Immigration During The Gilded Age

The Gilded Age, occurring from roughly 1877 to 1896, was an era of political corruption and exploitation of immigrant labor, masked by rapid industrialization and economic growth. The US’s industrial transformation caused a larger desire for industrial and factory workers, eventually leading to a substantial amount of immigration during the Gilded Age. Socially, the Gilded Age prompted an abundance of industrial jobs in US cities and the desire for labor workers, owing to an emergence of immigration. Politically, urban growth led to politics holding more importance, as well as the rise of bribery and exploitation through political machines. And Economically, the Gilded Age witnessed the birth of a modern industrial economy along with new

During the Gilded Age, politics was largely hands off thanks to the Laissez–Faire attitude towards government intervention. An attitude of letting things take their own course, without interference. In correspondence, neither the Democrats or the Republicans had a very strong legislative agenda, so the only goal in mind was winning elections and awarding federal jobs to loyal supporters, otherwise known as Party Patronage. However, following large overseas migration, organizations called political machines began to emerge. Political machines were unofficial organizations designated to keep a certain political group or party in power. Immigrants had become a large percentage of the US population and their votes held much weight. Immigrants were often used by political machines, who would pick them up, feed them, and take care of them, all in exchange for them voting on the side of the machine. An infamous one of these being the Boss Tweed Machine.. William Magear Tweed founded a Democratic machine in NYC, and amassed great fortune, despite dying in prison soon after. Due to machines like these, voter turnout reached an all-time high (Document G) As well as political machines highlighting the exploitation that took place during the Gilded Age, civil service/bribery also fell from its peak. Usually when a candidate won his presidency, he was overstruck with thousands

The Gilded Age was the greatest decade of economic growth for the country, as it witnessed the birth of a modern industrial economy along with industries like railroads, oil, and steel steering it into becoming an industrial powerhouse.Prior to industrialization, Americans created good mainly to be used by themselves, or to be sold locally or regionally. The Gilded Age prompted the mass-production of goods to be sold around the world. Many technological advances and innovations were made in order to steer the US into this direction. The most important one of these being the railroad. The railroad created access to a quick and easy means of transporting goods, which created a national market for sales. The federal government provided land grants and loan subsidies to railroad companies, which helped build 4 new transcontinental railroads. This allowed big businessmen to create industrial empires, contributing to the US´s industrial boom. Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and John D. Rockefeller were among the most powerful figures of the time, and their immense wealth was largely due to the advent of the Bessemer process, which allowed for the mass production of steel. Henry Bessemer G.B discovered that blasting air through molten iron produced high quality steel. Vanderbilt and Carnegie both made fortunes through their investments in the railroad industry, which was the greatest economic force of the