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Big Business In The Gilded Age Essay

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In the subsequent years following the end of the Spanish-American war of 1898, the United States of America found itself disseminated across the Pacific Ocean. Guam, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and—in every practical sense—Cuba were under American dominion. The main purpose of acquiring these lands: to open the doors for economic expansion—to make money. Market saturation in the U.S. was the was the principal catalyst for the decision to take on colonies; moreover, had domestic markets in the U.S had not been a problem, the U.S. would have chosen not to take up new colonies. To understand why the market saturation in the U.S. was the main catalyst, it must be understood how the markets became saturated. A couple years prior to the Spanish-American war, the U.S at home was going through a tumultuous period. The exponential industrial growth of the Gilded Age, accelerated America into disarray. Notwithstanding Americas’ overall growth in wealth, the rich were becoming richer while the poor stayed poor; wealth inequality was at an unprecedented high for its time. Furthermore, overproduction arose because of industrial growth. By the late 19th century, factories and companies became so efficient that they produced a surplus of supply, …show more content…

Big business in the Gilded Age were notorious for their unwillingness to compromise—characterized by violent counter attacks against unions. Their goal: China. Or as said by then Indiana senator, Albert J. Beveridge, “The pacific is our ocean…. Where shall we turn for consumers of our surplus? Geography answers that question. China is our natural customer.” (Beveridge pg.29). They first needed a path and entry to the Asian continent. The Philippines, Guam, and Hawaii were not only new markets themselves, but also vital waypoints between the U.S. and Asian

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During the Gilded Age there was a lot of monopolies, because we haven't discovered anything yet. SO the U.S needed a lot, which impacted us a lot. Monopolies were probably had the biggest impact on the Gilded Age. Vanderbilt had a monopoly for a while, and when we .thought it was over Travis Scot made his own. Travis Scott overcame our monopoly with railroads from Vanderbilt, then just made his own.

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In the 1890’s, the United States began to act like a great power. At that time, it had passed a period of crisis; the civil war, industrialization, immigration and the aftermath of the Reconstruction era added to anxiety of its economic crisis. Imperialism was called upon to aid in this crisis because it would create a system of foreign relations based on the exchange of goods, but it did so without understanding the consequences of its actions. One way the exchange of goods was used in creating foreign relations was through corporations. Corporations at the time went abroad to look for resources that the continental United States did not have, such as bananas and coffee.

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William McKinley in his thoughts on American Expansionism has identified the reasons why America had no other choice but to incorporate Philippines as a part of it. This writing has been lifted from the excerpts of an interview with William McKinley soon after Spain had surrendered in the Spanish-American war. McKinley cleverly talks in this interview about how Philippines just came and fell into the laps of America thereby suggesting the helpless stance of America. He talks about how America’s sole intention and purpose had only been to safeguard its own interests as a country. He had to order that the Spanish fleets in Manila be destroyed because if left unattended, they would have crossed the Pacific and wreaked havoc in the American states

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The Americas under the English and the Spanish The Americas in the mid 17th and 18th century was a hot ground for colonization potentially due to unexplored land. Colonists from all parts of the world wanted to get a taste of what it would be like to be on the American continent. Although different colonists had different motivations for creating a stronghold in America, the two most important powers come to mind: The Spanish and the English. They both had different motivations for colonizing the American continent.

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The nineteenth century isolationism was a movement of the United States to become an independent nation. They did not want allies and they wanted to be their own country. Meaning they did not want to be part of the UN. A lot of countries at the tim were becoming independent at the time because they felt compelled as a nation to come together in union. A lot of countries did not realize at the time that because their was a strong sense of nationalism.

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The Gilded Age lasted from 1870 to World War 1, “1900s.” The Gilded Age was a period of fast economic development, but also much social struggle. Mark Twain in the late nineteenth century founded the “Gilded” Age, which means covered with gold on the outside, but not really golden on the inside, for example, tin. This period of time was glittering on the surface but corrupt underneath. In other words, the outside looked beautiful, but the inside looked old and trashy.

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