How Did The Gilded Age Affect The Economy During The Gilded Age

After the Civil War, factories no longer had a reason to manufacture weapons. Instead they could focus on household products like textiles or building materials like steel. Such factories boomed and became more prosperous as their industries thrived. Also around this time, railroads that spanned across the country were being constructed, uniting the country more than ever and allowing the country to become a nation of wealth. These events and more brought about the Gilded Age, a time that would push America into the modern age of industrialization and plutocracy. The Gilded Age affected America economically, socially, and politically. Economically speaking, the Gilded Age allowed America’s wealth to increase ten-fold and let middle-class

Almost 80% of those who could vote in America would cast a ballot of the presidential elections. The country had never been more focused on the elections, and this was because of the well organized competition between the Republicans and Democrats, as well as the fact that the railroads allowed the nominees to reach a bigger audience than ever before. Parties were often regional, with Democrats in the South and northern industrial cities, and Republicans in Midwest, the Freedmen in the South, and small rural northeast towns. Although politics was thriving, corruption ran rampant more than ever during the elections of this era. The Grant administration was connected with a large number of scandals, including the Fisk-Gould Scandal, the Whiskey Ring, and the Crédit Mobilier scandal. This was in part due to Grant’s poor presidential leadership. Grant was a great commander in the Civil War, but he was a bad president who knew little about politics. The other issue with his presidency and others was the spoils system. This would lead to less that qualified people being given public office. In fact, this would be the main issue of Garfield’s short-lived presidency. Garfield was shot by Stalwart Guiteau because he thought that Garfield would give him office. When he didn’t, Guiteau decided to shoot him and make Stalwart Chester Arthur president in hopes of being given office by him. Another problem rose up when farmers were fed up with the government and its little regard for the common man. They decided to form the Populist Party in order to retaliate. The Populist Party did a surprising amount of damage, especially to the Democrats. The Populist Party took away votes from the main two parties, and had 22 electoral votes in the 1892 election. Although it wasn’t much, they proved their point. People would defect if things weren’t changed. In the Senate, Speaker of the House Thomas B. Reed