1. Why might it be said that the...

   Without the railroads, the cowboy era would not have become such a famous part of America's story.  Longhorn cattle are native to Texas, and were there in large numbers even in the early 1800s.  But without an inexpensive way to get them to market, they had little value. 
   As railroad lines were built westward into Kansas, cowboys could drive large numbers of cattle along trails to "cow towns" like Abilene.  There, the cattle could be loaded onto rail cars, then carried to Kansas City, St. Louis, and other places for processing.  The lower cost of transportation made the cattle industry more profitable.  The cowboy era was built on cattle profits, all made possible by the railroads.
   But the same railroad lines also moved settlers into the Western lands.  Those settlers were eager to start farms growing wheat, corn, and other crops.  They were not happy to see their hard work trampled by herds of cattle being moved to the rail lines. 
   The solution for the settlers was barbed wire.  It was inexpensive and effective in protecting farms.  Of course, cowboys resented the farmers that blocked the cattle trails by making farms.  Much of the fighting of the cowboy era was about land rights, especially if that land had water needed by both farmers and cattle.
   In the end, the spreading settlement by farmers pushed the cowboy trails further and further west.  By 1880 the cowboy era was drawing to a close.

2.  What were the consequences of...

  For the Native American way of life, the westward growth of farms, railroads, cities, and towns was disastrous.  Western Indian tribes lived and sometimes roamed over large areas from the Mississippi River to the Pacific.  As white and black Americans pushed west, conflicts steadily rose.  Indians resented the loss of control over their traditional hunting areas.  Settlers feared and resented attacks by Indian warriors.  Each side could point to terrible actions committed by the other. 
   The American government insisted that peace could only be achieved if Indians were confined to specific areas called reservations.  While some Indians accepted this plan, many others did not, giving rise to the Indians Wars of the late 1800s.  In many cases, the reservation land was not as good as the land the Indians were forced to give up.  In addition, the new conditions tended to erode the independent life Indian tribes had known before.
   The Dawes Act (1887) was a well-intentioned but ill-conceived plan to "Americanize" the Indians.  It was designed to move Indians away from their tribal identity.  Indians were offered free plots of land, for example, which they could own and farm as individual settlers and American citizens. 
   The plan was a failure, partly because it was not run very well, and partly because most Indians did not want to give up their identity as Indians. 
 
 

3.  How does the growth of business...

   The decades after the Civil War saw a fantastic spurt of economic growth.  Farms, towns, and cities spread, and huge new industries appeared almost overnight.  While there are many reasons for this rapid economic development, the most important is that the full power of raw, or unregulated, capitalism was at work.  It was not always fair.  But it did harness the energy of millions of Americans eager to build a better life.
   Good examples can be found in the stories of Andrew Carnegie's steel company and John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company.  Both made tremendous advances in business organization and technology.  The benefits went not only to themselves, but spread throughout the nation's economy.  On the other hand, work conditions and pay were awful by today's standards.  Industries had almost no interest in protecting the environment. 
   Many businesses like Standard Oil also developed into monopolies or near-monopolies called trusts.
   Labor unions responded by demanding better treatment of workers.  Organized strikes were one method used by unions to try to force better pay and work conditions.  To match the power of big industry, Samuel Gompers organized the American Federation of Labor as a nationwide "union of unions."  He argued that the capitalist system, while very productive, needed regulation by the government to ensure fair treatment of workers and fair business practices.
   That view came to be widely accepted during the 1900s.  The capitalist system is still the basic framework of the American economy, but it operates under a wide range of government health, safety, and environmental regulations. 

4.  In what ways did immigrants...

   Immigrants in the Gilded Age had a wide variety of experiences in America.  Some, like Andrew Carnegie, found success and great wealth through a combination of hard work and good luck.  Others saw their dreams of a better life wilt and die as they found themselves working long hours with little chance to move up.
   For most, however, immigration gave much better opportunities than they had in their homelands.  For those with experience on farms, land was available at low prices.  For those with a skill or trade, growing cities demanded workers of all kinds.  Public schools offered education at a basic level even to the poorest immigrant children.
   America certainly had its own social lines based on wealth, and some groups, such as the Chinese, faced considerable discrimination.  But Americans generally embraced a "live and let live" attitude that encouraged people of different backgrounds to get along and get ahead. 
   The pattern of immigration in these years showed an important shift around 1880.  Fewer people were arriving from Western European countries like England, France, and Germany.  Life for ordinary people in that part of Europe was improving, so fewer left.  Many more immigrants began arriving from Eastern and Southern Europe - from Poland and Italy, for example.  The shift brought some cultural conflicts, but also ensured a steady supply of newcomers eager to help continue building the United States of America. 
 
 

5.  What signs were visible by the...

   By the late 1800s many Americans were actively taking on the problems that rose alongside big industry, the growth of cities, and other trends of this period. 
   In Chicago, the settlement house movement led by Jane Addams set a model for urban reformers in other cities.  She not only operated the famous Hull House as a community center in one of the city's  poor neighborhoods, but also pushed for changes in city government to improve neighborhood life generally.
   New York City passed laws to try to improve living conditions in tenement buildings.  Jacob Riis exposed, through books and newspaper articles, the plight of the poor living in crowded tenements.  He also wrote about the problem of child labor.
   At a national level, the Sherman Antitrust law showed an effort by Congress to control the power of the big trusts, although the law proved not very effective during this period.  Also in politics, the growth of the Populist party was a sign of widespread desire for reform.
   Labor unions were a strong and visible force for social change in these years.  The American Federal of Labor was organized by Samuel Gompers.  He and other union leaders kept a spotlight on problems affecting working men and women.
   The efforts of these and countless other Americans helped improve life in the Gilded Age, but also laid a foundation for later reformers to build upon. 

6.  Describe the changes of this era...

   A visitor to an American city in 1900 would marvel at the changes visible since 1865, the year the Civil War ended. 
   In New York City, the Brooklyn Bridge was already a landmark and famous as an incredible feat of engineering.  The Statue of Liberty was another impressive sight.  Nearby was Ellis Island, with long lines of immigrants eager to join their fate with that of America. 
   In all big cities, electric lights and telephone wires were visible in many areas.  The new department stores were filled with products made possible through the vast expansion of factories across America.  Prices of things bought and used by ordinary people were much lower than in 1865.
   Buildings themselves were starting to reach higher, thanks to steel frameworks first used in Chicago.  Many cities had installed electric streetcar systems that greatly improved transportation.  Although horse-drawn carts were still common, a few "horseless carriages" or automobiles could occasionally be seen.
   Visitors would also notice the spread of large slum areas, however.  The contrast between these areas and the rich neighborhoods would have been  troubling to anyone with a social conscience.  On the other side, however, a visitor might notice the rise of settlement houses and other signs that Americans had grown more concerned about the plight of people at the bottom of the social ladder.