P. J. O’Rourke said, “Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.” When Mark Twain and Charles Dudley coined the phrase ‘gilded age’ to describe what they saw in the late 19th century I’m sure they would agree wholeheartedly with Mr. O’Rourke. What does it mean ‘gilded age’? Gilded means to coat with a thin layer of gold, which I’m sure almost always is covering an inferior product. When one thinks of America one of the first thoughts that pop into mind is the American Dream. Achieving the impossible and pulling oneself up out of the mire and reaching a level of success and stature one wouldn’t have elsewhere. But how does one determine success? Many believe it is through how much one has financially and what they can obtain. I think that Mark Twain, Charles Dudley and P.J. O’Rourke are saying that having money does nothing if those who have it do not use it to further a better way of life for those that surround them. If America represents a chance to come from nothing and gain everything then why try to cover it up with gold?
The late 19th century of America was a time with huge growth for the country. During this period, the United States economy grew at an astonishing rate, producing enormous levels of wealth. Railroads and telephone lines expanded across the country, which allowed for new opportunities for cheaper goods to be bought by the majority and for entrepreneurs to seek wealth. This all grew rapidly for a nation of small farmers and craftsman, who now had to deal with a society where the chasm of haves and the have-nots was gro...
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...r doesn’t need to be covered with gold or adorned with jewels. The idea can stand on its own.
Works Cited
Trachtenberg, Alan. 1982. The incorporation of America: culture and society in the gilded age. New York: Hill and Wang.
Goldberg, Jacob C. 2003. A Blow to Labor: The Homestead Strike of 1892. The Concord Review, Inc.
Rogers, Donald W. 2011. “New Looks at Workers’ Response to Industrialism.” The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era 10:4 507 – 514
Barreyre, Nicolas. 2011. “The Politics of Economic Crises: The Panic of 1873, the end of Reconstruction, and the Realignment of American Politics.” The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era 10:4 403 – 423
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The Gilded Age & the Progressive Era (1877–1917).” SparkNotes LLC. 2005. http://www.sparknotes.com/history/american/gildedage/ (accessed October 18, 2011).
“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.
The period of time running from the 1890’s through the early 1930’s is often referred to as the “Progressive Era.” It was a time where names such as J.P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, Jay Gould and John D. Rockefeller stood for the progress of America and their great contributions to American industry and innovation. This chapter however, has a much darker side. Deplorable working conditions, rampant political corruption and power hungry monopolies and trusts threatened the working class of America and the steady influx of European immigrants hoping to make a better life for themselves and their families. What started as a grass-roots movement pushing for political reform at the local and municipal levels soon began to encompass
In the words of Thomas Jefferson, “A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circlue of our felicities.” (Jefferson, 1801) This idea echoed far beyond it’s time and into the minds and hearts of the Populist’s, and became the center and the driving force of the Progressive era. During the gilded age railroads were being built, Industrialization was rising, the population of United States was increasing dramatically; and corporate businesses were becoming extremely powerful. The gilded age was known for its corruption and business domination, it wasn’t until the Populist movement when people started to fight back and also not until the Progressive movement when people started changing the government system.
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.
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)
5. Perry, Elisabeth Israels, and Karen Manners Smith. The Gilded Age and Progressive Era: a student companion. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. Print.
The Gilded Age was the last three decades of the nineteenth century, when America’s industrial economy exploded generating opportunities for individuals but also left many workers struggling for survival. With the many immigrants, skilled and unskilled, coming to America the labor system is becoming flooded with new employees. During this period, the immigrants, including the Italians, were unskilled and the skilled workers were usually American-born. There was also a divide in the workers and the robber barons. Robber barons were American capitalist who acquired great fortunes in the last nineteenth century, usually ruthlessly. There was much turmoil throughout the business and labor community. Two major organizations, the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor, helped represent the workers in this time of chaos. The Knights of Labor, founded in 1869, were representing both skilled and unskilled workers. They were quite popular with a large boost in membership becoming the biggest union in 1885. They sought for equal pay and equal work. All were welcomed to the Knights of Labor; there was no discrimination on race, gender, or sex. They called for an eight-hour day in order to reduce fatigue and for safety issues. The Knights of Labor Declaration of Principles states their purpose is to “make industrial and moral worth, not wealth” (Reading 9, p. 1). This means the moral worth is to what they could contribute to society rather than monetary gains. They were working towards this improvement of the common mans life to advance in civilization and create new ideas for society. They also called upon the employer to treat the employee with respect and fairness so they can contribute to not only their company but to Amer...
The Gilded Age gets its name from a book by Mark Twain called The Gilded Age: a Tale of Today. It was written in 1873, and unfortunately was not that successful. While the Gilded Age conjures up visions of ostentatious displays of wealth and decorative parties, the over all topic was politics. The book gives an extremely negative assessment of the state of American democracy at that time. Which does not come as a huge surprise coming from Twain, who famously said "It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.” So when faced with sweeping changes in the American economy after the Civil War, the American political system both nationally and locally dealt with these problems in the best way possible, by inevitably and incredibly becoming corrupt.
The life of an immigrant in the United States during the Gilded Age was a rough life. During this time period the U.S. went through a dramatic change in dealing with changing infrastructure and masses of people coming over from different countries for a chance at a better life. This time period was characterized by small wage jobs, poor working conditions and the struggle to survive. The Jungle embodies the themes of the Gilded Age with first hand experiences of an immigrant's hardships of life.
The document I chose was Document 19-1 titled ‘A Textile Worker Explains the Labor Market’. This document is the testimony of Thomas O’Donnell given before the U.S. Senate Committee on Relations between Labor and Capital in the year 1885. O’Donnell speaks about what it’s like to be a labor worker in the 1880s to a committee so they could better understand the relationship between labor and capital. The Gilded Age saw the rise of industrialism and great economic growth in the United States. But true to its title, the Gilded Age was only plated with gold but inward filled with corruption and poverty. What meant great success for some, meant lack of job security and financial hardship for the working class Americans. This document really depicts what it’s like being on the working end of these companies seeking to industrialize.
Factory workers of this time had very little freedom. Aside from having to work outrageous hours for 6 days of the week, there was no job security, no solid way to survive day-to-day, and if a family member were to suffer an accident, families had no financial means to carry on. In the early 1900s, there were no labor laws, including the right to organize, an eight-hour day, safety standards, or unemployment/disability pensions. M...
Traxel, David. 1898: The Birth of the American Century. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1998. Print.
Beginning in the late 1700’s and growing rapidly even today, labor unions form the backbone for the American workforce and continue to fight for the common interests of workers around the country. As we look at the history of these unions, we see powerful individuals such as Terrence Powderly, Samuel Gompers, and Eugene Debs rise up as leaders in a newfound movement that protected the rights of the common worker and ensured better wages, more reasonable hours, and safer working conditions for those people (History). The rise of these labor unions also warranted new legislation that would protect against child labor in factories and give health benefits to workers who were either retired or injured, but everyone was not on board with the idea of foundations working to protect the interests of the common worker. Conflict with their industries lead to many strikes across the country in the coal, steel, and railroad industries, and several of these would ultimately end up leading to bloodshed. However, the existence of labor unions in the United States and their influence on their respective industries still resonates today, and many of our modern ideals that we have today carry over from what these labor unions fought for during through the Industrial Revolution.
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.
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.