What does Module 1 of the Tennessee US History EOC cover?

Module 1 covers the period from the end of Reconstruction to about 1900 (US.01 to US.07): the Compromise of 1877 and the New South of sharecropping and Jim Crow; the settlement of the West through the Homestead Act and the transcontinental railroad; federal policy toward American Indians, including the destruction of the buffalo and the Dawes Act; rapid industrialization and big business (Carnegie, Rockefeller, monopolies and trusts, and the Sherman Antitrust Act); the Gilded Age of political machines, corruption, and civil service reform, plus the rise of labor unions and major strikes; and the new immigration from southern and eastern Europe and Asia with the growth of cities and the nativist response.

What ended Reconstruction, and what replaced it in the South?

The Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction by settling the disputed 1876 election in favor of Rutherford B. Hayes in exchange for the withdrawal of the last federal troops from the South. White Democratic Redeemer governments took control. The economy rebuilt around sharecropping and the crop-lien system, which trapped poor farmers in debt, and the South erected Jim Crow segregation and disfranchised Black voters with poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses. The Supreme Court upheld segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) with the separate but equal doctrine.

What drove industrialization and the rise of big business?

Rapid industrialization after the Civil War was driven by abundant natural resources (coal, iron, oil), new technology (the Bessemer process for cheap steel, electricity, the telephone), an expanding railroad network that created a national market, a growing immigrant labor force, and a pro-business, laissez-faire government. Carnegie dominated steel through vertical integration, and Rockefeller dominated oil through horizontal integration and the trust. The government's first major response was the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, which banned trusts in restraint of trade but was weakly enforced at first.

Why did workers form labor unions, and what happened to their strikes?

Industrial workers faced low wages, long hours, dangerous conditions, and child labor, so they organized into unions to bargain collectively. The Knights of Labor tried to unite all workers, while the American Federation of Labor under Samuel Gompers organized skilled workers around higher pay and shorter hours. Their main tactic was the strike, but major strikes like Haymarket (1886), Homestead (1892), and Pullman (1894) were broken, often violently, because the government and courts usually sided with employers in the Gilded Age.

How did immigration and urbanization change America in this period?

Between about 1880 and 1920, the new immigration brought millions of people from southern and eastern Europe and Asia, drawn by jobs and freedom and driven by poverty and persecution. Most Europeans entered through Ellis Island and many Asians through Angel Island. They crowded into fast-growing industrial cities and tenements. Their arrival fueled nativism, producing laws like the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, while reformers built settlement houses like Jane Addams's Hull House to help newcomers adjust.

TennesseeUS History

Tennessee US History EOC Module 1 (The Gilded Age and Industrialization): a complete overview of the end of Reconstruction, the West, big business, labor, and immigration

A deep-dive guide to Module 1 of the Tennessee US History and Geography EOC: the end of Reconstruction and the New South, the settlement of the West, federal American Indian policy, industrialization and big business, the Gilded Age and labor unions, and the new immigration and urbanization, with the item types the EOC uses.

Generated by Claude Opus 4.816 min readUS.01-US.07Updated 2026-06-02

Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed

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What Module 1 actually demands
The end of Reconstruction (US.01)
The West and American Indians (US.02 to US.03)
Industrialization and big business (US.04 to US.05)
The Gilded Age and labor (US.06)
Immigration and cities (US.07)
Check your knowledge

What Module 1 actually demands

Module 1 is the birth of modern industrial America. In a single generation the country settles the West, builds the world's largest industrial economy, fills its cities with immigrants, and rebuilds the South on segregation and debt. It covers standards US.01 to US.07 and sets up every theme that follows: the expanding role of government, the long struggle over civil rights, the tension between big business and labor, and the impact of geography and migration.

This guide ties together the matching dot-point pages, each with its own worked questions: the New South and the end of Reconstruction, the settlement of the West, American Indians and federal policy, industrialization and big business, the Gilded Age and labor unions, and immigration and urbanization.

The end of Reconstruction (US.01)

The Compromise of 1877 settled the disputed 1876 election and withdrew the last federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction. White Redeemer governments took over. The economy rebuilt on sharecropping and the crop-lien system (debt that trapped poor farmers), and the South imposed Jim Crow segregation and disfranchised Black voters (poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses). Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) upheld "separate but equal."

The West and American Indians (US.02 to US.03)

The Homestead Act (1862) gave settlers free farmland, and the transcontinental railroad (1869) tied the West to national markets. Mining and cattle booms and new farm technology (steel plow, barbed wire, windmills) filled the Great Plains, and the frontier "closed" by 1890. This destroyed American Indian life: the buffalo were nearly exterminated, nations were forced onto reservations, resistance ended at Wounded Knee (1890), and the Dawes Act (1887) broke up tribal land to force assimilation.

