The American Industrial Revolution: The Gilded Age

The gilded age was a time of poverty and unfair treatment of groups of people. The ones that laid the tracks to the place we are in now, as an industrial based country, were treated poorly. The Gilded Age was covered in corruption, filth, lies, and injustice. The heart of it all, New York City, contributed the most. With the incoming factories, boats filled with desperate immigrants, and developing technologies, nothing but the word gilded could appropriately describe this time.

An American writer, Susan Sontag, stated that capitalism is, “the ideology [which] makes us all into connoisseurs of liberty—of the indefinite expansion of possibility”. From 1850 to 1907, there was a mass immigration to America and the rise of ‘Gilded Age’ which the United States population and economy grew quickly. Capitalism is a social and economic system where both the means of production and any associate trades are privately owned. During 1850 to 1907, there were a number of factors which contributed to the rise of Capitalism such as: significant entrepreneurial figures such as Henry Ford; mass immigration and cheap labour; and Railway and telegraph lines expansion to transport goods to be sold.

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.

The Gilded Age is an intricate novel written by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner. The story takes place in the United States circa 1800’s. It moves throughout the U.S focusing on certain characters where the theme is displayed until all of the stories blend together to make a bigger picture.

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

Throughout the course of the Gilded Age, several influential figures rose impacting the economy, political factors, and culture of the United States. One of the most important figures of this time period was Frances Willard, born in New York in 1839. She held several important positions, exceeding as an educator, a women’s suffragist, and a co-founder of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. The fact that Frances Willard held these positions indicates that she contributed to the improvement of the United States, specifically by educating Women, fighting for Women’s rights, and fighting for prohibition. These key roles were complementary to the issues associated with the United States at the time. For example, a significantly low percentage of the population attended college after completing high school. Most of the people that attended college at the time were men. Women were typically held to Victorian standards by society’s expectation of them to stay home to raise children, making it uncommon for them to attend college. In terms of alcohol, Christian churches completely disagreed with and despised the consumption of liquor, leading to the establishment of temperance reform. Frances Willard was the most influential figure of the Gilded Age because of her work through the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union that contributed towards the ratification of the 18th and 19th amendment, prohibiting the consumption or production of alcohol and

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

The Gilded Age is defined as the time between the Civil War and World War I, during which the United States population grew quickly and the economy prospered greatly. However, it is also known to be cluttered with political corruption and corporate financial misleadings, in which the rich grew very wealthy and the poor were basically peasants. The economic growth of the nation was highly influenced by the availability of land and technological innovations promised through multiple acts passed throughout the time period, and, as a result, there were many negative changes in the social standing of minorities.

The concept of the automobile was first started in England during Industrial Revolution in the Eighteenth Century. The automobiles were powered by steam engine. Later on, inventors like Henry Ford began thinking further ahead about gasoline engine to produce powerful cars because steam engine cars were not enjoyable because it takes almost ten to twenty minutes to heat up the engine before driving. On June 16, 1903 Henry Ford started the ford motor company (Wikipedia). Almost 500,000 workers were employed in the automobile industry (Nick). Following this many Americans found job opportunities to make their life better in other hand they help the economy and expedite the growth of the country. Soon Ford motor company produced automobiles that were affordable like the Model-T. ”By 1927 the Ford Motor Company had sold over 15.5 million Model Ts in the United States.” (My Life and Work 560). “Nearly half of all American families owned a car in 1929” (561). According to this cars become big part of American's life. Families can go visit family or friend living farther away. Workers drive their automobile to workplace and arrive on time. Overall automotives boost up the productivity and efficiency which led American people to live cozy life, besides give them more time to entertain and refresh

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 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.

During the rise of industrialization, the United States had just ended the Civil War and was starting to move on. People had an aspiration at this time to make a more than decent living for themselves, and the economy was at the right spot for this to be possible. This time period in American History is referred to as the Gilded Age, termed by the famous author Mark Twain, which simply means covered in gold; however, Twain did not necessarily mean this in a good way. He believed right under the surface of this gold plating was still problems with the American society that didn’t look so appealing. This essay will discuss how practices during the rise of industrialization during the Gilded Age shaped the American work and labor force.

The Gilded Age was the last three decades of the nineteenth century, when America’s industrial economy exploded generating opportunities for individuals but also left many workers struggling for survival. With the many immigrants, skilled and unskilled, coming to America the labor system is becoming flooded with new employees. During this period, the immigrants, including the Italians, were unskilled and the skilled workers were usually American-born. There was also a divide in the workers and the robber barons. Robber barons were American capitalist who acquired great fortunes in the last nineteenth century, usually ruthlessly. There was much turmoil throughout the business and labor community. Two major organizations, the Knights of

The video in slideshow 6 (Slideshow 6:4) presents information relating to the American industrial revolution after the Civil War. Several years following the Civil War saw the United States' emergence as an industrial nation. Old industries were expanded with new ones being founded. For instance, the country experienced the emergence of steel manufacturing industries, oil industries, and the development of electrical energy. In addition, the railroads expanded significantly with the large investments of over $100 million bonds. A successful middle class emerged, thereby making buying a common practice among all individuals unlikely previously, where only the wealthy were able to purchase products. Mining and agricultural practices experienced

The American industrial revolution took place from the late 1800s into the 1900s. An industrial revolution is a boom in industry and manufacturing. It requires a workforce, leaders, and most importantly natural resources like coal, steel, gold, silver and lumber. Coal was a valuable resource needed to power factories and transportation like the transcontinental railroad that spanned across the US. After the transcontinental railroad was built in 1869, more coal was found in the west that could be mined and then transported to the factories in the east. This led to the increase in material production and made manufacturing easier and cheaper. However, when coal is burned it gives off pollution so an increase in coal usage also impacted the environment. Additionally, working conditions in the factories back then were unimaginable. Workers were overworked and around dangerous machines at a young age.