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Gilded Age Dbq

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1870-1900 the time period after the civil war had many significant impacts. The era of reconstruction came before the gilded age. Reconstruction after the civil war had a goal of rebuilding and unifying the nation. Then the Gilded age had a strong focus on rapid industrialization, economic growth, and increasing social inequality. Big business had a significant effect on the American economy and political environment from 1870 to 1900. The number, size, and power of corporations increased quickly, having both beneficial and detrimental effects. The Gilded Age, which spanned the years 1870 to 1900, had a significant impact on major enterprises and businesses in particular. Mass manufacturing, one of the new ways that efficiency was being used, …show more content…

As a result of new technological advancements, improved manufacturing processes, and economies of scale brought about by the growth of firms like Standard Oil, U.S. Steel, and the railroads, output levels rose and new markets were opened up. Because of the economy's expansion, many Americans now enjoy improved living standards, higher earnings, and reduced pricing. Document A demonstrates how During this time food, Fuel, lighting and overall price of living prices declined dramatically. This shows how agricultural, Mining and lighting innovations led to reduced prices. Falling prices of agricultural Goods led to Farmers being unhappy. Farmers were discontent with the deflation and changing supply and demand in the market. This displays how Americans appreciated the decline in prices for their overall necessities but were upset by the decline in wages and became discontent. William Jennings Bryan delivered the well-known "Cross of Gold Speech" at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, in 1896. He favored silver over gold. This is an illustration of someone trying to make the economy accessible for everyone. However severe economic inequality was instead a result of the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a small number of industrialists. As large corporations dominated their respective industries, they exercised significant control over markets, including pricing, wages, and …show more content…

On document C economist David A Wells compares the way that people worked in these factories to working in the military, because each worker was taught to perform one simple task. This took away from workers' pride in what they did. Mass production techniques led to the specialization of Labor decreasing the workers Drive and lowered their skill level making them relatively easy to replace and become unemployed. Document G entitled "What Does Labor Want?" by Samuel Gompers shows how workers were unmotivated to continue their work. Gompers states that people should not be considered property and adds that the mass production techniques being used were dehumanizing. He also conveys that companies should be helping support communities that they are near to. Gompers also insist on the right to organize and that workers deserve to be paid adequate wages in that law should be passed to help with workers compensation. The financial cloud of railroads left employees helpless in many ways. Document E by Andrew Carnegie called "Wealth" explains how some business leaders believed in charity but also saw themselves as Superior compared to the common human. This shows how Business Leaders were not very humble and not often remembered where they came from and how they were once in the same position as these people that they are treating so unfairly. The labor on the Railroad and Farm was tedious and they were not compensated for how

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This [trust] resulted in the discharge of a large number of laborers who had to suffer in consequence . . . The most distressing feature of this war of the trusts is the fact that they control the articles which the plain people consume in their daily life” (Document E). Finally, the cruel punishment of the workers in the workplace is seen in the previously mentioned, “Concentration of Industry, and Machinery in the United States,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. “They [the labor class] reproach the machine with exhausting the physical powers of the laborer; . . . [t]hey reproach it with demanding such continued attention that it enervates, and of leaving no respite to the laborer, through the continuity of its movement . . .

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310 Words | 2 Pages

The Gilded Age (1877-1895) was an age of wealth and deregulation. This age was a time in mass growth in population and jobs for U.S citizens and immigrants. The Gilded Age was run by the wealthiest people of the time called Robber Barons. One of the Robber Barons was John D. Rockefeller he was the head of the Standard Oil Company and one of the world's richest men. He used his fortune to fund ongoing philanthropic causes.

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Emily Veit Mr. Tubbs AP US History 24 January 2023 APUSH DBQ The Gilded Age was an age of political and economic growth that occurred after the Civil War and before the 20th century. The transcontinental railroad made travel easier and let people expand westward. Companies began to set up and mass produce products for cheap via production lines. Although the United States experienced great economic and political growth during the 1870s to 1900s, because of the working conditions and the government being influenced by large corporations, many Americans were dissatisfied with the effect of these corporations that caused this growth.

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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.

