Unit 1: Late 19th and Early 20th Century, 1860–1910

It Was the North of Times, It Was the South of Times

War! Corruption! Innovation! Lengthy congressional debates on the relative merits of bimetallism!

The end of the Civil War, which just so happens to be the beginning of the material on the exam, ushered in several very important eras. Reconstruction rebuilt the South and created a new and fairer structure of race relations. Soon after, during the Nadir of race relations, most of the newly granted rights were violently stripped away.

But things in the North were booming! Industries were growing, cities were filling up, and millions of immigrants were streaming in to create a vibrant new community. The Second Industrial Revolution was under way.

Over in the Midwest and the Western states, farmers were fighting for their rights against large corporate railroads and grain elevators. Populism was also under way.

Of course, underlying (overlying?) all of this was a very corrupt government, leading Mark Twain to call this era the Gilded Age—a shiny gold coating on the outside, hiding a base and worthless metal on the inside.

Luckily, there were the Progressives, who took up the mantle of reforming politics, tenements, drinkers…and pretty much everything else they could get their hands on.

We will cover all of these things and more in this section, which takes us from the 1860s through about 1910.