The Gilded Age Of The Nineteenth Century And The Succeeding Period

Mark Twain, an American writer, named the late 19th century, the ‘Gilded Age.’ This time frame is ‘gilded’ because the time was glittering with gold on the surface, but corrupt and rotten underneath. This was a time period full of greed and guile, filled with robber barons, speculators, and Buccaneers. Not only that, but there were many sneaky business schemes to get more income, improper politics, and many impolite displays. Although, it’s better to think of this time as modern America’s formative period where small companies were transformed into an urban society dominated by industrial corporations.

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

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

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

The late 19th century of American history is most commonly known as the Gilded Age, because of its attractive appearance, but underlying corruption. Popular themes during this period were greed and guile. This can most clearly be seen in the nature of city governments and political machine systems. Political machine systems were made up influential men preying on the vulnerable for their own gain. A shining example of this unethical system is Tammany Hall. Tammany Hall was a political force in New York City from its 1789 inception as a benevolent association to its infamous end in the early 20th century (Tammany Hall). Run by William M. Tweed, commonly referred to as Boss Tweed, this political ring gained its popularity by supporting immigrants and the lower class. Tammany Hall pushed for real improvements in hospitals, schools, and infrastructure (Burns). Although these examples are viewed as a good within the system, they are irrelevant and ineffective in the overall upheaval caused by Boss Tweed and his political machine. Tweed 's idea of city government and his political machine was a failure because it took advantage of taxpayers, used political graft and corruption to disparage the Constitution, and set a bad example for future political leaders.

Throughout the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century, the United States saw a huge growth both socially and economically. The Gilded Age and the Progressive Era was a time when we saw great industrialization as well the construction of new railroads across the country. However, during the years of 1870-1900, known as the Gilded Era, this period was seen as a time filled with great corruption and uncontrolled politics and capitalism. Well-known author Mark Twain referred to these years of as the “Gilded Age” to reference how on the surface everything looked as though it was perfect or glittering, however beneath it all was corruption. (Mintz, S) Even though this era was known to have a great deal of corruption and scandals, it can also be seen that it was a time for development. A lot was changing and people were transforming from small town producers to urbanized workers. It is also to be considered as a time of economic and political reform. The last few decades of the 19th century will prove to be rough and challenging as people struggle to adapt to the new changes. As the turn of the century came, America entered into a new time known as the Progressive Era. During the early years of the 20th century Americans began to see political, social and economic reforms. There would be stricter laws on child labor, factory regulations were being improved, schools and playgrounds were being built and the corrupted politics were being replaced with more efficient

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.

The Gilded Age: ingenious business men, innovative philanthropists, captains of industry. The Gilded Age: ruthless tyrants, power-hungry dictators, robber barons. The Gilded Age, taking place from the 1870s to the 1900s, was an era of booming business and industrial innovation. Because the government was focused on expanding corporations, human rights were forgotten, leading to the Progressive movement. Occurring from 1900 to 1920, the Progressive movement focused on citizens’ rights to competition, sanitary conditions, and democracy.

The Gilded Age was associated with many difficulties - unprecedented fortunes and poverty, urban squalor, unhygienic food production, and other issues – that many Americans were left to deal with. In the early 1900s, “widespread dissatisfaction with new trends in American society spurred the Progressive Era, named for the various ‘progressive’ movements that attracted various constituencies around various reforms” (Andrew et al. 1). This new era was the age in which people tried to solve problems through individual and group action. The Progressive Movement was dedicated to the advancement of women’s rights and social reform by targeting trusts and protecting wildlife areas; however, despite their reform tendencies, progressives

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

Not everything and glitters is gold and this is something that can be said about the Gilded age. Taking place between the 1870s to about the 1900s this was a period that saw an influx of immigrants, mostly from eastern and southern Europe, adding much more diversity to the ethnic and religious composition of the United States. However, as these new immigrants came to the U.S.A. in search of the American dream, many of the Americans were seeing their daily lives begin to change with the urban boom brought about by the industrialization slowly taking place. This forced them to decide whether they wanted to get onto the train headed towards growth and industrial development or get run over by it.

The Progressive Age: The Progressive time frame is from 1890’s to 1920’s, also known as the Reconstruction Era. However, this movement wasn’t knew too many as there had been a first reform that occurred before the Civil War which had the similar goals but also included the abolishment of slavery. Like the Gilded Age, the Progressive Era is known for its of governmental and societal restructuring. The first generation of progressives stood firmly against Darwinism. They felt the problems of society like racism

Throughout the history of the United States, the Gilded Age is regarded as a period that spanned the last three decades of the 19th century. This period starts from the Civil War came to an end in the 1865 up to 1900. The term Gilded Age was formulated by writers Charles Warner and Mark Twain in The Gilded Age: A Tale of Toady in 1873. They did this since they believed it to be an era that would be characterized by a variety of severe social problems that were camouflaged by a minute gold gilding.

The Gilded age was from the 1870s to 1900s during a time of economic growth and Industrialization. “The term for this period came into use in the 1920s and 1930s and was derived from writer Mark Twain's 1873 novel ‘The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today’” (Wikipedia). The term Gilded is classified in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “covered thinly with gold leaf or gold paint.” (Merriam) During this period, people were obsessed with materialistic things and would flaunt their wealth. The rich would have massive mansions and the women would wear fine coats and massive Jewels on their hands. But, even with the increase in production and increase in wages, there was extreme poverty.

The Gilded Age became known as an era between the 1870’s and the 1890’s. The word Gilded Age was described by a well-known American Literature author named Mark Twain. Mr. Twain pointed out what the word means, claiming that although on the outside society may seem perfect and in order, below what we can’t observe, there is poverty, corruption, and many other matters between the rich and poor. While the rich were getting richer, the poor were getting poorer. The Gilded Age brought about a rise in technology, which transformed the United States both positively and negatively. As we approach the middle of the 21st century, we see a new Gilded Age, in which technology continues to transform the United States and change the lives of the American