew Carnegie

John D. Rockefeller

Cornelius Vanderbilt

J. P. Morgan

These business leaders each had a primary focus of their business, including:

steel

oil

railroads

banking/finance

Political corruption in the gilded age was used to the advantage of the top 1% in order to have a personal influence on not only politics but also economics and social situations. Many of these leaders influenced those they were corrupting to vote for who the leaders want, in exchange for some other "privilege".

Political figures were "hands off" and set to rules regarding businesses, therefore not tending to the hand of the American people.

Joey Kaminski & Rodney Thomas