The United States Economy During The Gilded Age

The rapid growth of the economy in the United States the Gilded Age generated a lot of wealth. The growth of the railroads, telegraph and later telephone lines stretching across the country created new opportunities for entrepreneurs and the people looking for work; and gave cheaper goods to consumers.

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.

Throughout history, America was faced with many problems socially, economically, politically, and technologically. But America has also experienced many great successes in these areas as well. Some opportunities were seized, while others were wasted. We can learn from our past failures and successes and take what we have learned from them forward with us into the future, to help build and maintain a better America. The Gilded Age, during the late 1800’s, was a time in America where we experienced explosive economic growth, serious social problems, new innovative technology, and the rise of corporations and corruption in politics. We have learned from some of these things that we went through in the Gilded Age and fixed them, but we are still facing some of the problems we faced back then, today.

The effects of the Gilded Age were substantial. The population in San Francisco grew from a small settlement of about 200 residents in 1846 to a boomtown of about 36,000 by 1852. Roads, churches, schools, and other towns were built throughout California, and the flood of instant wealth created a mountain of work for not only the local people, but also for immigrants. So, the Gilded Age brought about many positive changes in California. Even through, American government is blaming the new immigrants of overpopulating the nation, and for being the cause to all of the negative events that occurred, but it was the age of robber barons and the corporate exploitation of workers, and the divide between rich and poor was enormous. I believe "The Gilded Age" is a reference to how gilded objects look like gold, but the gold rubs off when touched, much like the increased industrialization of the country looked like a good thing, but had dark consequences, like discrimination. Before the Gilded Age, most of the newly arrived to the California territory were Americans, but tons of gold attracted tens of thousands from Latin America, Europe, Australia, and eventually China, who came to work. Those immigrants came to America for wealth, and avoided turmoil in their countries, but they also had to face low wages and discrimination from local people. In order to stay in America, they lived in the most terrible environments，and learned to live and suffer through such unfair treatment.

Mark Twain, an American writer, named the late 19th century, the ‘Gilded Age.’ This time frame is “gilded” because the time was a glittering surface of gold with a rotten core beneath. 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 Gilded Age, America experienced massive immigration and impressive economic growth, largely due to new inventions and industrial improvements. Population growth, the expansion of railroads, entrepreneurs and the ability to create national markets all contributed to the unprecedented economic growth. Only a select few, however, would benefit from the economic growth in America. The failure of the Federal Government to address important issues of the time, both social and economic, caused widespread poverty throughout the nation.

The Gilded Age was the period of time from 1870 to 1900 where big businesses grew immensely in number, size and influence. In order to analyze how much of an impact these big businesses made, one must assess how much the economy and politics changed because of them. Economically, big businesses influenced prices in different fields, not only their own. Politically, big businesses gained control of aspects in the government and played large influence in it. As a result, Americans reacted through rebelling against these big businesses. Therefore, the expansion of big businesses after the Civil War led to them gaining more control over the economy and politics in the nation, which caused a numerous amount of strikes

Industrialization took place in American society between 1865 and 1914 in a time period known as the Gilded Age. During this period, the American economy had changed dramatically. For example, factories were producing a mass production of goods. Many Americans were able to obtain more goods for a lower price. The factories were worked on by the working class and the poor. The workers were able to produce new inventions that would change the way Americans lived in society. These new inventions would result in immigrants coming to the United States both for job opportunities and to live a better life. In addition, the new inventions had a positive impact on the Industrialists. One example of an industrialist is John D Rockefeller. Rockefeller made a fortune in the oil industry. Rockefeller used horizontal integration to purchase many other oil industries into one Standard Oil Company. Rockefeller was one of the wealthiest men in America during this time. However, the mass production of goods and new inventions had a negative impact on the poor and the working class. For instance, the workers had to work long hours in the factories under poor conditions for little pay. During this time, this was considered a sweatshop. Additionally, workers had to live in towns close to the factory known as a company town. This town consisted of the company, housing, and stores for people to shop. Many of the people who lived in these towns were poor due to the low wages in the factories. Also,

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 end of the reconstruction in 1873, the United States entered the era of the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution took place between the 1800’s and the 1900s were home-made produced technology was mass produced in factories at greater productions. Due to the new society in America, the United states economy prospered tremendously. This era was called the Gilded age. The Gilded age was coined by Mark Twain in a book he helped write with Charles Dudley with was called The Gilded Age. The Gilded Age was more than economic prosperity in the United States it was expressed by Mark Twain as a metaphor in which expressed that on the outside it was prosper but on the inside it was lead meaning that inside of all the business there was corruptness. in the

During the Progressive Era, many people were beginning to realize the effects of the Gilded Age, which left almost the whole nation in poverty, so some people called muckrakers rose to the challenge to help resolve the poverty problem. Among the muckrakers, Thomas Nast effectively helped try to stop a thief in office, who was secretly stealing from the country. Thomas Nast 's birthplace was Landau, Germany, and his birthdate is September 27, 1840. In 1846, he and his family immigrated to New York City. Thomas Nast was an American artist, best known for his paintings and caricatures. He is especially known for his political cartoons against The New York City political machine and promoting Radical Reconstruction during slavery. Thomas Nast was one of the most persuasive political cartoonists in America, drawing over 2,200 cartoons. Nast created a turning point in American History with his cartoons, using his artistic talent and adding dialogue. Nast left a permanent mark on the nation, to show how corrupt the nation was using symbols such as the Republican Elephant and the Tammany Tiger. Thomas Nast effectively removed corruption from the nation by working with Harper’s Weekly, attacking Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall, and using his cartoons against other groups of people who were creating flaws in the nation.

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 Gilded Age: A powerhouse rose from the ashes of the Civil War. From the Civil War until about 1896, the Gilded Age was born. The United States was going through an era of governmental, fiscal and societal restructuring. Gilded Age got its name because Mark Twain seen as a period where everything seemed to be well on the surface but beneath was a scheme of political dishonesty and self-indulgence.

What did Mark Twain mean when he referred to the late nineteenth century as “The Gilded Age?” This was the first question posed in the prompt, and I believe it is important to first explain what Twain meant by the word “gilded.” Gilded means “covered with a layer of gold,” but it also conveyed the idea that the surface does not represent the core – while holds little real value and is thus deceptive. (Textbook, 494) Consequently, despite the appearance of immense wealth on the surface, the gilded age was a time of greed and immorality.

Studying about the Gilded Age, I found it remarkable all of the inventions and machinery invented to aid progression of the society, and the vast improvements the country accomplished in such a short time. This made the work easier, faster, thus, salaries were raised for those in the working class. Second, the fact that then, the myth of climbing out of the poverty cycle was impossible, but today, with determination and hard work, taking a step at a time, anyone’s goals can be reached. Another interesting point was knowing that the general wages of average workers slightly decreased as a result of having many workers, most of whom were immigrants who had largely moved to America. Fourth, the numerous riots and rebellions which resulted from