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Summary Of The Gilded Age

Decent Essays

The Gilded Age in the United States took place in the late 19th century, from the 1870’s to about 1900. The Gilded Age provided a very welcome boom in economic growth after the Civil War. Modern industrialization brought with it the railroads and many factories which helped boost wages by a staggering amount which helped contribute to a large divide between the wealthy and the poor. During this time an author by the name of William Graham Sumner wrote an essay for general public consumption. Mr. Sumner was a social sciences professor at Yale and was an avid believer in Social Darwinism.

William Graham Sumner demonstrates throughout his essay that he firmly believes that any man who cannot provide adequately for himself and his family should not be propped up by any other man, and the government should certainly not interfere, as this would disrupt the very nature of what he believes is the natural order. He calls this Social Darwinism. Mr. Sumner also believed that society cannot advance further without monogamy and a strong family unit, and that freedom and liberty itself is threatened by helping those less fortunate by …show more content…

Sumner and what was happening in the United States at the time as evidenced by Mark Twain. He was said to have described this era as “Glittering on the surface, but corrupt underneath”. The idea that those that had wealth were strong, and those that didn’t were weak and should be left to be removed from society can be interpreted from the essay, and Mr. Twain’s description of the era provides a similar view of this time in American history. Another commonality seen with others during this time is that women aren’t seen as being capable. This is evidenced by most women working as servants or were simply housewives. There is however a disconnect due to the fact that many poor people were indeed able to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and become wealthy. A prime example being Andrew

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