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Although big business during the Gilded Age improved the economy and the availability of goods for the American people, it did not improve politics due to the corruptness of politicians, requiring citizens to push reforms to restore democracy. Big businesses relieved economic stress of the American people during the Gilded

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The big businesses in America during the gilded age (1870-1900) were controlled by a small group of very wealthy men who would each monopolistically control their industry. The growing fortune of these men allowed them to control their workers, prices, and all other aspects of the American economy without fearing any sort of restriction or punishment. Big business was able to get away without any repercussions because their great wealth allowed them to control the politicians, thus they controlled all politics and legislation as well. Even though these acts by big business seem terrible at first glance, they greatly improved the economy and changed the politics in such a way that allowed America to grow into one of the most powerful nations

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345 Words | 2 Pages

The Gilded Age was a period of success for large business owners, who were

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549 Words | 3 Pages

The Gilded Age in America lasted from 1878- 1889. During this time many industries experienced drastic growth and as a result, an influx of immigrants flooded America. The 3 biggest industries included railroads, factories, and coal mines. Working conditions during the Gilded Age were poor, with low pay, unsafe working conditions, and long hours. Large corporations throughout the Gilded Age controlled the pay of many workers within the United States , held great political power by influencing legislation, and had a negative impact on a majority of American citizens.

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Many had to work in unsafe conditions in which one can easily lose their life. For example, according to Robert owen ( 1771-1858) “ Working condition were difficult and dangerous. Small children worked alongside their parents in the factory.” These dangerous conditions brought social inequality as the working class were treated as if their lives do not matter. Since the workers could be easily replaced, the owners did not care about the quality of the working conditions.

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148 Words | 1 Pages

The 1870s, 1880s, and the 1890s were apart of the Gilded Age because it was a time of major technological innovation and a rise in foreign trade for the U.S. It was also a time when businesses expanded not only in each area of the manufacturing process but in the number of buildings as well. One key economic feature of the Gilded Age was railroad tracks because they played an important role in the transportation of manufactured goods and allowed those products to reach places they have never been before. An important social aspect of the Gilded Age was the corruption and lack of government control of large companies because many politicians supported them, making them essentially untouchable. The definition of “gilded” means that a layer of

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770 Words | 4 Pages

Following the Civil War, the United States was made up of plentiful farms and few cities. In comparison to European countries, such as England, industrialization within the US was significantly slow, and the influx of Western settlers as well as the lack of available labor predicted the country would always stay rural. However, for the subsequent forty years, production and industrialization would surge, the labor force and population would increase, and the US would soon be known as the greatest industrial nation in the world. America’s huge industrial growth from 1860 to 1900 was a result of the Republican Party’s platform and the rise of efficient machinery.

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177 Words | 1 Pages

The Gilded Age is the period which between the end of the Civil War in 1865 and the beginning of The World War I in 1914. During this period, as a result of rapid industrial growth, immigration, and technological innovation society transformed. Gilded Age not only was an great era for progress of arts, sciences, and industry, but also was a time of social and economic inequity. The production of iron and steel increased dramatically; the abundance of resources, such as lumber, gold and silver, in the western part of the country caused the need of improved transportation.

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436 Words | 2 Pages

From 1865 to 1900, the Gilded Age was a period of vivid reform and an era of corruption, and unfettered capitalism. During this era, the United States turned from an agrarian society of small producers into an urban society dominated by industrial corporations. Big businesses would monopolize industries and have influence in the US economy as giant corporations dominate banking, manufacturing, railroads and steel, benefiting the rich by giving them the power to make more money and have more clout. As the power of big businesses and the federal government would only benefit the upper-class, laboring class Americans attempted to better their lives by demanding better working hours, wages, using labor unions, and going on strikes.

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953 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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1058 Words | 5 Pages

During this time, farmer’s protest movements helped to fuel social and economic change in the U.S., notably the Patrons of Husbandry, or the Grange, the Greenback movement, and the Populist Party. Founded in 1867, the organization served as a support network of sorts for struggling farmers and fought monopolistic practices in the grain industry on multiple levels. They lobbied the government for regulation of railroad rates and established their own stores with fairer prices, and some sectors pooled their resources to purchase communal farming equipment. Perhaps their greatest achievement was the ratification of the Granger Laws, which sought to regulate the prices railroads could charge and eliminate discrimination between long and short hauls, in multiple states, including Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota. Eventually, court cases related to the Granger Laws played a part in the ratification of the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, which required railroad rates to publicize shipping rates, illegalized short haul or long haul discrimination, and created a federal regulatory agency.

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