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How Did The Progressive Age After The Gilded Age

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The Gilded age was a time in history when entrepreneurs and businessmen made up in their mind that business and wealth was more important than freedom, rights, and liberty. Men would do any and everything to become successful even in misguided ways. There was a time when people realized this had to stop though for the right of America, this was when the Progressive Era started. The Progressive Era came after the Gilded Age because of all the troubles the Gilded Age made in America. The Gilded Age was filled with entrepreneurs who made millions off of their grand ideas of business. Not all of the millionaires got their money fairly though, many of these owners took advantage of their power on the lower class and their workers. They would make …show more content…

Ida Tarbell attacked the richest man in American history, John Rockefeller, and his company with her book History of Standard Oil Company. She wanted to show all his unfair ways of business, and put a stop to it. As stated in History of Standard Oil Company, “It was not to save his business that he compelled the Empire Transportation Company to go out of the oil business in 1877. Nothing but grave mismanagement could have destroyed his business at that moment; it was to get every refinery in the country but his own out of the way”(Tarbell 2). Rockefellers main goal in everything he did was to get rid of competition in anyway he had to. He would try to get other businesses that were in the same industry as he was out of the way. Which is what he did with the Empire Transportation Company. Since that company was in the same industry as his Standard Oil Company, he wanted to limit the competition, so he ‘compelled the Empire Transportation Company to go out of the oil business in 1877’. Tarbell showed how he unfairly eliminated his competition. Also Tarbell writes, “Yet Mr. Rockefeller has systematically played with loaded dice, and it is doubtful if there has ever been a time since 1872 when he has run a race with a competitor and started fair. Business played in this way loses all its sportsmanlike qualities”(4). Stating all this in her book, …show more content…

Thomas Nast was a famous cartoonist whose cartoons were published in Harper’s Weekly. Nast was able to attack Boss Tweed, the ‘boss’ of Tammany Hall, a political organization in New York. Tweed was very wealthy and famous for stealing money from New York City government. Because of his political power that came from him using immigrants to get votes, Tweed had huge power in government. Thomas set out to show Boss Tweeds faulty lifestyle. As shown in Nast's cartoon, “The Tammany Tiger Loose”,it is a scene of the roman colosseum, and a tiger has killed 3 women. One of the women was lady columbia. In the drawing, Tweed and other men who worked with him were watching in the stands. The tiger standing over the girl represents Tweed killing lady columbia. Lady columbia represents several things in America like freedom. The tiger killing her symbolizes Tweed taking all of that away from America. Nast drew Tweed watching from the stands showing how he is okay with all of this too. Also, the other picture in document G, “The Ballot Box” shows Boss Tweed looking like a ‘thug’ standing over the ballot box, protecting it, and watching all of the votes. He was basically controlling all of the votes. The drawing has Tweed saying, “As long as I count the votes, what are you going to do about it?”. Thomas Nast including this drawing exposed how Tweed had control of the

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