The Gilded Age: Critical Conversations

Defining the term/era

1. Mark Twain wrote his novel, coining the phrase ‘The Gilded Age’ in 1873 - what was it about?

Industrial Developments

1. How did the Gilded Age change all of that? Was it all about the railways?

Key Figures

1. An era of easily detestable ‘robber barons’? Elite captains of industry ready to exploit both the natural riches of North America and its inhabitants?
2. Pick out a couple of these key figures and flesh them out for us - Carnegie, JP Morgan, Rockefeller…

A Divided America?

1. Was the ‘gild’ only surface deep, a patina? What was the reality of the era for the majority of Americans?
2. And despite there appearing to be progressive legal developments - such as the 1883 first US Civil Rights Act - did the Gilded Age effectively pave the way for the Jim Crow laws?
3. What about tensions between the native Americans and the growing industrialisation of the country?