LibGuides: American History, The Gilded Age & Industry: Media

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Destiny of Empires: The Spanish-American War of 1898
The Gilded Age (01:54:06) The Gilded Age presents a compelling and complex story of one of the most convulsive and transformative eras in American history. In the closing decades of the nineteenth century, the U.S. population doubled in the span of a single generation, national wealth expanded, and two classes rose simultaneously, separated by a gulf of experience and circumstance that was unprecedented in American life.
Gilded Age Politics (13:19) In which John Green teaches you about the Gilded Age and its politics. What, you may ask, is the Gilded Age? The term comes from a book by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner titled, "The Gilded Age." You may see a pattern emerging here. It started in the 1870s and continued on until the turn of the 20th century. The era is called Gilded because of the massive inequality that existed in the United States. Gilded Age politics were marked by a number of phenomenons, most of them having to do with corruption. On the local and state level, political machines wielded enormous power. John gets into details about the most famous political machine, Tammany Hall. Tammany Hall ran New York City for a long, long time, notably under Boss Tweed. Graft, kickbacks, and voter fraud were rampant, but not just at the local level. Ulysses S. Grant ran one of the most scandalous presidential administrations in U.S. history, and John will tell you about two of the best known scandals, the Credit Mobilier scandal and the Whiskey Ring. There were a few attempts at reform during this time, notably the Civil Service Act of 1883 and the Sherman Anti-trust act of 1890. John will also get into the Grange Movement of the western farmers, and the Populist Party that arose from that movement. The Populists, who threw in their lot with William Jennings Bryan, never managed to get it together and win a presidency, and they faded after 1896. Which brings us to the Progressive Era, which we'll get into next week!
The Industrial Economy (12:00) In which John Green teaches you about the Industrial Economy that arose in the United States after the Civil War. You know how when you're studying history, and you're reading along and everything seems safely in the past, and then BOOM you think, "Man, this suddenly seems very modern." For me, that moment in US History is the post-Reconstruction expansion of industrialism in America. After the Civil War, many of the changes in technology and ideas gave rise to this new industrialism. You'll learn about the rise of Captains of Industry (or Robber Barons) like Cornelius Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie, John D Rockefeller, and JP Morgan. You'll learn about trusts, combinations, and how the government responded to these new business practices. All this, plus John will cover how workers reacted to the changes in society and the early days of the labor movement. You'll learn about the Knights of Labor and Terence Powderly, and Samuel Gompers and the AFL. As a special bonus, someone gets beaten with a cane. AGAIN. What is it with American History and people getting beaten with canes?
Industrial New York: Filthy Cities (48:40) DESCRIPTION Fleeing persecution, poverty, and famine, millions of 19th-century Europeans arrived in a place that seemed worse than what they’d escaped—a seething Manhattan in the throes of the Industrial Revolution. This program uses eye-opening computer reconstructions to envision what waves of immigrants had to accept. It was a city consumed by filth and corruption, with a massive populace crammed into the slums of Lower Manhattan. The film looks at some of the disease-carrying parasites that thrived in overcrowded tenement buildings and shows what it was like to cook with improvised 19th-century ingredients—clothes dye and floor cleaner—to disguise the taste of fetid meat. But viewers will also marvel at feats of engineering that transformed the sullied New York landscape into a metropolis worthy of the world’s esteem. A BBC/Discovery Coproduction. A part of the series Filthy Cities: A History of Public Sanitation (or Lack Thereof).
Out West: Beyond the Myth (56:50) DESCRIPTION Outside the boundaries of America’s collective folk imagination and underlying the sweeping narrative of U.S. history lies the lived experience of the nation’s westward pioneers. Without exaggeration or embellishment, this captivating documentary focuses on the lives of the common people who headed West between the early 1860s and the turn of the 20th century. Accounts of personal challenges and hardships, interwoven with larger stories of progress and warfare, create a vivid narrative that presents the expansion of America through the eyes of those who won the West at the expense of the land’s indigenous peoples. By demythologizing America’s Manifest Destiny, Out West will doubtlessly alter many previously unquestioned beliefs.
The Presidents: 1885-1913 (45:09) This program presents the American presidency of the Gilded Age, an era of unbridled economic growth that saw the completion of Manifest Destiny. It includes Grover Cleveland’s two nonconsecutive terms in office, William McKinley’s assassination, Theodore Roosevelt’s antitrust assaults on monopolies, and William Howard Taft’s political estrangement from his mentor and friend, TR. Distributed by A&E Television Networks. A part of the series The Presidents.
To Conquer or Redeem: Manifest Destiny (1:29:47) With the closing of the American West, Manifest Destiny was in need of new direction. The section “New Frontiers” considers implications of Frederick Jackson Turner’s Frontier Thesis as it scrutinizes U.S. history from the end of the Gilded Age to the brink of the Spanish-American War. “An Empire of Liberty” takes a step back to assess aspects of Manifest Destiny from its birth during the pre-Revolutionary era through Reconstruction. And “Benevolent Assimilation” provides an in-depth look at the Spanish-American War, the Philippines Insurrection, the annexations of Puerto Rico and Hawaii, and U.S. intervention in China during the Boxer Rebellion to illustrate how expanded economic influence, military might, and presidential powers contributed to U.S. imperialism during the administrations of Presidents McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. Historians H. W. Brands, Walter LaFeber, Kristin Hoganson, John Lawrence Tone, Eric Love, Paul Kramer, David Hendrickson, and Amy Greenberg are featured. Produced by Lucasfilm Ltd. A part of the series Manifest Destiny.
What was the Gilded Age? (02:23) Learn about the Gilded Age, a period of immense social and industrial change in US history.

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