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How Did The Second Industrial Revolution Affect The Economy In The Gilded Age

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With the landscape of America being changed by the expansion of the railroad–which tripled in miles between 1860 and 1890–and a growing population, mass production, distribution, and marketing drove the country into the “second industrial revolution.” Manufacturing and steel production skyrocketed, creating mass migration–and immigration–to industrial cities. With new technological innovations and scientific breakthroughs, the country experienced rapid economic growth. While it would seem that Americans had finally reached the land of milk and honey, it appears they had fallen short; they had arrived in The Gilded Age. A novel by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner not only lent its name to this period, it also coined the phrase that became widely known as the era’s slogan: “Get rich, dishonestly if we can, honestly if we must.” Capitalists accumulated wealth and power, while a lack of labor laws–or unions–allowed for ‘slave-like’ working conditions. Laborers were seen as ‘property’, had no job security, were treated poorly, and wages were inadequate. Living conditions were worse. Americans saw political corruption, prolonged economic downturns, and a new social order that created a divide and sparked conversations about ‘classes.’ …show more content…

Being drawn to large industrial cities, where the factories and new jobs could be found, people moved away from the farm. Republican strategist Bruce Mehlman believes that this shift away from agriculture is equivalent to the economic shift that has taken place between 1955 and today. From 1870 to 1920, “the economy shifted dramatically away from agriculture toward manufacturing . . . just as it has moved away from manufacturing toward service over the past half century” (Hohmann, James. The Daily 202: Why a Republican strategist thinks we’re in a new Gilded

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Throughout the mid 1800s to the late 1800S, millions of immigrants flooded into the United States hoping for a new life. Most of them faced a difficult journey by ship to enter “The Land of Opportunities”. Many of the immigrants moved to the city in search for jobs because machines were replacing farm laborers in the rural parts of the country. Along with the immigrants, thousands of other families moved to the city. This rapid increase of city dwellers led to new inventions and technologies.

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“Much of the blame heaped on the captains of industry in the late 19th century is unwarranted.” (Document F). The Gilded Age was a time where the U.S. economy grew very quickly and rapidly, due to the inventive minds and entrepreneurs of that time; but it has different perspectives of opinions in history today. This era led the U.S. to its state and place in the present world, thanks to its important contributors, (who are involved in the main debate of whether they were robber barons, unethical men who yearn for money, or captains of industry, leaders who add positive ideas and methods to benefit their country.) The industrial leaders of the Gilded Age are captains of industry, worthy of some gratitude and credit for how our society’s structure

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The Gilded Age served as a critical role in shaping the American economy throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Cities became flooded with immigrants and workers which created a pool of cheap labor. Railroads expanded, connecting the nation’s major cities and generating a nationwide marketplace. During this time, much of the rapid growth that occurred was led by inventions that were created. There was also a few who used this change to their advantage and created business empires.

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“Evaluate the ways that farmers and industrial workers responded to industrialization in the Gilded Age (1865-1900) Include: Granger Movement and Farmers Alliance as well as Strikes and Labor Unions (AFL, etc…)” After the Civil War erupted between the United States and the Confederate States, America began to explore the idea of becoming an industrial nation. During the Gilded Age, what was labeled as “The Second Industrial Revolution” began to change the lives of the American people forever. The Industrialization began to alter not only how they worked, the education they received in school and how the government and businesses ran, but because there were so many new forms of technology being created, their everyday lives and eventually

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Rose Hernandez Professor Flowers History 106 25 September 2016 The Economy of the Gilded Age Mark Twain named the time period of social corruption disguised in gold in the United States as the “Gilded Age.” During this time period, immigration was high in the North and West, increasing the numbers of those who lived in the United States. Many of those who immigrated started businesses of their own and some of their companies came out on top.

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The Gilded Age was an age of rapid economic growth. Railroads, factories, and mines were slowly popping up across the country, creating a variety of new opportunities for entrepreneurs and laborers alike. These new inventions and opportunities created “...an unprecedented accumulation of wealth” (GML, 601). But the transition of America from a small farming based nation to a powerful industrial one created a huge rift between social classes. Most people were either filthy rich or dirt poor, with workers being the latter.

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In a time when America was coming out of the bloodiest war that was ever fought, against themselves, The Civil War, and when America looked overseas for a new frontier with Imperialism. It is in this context that America started to grow westward with farm land and in industry with the million of workers, but America still felt growing pains. Two significant ways in which farmers and industrial workers responded to industrialization in the Gilded Age (1865-1900) were the formation of organizations to protect farmers, and the creation of labor unions and the use of strikes to protect the workers. One significant way in which farmers responded to industrialization in the Gilded Age (1865 - 1900) was the formation of organizations to protect farmers. During Westward Expansion farmers fell victims to the low pricing of the crops.

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Modern day America is an economic superpower. However, one and a half centuries ago, this was not the case. In the late 1800’s there was a large boom in terms of population and industrialization in the United States. From this stemmed many new technological innovations, innovations which could be applied to the creation of alluring products for the masses. This led to the rise of a prominent American consumer culture, which was a driving force in the great economic growth of the Gilded Age.

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Today, the United States is a powerful, maybe even the most powerful, nation in the world. Yet, the United States is a much younger country compared to other world leaders. The Antebellum Era was the first transitional period that helped caused the country’s rapid upward mobility. From 1815 to 1850, this era included a mass western expansion due to an development of transportation and communication. In addition, the new transportation networks exhibit the dramatic expansion of manufacturing and industry.

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The time period from when the Second Industrial Revolution was beginning, up until President McKinley’s assassination in 1901, is known as the Gilded Age. After the Civil War, many people headed out West to pursue agriculture, and many immigrants moved to urban areas to acquire jobs in industrial factories. It is in this context that farmers and industrial workers had to respond to industrialization. Two significant ways farmers and industrial workers responded to industrialization in the Gilded Age, were creating the Populist Party and the American Federation of Labor (AFL).

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The saying that history repeats itself has been proven to be true time and time again. History seems to be doomed to repeat itself as if lessons were never learned from past mistakes. The Gilded Age is a unique period in American history that is undoubtedly repeating itself in the modern day. Corruption, unprecedented immigration, and the massing of wealth by the top 1% of the population are just a few of the things that characterize this period of American history. The same issues that plagued America over 100 years ago are re-emerging in todays’ society leading scholars to say that America has arrived in “The Second Gilded Age”.

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Farmers and Industrial Workers in the Gilded Age In a time when industrialization was booming, immigrants were racing towards the “American Dream”, and cities were growing towards the sky, the United States was thriving. As a country, the United States went from rural, to mostly urban, which made America “the world’s largest industrial power” as stated by John Green. Since the U.S. had become mostly urban, this left the very few rural workers (farmers), and even some of the industrial workers unhappy. This period of industrialization is called the Gilded Age than spans from 1865 to 1900.The farmers and industrial workers responded to the Gilded Age in significantly negative ways including unions against their authority, strikes and political

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