Industrialization and big business (US.04 to US.05)

Resources, technology (cheap steel, electricity), railroads, immigrant labor, and a pro-business government powered rapid growth. Carnegie built a steel empire through vertical integration; Rockefeller built an oil monopoly through horizontal integration and the trust. Admirers called them captains of industry; critics called them robber barons. The Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) began federal regulation of monopolies.

The Gilded Age and labor (US.06)

Mark Twain's "Gilded Age" meant surface wealth hiding corruption and inequality. Political machines (Tammany Hall, Boss Tweed) ran cities; the Pendleton Act (1883) replaced the spoils system with merit hiring. Workers facing low wages and dangerous conditions organized: the Knights of Labor and the AFL (Samuel Gompers). Major strikes (Haymarket, Homestead, Pullman) were broken, usually with the government backing employers.

Immigration and cities (US.07)

The new immigration (about 1880 to 1920) came from southern and eastern Europe and Asia, through Ellis Island and Angel Island. Immigrants filled industrial cities and crowded tenements. Their arrival fueled nativism (the Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882), while reformers built settlement houses (Jane Addams's Hull House).

Revision order

Start with the end of Reconstruction (Compromise of 1877, sharecropping, Jim Crow, Plessy), because its racial and economic themes run through the whole course. Then learn the West as policy plus geography (Homestead Act and railroad), and tie it to the American Indian tragedy (buffalo, reservations, Dawes Act). Master the causes of industrialization and the vocabulary of big business (monopoly, trust, vertical versus horizontal integration). Fix the Gilded Age's corruption-and-reform story (machines, spoils system, Pendleton Act) and the labor movement (Knights versus AFL, the three big strikes). Finish with the new immigration (origins, Ellis versus Angel Island, nativism, settlement houses). The highest-value skills are reading a political cartoon's point of view and interpreting a map or data table.

Module 1 of the Tennessee US History and Geography EOC covers the birth of modern industrial America (US.01 to US.07): the end of Reconstruction through the Compromise of 1877 and the New South of sharecropping, the crop-lien system, Jim Crow segregation, disfranchisement, and Plessy v. Ferguson; the settlement of the West through the Homestead Act, the transcontinental railroad, and new farm technology, and the closing of the frontier; the destruction of American Indian life through the near-extermination of the buffalo, the reservation system, Wounded Knee, and the Dawes Act's forced assimilation; rapid industrialization and big business (resources, technology, railroads, and labor; Carnegie's vertical integration and Rockefeller's horizontal integration and trust; captains of industry versus robber barons; and the Sherman Antitrust Act); the Gilded Age of political machines, corruption, and civil service reform, plus the rise of labor unions (the Knights of Labor and the AFL) and the broken strikes at Haymarket, Homestead, and Pullman; and the new immigration from southern and eastern Europe and Asia, the growth of cities and tenements, nativism and the Chinese Exclusion Act, and the settlement-house response.

Check your knowledge

A mix of recall and reasoning questions covering Module 1. Attempt them under timed conditions, then check against the solutions.

What did the Compromise of 1877 do? (2 marks)
Define sharecropping and the crop-lien system. (2 marks)
Name two methods used to keep African Americans from voting in the South. (2 marks)
Explain how the Homestead Act and the transcontinental railroad settled the West. (2 marks)
State the goal of the Dawes Act of 1887. (1 mark)
Name two causes of rapid industrialization. (2 marks)
State the difference between vertical and horizontal integration. (2 marks)
Why did Mark Twain call the era the "Gilded Age"? (1 mark)
Name one major labor union and one strike of the era. (2 marks)
Where did most "new immigrants" come from, and what was nativism? (2 marks)

Solutions

Q1: It settled the disputed 1876 election by making Hayes president in exchange for withdrawing the last federal troops from the South, which ended Reconstruction.
Q2: Sharecropping: landless farmers worked a landowner's land for a share of the crop. The crop-lien system: they bought supplies on credit against the future crop, which trapped them in debt.
Q3: Any two of: poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses (plus intimidation and violence).
Q4: The Homestead Act gave settlers free farmland, and the railroad carried them west and shipped their crops to market, so together they made farming the Plains practical.
Q5: To break up tribal land into individual family allotments to force American Indians to assimilate (and to open surplus land to settlers).
Q6: Any two of: abundant natural resources, new technology (cheap steel, electricity), the railroad network, immigrant labor, and a pro-business government.
Q7: Vertical integration: controlling all stages of producing one good (Carnegie). Horizontal integration: combining many competing companies in the same business (Rockefeller).
Q8: "Gilded" means a thin gold coating over something cheaper; the name suggests surface wealth hiding corruption and inequality.
Q9: Union: the Knights of Labor or the AFL. Strike: Haymarket (1886), Homestead (1892), or Pullman (1894).
Q10: Most came from southern and eastern Europe (and parts of Asia). Nativism is the favoring of native-born Americans over immigrants and support for restricting immigration.

Sources & how we know this

Social Studies Standards — Tennessee Department of Education (2019)
Overview of Testing in Tennessee — Tennessee Department of Education (2024)