American Events During The Gilded Age

The Gilded Age was a time where new prosperities and opportunities were forming after the end of the bloody American Civil War. The United States was able to rebuild itself after philanthropists started to help change the country into something superior and steered it away from the dreariness of the last few years. The ultra wealthy entrepreneurs of the time primarily were John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and J. Pierpont Morgan. These men were given the name “captain of industries” coined by Thomas Carlyle in his book, Past and Present, to describe compassionate and important men who made significant impacts on the nation and people of America. The wealthy industrialists of the late 19th century were “captain of industries” because they created new enterprises, they provided jobs for countless citizens, and donated to charitable causes.

During the nineteenth century, there was a time of critical social problems we now know

Throughout the course of the Gilded Age, several influential figures rose impacting the economy, political factors, and culture of the United States. One of the most important figures of this time period was Frances Willard, born in New York in 1839. She held several important positions, exceeding as an educator, a women’s suffragist, and a co-founder of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. The fact that Frances Willard held these positions indicates that she contributed to the improvement of the United States, specifically by educating Women, fighting for Women’s rights, and fighting for prohibition. These key roles were complementary to the issues associated with the United States at the time. For example, a significantly low percentage of the population attended college after completing high school. Most of the people that attended college at the time were men. Women were typically held to Victorian standards by society’s expectation of them to stay home to raise children, making it uncommon for them to attend college. In terms of alcohol, Christian churches completely disagreed with and despised the consumption of liquor, leading to the establishment of temperance reform. Frances Willard was the most influential figure of the Gilded Age because of her work through the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union that contributed towards the ratification of the 18th and 19th amendment, prohibiting the consumption or production of alcohol and

From 1870 to 1900 era was called the Gilded Age, a time of immense growth in the United States in transportation, especially in railroads, American workers were paid higher wages than their peers in Europe. In this thirty year span the United States saw twelve million immigrants pass through her golden doors, 70% of these immigrants were English, Irish, and German. Crop failures (potato famine in Ireland), job shortages, and religious freedom were the motivations behind many immigrating to America. Newly arrived immigrants faced a harsh reality in America, employers took advantage of them, the men were often paid less than other native born men and the women were paid even less. Immigrants suffered verbal and physical abuse from employers and other employees because they were different. While researching my Italian heritage I learned that Italians, especially southern Italians were not treated well because they were hired as strikebreakers or scabs by mining and railroading companies. They were called derogatory names such as "dagoes or guineas". Newspapers of the time said the southern Italians were "intellectually inferior and having criminal tendencies" (Laura Teddy Turner, Demand Media n.d.) http://www.emmigration.info/us-immigration-tv

The Gilded Age is defined as the time between the Civil War and World War I, during which the United States population grew quickly and the economy prospered greatly. However, it is also known to be cluttered with political corruption and corporate financial misleadings, in which the rich grew very wealthy and the poor were basically peasants. The economic growth of the nation was highly influenced by the availability of land and technological innovations promised through multiple acts passed throughout the time period, and, as a result, there were many negative changes in the social standing of minorities.

The late 19th century of American history is most commonly known as the Gilded Age, because of its attractive appearance, but underlying corruption. Popular themes during this period were greed and guile. This can most clearly be seen in the nature of city governments and political machine systems. Political machine systems were made up influential men preying on the vulnerable for their own gain. A shining example of this unethical system is Tammany Hall. Tammany Hall was a political force in New York City from its 1789 inception as a benevolent association to its infamous end in the early 20th century (Tammany Hall). Run by William M. Tweed, commonly referred to as Boss Tweed, this political ring gained its popularity by supporting immigrants and the lower class. Tammany Hall pushed for real improvements in hospitals, schools, and infrastructure (Burns). Although these examples are viewed as a good within the system, they are irrelevant and ineffective in the overall upheaval caused by Boss Tweed and his political machine. Tweed 's idea of city government and his political machine was a failure because it took advantage of taxpayers, used political graft and corruption to disparage the Constitution, and set a bad example for future political leaders.

Following the Civil War and Reconstruction, the federal government was looking for a way to get the people motivated; motivated to work again, motivated to have a better life again, and then like an answered prayer we entered the ‘Gilded Age’. The rapid growth from 1865 to 1900 was brought on by the availability of money and resources. With entrepreneurs willing to take a risk with this money and new resources, extraordinary growth arose. Railroads were evolving everywhere and as a result the Steel industry started to rise. With this economic boom all people, especially the federal government, sought after means to sustain this sudden increase in the market. The United States government came up with a plan to promote industrial development

The Gilded Age was characterized by rapid industrialization, reconstruction, ruthless pursuit of profit, government, corruption, and vulgarity (Cashman 1). After the Civil War, America was beginning to regroup as a nation. There were many other changes developing in the country. Industrialization was taking over the formerly agricultural country. The nation’s government was also in great conflict (Foner 20). Many changes occurred during the Gilded Age. These changes affected farmers, labor, business, and politics.

