About This Lesson
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the United States was experiencing unprecedented growth and prosperity. An unlikely alliance developed between the railroad companies and a new generation of young wealthy patricians who saw an opportunity to use their fortunes to advance the public good. Men like George Bird Grinnell, Theodore Roosevelt, and Stephen Mather made up an American aristocracy that practiced populist politics and saw themselves as guardians of the public trust that was becoming the National Parks.
