The Major Reforms Of The Gilded Age

Gilded Age The Gilded age was known for all the fantastic innovations throughout the time period, but when looked at a little closer, all the scandals and corruption can be seen underneath the reforms and inventions. Not to say that this corruption undermined all the new and improved systems in the age; it was just another of the many things that America could learn from. Some of the reforms are for monopolies, railroads, and the civil service system. These reforms were made for the betterment of the American citizen and the government as a whole, although some of these reforms went under scrutiny from the American citizens for whom they were meant for. The scandals that were most prominent in the Gilded age include the Whiskey Ring, Indian

A monopoly is defined as “a commodity controlled by one party” (Merriam-Webster dictionary). Monopolies are terrible for the American citizen because it allows the producer of the commodity to be in complete control of the citizen via rising the prices of necessities. Railroads were used for many things during the Gilded age, such as shipping and traveling. When railroad companies started to monopolize, the state of Ohio tried it’s best to stop it but failed as a result of the commission not being able to dictate the railroad companies. After the states had failed, the United States Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887 to try and regulate prices and make those prices public (Interstate Commerce Act). Another problem plagued America around the same time; political patronage. The Pendleton Act partly destroyed this; it was enacted after President Garfield was assassinated by Charles Guiteau, A crazy man who thought he deserved a government job. The Pendleton Act sought to give government jobs based on Merit (Civil Service

Corruption and scandals are riddled throughout the Gilded age, mostly from business owners and government officials. To start if off, most of the corrupt politicians from this time were doing it because of the weak president. Ulysses S. Grant was a wonderful general but not so good at being president. He knew this too, so he took advice very religiously from his cabinet members, which are responsible for the Whiskey ring, Indian ring, and were heavily involved in the Credit Mobilier scandal. The Whiskey ring was a scandal that increased the taxes on liquor. It was largely public, but no one could do anything because of the heavy connections between politics. Benjamin Birstow, secretary of treasury, wanted to resolve this scandal. He sent out investigators to collect evidence in secret then seized many distilleries and people. He recovered over 3 million dollars in taxes (Whiskey ring). The Indian ring had Grant’s secretary of War sell Indian land to investors, then pocketed the money. All under Grant’s control, although he himself wasn’t corrupt. Then came the Credit Mobilier scandal, “which defrauded the American public of millions of dollars in land.” Congressmen had gotten huge shares of these contracts to build these railroads; “they helped