AB

Gilded Age (1870-1900) — Quick Review

Gilded Age: Timeframe and Naming

  • Period: 1870-1900 (roughly)

  • Named by Mark Twain after his book The Gilded Age, A Tale of Today; critiques surface-level wealth masking social ugliness.

  • Gilded idea: exterior wealth and progress hide underlying problems.

Key Characteristics

  • Rapid economic and industrial growth; second industrial revolution (technological revolution).

  • Inventions and tech boom: telephone, phonograph, video recordings; driven by Thomas Edison and Menlo Park.

  • Wealth and philanthropy: rise of extreme wealth; gospel of wealth (rich have a responsibility to give back).

  • Prominent figures and symbols: Rockefeller (oil), Carnegie (steel), Vanderbilt (railroads); Rockefeller Center, Carnegie Hall, Carnegie Library.

Immigration, Labor, and Social Conditions

  • Record immigration to meet industrial workforce needs.

  • Ugly underneath: immigrant exploitation, harsh working and living conditions.

  • Wealth disparity in urban areas: extreme riches vs. extreme poverty in working-class neighborhoods.

Politics and Society

  • Political corruption and influence of wealthy industrialists; urban political machines.

  • Patronage: exchange of votes for jobs, favors, or protection.

  • Notable events: Garfield assassination; Arthur succeeds; Cleveland elected non-consecutively; Harrison follows.

Forgotten Presidents (1870–1900)

  • Often considered weak or uneventful administrations: Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, Harrison.

  • Overlap with Reconstruction; Hayes ends Reconstruction; Garfield’s assassination shapes politics.

Captains of Industry (Powerful Figures)

  • Real power often rested with industrial magnates, not presidents: JP Morgan (banking), John D. Rockefeller (oil), Andrew Carnegie (steel), Cornelius Vanderbilt (railroads).

  • Their wealth and influence helped shape policy and society; their legacies persist (e.g., Rockefeller Center, Carnegie institutions).

Quick Recap

  • Gilded Age = shiny exterior, underlying ugliness.

  • Second Industrial Revolution = dramatic tech and production growth.

  • Gospel of Wealth = responsibility to give back by the rich.

  • Immigration, labor exploitation, wealth disparity.

  • Political machines and patronage.

  • Forgotten presidents vs. captains of industry as the era’s real power.