THERE are some books that define a decade. In the 1870s‚ one such book was The Gilded Age‚ published by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner. It is not a flattering portrait of American society (gilded means coated with cheap gold paint)‚ but it was a truthful one. During the so-called Gilded Age‚ our country silently fell into ruin. And there was no one to blame but ourselves. “Get rich; dishonestly is we can. honestly if we must.” was a remark made by Mark Twain. To him‚ it seemed as if our country
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Before the remarkable progress in technology‚ innovations were limited‚ so the first cars were hand-built. This changed‚ however‚ when an eager young man named Henry Ford invented something that significantly altered production movement and manufacturing. During the 1890s‚ factories were loud‚ crowded‚ and bustling. They had an order to them‚ however‚ something was missing. The creation of the assembly line would change both how things were made‚ and the amount of time it took to produce items. Using
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During the nineteenth century Americans were experiencing something they had never seen before. From one perspective America was flourishing‚ big companies owned a vast majority of America’s wealth and were gaining more power every day. But the truth was the majority of people were stuck in poverty with no way out. The upper class was small and lived lavishly‚ while the lower class was huge and could barely get by. Unequal distribution of wealth led many to respond‚ labor unions formed because Americans
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In the late 1800’s‚ American society began to burst with cultural activity. After the Civil War and the Reconstruction‚ Americans were eager to return to their normal lifestyles. The period that followed‚ however‚ was quite different from what the country was used to. During the war‚ many pushed hard for a rise in industry‚ leading to an explosive industrial revolution far beyond what people had expected. America’s business and economy had boomed‚ and‚ as the new century approached‚ many had
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Paintings of a realism nature are a source that illustrates the Gilded Age activities and how people viewed political‚ economic and social elements within their society. Winslow Homer (1836 –1910) a naturalist painter through his scenes of outdoor life explored the glitter of the Gilded Age with under currents of the life of African Americans. Various artists of the Gilded age explored themes related to a society in transition brought about by industrialization and rapid economic growth. Some artists
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consumerism had changed immensely in the Gilded Age; about 400‚000 patents were made between 1875 and 1900 which signifies the departure of farming to the vast significance of industries. Trade Unions became an immense part in Urban communities since the people longed for shorter hours and higher pay rates. Henry George recognized that the rich class were becoming much more wealthier through
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Gilded Age- Immigration During the 1880’s immigration patterns changed significantly‚ the new immigrants came from southern and eastern Europe. Unlike before when most had come from the British Isles and western Europe. These new immigrants were largely illiterate and impoverished‚ and came in large amounts. They totaled 19 percent of the imcoming immigrants in the 1880’s. Between 1880-1920‚ almost 24 million immigrants arrived to the United States. At first being welcomed and promised the American
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As the Gilded age began‚ a period spanning approximately of the 1870s to the turn of the twentieth century‚ (a name given by Mark Twain‚ meaning wealth and "layer of gold")‚ big businesses started to grow and had affects on America. Big businesses had a huge impact on the economy‚ politics‚ and on Americans. The effect of big businesses on the economy was that the economy was said to have grown 400% during this time period‚ this seems like a huge rise but then again this would not have been that
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society! Something had to change! The Gilded Age is a term coined by writer Mark Twain in The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873)‚ which satirized an era of serious social problems (Doc 2). The Gilded Age was an era of rapid economic growth. Cities grew as people moved from rural areas and immigrants arrived from other countries in search of a better life. Instead they found a hard life in the urban hells called cities. Life in the cities was full of troubles from overcrowding in tenement houses‚ to
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The Gilded Age The Gilded Age was an era in America that took place between 1865 and 1900. It was a time marked by substantial growth in population and decadence in the United States. It was an era defined by its increased competition‚ greed‚ political corruption‚ and excessive displays of wealth and gross materialism by the rich and wealthy. This gross materialism did not go unnoticed. Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner published a novel called the Gilded Age (providing the era with its most
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