Gilded Age Research Paper
Since life began on Earth, the world has substantially improved and grown to its current state—the remarkable age of industrialization. Day in and day out, the nation continues to develop as discoveries are being made. This culture not only influences America’s social values, but those of developing countries. Specifically, America is recognized for its quality of life, in disregard of what it took to achieve the freedom that the people deserve. After the Civil War and Reconstruction Era, early civilization in both the North and the South ultimately struggled with accepting change in order to prosper. In the late 19th century, America had to fight its way through the Post-Reconstruction Era known as the Gilded Age. The reference Mark Twain …show more content…
By using the term gilded as opposed to golden, Mark Twain suggested that our country was publicizing itself with success stories while hiding the socio-economic problems that had eventually manifested into corruption (Cayton, 1995). From an outsider’s perspective, the Gilded Age was considered to be a time of growth and prosperity. However, America started to recognize this problem when an increased number of unskilled laborers were hired to run factories. Specifically, children were often born into the labor force as the demand and necessity for labor grew. Companies wanted to hire children in sweatshops at low wages and long hours in order to get maximum profit. Lewis Hine, a photographer at the time had captured children’s working conditions in various industries through photographs. Whether they were in canneries, coalmines, meat packing factories, or in textile mills, children from all over worked in dangerous environments. Viewers of Hine’s photos could easily apprehend the injustices and abuses of child labor. Particularly in The Jungle, Jurgis learns about the workforce and how laborers sacrifice their fingers and nails by working with acid, lose limbs, catch diseases, and toil long hours in cold, cramped conditions. They worked “day after day, week after week” until “there was not an organ of [their] body that did its work without pain” (Sinclair, 1906, par. 4). Not only did palpable industries disregard the quality of the products they purvey during the early 20th century, but companies also seemed indifferent to the well being of their workforces as well as the workers
How Did The Robber Barons Move To Success
224 Words | 1 PagesThe industrial revolution was picking up steam, and these men mastered novel business tactics to triumph. The systems that had kept people in poverty were beginning to deteriorate: those born poor could now achieve wealth using hard work, skill and dedication. The business men of the gilded age devoted themselves to their industry as if it were their religion, routinely living a life strongly
Summary Of New Spirits By Rebecca Edwards
1168 Words | 5 PagesNew Spirits: Americans in the Gilded Age, 1865-1905 written by Rebecca Edwards provides readers with many different individual accounts to illustrate the transformative time of America during the Gilded Age. The work shows the cultural, social, political and economical elements of the age that aided in forming the America we have today. Edwards’s purpose in writing New Spirits is to offer readers new insights on the era by eliminating predetermined stereotypes one may have established before reading the work. Edwards wants readers to put aside their prior knowledge to understand just what it was like to live in the Gilded Age by providing readers with the consequences and achievements of people during the time.
How Did Industrialization Grow During The Gilded Age
1826 Words | 8 PagesAmerican history is one that includes many races, ethnicities, and nationalities, along with peoples of various occupations and statuses in society. Much of history has been written by the wealthy elite, and the 20th century, by the upper middle classes. As such, it has been dominated by elite WASPs who often ignore and/or display hatred for the plight of the poor and immigrants. The Gilded Age, also known as “The Age of Industry” is the second Industrial Revolution that was responsible for the rise of industrialization, industrial labor, immigration and urbanization.
The Political History Of The Gilded Age
324 Words | 2 PagesThe Bourbon Democrats bolstered a free market approach, with low levies, low charges, less spending and, as a rule, a Laissez-Faire (hands-off) government. They contended that levies made most products more costly for the shopper and financed the trusts (syndications). They additionally reproved dominion and abroad extension. By difference Republicans demanded that national success relied on upon industry that paid high wages, and cautioned that bringing down the duty would be a fiasco since merchandise made by low-wage European assembly line laborers would surge American markets. The political history of the Gilded Age is normally lessened to a story of debasement and outrage.
Comparison Between Social Classes In The Gilded Age
355 Words | 2 PagesThe Gilded Age was an age of rapid economic growth. Railroads, factories, and mines were slowly popping up across the country, creating a variety of new opportunities for entrepreneurs and laborers alike. These new inventions and opportunities created “...an unprecedented accumulation of wealth” (GML, 601). But the transition of America from a small farming based nation to a powerful industrial one created a huge rift between social classes. Most people were either filthy rich or dirt poor, with workers being the latter.
Gilded Age Research Paper
785 Words | 4 PagesImagine a time where machines replaced people, iron replaced wood and steel replaced iron. A time where the electric light bulb has just been invented and the railroad was expanding across America. Industrialization was a huge turning and growing point for the United States. It helped shape the United States and the world we live in today. Through the inventions, development of businesses, and laws passed by the government industrialization had a positive effect on the United States.
