Identity

How did the rapid influx of immigrants from other parts of the world than northern and western Europe affect debates about American national identity?

Work, Exchange,

and Technology

How did technological and corporate innovations help to vastly increase industrial production? What was the impact of these innovations on the lives of working people?

Peopling

How and why did the sources of migration to the United States change dramatically during this period?

Politics and

Power

How did the political culture of the Gilded Age reflect the emergence of new corporate power? How successful were the challenges to this power? Why did challenges to this power fail?

America in the

World

How did the search for new global markets affect American foreign policy and territorial ambitions?

Environment

and Geography

In what ways, and to what extent, was the West “opened” for further settlement through connection to eastern political, financial, and transportation systems?

Ideas, Beliefs,

And Cultures

How did artistic and intellectual movements both reflect and challenge the emerging corporate order?