More than 100,000 profit seekers and migrants rushed to the Rocky Mountains in the mid-nineteenth century. generated an estimated $25.5 million in resources; however, outside parties invested more than double that amount in the region in their quest for a quick profit.

Was a political cartoon that appeared in Puck in 1904, which satirized John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil monopoly. The cartoon featured Standard Oil as an anthropomorphized octopus with its tentacles around the media, the White House, Supreme Court, and Capitol Building. The message was clear – Rockefeller’s monopolistic firm was so big and so powerful that it was even controlling the government and the media.

grew into one of the United States’ largest and most important cities by the late-nineteenth century. It was known for its skyscrapers and sites of mass consumerism (such as early department stores like Marshall Field’s, Montgomery Ward, and Sears and Roebuck, co.). It expanded from a wilderness outpost to a regional market hub in the Midwest and continued to serve as a major distribution network for America’s hinterland. It was selected to host the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition due to its associations with modernity.

was a film from 1956 that highlighted both myths and realities about the Old West. It depicted the extremely harsh and unforgiving environment (as well as diverse environment) throughout much of the west. In the film, as was usually the case with Hollywood depictions of the west, Native Americans are the villains (in reality they were often the victims of encroachment or violence from Anglo Americans). The film does a tremendous job of demonstrating the racism and distrust between Native Americans and Anglo Americans.

President Ulysses S. Grant used all the powers of the federal government to protect black citizens during Reconstruction and to prosecute those who used violence against newly freed slaves. Grant’s campaign against perpetrators of violence against blacks nearly eradicated hate groups like the White Lotus League and the KKK. However, with , the judicial branch overturned most of the arrests made under the Enforcement Acts and freed those arrested by federal officers (including those who had murdered multiple people). Deprived of the ability to federally enforce protection of blacks, Grant and his successors were unable to effectively prevent the waves of violence and intimidation against blacks in the south following the end of Reconstruction

The extinction of , which once numbered in the billions in North America, brought attention to American conservation efforts. Women in Audubon Society chapters, particularly, organized against the use of animal parts in fashion. Pressures from such groups created national wildlife refuges and key laws and regulations which protected animal species during the Progressive Era.

In the post-Reconstruction south, southern states attempted novel ways of disenfranchising African Americans. One such effort at disenfranchisement was . This policy also prevented a large number of poor whites from voting, but proved an effective measure for limiting the political participation of African Americans. By 1940, only 3% of adult black southerners were registered to vote.

The formation of a federal regulatory agency known as in 1887 was designed to limit the growing power of corporations during the Gilded Age. It was designed to prevent corporate favoritism by railroads, but it had limited enforcement mechanisms, and like much of the reform efforts of the Gilded Age it fell short of preventing the consolidation of power by large firms.

highlighted that scarcity and access to limited natural resources drove political action in the West. The growth of Los Angeles came at the expense of farmers in Owens Valley in the early twentieth century. L.A. politicians used corrupt, illegal, and unethical practices to divert natural resources from Owens Valley, leading to the rapid rise of Los Angeles but the utter ruin of Owens Valley and its land. The incident was dramatized in the film, Chinatown (1974). Other issues related to the scarcity of resources in the west include the building of a dam in Hetch Hetchy Valley to provide resources for the people of San Francisco. The dam was technically within the boundary of Yosemite National Park, but congress approved its construction for the good of San Francisco’s citizens (much to the consternation of preservationists like John Muir).

Prior to WWI, the United States military was remarkably small in comparison to other global powers. To address this, in 1916, Woodrow Wilson signed into law which significantly expanded America’s National Guard and reserve system. A system of state-administered units available for local emergencies that received conditional federal funding for training could be activated for use in international wars. The National Guard program encompassed individual units separated by state borders. The program supplied summer training for college students as a reserve officer corps. Federal and state governments now had a long-term strategic reserve of trained soldiers and sailors.