Politics In The Gilded Age
645 Words | 3 PagesPolitics in the Gilded Age were no more corrupt than at any other era in American political history, but it is viewed as one of the more corrupt periods in our history. There are several reasons for this and chief among them is that historians have traditionally interpreted the era that way. When studying primary sources of Gilded Age politics, especially newspapers, it becomes apparent that most were harsh toward politicians on both sides of the spectrum. The reason for this is that newspapers were extremely loyal to one party or the other and sought to paint the other side as vile, corrupt, and without morals. Charges were made based on little or no real evidence which made the era appear more corrupt than it really was.
Division Of Power In The Gilded Age
1070 Words | 5 PagesIn the Gilded Age, the division of power was more prominent than ever. It caused people of lower wealth to suffer financially and physically, leading to a harmful, stagnant society. Because of the low-paying jobs that were offered only to the people of the lower class, it made it financially impossible for the “poor” to elevate into the middle and upper classes. As depicted in the political cartoon titled “ The Protectors of Our Industries”, “cloth workers averaged $9 a week, linen workers averaged $11 a week, and lumber workers averaged $6 a week, all while providing for their families, who in relation to the rich had more people to take in account for.
Gilded Age Research Paper
1531 Words | 7 PagesHave you ever wondered about the historical events that have led up to the way our society is today? About 150 years ago our country dealt with problems that created the Gilded Age. This era consisted of uneven wealth, unfair racial rights and other money issues. The Gilded Age was first called “gilded” by Mark Twain. He implied that this era seemed to be a time of construction and a new way of life for immigrants and native borns.
Benefits Of The Gilded Age
935 Words | 4 PagesThe United States today is credited with many different achievements, such as being one of the most successful countries in the world. Some of these accomplishments include conquering problems one by one with durable work ethic, and having a daring reputation of being righteously independent. But when one lifts up the rug, they can find all the dirt, dust and issues hidden below. A term known as the “Gilded Age”, created by Mark Twain in the late 19th century, explains a problem such as America’s. Metaphorically lined with shining gold, America is perceived as perfect, and people from other countries yearn to have a taste of the freedom and riches provided.
Creationism In The Gilded Age
926 Words | 4 PagesIn the decades following the Civil War as the United States was changing from a primarily agricultural to an industrialized nation the American intellectual landscapes was changing in equally important ways. New ideas in the worlds of literature, science and philosophy were having great impact on intellectual and artistic endeavors and theses ideas were not just influencing the social elites but also America’s growing mass of ordinary, literate citizens. This influence would set in motion a change in mass direction for the United States. There are many important events that occurred during the Gilded Age. This age was birthed at a time following the Civil War, around the Reconstruction Era and it would continue to rise until its last breath
Examples Of Industrialization In The Gilded Age
687 Words | 3 Pageshad become the biggest industrial power. This leads to the Gilded Age (1870-1900). Nothing like money, power, and corruption to have a good life, right? Well, that’s one of the main things the Gilded Age is known for. This was a time thriving with economic growth, America's wealth had hit an all time high and with the invention of the railroad and telegraph the opportunities for entrepreneurs became seemingly endless.
Economic Growth During The Gilded Age
655 Words | 3 PagesFollowing the end of the Civil War, industrialists’ new inventions and the accessibility to natural resources created an industrial boom. Economic growth spurred for the industrialists; however, growth came with huge risks for industrial workers. A factor that contributed to America’s astonishing economic growth in the late 19th century was the conditions of labor that were dangerous to health and the increasing exploitation of industrial workers. Life in the other half during the Gilded Age resulted in unsanitary work and clustered living conditions. In hopes of having a temporary escape from the grueling workplace, people incorporated the use of past timers to help cope during the Gilded Age.
Native Americans In The Gilded Age
1707 Words | 7 PagesBetween 1870 and 1900, an estimated 25 million immigrants had made their way to the United States. This era, titled the Gilded Age, played an extremely important role in the shaping of American society. The United States saw great economic growth and social changes; however, as the name suggested, the Gilded Ages hid a profound number of problems. During this period of urbanization, the publicizing of wealth and prosperity hid the high rates of poverty, crime, and corruption. European immigrants who had come to the United States in search of jobs and new opportunities had fallen into poverty as well as poor working and living conditions.
Poverty During The Gilded Age
707 Words | 3 PagesThe decade between 1890 and 1900 expressed a crucial time in the United States of America’s history. Many people experienced struggles throughout this time while others prospered. Mark Twain suggested that despite the significant achievements of the United States, Americans experienced poverty. This statement is an accurate description of the lively hood people experienced in their daily lives during the Gilded Age whether it was positive or negative. Many people during this time period focused on the positive outcomes that resulted from the Gilded Age such as new inventions, the gospel of wealth, additions of land to the country, urbanization, and middle-class improvements.
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