Labour Movement During The Gilded Age

Roosevelt has been regarded as one of the presidents that stand out in the most highest of regard. Roosevelt proved to be the leader the American people needed in the 1930’s—a president who provided the psychological lift that helped them endure and survive the great depression. Unlike Coolidge, Roosevelt had a clear and current vision, of which he would apply to get the nation out of the slumps of a bolstering economy and dire straits. With huge challenges like mass unemployment and banks closing their doors, America was in grim need of assistance and direction, and the Roosevelt administration would be the most capable and equipped to end, or at least improve conditions during the recession. Within his first 100 days, FDR would submit a record amount of legislation, all aimed at getting the economy to recover, give relief to the hungry nation, and prepare the government with resources to prevent this kind of depression from happening again. This would become his legacy and plan of action coined as The New Deal. Agencies and legislation was created to turn the tide of the economy. Some examples include the establishing of the Civilian Conservation Corp that provided hundreds of thousands of jobs. Also, the Civil Works Administration would put nearly 4 million people to work building post offices, painting murals, paying artists for plays and film. The highest achievement is quite possibly the Social Security act, providing a guaranteed retirement system for the elderly over the age of 65; all funded by workforce pay and not by the government. It is clear FDR had a strong vision for America that influence his decisions about implementing policy the administration believed would end the recession. Not all acts and agencies passed through congress, and some agencies were also struck down by the judicial branch when found unconstitutional. Towards the end of FDR’s time in the white house, World War

In February 1933, “the Senate passed a resolution calling for the newly elected president, Franklin Roosevelt to assume unlimited power” (Bailey, Beth, et al. “Chapter 22: The Great Depression and the New Deal.” A People and A Nation: Brief Tenth Edition. Vol. 2. Stamford: Cengage Learning, 2015. 632-667. Book. [Further: Bailey, Blight, and Chudacoff]). Through the New Deal, Roosevelt sought to “revive the economy through economic planning and relief programs” (Bailey, Blight and Chudacoff). These relief programs helped many Americans find jobs and ultimately restore the economy.

The workers for companies during the Gilded Age often made little money for their work, and on top of this, most were not pleased with the working conditions their bosses put them in. This led the formation of labor unions in many companies, who would push for more rights within the workplace, and often times higher wages. Future issues became clear as tensions rose between business owners and unions as conditions got worse, wages were cut, and hours became longer. Many unions reached the breaking point and went on strike, where no one within the union would go to work until their demands are reached. Many times, the business owner would fire the union members, and hire new ones for there were plenty of people looking for work. In 1892, the

The Efficacy of the New Deal in Transforming a Nation Beginning in 1929, the United States entered one of the most impactful times in history, universally known as the Great Depression. The stock market crumbled, new industries had no room to breathe, and international relations were at an all-time low. In 1929, Herbert Hoover was elected into office as the president of the United States. He led Americans with a strong belief in rugged individualism: each individual should be able to help themselves out and the government should not intervene in economic situations. After failing countless times to revive the United States economy, people wanted change and elected Franklin Roosevelt in 1932 in hopes of igniting a spark in the United States

Shortly after the Great Depression began, society began to fail quickly. The stock market crashed, the unemployment rate skyrocketed, business’ and banks were closing and people were losing their homes they had worked so hard for. Although President Hoover was attempting to help society, he believed that instead of governmental interventions you should be self-reliant and would not fund welfare programs that may incentivize not working. Hoover’s “attempts” to aide the economy were not enough to turn it around, and people began to set their sights on Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the oncoming election. FDR made it his goal to ensure relief, recovery and reform were provided for the country to counteract the Great Depression and to make up for all of the years of negligence and non interference from the government, collectively called the “New Deal” 15 major laws were created in just the first 100 days he was in office, and his “New Deal” was coming into fruition and the governments role was now to step in and take care of it’s people, and to neglect them no longer.

The Great Depression had detrimental effects on American capitalism. The sudden crash of the stock market failed to allow Americans to achieve economic success. However, Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed new ideas to help the American economy find stability with his “New Deal”. Roosevelt’s presidency impacts the lives of American citizens today. President Roosevelt’s Administration was effective because it brought upon social change, decreased the unemployment rate, and altered the government's responsibility to ensure the welfare of their citizens.

The great depression left the United States in a horrendous position with it's economic standing. The American people looked for help from a president who could propose solutions to help rebuild the economy. This president was Franklin Delano Roosevelt who promised to ensure to improve the well being for all men for a comfortable living economically. This sounds great, a lot better than the depression, but his democratic supporters didn’t necessarily know or understand how he was going to achieve the tall order. FDR achieved this through the new deal which helped the economy a great deal and lifted the U.S. out of the depression. However, this deal left a large portion of his supporters angry.

The ending decades of the 19th century were titled the Gilded Age, a phrase coined by Mark Twain because of the many social issues in society that were masked by the layer of the prosperity of the wealthy. Labor unions played a huge part in trying to fix these many social issues, issues such as lengthy workdays, unsafe working conditions, low wages, and few health benefits. Although labor unions played a major point in improving the worker's condition during this period, they ultimately did not accomplish their goals due to being undermined by the violent nature of their strikes, the lack of unity between the labor unions, and the negative light they were portrayed into the public. Ultimately, organized labor was not successful in its goals and therefore, not successful in improving the position of the workers in that period.

