Monday, October 10, 1870 The Gilded Age was a tough time for me and other families to have a life and prosper in. Long hours and low wages were common as owners could find low-cost workers. Without unions, I and the rest of the workers were exposed to extended hours during a time where paying someone overtime did not occur. With limited opportunities workers like me and families had jobs that we struggled with and no hope of getting far in life. During the Gilded Age, there were two social classes, the wealthy and the poor and, unfortunately I was in the poor social class. The Gilded Age had a meaning behind it and I had an idea of what it meant, “Gilded means covered with a layer of gold, but it also suggests that the glittering surface covers a core of little real value and is therefore deceptive” (Foner, 609). We laborers did what we had to do to make our city look good but inside we were miserable and struggling just so we can have something to eat and survive to live another day. Today is another day of hours of labored work, struggling, depressed and nothing to look forward to. Times were getting worse for me and my family. I am just an eight year old American girl struggling to make a living. I never imagined that at such a young age I would have to work so hard to make a living. My family and I were living in a crowded home, no space for us to even breathe. I had to do what I was told and obey orders from the wealthier people which were our owners. They were in control of me and I had no choice but to do as I was told. I had come to realize that the wealthier had more supplies, benefits, and better living conditions. The people, who were poor like me, had no supplies, no benefits or good living conditions. My life consist... ... middle of paper ... ...ting older as days went by. I began to realize that businesses were built on child labor, child labor was what kept big businesses and companies running and without that, they were nothing. The government was so selfish, they looked to make great profits and have to pay so little. Children like me were exactly what they wanted because we were minors and at that time did not think of starting a union. What really upset me was that the factory where I was working treated me as an adult and they were treating me so harshly. I was so young and being treated like dirt, constantly commanding me, working with no breaks and getting paid so little. I had to do it though and I had no other options so I followed all the orders I was given. I needed the job more than anything. My life wasn’t getting any better as time went by. I just tried to survive and provide for my family.
“Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”, three common goals immigrants came to America seeking with hopes of the promise to prosper and gain success. However, during the Gilded Age it seemed as though these were attainable only for the select few, while others left the land they knew to spend their lives toiling away in pursuit of the American dream, many never understanding how unattainable it really was. While the Gilded Age was a time of an industrial boom and a growing economy, those working by the sweat of their brow to make the success of this time possible, were not actually ever grasping this wealth, but rather putting right back into the pockets of the wealthy. The Gilded Age compromised the American Dream by limiting the chances of the immigrant working class, and thus creating a cycle of missed opportunities keeping the immigrants from progressing much further then when they came to America to begin with.
One of Larson’s first uses of contrast demonstrates the exploitation of the Gilded Age. On page 11, the very beginning of part I, Larson recounts how in the 1890s, young, single women were flocking to Chicago in large numbers and exercising their newfound independence by getting jobs. Larson then states “The men who hired them were for the most part moral citizens intent on efficiency and profit.”
Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to live in this world and country during the transition from a rural; agriculture society to an economic nation rise of an industrialized society? Well that is exactly what the people of the Gilded Age experienced. It was a time of a dramatic business and political practice. In order for the business’s to rise there soon became a great amount of separation towards the people and the country. This caused our society to experience a stressful time and made it very difficult for ideas and concepts to equal out. Throughout this specific document there are four sources that were written by different individuals. Each and every source has an explanation and an overview of the times in the Gilded Age.
In the late nineteenth century known as the Gilded Age (or the Reconstruction period) and the early twentieth century known as the Progressive era, the nation went through great economic growth and social change. Beginning from the 1870s, there was rapid growth in innovations and big businesses. This could be because there was population growth and when there is population growth, there is a high demand of products and other necessities in order to strive in society. Many immigrants from Europe, mostly from the eastern and southern Europe, and Asia moved to American cities. Additionally, farmers from rural America desired to increase economically in society and since corporations ruled and political problems occurred, they decided to move into the cities. Afterwards, the 1900s started with the dominance of progressivism which many Americans tried to improve and solve the problems that were caused or had arisen because of the industrialization of the Gilded Age. It was basically the time when progressives fought for legislations like regulation of big businesses, end of the political corruption, and protection of the rights of the people: the poor, immigrants, workers, and consumers. Thus, between the periods 1870 to 1920, big businesses had arisen and taken control of the political and economic systems through corruption and innovations. In response, American citizens reacted negatively and formed labor unions and political systems to diminish the power that large corporations had in America.
