Division Of Power In The Gilded Age

Andrew Carnegie, a late 19th century steel magnate, was immensely successful during the Gilded Age. He kept wages low while eliminating competition, so that workers had no choice but to stay in Carnegie’s company. The Gilded Age is so called because the top appeared to be gold (i.e. the richest people were doing extremely well) but on the inside there were insurmountable wealth inequalities (I.e the rich succeeded at the expense of the rest of the nation). Andrew Carnegie was a large causer of wealth inequality . In his “Gospel of Wealth” he justifies the trend by stating that in an ideal world the rich would give to the poor, but unfortunately our world is impossible.

The legislative issues of the Gilded Age had failed to manage social and financial issues. Dashes of gold had put on insufficiencies of the time, which the issues could be revealed. In finding a fault for the developed economy and its requests on a faltered society, all was directed to the legislative problems of the Gilded Age. At the end of Civil War, the Gilded Age was Freedom's presentation and good awareness of resurrection. Slavery was well on its approach to turning into a flaw of being a free-loving nation.

As big businesses bloomed with figures that dominated the American picture such as John D Rockefeller, much more sinister things happened at the bottom. As families struggled to put food on the table, they treaded their way to work in the morning in droves. Nothing better awaited them there. “To reach their quota, girls had to work 84 hour weeks for a wage of 5 cents an hour”(garment industry). Not only were these people malnourished, but overworked, underpaid, and valued as something less than a human, a tool.

The Gilded Age was an age of rapid economic growth. Railroads, factories, and mines were slowly popping up across the country, creating a variety of new opportunities for entrepreneurs and laborers alike. These new inventions and opportunities created “...an unprecedented accumulation of wealth” (GML, 601). But the transition of America from a small farming based nation to a powerful industrial one created a huge rift between social classes. Most people were either filthy rich or dirt poor, with workers being the latter.

The Gilded Age was a time of new beginnings; new buildings, new jobs, and, most importantly, a new corrupt system. On the surface, this age was a major breakthrough for the United States. Steel and iron production rose and led to the creation of bridges, railroads, and skyscrapers. But under these shiny advancements are millions of poor, overworked, African American and immigrant workers. So while the Gilded Age heavily impacted the United States, it also forced thousands of people to work in unsafe, life-threatening conditions while covering up a corrupt system.

The period of the Gilded Age, the age between the period of 1860 and 1900 was a time of industrialized improvements. Yet, to be optimistic and think that the time would have improved the working condition, well we could not have been wrong. Instead of improving them, the working condition became worse. In the Nineteen Centuries, the time of labor was harsh and unbearable.

The saying that history repeats itself has been proven to be true time and time again. History seems to be doomed to repeat itself as if lessons were never learned from past mistakes. The Gilded Age is a unique period in American history that is undoubtedly repeating itself in the modern day. Corruption, unprecedented immigration, and the massing of wealth by the top 1% of the population are just a few of the things that characterize this period of American history. The same issues that plagued America over 100 years ago are re-emerging in todays’ society leading scholars to say that America has arrived in “The Second Gilded Age”.

Some analysts have argued that this is an incomplete and misleading characterization of the era. For example, in his book “Age of Betrayal: The Triumph of Money in America, 1865-1900,” writer and analyst Jack Beatty points outs the poverty, inequality, and corrupt politics that arose with the Gilded age. In his book, the author expresses “how, having redeemed democracy in the Civil War, America betrayed it in the Gilded Age” (Beatty). Reconstruction signaled the start of a promise in where blacks would not only advance in status but also be a part of the civic life in the country. It created new opportunities for the working man to rise in society by launching their own company or relocating to the West to manage their own farm.

John Steinbeck’s book Of Mice and Men was set during the Great Depression, where it featured two protagonists through their journey to achieve their dreams. However, the minor supporting characters were the ones who suffered from social discrimination because of the historical, economic, and political forces during that period.

Imagine working sixteen hours a day in an unsanitary, dangerous, place for a big business gaining two dollars. This is what laboring-class Americans had to go through during the Gilded age. Politically, the first largest American labor union was formed during the Gilded age and many other organizations formed as well as violent strikes. Socially, different ethnics joined together to share their thoughts and realize the evils of big business and of the federal government. Mentally, most we 're losing their personal life while some were financially stable and glad.

Another myth surmised by many during the “Gilded Age” was that America embraced an egalitarian society. Yet, what newcomers witnessed was most certainly the opposite. Those who were not American citizens and/or born into wealth did not experience a comfortable lifestyle. For example, Thomas O’Donnell, a textile worker, experienced the agonizing truth of the ever present inequality and the predisposition to poverty in American society. As he stated in a testimony before a U.S. Senate Committee, “I went to work when I was young...

The purpose of this cartoon is important because it shows how corruption is taking over the city and taking away from the poor. Overall, the greed driven businesses were more interested in profit than in the health of the people. This led to jam packed urban tenements and horrible health

The conflict of the era was big business, and its need to keep inflicting actions to keep a strong division of the wealthy, and the lower class workers, while maximizing profits and personal gain. As well as spotlighting the inequality of gender, race, and social status. This is paired with the stories of activists and everyday men who called for change in this pivotal time. The book is effective in using vivid imagery to explore scenarios of divide and disparity of the era.

The decade between 1890 and 1900 expressed a crucial time in the United States of America’s history. Many people experienced struggles throughout this time while others prospered. Mark Twain suggested that despite the significant achievements of the United States, Americans experienced poverty. This statement is an accurate description of the lively hood people experienced in their daily lives during the Gilded Age whether it was positive or negative. Many people during this time period focused on the positive outcomes that resulted from the Gilded Age such as new inventions, the gospel of wealth, additions of land to the country, urbanization, and middle-class improvements.

In the 1930’s the stock market crashed and affected many people in America. In the novel “Of mice and men” by John Steinbeck he expresses a lot of what happened. The underdogs define powerfulness because of the setting and their place in society. A way steinbeck got his ideasfor powerlessness is the background.