Corruption In The Gilded Age

The late 19th century is a time that is seen at the surface as perfect, but underneath is corrupt. The act of gilding is applying gold paint or another gold substance to the surface of something else to appear as if it “glitters.” The 1870s to the 1890s was known as the “Gilded Age” because it was a time of corruption covered up.

The term “Gilded Age” was first used by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in 1873 when they published their novel, The Gilded Age. They used this term to refer to the application of a fake layer of gold to an object and to have a play on the term the “golden age.” Underneath the “flawless” surface of these decades was much corruption that was overseen.

While it was a time of industry, great wealth, opportunity, high standards, and advancement, it doubled as the complete opposite. Along with the plus-side, poverty, disaster, low practices, and decay were happening behind the scenes. Big businesses such as Rockefeller Standard Oil, Carnegie Steel, and J.P. Morgan Banking were advancing every day. An example of corruption behind these industries is the captains of each of them. Many of the “captains of industry” were also known as Robber Barons. Robber Barons took advantage of their workers by giving them low wages, bad working conditions, etc. They knew they could get away with this because most of the

employees were immigrants that were willing to work for anything. Along with the corruption in industry, there was corruption in politics.
Many things happened behind the scenes of elections.

Once people were elected, they would use the “spoils system” and appoint their friends or people who they owed to political positions. This kept other qualified people from getting into office. Among elections, there was also fraud, rigged elections, thrown out votes, and kickbacks. Association leaders known as bosses began to run for office. They rarely got into office because of their political beliefs or political party. They were voted in based on who they were associated with or who they bribed. Bosses often convinced immigrants to vote for them by promising them

jobs.
Immigrants and the lower class suffered a terrible lifestyle. They had terrible wages, bad working conditions, no job security, child labor, and long workdays. The employees created labor unions that were unsuccessful due to the association violence. When intervention was necessary, the government always sided with business. This left the employees to fend for themselves. Along with a hard work life, immigrants had rough living conditions. They lived in tenements which were very small apartments. The tenements usually housed multiple families at once and had poor sanitation.
Mark Twain was accurate when calling the 1870s to the 1890s the Gilded Age. Others, especially foreigners, saw America as an opportunity that they could only dream of in their native country. Most came to America to live the “American Dream” but were shocked to arrive to no support and work with terrible conditions. America did their best to cover up the corruption going on behind the scenes.
Another name for the Gilded Age could be The Age of Embellishment. The act of embellishing is adding a decorative detail or feature to something to make it more attractive. Things such as the “American Dream” made the United States look better from afar. Up close, America was full of corruption and prejudice against immigrants. Whether gilded or embellished, America seemed perfect on the surface, but it was corrupt and full of problems underneath.