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What is the Gilded Age?

Jessica Ellis
Jessica Ellis
Jessica Ellis
Jessica Ellis

The Gilded Age refers to a brief time in American history after the Civil War Restoration era. During this time, the United States experienced a population and economic boom, leading to the creating of an incredibly wealthy upper class. The era lasted only a few short years, from 1877-1893, before the market crash of 1893 brought a severe depression to the entire country.

With the success of Western expansion, the California gold rush and the incredible supply of natural resources in Western North America, the demand for railroads led the way for much of the Gilded Age. Improved technology in factories and mining operations also led to incredible profits for the visionary owners of the large companies. The upper class was suddenly rolling in money, and an elitist culture began to evolve around expensive taste and possessions.

The Vanderbilt family built their expansive estate with the wealth they earned developing rail and shipping networks.
The Vanderbilt family built their expansive estate with the wealth they earned developing rail and shipping networks.

Mark Twain gave birth to the term by paraphrasing Shakespeare in King John, which says that “to paint the lily is wasteful and ridiculous excess.” The term was meant ironically and used the title of a book the humorist wrote with Charles Dudley Warner, The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today. The irony of the term also came to symbolize the contrast between the pampered upper class and the increasingly poor immigrant and working classes.

America's wealth blossomed after the rairoads began to connect industry with raw materials.
America's wealth blossomed after the rairoads began to connect industry with raw materials.

Coinciding with this era of wealth and materialism was a population explosion in the United States, as waves of immigrants sought freedom and a better life in America. In a decade, nearly 140,000 Chinese immigrants entered the country, most to work on the Western railroads. Since the Potato Famine in the 1840s, Irish immigrants had begun arriving in droves to escape the starving countryside of their homeland, a trend that continued throughout era. In 1890, a census showed 190,000 Irish-born immigrants in New York City alone.

The growth of industry after the Civil War drove a new wave of immigration.
The growth of industry after the Civil War drove a new wave of immigration.

Immigrants were often looked down on by American-born citizens, and relegated to bad jobs, low pay, and squalid living conditions. The explosion in population led to severe housing shortages, leading many to live in badly constructed tenement buildings, with high risks of fire and other disasters. The irony of The Gilded Age is metaphorical: a thin covering of fake gold over a dirty and terrible situation.

Tammany Hall and "Boss" Tweed were part of the underlying corruption of the Gilded Age.
Tammany Hall and "Boss" Tweed were part of the underlying corruption of the Gilded Age.

Governmental corruption was another feature of this dynamic era in American history. After the assassination of the idealistic President Lincoln, the concept of morals in government took a sharp downward turn. The famous William “Boss” Tweed used his political power to defraud New York State of millions of dollars to enrich himself and his political partners. Even in the White House, under President Ulysses S. Grant, scandal after scandal seemed to rock Washington and shock the world.

The era was a complicated time, brought back into balance only through a sudden and extreme economic depression. From a historical perspective, the Panic of 1893 and the depression that followed prevented America from creating a true aristocratic class and falling into the modes that had convinced America to cede from Britain in the first place. The Gilded Age did firmly establish a rather unfortunate American cultural reality, that wealth is power and is meant to enrich the possessors, rather than the community.

Jessica Ellis
Jessica Ellis

With a B.A. in theater from UCLA and a graduate degree in screenwriting from the American Film Institute, Jessica is passionate about drama and film. She has many other interests, and enjoys learning and writing about a wide range of topics in her role as a UnitedStatesNow writer.

Learn more...
Jessica Ellis
Jessica Ellis

With a B.A. in theater from UCLA and a graduate degree in screenwriting from the American Film Institute, Jessica is passionate about drama and film. She has many other interests, and enjoys learning and writing about a wide range of topics in her role as a UnitedStatesNow writer.

Learn more...

Discussion Comments

anon931395

The article says, "The Gilded Age did firmly establish a rather unfortunate American cultural reality, that wealth is power and is meant to enrich the possessors, rather than the community. "

The author makes it sound as if this problem - this injustice - is an American problem or exclusive to the USA.

Every culture on the planet has the same problem. It has been true for as long as humans there have been humans around. It was true in ancient Rome, in ancient Greece, in ancient Egypt, it is true today in Saudi Arabia and what do you think the French revolution was about?

It is not an injustice exclusive to America, and it is not exclusive to Capitalist nations. Even in communist nations, a few people at the top own everything and live like kings and don't care much about the community.

It is not American culture; it is human nature.

elizabeth23

Something else we can sort of see today is the revival, if not continuation, of gilded age politics. In the gilded age, many people in government saw no problem with giving money to companies and allowing monopolies whenever they saw fit, as well as ignoring or even adding to serious cases of fraud in many places.

While I am not going to go so far as to say this is just as bad today, I do feel some people think that giving money to the "deserving", even government money, is acceptable, rather than trying to enforce the same rules of money for everyone.

sapphire12

Despite its short length, the gilded age fashion of excess and money flaunting really did bring that concept of old rich and new rich and generally aristocracy to the United States. While it did not stick in the same way, it really has lasted since then.

Even before the gilded age, there were the people who had been rich since coming to the States, some among the first immigrants, but it wasn't until the gilded age that people realized anyone could be rich enough to have power that way.

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    • The Vanderbilt family built their expansive estate with the wealth they earned developing rail and shipping networks.
      By: AStargirl
      The Vanderbilt family built their expansive estate with the wealth they earned developing rail and shipping networks.
    • America's wealth blossomed after the rairoads began to connect industry with raw materials.
      By: remik44992
      America's wealth blossomed after the rairoads began to connect industry with raw materials.
    • The growth of industry after the Civil War drove a new wave of immigration.
      By: Erica Guilane-Nachez
      The growth of industry after the Civil War drove a new wave of immigration.
    • Tammany Hall and "Boss" Tweed were part of the underlying corruption of the Gilded Age.
      By: CircaSassy
      Tammany Hall and "Boss" Tweed were part of the underlying corruption of the Gilded Age.