Gilded Age and Progressive Period comparison, and possible essay sub-topics, chart.

 

The Gilded Age

 

The Progressives

Social Darwinists

The Social Gospel

rugged individualists

social responsibility

immigrant ghettos

urban reform

indulgences

temperance/prohibition

settlement houses

public schools

laissez-faire capitalism

government intervention

tariff

tariff reform/reduction

natural law of competition

government regulation

combinations

trust-busting

exploitation of environment

conservation

child labor

government restrictions

strike breaking

collective bargaining

(un) skilled labor

technicians

self-made men

professionals

Yankee ingenuity

experts

party machine

democratic reforms

ward captains/bosses

civil servants

patronage

merit system

expansionists

isolationists

Jingoists/imperialists

anti-imperialists

yellow journalists

muckrakers

congressional rule

strong presidents

 

 

 

The Progressives

  1. Why was it so difficult for governments to regulate big business effectively in the period 1865 to 1890?
  2. How serious were the problems caused by the expansion of US industry and commerce in the period 1865-1901?