American Politics In The Gilded Age Summary

Vincent de Santis’ article, “American Politics in the Gilded Age,” aims to portray that the Gilded Age was a period of time characterized by cultural, literary, and technological advancements, but also a time period that exhibited extreme political dullness. When focusing on the political aspects of the Gilded Age, historians often emphasize the low moral conduct of politicians. It was a time period tainted by politicians that often made big promises to their constituents, but very rarely followed through. This was due in part because of their practice of cronyism – politicians focusing more on helping friends get elected rather than on the good of the nation and their party. The article makes mention of two prominent Gilded Age historians, Lord Bryce and Henry Adams. The author notes even though these two individuals had limited resources in comparison to how much historians have today, generally speaking, historians have concurred with Bryce’s and Adams’ interpretations that Gilded Age politics were morally empty, desolate, and unexciting. According to Vincent de Santis, “it has become a historical convention to condemn the politicians of this era for evading issues, for dodging the

Between the years 1870-1890, the United States was growing into a powerful industrial force, but it was simultaneously facing political obstacles that proved detrimental to society, and the years that followed. I also agree with the statement in the article regarding the spoils system and patronage during the Gilded Age. I believe that when a public office is given to someone as a reward based on their political connections instead of being given to them based on merit, the political scene becomes polluted with corrupt politicians who wind up looking out for themselves and their crony’s instead of the voters to which they made