Gilded Age Vs. The Progressive Era

The Gilded Age was a time in American history, from the 1870s to the 1890s, which ostensibly characterized the country based on its economic and technological advancements. However this era’s development served as a mere facade for the corruption and classism which occurred during the time. From economic manipulation to immorality in politics, the Gilded Age is best characterized by the unscrupulous nature of individuals who sought to attain superficial success.

The Progressives were a group of reformers such as writers, politicians, and Social welfare advocate, etc. living mainly in cities during the early 20th century and working to change legislative issues, financial aspects, and good society. They accepted that change could originate from inside of man, and along these lines, dismisses the believe of Social Darwinism and regular determination. They were in charge of the section of many laws, including restriction, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, and the Interstate Commerce Act. During this era, “People work to make themselves and the society a safer and a better place to live. The Progressive worked to make big business regulate more responsible and clean up corrupted businesses, city, improving a better working conditions etc.”(Discussion 9). New comers to the movement strived to adjust to new conditions at one hand while attempting to keep up their particular society and dialect framework with the other making a perplexing circumstance.

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 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 one of the most dynamic and controversial periods in American history. With the growth of factories in the north, America’s economy increased at an unbelievable rate. This growth created a series of new opportunities for some but also left many workers and farmers to struggle in poverty and harsh conditions. As one groups continued to grow more and more wealthy, the other continued to grow poorer and poorer. This created a huge disparity between the rich and the poor. As this phenomenon continued it created many problems such as monopolies, racist and sexist laws, filthy city conditions, and child labor. To try to remedy these problems, the Progressive Movement was started. By initiating reforms in many aspects of American

The Gilded Age (1869-1896), cynically named so by Mark Twain, was a time of industrial growth and underwhelming political movement. After Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, the Union’s top general, was elected President of the United States during the 1868 election. Grant himself really wasn’t cut out to be a politician, however, with the support of the Republicans and the campaign slogan “let us have peace” that resonated with the still war scarred nation he won. Other one liners such as “vote as you shot” and waving the bloody shirt, or reminding the public the gruesome war they just finished, were commonly used to rally citizens behind the Republican candidate.

We are living on the verge of the second part of the Gilded Age right now. The Gilded age is considered years 1870-1890. While the 21st century, today, is reliving the late 19th century. This age consisted of people seeking a new beginning and moving to the United States because they believed that America was the place to be for a new and better beginning. Many people would reference America's streets were "paved with gold,” little did they know the road they would have to travel to actually believe such a thing to be true. The United States has faced many different changes some for the greater good and some for the worse. The 21st century is repeating the Gilded age not only socially, but also culturally, economically, and politically.

Before dealing with the sports portion of this time it is important to know what is happening in the United States of America during this time. So what exactly is the Gilded Age and Progressive Era? From the end of the nineteenth century and into the first twenty or so years into the twentieth century there was a big change in the United States of America. It was a time of enormous social change, a change that increased the value of life and the way Americans lived. Not only was it a social change, bit it also brought great economic growth to the United States.

The Progressive Era and the Gilded Age, were two movements that contributed to important changes in our government, that played an important role in our history. The Progressive Era, were a time of rapid changes socially and politically in effort to have a better government. The Progressive Era, was a movement that was significant and effectively in implementing a better government, democracy, social justice, businesses and employment. The Gilded Age, had left behind a numerous of problems, that were causing great concern, that needed to be addressed rapidly. In the Gilded Age, it had created political corruption, greed and no principles in this time. It was a very narcissistic time for a lot of the politicians, among of many choices that they

From the years 1878 to 1889, America was in a period of time known as the Gilded Age. The term “Gilded Age” was coined by the prolific American novelist Mark Twain due to the growth of industry and the way wealth was amassed by corporate magnates such as John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie. During the Gilded Age, the large petroleum corporations of John Rockefeller, for example, created monopolies on oil. These tycoons would also create trusts in which they would give an opportunity for stockholders in competing companies to sell their stock in exchange for stock certificates. These trusts would give the larger corporations the upper-hand in commerce and forced Americans to buy its products exclusively. Moreover, during the Gilded Age,

Foreign Affairs The Gilded age was a time when the United States was thriving, and it seemed like everything was going good on the outside, but it was truly corrupt and full of unacceptable people on the inside. This age lasted from 1876-1900, it was a time when many people saw the U.S. also thrive with innovation, mass imagination, and territorial expansion. There were several presidents during the Gilded Age, which were Ulysses S. Grant, Ruther B. Hayes, James Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, and William McKinley. All these presidents were an asset that contributed to the growth of the United States during this age.

The world is constantly evolving. Time periods come and go, but certain ones stay with us and are remembered greatly. Of such, the Gilded Age is one of those few that made a very large impact on our world today. The Gilded Age is the period in American history from around 1870-1900’s where the United States population and economy grew quickly in a short amount of time causing extensive amounts of slave work and wealthy individuals to live pretentious lifestyles. During this period, John D. Rockefeller, The founder of the Standard Oil Company, became one of the world’s well known wealthiest individuals and a major philanthropist. In total, he controlled some 90 percent of the nation’s refineries and pipelines In America. Rockefeller didn’t

From the Gilded Age to the Progressive era industrialization modernized in every aspect. For example, constructing the transcontinental Railroads not only changed the economy, but also shifted the physical landscape. They required some towns to shift and some to move entirely to a different area. The railroads also helped America’s economy immensely. It helped with the industrial economy by requiring metal and steel to keep the railroads efficient and working. With the railroads there people also found jobs which helped with the increasing people’s social networks. According to Richard White just “the Pennsylvania railroad employed 110,000 men.”

The Gilded Age will be remembered for the accomplishments of thousands of American thinkers, inventors, entrepreneurs, writers, and promoters of social justice. The Gilded Age and the first years of the twentieth century were a time of great social change and economic growth in the United States. Roughly spanning the years between Reconstruction and the dawn of the new century, the Gilded Age saw rapid industrialization, urbanization, the construction of great transcontinental railroads, innovations in science and technology, and the rise of big business. Afterward, the first years of the new century that followed were dominated by progressivism, a forward-looking political movement that attempted to redress some of the ills that had

Both books look at the Gilded Age in different perspectives as to how it affected the USA. A People's History of the United States talks about how the people rebelled for their rights as working citizens, showing a in-depth view in how the American people lived during this time. A Patriot’s History of the United States takes a broad approach, just stating the facts and telling from a political view in what was happening in the government. Even though both books talk from different perspectives, these authors hit some touchy details that they share similar or different views on. In this case, A Patriot’s History of the United States does a better job at dealing with these topics because even though broad, the author shows the logic behind the decisions made. Even though these two novels have different perspectives of what was going on during the Gilded Age, they both talk about the effectiveness of the unions, the conditions in which the workers were in, and the struggles of the daily people trying to survive.