What is the Gilded
Age
The Gilded Age was a era of income disparity,
which means that there was a hung gap between the rich and the poor. Gilded Age
also refers to the era of rapid economic and population growth in the
United States during the post-Civil. During those years, America's economy did grow
at an extraordinary rate, generating unprecedented levels of wealth. Railroads, and soon
telephone
lines, stretched across the country, creating new opportunities for
entrepreneurs and cheaper goods for consumers.
Some Americans celebrated the new wealth, others not so much it. During
these years, American politics were dynamic and exciting. Voter participation
rates were extraordinarily high. But corruption also
plagued American politics. Succeeding presidential administrations were less
corrupt—but the influence of America's rapidly expanding wealth did leave its
mark on public life, as many politicians embraced a governing philosophy rooted
in the premise that this economic elite should be allowed to pursue its
endeavors with minimal government interference. While economic and political
elites capitalized on America's rapidly expanding wealth, industrial workers struggled
to survive the bleak conditions often hidden behind the nation's glittering
façade. Industrial wages were low and hours were long in factories that were
typically dangerous and unhealthy. But perhaps worse, the restructuring of
work—the subdivision of labor into its unskilled parts—left many workers with
few marketable skills and little hope for occupational or social mobility. One
consequence of all this was a budding labor
movement, as workers banded together to try to force their collective will
upon the industrial giants that had dominated them as individuals. Workers'
efforts to organize frequently led to long and violent strikes, rocking
the economic landscape and even raising the frightening specter of outright
class warfare.
