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Gilded Age Dbq Essay

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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. The government was partially controlled by the big corporations that grew to power during the Gilded Age. Keppler’s …show more content…

The people in charge of large businesses had the ability to control seats in the government. This corruption allowed for no labor laws to be made and these large corporations could block court cases from reaching larger courts, and could avoid punishment. The fusion of large corporations and the government blocked workers from getting laws made that helped them get fair treatment. Despite the economic growth the United States experienced during the Gilded Age, it came at the cost of the workers and their wages. With the rise of big businesses and factories making it easier to mass produce items and therefore making the cost of these items more accessible for the common man, the economy boomed. The book Sister Carrie depicts department stores and shows how easy it was to buy from them (Document I). From 1870 to 1900 alone, the average cost of food dropped from 125 to 50 and fuel costs dropped by 100 (Document A). However, the wealth that the big corporations were creating did not go directly to the workers, it went into the hands of the corporation owners. These wealthy people were seen as superiors of the common man with Andrew Carnegie, a major force in the American steel industry, writing

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