How Did Capitalism Affect The Economy During The Gilded Age

The Gilded Age was a time in the United States’ history where the country experienced radical changes and ideas following the Industrial Revolution. The Revolution introduced factories and fast transportation across the country, changing the U.S. forever. This caused many questions for our country to figure out, specifically questions surrounding the amount of government involvement in our economy. When there was too much government involvement, people complained because America is the “country of the free. When the government did not regulate businesses, things turned disastrous. Farmers and wage workers stood up for themselves, which forever changed the way our country is governed, both politically and socially. During the Gilded Age, farmers

Capitalism had taken a hold of the country because of the factories and railroads that popped up all across it. Andrew Carnegie and J.P. Morgan are widely known figures today, who gained their success from Capitalism. It is important to note that in the 1898 Declaration of Principles of the Social Democratic Party, the group declared, “That private ownership of the means of production and distribution of wealth has caused society to split into two distinct classes with conflicting interests, the small possessing class of capitalists or exploiters of the labor force of others and the ever-increasing large dispossessed class of wage-workers, who are deprived of the socially-due share of their product.” While the use of capitalism in our economy helped ensure the government would not overpower businesses, it placed all of this power into the hands of very few individuals, who happened to abuse it. This is when farmers and laborers began to despise capitalism and then organize themselves to promote something in which they strongly believed in, a socialist America. Overall, capitalism put every opportunity into the hands of “exploiters of the labor force” who had distinctly different beliefs than these farmers and wage workers, which is why they demanded more from the

The “hands off” government that controlled the United States did not regulate the way large corporations ran. Poor, unsanitary, and unclean working conditions were unfortunately a very common theme in the working class world. The Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire opened the eyes of many who were blind to the workplace situations taking place. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire textbook, written by Sabrina Crewe and Adam R. Schaefer states, “For Many, it was a terrible situation, but it took a tragic fire to make the wealthier citizens in American Society realize that reforms were needed in the workplace” During the Triangle Shirtwaist Workplace Factory fire, hundreds of young girls, immigrants, and women were burned or forced to jump to their death because of a large fire that arose. At this time, there were no regulations on how workers were treated, so they were chained inside to avoid the women taking breaks throughout the day. The owners had no legal charges that could be directed towards them, which upset all workers throughout the nation who became ready to take action. The Industrial Workers of the World, a group formed to unify and give the working class power against their capitalist enemies, shares, “ The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and