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The Major Reforms Of The Gilded Age

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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 …show more content…

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 …show more content…

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

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Both Progressive Era reformers and the federal government sought to bring about reform at the national level. Examples of such reforms they wanted to make include: trust-busting, consumer safety, restrictions on child labour, civil rights, and women’s suffrage. Overall, the Progressive Era reformers and the federal government were effective in their efforts from 1900 to 1920, however there were some limitations. During the Gilded Age, and prior, the quality of America was unsatisfactory.

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Corporate greedy and corrupt politicians were specific problems and injustices that were present in American life during the late 1800s and early 1900s however these were addressed during the progressive era with laws and regulations. Throughout the gilded era corrupt politicians and corporate greedy allowed the upper class and businessmen to take advantage of the working class. This means that a majority of the population were hurt during the gilded age whereas a small percentage benefitted. As seen in document 1, living conditions were crowded, dirty, and unsafe.

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The legislative issues of the Gilded Age had failed to manage social and financial issues. Dashes of gold had put on insufficiencies of the time, which the issues could be revealed. In finding a fault for the developed economy and its requests on a faltered society, all was directed to the legislative problems of the Gilded Age. At the end of Civil War, the Gilded Age was Freedom's presentation and good awareness of resurrection. Slavery was well on its approach to turning into a flaw of being a free-loving nation.

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Although the Gilded Age may seem like a clean cut time period on the outside, it was actually very destroyed underneath. There was in fact a great load of manufacturing going on, but the work put into that production was unimaginable. Workers worked long, vigorous hours, with low pay, children worked, and little health safety. These terrible work conditions were endured as long as possible by desperate people who

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Mark Twain once said, “No country can be well governed unless its citizens as a body keep religiously before their minds the guardians of the law, and the law officers are only the machinery for its execution, nothing more.” In the Gilded Age, which was from 1869 to 1896, politicians ignored their obligation to execute and protect the laws of this nation in favor of lining their own pockets. Presidential administrations and presidential candidates were often time could in corruption scandals that showed how they were stealing the American people’s money. The Grant administration probably being the most notable example of this corruption. Low-level political officers were also a party in the corruption of the gilded age, with corrupt big bosses

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Corruption in the political sphere has been a dominant issue throughout American history, with countless politicians and groups of high-ranking authorities participating in nefarious activities to achieve more economic, political, or social prosperity. This idea of corruption, while it can be argued that it was present in some form before the late 1800s, first started to take hold during a period known as the Gilded Age, which spanned from 1876-1896. This period was known as the Gilded Age because of the massive amounts of development occurring in America at the time, however, similar to an object that appears gilded that appears positive on the outside, this facade of growth and development was under shadowed by massive amounts of corruption

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In a time after the Civil War, when a transcontinental railroad was created connecting the East and West, people began to move and settle across the country, creating new urban cities and manufacturing hubs. It was because of the railroad that the Second Industrial Revolution and the Gilded Age took place which rapidly increased the manufacturing of products through the new machines in factories and the spread of ideas by the telegraph and railroad. It was in this context that many farmers, as well, began to move West and experience a loss in the prices of their crops. It is also in this context that many workers were forced to work long, laborious hours with little pay. Farmers responded to industrialization in the Gilded Age by forming organizations such as the Granger movement and the Farmers Alliance as well as creating the Populist Party.

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Politics in the Gilded Age were no more corrupt than at any other era in American political history, but it is viewed as one of the more corrupt periods in our history. There are several reasons for this and chief among them is that historians have traditionally interpreted the era that way. When studying primary sources of Gilded Age politics, especially newspapers, it becomes apparent that most were harsh toward politicians on both sides of the spectrum. The reason for this is that newspapers were extremely loyal to one party or the other and sought to paint the other side as vile, corrupt, and without morals. Charges were made based on little or no real evidence which made the era appear more corrupt than it really was.

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Politically, economically and socially the Gilded Age was truly a “Gilded Age”. Noteverything added to the “Gilded” effect of the time period. The “robber barons”, two major de-pressions and the labor unions (though not originally a bad thing) did add to the age. The Gilded Age saw the rise of Andrew Carnegie, John

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The decade between 1890 and 1900 expressed a crucial time in the United States of America’s history. Many people experienced struggles throughout this time while others prospered. Mark Twain suggested that despite the significant achievements of the United States, Americans experienced poverty. This statement is an accurate description of the lively hood people experienced in their daily lives during the Gilded Age whether it was positive or negative. Many people during this time period focused on the positive outcomes that resulted from the Gilded Age such as new inventions, the gospel of wealth, additions of land to the country, urbanization, and middle-class improvements.

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The greatest political problem in the Gilded Age was the simple fact that so much of the politics and presidents were all corrupt in some way there is no politics at all if it's all corrupt. The government wasn’t certain on what they were doing. Then when the social Darwinism came along and they weren’t helping anybody. The rich were also giving money to people to form law and other things more in their favor that would be making them more rich than they already are. The presidents that were in office were also corrupt, when Grant was president, he had a few scandals while in office Credit Mobilier Scandal, Whiskey Ring Scandal, and the Trading Post Scandal.

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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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