The Gilded Age And The Second Industrial Revolution

The Gilded Age was a time a of great prosperity but also great corruption. Many advances in technology and industry took place during the time period. The transcontinental railroad was built, the steel industry was expanded, and oil took off. These developments allowed for the US to experience an industrial revolution, but not all was well. Most of the wealth generated during this time concentrated itself into the hands a of a select few who were able to weasel their way to the top of their industry. One example is John D. Rockefeller, who with wealth adjusted for inflation, amassed a fortune of around $700 billion. The way the these men obtained their wealth was an issue for many during the

From the Gilded Age into the twentieth century marked the beginning of Industrialization, later transforming the future of United States. This era began to develop step-by-step with developing industries, factories and railroads. Expanding westward established an opportunity for Americans to improve their way of life, according to Manifest Destiny. One industry that highly affected the economy was steel, thriving its way to the top. The rise of steel factories brought an influx of immigrants into the country.

The Gilded age was know as the Golden part of America’s growth. America was one of the most successful in boosting the country's confidence after the success. There was a lot of immigration going on during the time of both the gilded age and the progressive era. The rich got more political power congress and ran the country, while the poor had little political power. The west was ripe for expanding

The progressive era from the 1890s to 1900s was the time where changes happened in the government in order to eliminate unfair business practices from big businesses corporations, exploitation of labor, and political corruptions. To begin with, many large businesses were corrupt; resulted in the formations of monopolies and trusts taking obscene amount of money. These businesses worked together to take control of the industry and charged unfair prices due to small quantity of competitions. To balance the economic power of these big businesses, the public demanded the government to take actions; the Sherman Antitrust Act was passed in order to “prohibit anti competitive practices and prevent unreasonable concentrations of economic power” (Encyclopedia).

The industrialization of America affected all workers in both positive and negative ways. One of the pros to the industrialization was the freedom that skilled workers gained. These skilled workers often "commanded high wages and exercised considerable control over the production process" (Foner, 2013, p. 600). The skilled workers were granted what was known as "the miner's freedom," which consisted of rules that left the skilled workers free of supervision (Foner, 2013, p. 600). This allowed the workers to fix output quotas and control the training of apprentices; however, this group of skilled workers was very small in comparison to the rest of the working class. The rest of the workers, the semi-skilled workers, did not have an easy life.

One factor during the Gilded Age that changed American business and labor practices was the abundance of supplies. The United States had all the raw materials it could ever ask for like: coal, oil, iron ore, copper, lead, and timber. Why was this important to the U.S? This kept the U.S. from having to purchase these things from foreign countries. The United States also had an abundance of labor supply between 1865 and 1900. This gave U.S. factories a steady supply of cheap labor, there was always more workers

The Gilded Age Served as an era that was characterized by rapid growth of the economy, though significant social conflict was also prevalent. Railroads were regarded as the major industry, as well as mining, factory and

The late 19th century of American history is most commonly known as the Gilded Age, because of its attractive appearance, but underlying corruption. Popular themes during this period were greed and guile. This can most clearly be seen in the nature of city governments and political machine systems. Political machine systems were made up influential men preying on the vulnerable for their own gain. A shining example of this unethical system is Tammany Hall. Tammany Hall was a political force in New York City from its 1789 inception as a benevolent association to its infamous end in the early 20th century (Tammany Hall). Run by William M. Tweed, commonly referred to as Boss Tweed, this political ring gained its popularity by supporting immigrants and the lower class. Tammany Hall pushed for real improvements in hospitals, schools, and infrastructure (Burns). Although these examples are viewed as a good within the system, they are irrelevant and ineffective in the overall upheaval caused by Boss Tweed and his political machine. Tweed 's idea of city government and his political machine was a failure because it took advantage of taxpayers, used political graft and corruption to disparage the Constitution, and set a bad example for future political leaders.

During the first Gilded Age that occurred in the late 1800s, economic growth was at an all-time high. At this time, the wages that were given to American were at an increased rate compared to that of the wages that were given in Europe. Due to this, an abundant amount of European immigrants came over to the United States because of this inflated wage. These economic advances were due to that of several technological advances that had come about in this time. The industrial production skyrocketed, which, in turn, made for increased economic wealth for Americans.

American society was referred to as the Gilded Age in the late 1800s- early 1900. The term “Gilded” refers to something being gold on the outside, with the inside being made of an inexpensive material. This is a great representation of how America was in 1870 through the year of 1900. During this time, America had been in poverty, corruption, and there was a major difference between the rich and the poor. This industrial time in America led to urbanization, as well as new political parties, art and literature, and different ideas about the role of the government in society.

The Gilded Age, was a brief period in American history, from the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s, where there was a rapid economic growth as the industry expanded, generating groundbreaking opportunities for individuals. At its triumph peak, society was perceived from the outside that the new era of Americans was prosperous, however, conspicuous consumption and luxury masked corruption and the fact that a majority of people were suffering. Like gilded gold, the outside looks exemplary, but much like the Gilded Age, the inside contrasted dramatically. Besides the wide amount of success in this era, society was unbalanced with hierarchy, with a competition of social class and mental health. No one calling out the corrupt nation besides a few pieces of literature that challenge this time of equality. Authors like Nellie Bly, in “Ten Days in a Madhouse”, challenged Gilded Age norms of Mental Health and social class, calling out society by illustrating the horrors of the “less than”. By explaining the story of other women in the asylum who are the minorities in society, put into institutions for invalid reasons, for the fact that they were at the lower scale of society.

In 1850 a new economic system rose in America, Industrial Capitalism. The rise of Industrial Capitalism brought many Changes to America. Cities and transportation, such as automobiles and railroads, become popular during this time. The three social classes became distinct during this time. The benefits of Industrial Capitalism were increase in production, because the creation of the assembly line. More jobs were created and high salaries for workers. This all created a more controlled economy. Despite the Benefits, there were many problems that came with Industrial Capitalism. The biggest problems were social class inequality and that people were unhappy. There were many groups in the next 100 years that would try to solve these problems; Progressives

The Gilded Age, named after the novel written by Mark Twain, describes a time full of social issues in the United States. After the Civil War, America was a powerhouse in industrialization. Due to the rapid economic development – the rich got richer and the poor got, well they got poorer. The Gilded Age depicts the huge financial, social, and political changes that the United States had undergone from the ladder part of the nineteenth century up until World War I.

The Gilded Age was a time of significant change in the US, starting from the formation of major railroads and their companies, to the developments of large centralized cities where masses of poor were forced to live in squalor.

Both books look at the Gilded Age in different perspectives as to how it affected the USA. A People's History of the United States talks about how the people rebelled for their rights as working citizens, showing a in-depth view in how the American people lived during this time. A Patriot’s History of the United States takes a broad approach, just stating the facts and telling from a political view in what was happening in the government. Even though both books talk from different perspectives, these authors hit some touchy details that they share similar or different views on. In this case, A Patriot’s History of the United States does a better job at dealing with these topics because even though broad, the author shows the logic behind the decisions made. Even though these two novels have different perspectives of what was going on during the Gilded Age, they both talk about the effectiveness of the unions, the conditions in which the workers were in, and the struggles of the daily people trying to survive.