The long Gilded Age of America started in 1870 and lasted until 1930. It started right after the Civil War and was a period of extreme economic and industrial growth. After the war, a period known as Reconstruction started. The Reconstruction was meant to rebuild the economy of the South. However, the Reconstruction not only didn’t help the South that much, it also didn’t help the newly freed African Americans. According to Eric Foner’s book Give Me Liberty Volume 2, “African-Americans’ understanding of freedom was shaped by their experience as slaves and their observation of the free society around them.” Even after the Civil War, life was still not good for African Americans. One deadly system that was very similar to slavery was the convict leasing system. According to the Reconstruction Amendments, the 13th Amendment outlawed all slavery except ones “ except as a punishment for crime”. Those few words were enough for many people to exploit this by falsely accusing people(many of them African American) of crime and forcing them to work in horrific conditions such as mines and factories. In the Slavery By Another Name video, it told of situations when convicts were through with their time and yet would be forced to stay by the harsh rule of the place they were working at. Many blacks would get sent to prison and then leased for minor misdemeanors or idiotic actions such as stealing a pig or the “Vagrancy Statutes”(from Slavery By Another Name). These statutes basically

The end of the Civil War marked a new integration of industry into American society. Following the war, high tariffs were put in place to compensate for the national debt that were created. The increase in tariffs also promoted domestic industries which became more critical in America. A major shift can be seen during this time, known as the Gilded Age, toward a more industrialized society rather than an agricultural one. One major influence toward this industrialized society was the building of the transcontinental railroad which ran from East to West coast. Finished in 1869, the Railroad allowed for more transport which also benefited the rising of big businesses. Regional companies could become national companies and thus changed the way people looked at industrialization. This industrialization affected the working class the most which consisted of the industrial workers and farmers. One would think that the “Gilded Age” would mean prosperity would be felt throughout the economy but the elite 1% of the population had more money than the rest of the population combined. This did not sit well with the working class, especially the industrial workers, who were the ones making the profit for the elites. However, each the farmers and industrial workers had their own way in which they responded to the industrialization of the Gilded Age.

The Gilded Age was a very special time for our nation that took place from the 1870s to around 1900. During this time, economic growth was at a rapid increase, politics were corrupted yet had high turnouts, and urbanization flourished. Every aspect of the life of an American changed drastically throughout this time of the Gilded Age. The entire era was focused on the enormous changes that each aspect of America was going through. As this is brought to attention, if we are to look into the way that America is in our time of today, we can find that there are many similarities to that of the original Gilded Age. The United States of America have currently found themselves to be experiencing the second era of the Gilded Age throughout the areas of economic, politic and social transformation.

The Gilded Age was an era of consequential social mishaps and economic growth concealed by a thin gold gilding. This period was particularly rough on immigrants. New York City for example, during 1865-1890, was filled with sweat shops where young children would work alongside their mothers in what would be considered horrendous conditions today. Factory rooms were filled with people without any central air or windows. Children would work strenuous long hours six to seven days a week, instead of going to school or enjoying their childhood.

The Gilded Age was the last three decades of the nineteenth century, when America’s industrial economy exploded generating opportunities for individuals but also left many workers struggling for survival. With the many immigrants, skilled and unskilled, coming to America the labor system is becoming flooded with new employees. During this period, the immigrants, including the Italians, were unskilled and the skilled workers were usually American-born. There was also a divide in the workers and the robber barons. Robber barons were American capitalist who acquired great fortunes in the last nineteenth century, usually ruthlessly. There was much turmoil throughout the business and labor community. Two major organizations, the Knights of

Throughout the history of the United States, the Gilded Age is regarded as a period that spanned the last three decades of the 19th century. This period starts from the Civil War came to an end in the 1865 up to 1900. The term Gilded Age was formulated by writers Charles Warner and Mark Twain in The Gilded Age: A Tale of Toady in 1873. They did this since they believed it to be an era that would be characterized by a variety of severe social problems that were camouflaged by a minute gold gilding.

The American Industrial Revolution, also known as the Gilded Age that took place from the 1870s to the very early 1900s. The Gilded Age is defined as, “A period of enormous economic growth and ostentatious displays of wealth during the last quarter of the nineteenth century” (Roark, p. 479). Over the years of the American Industrial Revolution, there have been an enormous amounts of new technology and innovation throughout this time period that have brought many exceptional advances to the revolution. But there are three particular technological advances that noticeably affected America’s Industrial Revolution. These three technological advances include, steel, automobile and electricity that substantially improved the Gilded Age.