The exact period of time in which the Gilded Age occurred is ever-debatable, but most historians can at least agree that it started within the 20 years after the Civil War ended and lasted until the early 1920s. (West) The Gilded Age itself was characterized by the beginnings of corporations and corrupt political machines. Policies such as the General Incorporation Laws allowed business to grow larger more easily, and with less red tape involved. New technology allowed faster and more efficient production, but this explosive growth of industry called for not only more resources, but new business practices and leaders as well. (Moritz 10-12)
Poor working conditions in mines in The Gilded Age was as normal to the people then as a 40 hour workweek is to us now. Looking back at all of the horrific and terrible accidents and such that happened then seems unimaginable to us, but to them, it was just another day at work. Children worked in the mines to support their families, often in company towns where inhaling soot all day and contracting black lung was really your only option for a job.
5. Perry, Elisabeth Israels, and Karen Manners Smith. The Gilded Age and Progressive Era: a student companion. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. Print.
The Incorporation of America sets a high standard for itself, one in which it doesn’t necessarily meet; however, the work is still expansive and masterful at describing the arguments of the Gilded Age.... ... middle of paper ... ... “Machines employed in production under the present system are “absolutely injurious,” rendering the workman more dependent; depriving him of his skill and of opportunities to acquire it; lessening his control over his own condition and the hope of improving it; cramping his mind, and in many cases distorting and enervating his body.”
From the period between the 1870’s through the 1890’s, it became an era known as the Gilded Age. The term was characterized by a famous American Literature author named Mark Twain. The writer tried to point out that the term means that while on the outside society may seem perfect and in order, underneath there is poverty, crime, corruption, and many other issues between American society’s rich and poor. This era’s gild is thicker than the cheaper material it’s covering. This can be shown through the countless numbers of achievements and advances America has made during the period of reconstruction and expansion, industrialization, and foreign affairs.
The post-Civil War years between 1865 and 1900 were a time of immense social change and economic growth in the United States. This time period, commonly referred to as “The Gilded Age,” saw an end to Reconstruction, rapid industrialization, and new wealth. Despite these achievements, however, the era between Reconstruction and the beginning of the twentieth century was plagued by political stalemate, a decline of human values, increased materialism, and widespread corruption.
The article “Testimony before a U.S. Senate Committee, 1885” is written by the U.S. Congress as a Report of the Senate Committee in 1885. This testimony takes place during the Gilded Age, an era marked by industrialization, corruption, and American greed. The testifier in this article Thomas O’Donnell, describes what it was like to be a worker during the Gilded Age. O’Donnell is a husband and a father of two children. He tells the senate that he is not very well educated since he had to start working when he was a young boy. During this time child labor was a very common thing. To be able to go to school and participate in the free education system was a luxury that many Americans could not afford. O’Donnell continues to testify how difficult
Accurately established by many historians, the capitalists who shaped post-Civil War industrial America were regarded as corrupt “robber barons”. In a society in which there was a severe imbalance in the dynamics of the economy, these selfish individuals viewed this as an opportunity to advance in their financial status. Thus, they acquired fortunes for themselves while purposely overseeing the struggles of the people around them. Presented in Document A, “as liveried carriage appear; so do barefooted children”, proved to be a true description of life during the 19th century. In hopes of rebuilding America, the capitalists’ hunger for wealth only widened the gap between the rich and poor.
As the Guilded Age was ending, and the Progressive Era was emerging, most American families had to live with the harsh
During the gilded age, African - Americans began to migrate to the North due to the available job opportunities in factories. Most were poor, uneducated and struggled in the Northern economy. Despite having all the rights of a citizen, there was still segregation. In the beginning the states passed the Jim Crow laws that made segregation legal, then the United States Supreme Court legalized the segregation on a national level. This took place in the Plessy V. Ferguson which stated that there could be separate but equal facilities among the races. The segregation against blacks was in almost all public settings such as schools, transportation, and restrooms.
I was only seventeen when I started working. I lived in a very small city that I downtown area full of different stores. During the summer times, most of the stores downtown would post job listings looking for young individuals who wanted to work during the summer season. I decided that I wanted to gain some work experience and decided to apply in one of the stores. The store I worked in was called Kid City; it was a clothing store for children. I enjoyed the job I had in the beginning; all I did was open up boxes and placed the clothes in the racks so the store associates could hang them up on the store racks. I enjoyed the job because I did not have to deal with the customers that came into the store. However, I was then moved to the front of the store to