Laissez Faire Capitalism In The Gilded Age

While being a greedy person can be bad, it can be good as well. For instance, in the gilded age greed helped multiple things like the economic, political, and social issues going on from 1860-1890 mainly during the industrial revolution. During these 20 years, many industries took off like the iron horse railroad, patents were increased by 28x over, and multiple groundbreaking electronics that would soon help to better communication developed. The gilded age was an important time for america's development and helped it establish what it is today.

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.

Greed can be a powerful motivating force, evident through the positive impact it had on Industrialization in America during the Gilded Age. During this time new inventions became plentiful, but where there were new inventions there also had to be new businesses to back these inventions up and allow them to be successful. Wealthy business owners were able to help in this regard. They already had the capacity to help facilitate the creation of these new inventions, but it did not stop there. This is where greed came in. Greed is the intense and selfish desire for wealth, and it was this that empowered the rich during this time to expand upon their already successful businesses to become even more rich and powerful than they were before. This led to a surge of businesses in the country, and it was all due to greed. It was this desire for more that led to an increase in productivity in the country that helped with the spread of technology throughout it which made it more enticing for immigrants coming to America.

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

From the ashes of the American Civil War period, the Gilded Age movement emerged into rapid economic growth. From the end of reconstruction in 1877 to the panic of 1893, the American economy nearly doubled in size. The expansion of Industrialization led to growing wages and the urge to work. As new machinery developed, so did the urgency for rapid production of manufactured goods. In this period, new ideas of time being money emerged. Big business men controlled the Gildan age instead of political leaders. Out of the rapid need to gain money and work harder, negative effects such as child labor, women labor, and unfair working conditions appear. In response, the progressivism era emerged. The Progressive movement arose as a response to negative effects of industrialization such as child labor and unemployment. Reformers longed to regulate private and large industries to strengthen working conditions for both employers and consumers Progressivism was an important political and social reformation from 1890-1920 that aimed to make major political and social reforms in effort to progress society after the negative outcomes of industrialization.

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

Early industrialist were some of the richest people on earth. Their business created countless jobs and spurred growth in a country devastated by civil war. America was growing at an unprecedented rate, but at what cost.

The Federal Government, although deeply influenced by the laissez-faire policy, should have intervened in the economic scandals and acts of injustice occurring throughout the Gilded Age. By imposing regulatory measures on businesses and industries detailing proper marketing conduct, the Federal Government could have regulated the economy and remained moderately objective to both the wealthy and the working class, whose patience for economic reform wilted quickly. As tension among the working class escalated and the movement for government intervention matured, strikes became common throughout the entire country, but concentrated among areas of political interest (Labor unrest, strikes 1870-1900). While wealthy corporate officials often denied the need for government involvement, protestant strikes by irritated and impatient working class citizens often forced businesses to join the fight for government reform.

Greed during the Gilded Age was not good, but was still very evident in strikes and lockouts, politics, and monopolies. Greed is an intense and selfish desire to be better and have more than others and it can often cause people to get hurt and be put into dangerous situations. During the gilded age, economy was expanding and most people were motivated by wealth and their own greed. While greed may be good for the greedy, it is not good for those who are in the way of the greedy and those who just simply are not greedy.

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 American business giants of the Gilded Age were captains of industry. The men and women who lived in this time period took risks in search of wealth. Some entrepreneurs didn’t earn that wealth in a good way. However, they did what they needed to pursue their dreams. Some became very successful, creating monopolies like Rockefeller Oil. Others weren’t so lucky and went bankrupt.

The time period from 1865 to 1900 covered a large portion of American history, it covers all of the Gilded Age and portions of the Civil War and Progressive Era. A lot has changed in the United States from the mid-Civil War era to the early Progressives. Government began intervening in economics and the principles of a Laissez-Faire economy became more regulated as the federal government began helping out the lower class and helping them survive as well as attempting to destroy monopolization. The national government had always been passive in the face of a Laissez-Faire government but they slowly became less of a spectator and more of a peacemaker that attempted to even out the competition. Government began to exert a very minimal and regulatory

The government should not be involved in the economy because too much government involvement can lead to a socialism and eventually communism. As in the Gilded Age many people lived in the absolute worse conditions. Such as working, payment, housing and just the area was horrible. Today still some on this happens here in America but mostly in other areas of the world. As history can tell you socialism and communism never works out for the government or the people.

Freedom in a utopian society is considered to be impeccable. Freedom was given to all and force by other people wouldn’t be necessary for this perfect place. But, during the Gilded Age, freedom wasn’t for everyone. People like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller (or the captains of industry) had more freedom than the workers of the time. Workers during this age had less freedom for the fact that they didn’t have nearly as much money as the Captains of Industry. With the low wages of this era, it was pretty much impossible to make money, unless your business became profoundly popular to the point where you could then call yourself a robber baron. For example: while workers and other middle-lower class people were at their jobs, high-class and other citizens with money were out and about doing things that they please. This was mainly for the fact that they could because they had the money to do so. So, in the reality of that time freedom was most definitely not for everyone. Now on to another ideal that should be honored in a utopian society.

Structural defects in the US economy, such as banking sector instability, wage stagnation, agricultural overproduction, and over reliance on credit, were the main causes of the Great Depression. Newly elected Herbert Hoover and his administration floundered as unemployment and hunger raged out of control. So many lost their homes that card board shanties called "Hoovervilles" sprung up in all major cities. American 's disillusionment with governmental ineffectiveness during Hoover 's administration allowed the Democratic Party to elect the first democratic president since Woodrow Wilson(1921). Franklin Delano Roosevelt(FDR) swept into power ready to