Gilded Age Dbq

The Gilded Age was an era of significant economic growth as the United States became a world power through industrialization. Before the Gilded Age, America was in the Reconstruction era. The country dealt with how to integrate millions of newly freed black Americans into all aspects of American life. It was a time of significant transformation within the United States. Just a few months later, the nation was expeditiously growing, factories, railroads, coal, and steel mining were all massive industries. However, for the average American, this was a time of despair and poverty. The Gilded Age brought much change, both political and economic to the US through worker unions, the many political controversies over party platforms, and most importantly,

The people wished for a leader who would represent them well, but businessmen were the ones who persuaded both legislation and social rights. “The People's Party Platform” references, “We seek to restore the government… to the hands of “the plain people” with which class it originated,” (Omaha, Doc. 5). This excerpt shows the beliefs of the independent groups and how people were persuaded to agree and vote for them over large parties. They seek to fix business corruption in the government. McNeil references, “The railroad president is a railroad king, whose whim is the law. … he can control legislative bodies, dictate legislation, subsidize the press, and corrupt the moral sense of the community, (McNeil, Doc. 1).” While some might believe that political matters were not a large debate during the Gilded Age, due to segregation of the rich and poor, this was a topic of interest that truly mattered to all Black Americans and how they lived and dealt with independent groups. This quote describes the political battles due to businessmen controlling not only monopolies of companies but also state affairs. These political matters created tension between all communities, and hurt both society and the

A political machine is a party organization that recruits its members by the use of tangible incentives—money, political jobs—and that is characterized by a high degree of leadership control over member activity. For example, the “The Bosses of the Senate '' photo gives the purpose of showing the corruption of government for businessmen to be in favor of legislation (Keppler, Doc. 3). Political machines can seem simple and complex, as most of them had underlying issues. The political machines provided avenues for Irish Americans to get jobs, food, or heating fuel in emergencies, and be rewarded through political appointments. However, the primary goal of political machines was to keep the power within themselves rather than provide good government. Carnegie states in his review, “Wealth”, “--the man of wealth thus becoming the mere agent and trustee for his poorer brethren, bringing to their service his superior wisdom, experience, and ability to administer, doing for them better than they would or could do for themselves,” (Carnegie, Doc. 4). Carnegie believes that those who are wealthy should use himself to help the community, but deserves those votes in return. They can build a loyal voter following, especially among immigrant groups, by performing such favors as providing jobs or housing. However, in the end, the political machines want loyalty at the voting polls.