Gilded Age Analysis

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x The Gilded Age: Only what this Term Suggests?
Mark Twain wrote in his biography, “I like the exact word, and clarity of statement”. Upon examining the parameters of this self-reflection, it bounces back onto his famous characterization of the 1870s to 1890s period, ‘the Gilded Age’. This particular wordplay implied (and referred) to the “glittering, deceptive” appearance of America’s current political and economic expansion (Foner 528). Although naturally certain societal views are held more strongly than others, with how much certainty could this term be used to accurately describe all of this period’s major events? Despite the inevitable negatives produced from the Second Industrial Revolution, the achieved growth and benefits balanced …show more content…

The then most important political ideas were Social Darwinism and self-government, which directly led to the problem-causing negative leadership. During the Gilded Age, the government was not “equipped to deal with the problems created by the economy’s rapid growth”, and as such, efforts were placed on more large-scale issues as the elections and international trading (Foner 531). Of course, this wayside-push of more integral problems like the product-producing companies’ governing, subsequent widening of social classes, and ignored labor movements, only led to these smaller problems quickly becoming too large to ignore. As reflected in this case, ignorance can often cause the worse consequences. The previously implied consent of self-government by corrupt politicians and employers was what led to the outrage-inducing protest, concluding in the previously mentioned employee …show more content…

In any case, while Twain and supporters might conclude the period had a deceptive quality, it would be incorrect to say its core had “little real value” (Foner 528). As such, while America entered the cusp of a new century, filled with both positive and negative results impacting upon the nation’s psyche, the Second Industrial Revolution and Gilded Age served as more than a proclamation of another corrupted era of expansion…in essence, it revolutionarily defined life in all factions destined to become a part of the modern era. In spite of the Gilded Age being filled with the hardships expected to litter American history, in all essences, it continued to serve as something fundamentally

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