Gilded Age

Which of the following is a characteristic of the Gilded Age?

• people began moving to rural areas to farm acres of cotton and grain

• the political process was opened up to citizens of different ethnicities and social class

• America expanded westward to accomplish its goal of Manifest Destiny

• the government passed favorable laws to help the growth of big business

The Gilded Age is infamous for

• paying workers high salaries

• promoting women and African Americans to positions of leadership

• businessmen bribing government officials

• the rapid advancements in the field of science

Who is responsible for the invention on the light bulb?

• Thomas Edison

• Theodore Roosevelt

• Thomas Jefferson

• Alexis de Tocqueville

The invention of the light bulb is significant because

• people were able to stay up later at night to read books

• heat produced from the light bulb was able to heat houses and businesses

• it enabled factory workers to work longer hours resulting in greater production of goods

• it marked the first great scientific discovery of an American

In the late 1800s many territories in the western part of America became states.  This fact can most likely be attributed to the

• influx of immigrants that came to America settled in the western territories

• the transcontinental railroad allowed people to quickly move west

• the Panama Canal allowed ships to efficiently reach the west coast of America

• the Native Americans were relocated to reservations so now American citizens could move onto their former land

One of the benefits of the transcontinental railroad was that

• farmers were able to sell their goods to distant markets

• the business relationship between Mexico and America improved

• the cost of traveling across the country increased by fifty percent

• businessmen were able to ship goods across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe for cheaper prices

The Homestead Act offered settlers

• cattle, cotton seeds, and a mule to anyone that settled in Texas

• government bonds of up to $2,000 if they would settle the Great Salt Lake area

•   two Conestoga wagons and a team of oxen to settle in the West

• 160 acres of land if they would live on and improve the land 

The Homestead Act resulted in

• Catholics moving to California to escape persecution on the East Coast

• businessmen paying employees higher wages to stay in the East and work in their factories

• many people selling their possessions and moving west to claim land

• improved relations with Native Americans

During the Gilded Age there was a notable increase in federal support for

• the growth of big business

• involvement in foreign wars

• the acquisition of foreign territories

• increased temperance regulations

Freedom for businesses and consumers in the economy is called

• socialism

• totalirarianism

• communism

• free enterprise