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Chris Garza U.S.

History Johnston

The Gilded Age lasted from (1865-1900). The name came from the title of a Mark Twain book. Gilded means covered with gold on the outside, but not really golden on the inside. The Gilded Age was a period of rapid economic growth. The economy did grow at an extraordinary rate, generating never before seen levels of wealth. Railroads and telegraphic lines stretched across the nation, creating new opportunities for inventors and cheaper products for consumers (DOC 1). Some Americans celebrated the wealth, and other loathed it, but everyone could agree that big changes were taking place in the Nation. American politics were dynamic and exciting. Voter participation rates were extraordinarily high and national elections were decided by razor-thin margins. But corruption also plagued American politics. At the national level, the administration of Ulysses S. Grant was an open drain of graft and maladministration. (DOC 2) Since we live in an age in which workers are protected by federal and state laws it is hard for us to imagine a time when workers, especially unskilled, often immigrant workers who were completely at the compassion of their employers. Thomas Hobbes described life in nature as poor, solitary, nasty, brutish, short, and for many workers that was the case. Industrial safety was a large issue: factory work was very dangerous, and it was difficult if not impossible to hold factory owners responsible for deaths and injuries. (DOC 3) Around 1900 hundreds 25-35,000 deaths and 1 million injuries per year occurred on industrial jobs. Many of the deaths occurred on railroad jobs, which were

especially dangerous. Fires, machinery accidents, train wrecks and other misfortunes were common. No federal regulation of safety and no enforcement of state or local safety regulations existed. Insurance and pensions were rare, and courts were not sympathetic to worker claims. (DOC 4) Urbanization is the process of population concentrating in cities. As technology, machinery, irrigation, and fertilization became more popular, it made farming become increasingly difficult for farmers to make a living. The new technology required less labor and increased farm output, but the increased supply drove down farm prices. (DOC 5) At the same time, in the last half of the 19th-century industrialization saw a huge growth in factories. Their workers produced tools, appliances, household goods, machines, and many other materials that the average Americans needed. During the era there was a dramatic expansion in agriculture, especially in the Plains states, which attracted large numbers of immigrants from Europe, especially German Americans and Scandinavian Americans. The government issued 160-acre tracts either free or at little cost to qualifying persons moving to the west under the Homestead Act. This expansion into the west created a need for workers in the area to build railroads and facilitate trade. The number of farms tripled from 2.0 million in 1860 to 6.0 million in 1900. With the expansion of the west and railroads, and the Hepburn act, which made railroads charge consistent rates, smaller farmers were able to sell the crops to the industrial workers. Farmers that relied on cash crops such as tobacco, cotton. It also relied on the industrial market to purchase their goods. The industrial workers learned that they needed to simulate. If not they had no chance to prevail in a power struggle against f industrial owners and the United States

government unless they built stronger unions. (DOC 6) Before 1877, union organization had been random and largely local. Knights of Labor were first large national union. They sought to organize all workers in all industries and to form a labor management cooperative business. It grew rapidly in 1880s, led successful rail strike in 1885.

Works Cited 1 "Exploration and Settlement ." Gilded Age. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2012. <www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/united_states/exploration_1850.jpg>. 2 "NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Carnegie Steel Company." NationMaster - World Statistics, Country Comparisons. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2012. <http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Carnegie-Steel-Company>. 3 "Roosevelt, Theodore. 1900. The Strenuous Life; Essays and Addresses: I. The Strenuous Life." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and hundreds more. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2012. <http://www.bartleby.com/58/1.html>. 4 "Smithsonian Source." Teaching American History. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2012.<http://www.smithsoniansource.org/display/primarysource/viewdetails.asp x?PrimarySourceId=1221>. 5. "The Gospel According to Andrew: Carnegie's Hymn to Wealth." History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2012. <http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5767/>. 6. Age, our, and organization must be the incarnation of principle. Just. "1896: Reform or Revolution?." Marxists Internet Archive. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2012. <http://www.marxists.org/archive/deleon/works/1896/960126.htm>.

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