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List of Partners vendors. Share Flipboard Email. Robert McNamara. History Expert. Robert J. McNamara is a history expert and former magazine journalist. He was Amazon. Updated February 28, Featured Video. Cite this Article Format. McNamara, Robert. Parents failing to comply are fined or imprisoned.
March 28, : France and Britain declare war on Russia, launching the Crimean War, which largely surrounds the protection of the rights of minority Christians in the Ottoman Empire. His legacy includes reform for Ireland, establishing an elementary education program and instituting secret ballot voting.
March 7, : Scotsman Alexander Graham Bell is awarded a patent on his invention of the telephone, and, three days later, famously makes the first phone call to Thomas Watson, his assistant. May 1, : India, which has been under British rule since , declares Queen Victoria empress, under direction of Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli.
She is succeeded by Edward VII, her eldest son, who reigned until his death in But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Liquid nitrogen. High-end machines. It was not mandatory for children to go to school Very young children often worked beside adults--along the wharves and docks, as errand boys, as fruit, pie, and hot corn vendors.
They sold their wares from baskets and carts along the street. The poorer children worked as ragpickers. Outdoor games, such as hoops and marbles, were popular, as well as playing with crafted games and toys indoors.
There were always chores to do. Although the first labor unions occurred around the turn of the nineteenth century, they gained momentum during the Gilded Age, thanks to the increased number of unskilled and unsatisfied factory workers. On July 16, , the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company announced a percent pay cut on its railroad workers in Martinsburg, West Virginia , the second cut in less than eight months.
The strike spread among other railroads, sparking violence across America between the working class and local and federal authorities. At its peak, over , railroad workers were on strike. Many of the Robber Barons feared an aggressive, all-out revolution against their way of life. Instead, the strike—later known as the Great Upheaval—ended abruptly and was labeled a dismal failure.
As the working class continued to use strikes and boycotts to fight for higher wages and improved working conditions, their bosses staged lock-outs and brought in replacement workers known as scabs. They also created blacklists to prevent active union workers from becoming employed elsewhere. Even so, the working class continued to unite and press their cause and often won at least some of their demands.
Innovations of the Gilded Age helped usher in modern America. Urbanization and technological creativity led to many engineering advances such as bridges and canals, elevators and skyscrapers, trolley lines and subways. The invention of electricity brought illumination to homes and businesses and created an unprecedented, thriving night life.
In , Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone and made the world a much smaller place for both individuals and businesses. Advances in sanitation and housing, and the availability of better quality food and material goods, improved quality of life for the middle class.
But while the middle and upper classes enjoyed the allure of city life, little changed for the poor. Most still faced horrific living conditions, high crime rates and a pitiable existence. Many escaped their drudgery by watching a vaudeville show or a spectator sport such as boxing, baseball or football, all of which enjoyed a surge during the Gilded Age.
Upper-class women of the Gilded Age have been compared to dolls on display dressed in resplendent finery. They flaunted their wealth and endeavored to improve their status in society while poor and middle-class women both envied and mimicked them.
Some wealthy Gilded Age women were much more than eye candy, though, and often traded domestic life for social activism and charitable work. Some created homes for destitute immigrants while others pushed a temperance agenda, believing the source of poverty and most family troubles was alcohol.
Wealthy women philanthropists of the Gilded Age include:. Abby Aldrich Rockefeller , wife of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Many women during the Gilded Age sought higher education. Others postponed marriage and took jobs such as typists or telephone switchboard operators. Thanks to a print revolution and the accessibility of newspapers, magazines and books, women became increasingly knowledgeable, cultured, well-informed and a political force to be reckoned with.
Jane Addams is arguably the best-known philanthropist of the Gilded Age. The neighborhood was a melting pot of struggling immigrants, and Hull-House provided everything from midwife services and basic medical care to kindergarten, day care and housing for abused women.
It also offered English and citizenship classes. Adams received the Nobel Peace Prize in Temperance leader Carrie Nation gained notoriety during the Gilded Age for smashing up saloons with a hatchet to bring attention to her sobriety agenda. She was also a strong voice for the suffrage movement. Convinced God had instructed her to use whatever means necessary to close bars throughout Kansas , she was often beaten, mocked and jailed but ultimately helped pave the way for the 18th Amendment prohibiting the sale of alcohol and the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote.
As muckrakers exposed corrupt robber barons and politicians, labor unions and reformist politicians enacted laws to limit their power.
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