The American History provides a predicament between the actions and different point of views of President Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR),in the new deal to save the American people during the Great Depression of the 1930s. In David M. Kennedy essay “FDR: Advocate for the American People” describes the difference between these two presidents, and also explains how the New Deal proposed by President Roosevelt help to deal with the chaos that whats’ happening at the time. The President FDR played an important role in bring reforms, and changing the way of life for many Americans. The New Deal stressed recovery through planning and cooperation with business, but also tried to aid the unemployment and reform the economic system.

One factor during the Gilded Age that changed American business and labor practices was the abundance of supplies. The United States had all the raw materials it could ever ask for like: coal, oil, iron ore, copper, lead, and timber. Why was this important to the U.S? This kept the U.S. from having to purchase these things from foreign countries. The United States also had an abundance of labor supply between 1865 and 1900. This gave U.S. factories a steady supply of cheap labor, there was always more workers

1865 marked the beginning of the Gilded Age a time period known for its innovations, corruption, progress and violence. At the same time as the phonogram and automobiles were being produced the major corporations employed child labor and offered deplorable working conditions. Laborers soon rose together to form labor unions that would have a fair advantage when dealing with large corporations. One of the pros of being a Unionist was the great numbers of unionists in several states this facilitated international strikes and placed pressure on the corporations. Depending on social class and economic background the antagonist and protagonist of the era were either large corporations or their wage workers. Members of the middle class were unsympathetic toward the Unionist at strike and prominent members of society. For example, Henry Ward Beecher and Henry Clew both members of the middle class clearly expressed their discontent towards the strikers. Unionist, and their family members, defended their actions and the Pullman strikers and Samuel Gompers were their advocates.

After the Civil War ended the United States moved into a period referred to as the Gilded Age. The Gilded Age brought to America a rapidly growing economy lead and dominated by the heads of industry and finance. As the economy grew, so did the population which would result in a higher demand for labor and jobs to provide the growing families of America. As more and more jobs were created, the working class would begin to see a decline in working conditions. These poor and worsening conditions left workers upset, exhausted, sick, and in some cases conditions were so terrible that many people died while simply doing their job. When workers turned to government for help, it was most often the case that government would side with the employer in order to keep the economy growing. This neglect by both the government and employers would eventually lead for workers to find their own solutions. This came in the form of the steady rise of organized groups of workers who would gather to protest for change, or labor unions. Though not all labor unions had similar philosophies, they all fought for what they believed they rightly deserved. Americans formed labor unions to fight for safer working conditions, better wages, and reasonable working hours. Labor unions such as The Knights of Labor and The American Federation of Labor gained popularity during this time and achieved varying levels of success for their cause. It was not only Anglo men at the time who made up the working class

As president Herbert Hoover leaves office with some success in keeping America’s values in mind while considering solutions to the depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt enters. With some success, FDR changed the whole dynamic of American life. But in the long run he did not end the depression he prolonged it, by doubling the national debt and giving an excess amount of power to the Federal government. In Reality, president Roosevelt’s New Deal was more of a failure than it was a success.

The economic crisis that showed all the contradictions of capitalism led to an increase of a deep political crisis in the USA in late 1920?s. October 29, 1929 is known in the American history as the Black Tuesday. It was the date, when the American stock market collapsed. In such economically difficult situation, in November 1932, a regular presidential election took place. The Democrat Franklin Roosevelt, who spoke with the program the New Deal, came to presidency. It was a series of social liberal programs applied in the United States in 1933-1938 in response to the Great Depression. The New Deal was focused on three main principles: relief, recovery, and reform.[footnoteRef:1] They promised to bring the country to prosperity and economically stable future. However, the Conservatives criticized the New Deal during the whole period of the reforms. It was expressed by Herbert Hoover in Anti-New Deal Campaign Speech in 1936 and Minnie Hardin in 1937 in a Letter to Eleanor Roosevelt. [1: (notes)]

In the 1930s America was experiencing what was the Great Depression, “the worst economic disaster in American History” (Foner, 158). The economy had hit an all-time low and unemployment was at its peak. After elected, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s created the “New Deal”, and it was the greatest reform movement of its time. The "New Deal" provided a daring reform policy without starting a war or revolution. Even though many criticized President Roosevelt for his “try anything” method and believed he was recklessly spending, he rescued the American economy of free enterprise by stepping in and actually doing something that helped the economy. When Hoover was president, the gap between the rich and the poor was so dramatic, the country probably would have had another revolution and blood would be shed. When President Roosevelt was elected, he instated a series of reforms to help with the countless problems in America. Though many of the programs failed, some achieved lasting success and still exist today. The New Deal provided lasting reforms like the Social Security Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act, and established exemplary standards that continue to go on and create better lives for millions of Americans to this day. In Franklin D. Roosevelt 's efforts to get America out of the great depression, he created the New Deal, and improved it with the second New Deal, and these brought a