Essay On The Gilded Age

674 Words2 Pages

The Gilded Age
During the 1890s and 1900s America was seen as a thriving country when in actuality it was rotten. Mark Twain gave this period a title, “the gilded age”. Other countries saw America as an industrialized nation and a world power. America was thought to be a country that had advanced into a desirable place that was booming with work opportunities and offered a better life. America was a booming country with work opportunities, but those opportunities were not ideal. Although other countries saw America as an excellent country, the people in other countries did not know the truth of America at its core.
I agree with Mark Twain on his beliefs about how America was during those two decades. America was not the dream country it was thought to be. There were very few rich people in that time, and the rest lived a hard life full of struggling and hard work. The few rich people were mainly either business owners or politicians. Business owners were cruel to their workers giving them long work days and terrible working conditions. The owners could easily get away with this due to having the government on their side in all aspects. The government was corrupt because politicians were elected based off relationships …show more content…

Government was always on the side of big business which caused business owners to get away with anything. Workers were treated with no respect by businesses, and if workers were to ever strike, government would come in on the side of businesses making it impossible for workers to get what they were striking for. The government appreciated advancements in America, and that is exactly what businesses brought. Businesses urbanized the country which made it look fancy and new, although it was dirty and grimy in reality. Big businesses were a leading factor in new immigrants coming to America to live what they saw as “the American

Open Document