Essays

The Gilded Age

The essays in this section have been written by leading scholars of American history. They provide additional depth on events and ideas referred to in the introductory essay and, in some cases, different interpretations by historians looking at the same events. These essays are particularly useful in introducing your students to one of the most exciting aspects of studying history—understanding the past from a variety of perspectives.

Photograph of Edison Machine Works in New York City, 1881. (GLC07616.05)

Edison’s Laboratory

Author: Paul Israel Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Grade Levels: 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The Empire Builders, by Bernarda Bryson, the Resettlement Administration (LOC)

Entrepreneurs and Bankers: The Evolution of Corporate Empires

Author: Robert W. Cherny Curriculum Subjects: Grade Levels:

Teenager operating machinery, 1913, by Lewis Hine. (LC-DIG-nclc-04898)

History Times: The Industrial Revolution

Author: Gilder Lehrman Institute Curriculum Subjects: Grade Levels: K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Cornelius Vanderbilt, ca. 1865. (GLC05151)

Robber Barons or Captains of Industry?

Author: T. J. Stiles Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Geography, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Essays from Other Sub-Eras

Bank note from the Bank of the United States dated December 13, 1840. (GLC01994)

Getting Ready to Lead a World Economy: Enterprise in Nineteenth-Century America

Author: Joyce Appleby Curriculum Subjects: Economics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Ford Local 600 of the CIO in the Labor Day parade in Detroit MI, 1942. (LOC P&P)

Labor Day: From Protest to Picnics

Author: Joshua B. Freeman Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Mary E. Lease in an illustration from Puck, 1896. (LC-DIG-ppmsca-28845)

Mary Elizabeth Lease: Populist Reformer

Author: Kelly A. Woestman Curriculum Subjects: Grade Levels:

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, ca. 1890. (Library of Congress P&P)

Nineteenth-Century Feminist Writings

Author: Anne Firor Scott Curriculum Subjects: Literature Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Famed Civil War photographer Alexander Gardner sits beside a traveling darkroom holding a camera lens, Fort Riley, Kansas, 1867. (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

Photography in Nineteenth-Century America

Author: Martha A. Sandweiss Curriculum Subjects: Art, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Mark Twain, author of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

Rethinking Huck

Author: Steven Mintz Curriculum Subjects: Literature Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Detail from the Official Program for the Woman Suffrage Procession, Washington, DC, March 3, 1913. (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

Sisters of Suffrage: British and American Women Fight for the Vote

Author: Barbara Winslow Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

“The Florida Case before the Electoral Commission,” Cornelia Fassett (US Senate)

The Contentious Election of 1876

Author: Michael F. Holt Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics Grade Levels:

Letterhead from Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, 1910, detail. (GLC)

The Myth of the Frontier: Progress or Lost Freedom

Author: John Mack Faragher Curriculum Subjects: Art, Economics, Geography, Literature Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Theodore Roosevelt giving a speech in Waterville, Maine, 1902. (GLC06449.22)

The Square Deal: Theodore Roosevelt and the Themes of Progressive Reform

Author: Kirsten Swinth Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Panorama of Chicago, ca. 1906, Universale View Co., Philadelphia, PA (LOC)

The Transnational Nature of the Progressive Era

Author: Daniel T. Rodgers Curriculum Subjects: World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Note of 1 shilling, 6 pence, printed in the colony of New Jersey, 1776. (GLC)

The US Banking System: Origin, Development, and Regulation

Author: Richard Sylla Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Teddy Roosevelt in the Rough Riders, ca. 1898. (GLC07002.39)

Theodore Roosevelt: The Making of a Progressive Reformer

Author: Kathleen Dalton Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Joining of the rails, May 10, 1869, by Andrew Russell (GLC04481.04)

Transcontinental Railroads: Compressing Time and Space

Author: Richard White Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Geography, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The County Election, based on a painting by George C. Bingham, 1854. (Gilder Leh

Winning the Vote: A History of Voting Rights

Author: Steven Mintz Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Frederick Douglass, ca. 1870 (Gilder Lehrman Collection)

“Hidden Practices”: Frederick Douglass on Segregation and Black Achievement, 1887

Author: Edward L. Ayers Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Theodore Roosevelt at his desk in the White House, 1902, photograph by Underwood and Underwood. (Gilder Lehrman Collection)

“The Politics of the Future Are Social Politics”: Progressivism in International Perspective

Author: Thomas Bender Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+