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During the Gilded Age, “living conditions in the cities were often deplorable, with thousands of families forced to reside in slums that were breeding grounds for typhoid, smallpox, cholera, tuberculosis, and other diseases that swept through the cities on a regular basis.” (“Industrial Revolution”). Poverty and homelessness was not uncommon at the time. The political corruption at the time did not help with this issue either. Political machines governed cities, exploiting the desperate immigrants and gaining their loyalty to stay in power. Starting life anew was difficult and near impossible. Urban life was deplorable during the Gilded Age as demonstrated by the urban slum life, political corruption and difficult life.
During the Gilded Age, the streets where the poor lived were inhumane. There were many people that lived on the streets or in tenements in poor condition. Jacob Riis, a photographer, exposed “the
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stark reality of urban slum life—from filthy tenement houses to ragged, barefoot boys who slept on the street” (Riis, Jacob A). This was a side that the population would not have known about. People who lived in the urban slums either lived and slept on the streets or the “filthy tenement houses”. In addition to this, the high hopes immigrants had coming to America only made the reality worse. Coming to America, immigrants saw the United States as “a land of unlimited opportunity and freedom—urban centers, especially, seemed like places where hard work could lead to a better life”(Gallow, Lauren). Immigrants coming to America expected to be able to become wealthy if they tried hard enough but none were fortunate enough for this to happen to them. Instead, they had to live in the slums with the other immigrants that had the same goals when they arrived. Another issue in society at this time was the gap between the poor and the wealthy. Although “elegant and lavish homes were often built on the same street or within view of the slums” (“Industrial Revolution”), the two social classes were still very much separated. The fact that the poor had a view of the rich was only adding insult to injury. In addition to the poor urban slum life, starting life anew was also extremely difficult. Immigrants struggled through life and were exploited at every step of the way. Most well known businesses or well known names had “borrowed some of its brightest light from the poverty and gloom of New York's streets”(Riis, Jacob A) at one point in time. Not only did the people living in slums struggle through life, but as they struggled to climb up in the social ladder, others used them as stepping stones. People starting a new life in America were desperate, always looking for opportunities. “Immigration to the United States and the rapid growth of cities also had ramifications for politics. The late 19th century saw the emergence of political machines” (Gallow, Lauren). Newly arrived immigrants were used by political machines for their own gain and fueled political corruption. As if the immigrants flowing in from other countries wasn’t enough, people who lived in urban areas also decided that they wanted to live the urban life. “large numbers of farmers succumbed to the temptations of urban promises“ further increasing the population of the city, meanwhile facing the same issues that the immigrants did. Starting fresh in the Gilded Age was extremely frustrating and difficult. Political corruption was another large issue at the time.
Political machines ran cities during the Gilded Age. Political machines “found their support in immigrants, who were often desperate for help in finding work and suitable living conditions” (Gallow, Lauren). With the support of the immigrants, they were able to control cities at a time. Young children recognized the political corruption in America too. They were constantly hiding from “their enemy, the policeman”(Riis, Jacob A). Clearly, the children would have no reason to hide from the police, if the government was not corrupt at the time. In addition to political machines, the wealthy also had a great amount of political power. The “political power of the presidency paled in comparison to the economic talent and power of the robber barons” (“Industrial Revolution”). If the wealthy have more political power than the president, then there is definitely political corruption in the nation. Political corruption was another factor that made life in America miserable during the Gilded
Age.
During the Gilded Age—a period that began in the 1870s wherein the United States experienced tremendous economic growth—affluent industrialists such as John D. Rockefeller, Andrew W. Mellon, Cornelius Vanderbilt, J.P. Morgan, and Andrew Carnegie exercised, owing in large part to their wealth, enormous influence over the direction of American politics. Though left unaddressed during the Gilded Age, the issue of corporate involvement in political affairs was eventually identified as a corrosive problem in President Theodore Roosevelt’s 1904 State of the Union address. In his address, Roosevelt asserted that corporate spending in federal elections had the potential to engender corruption—or the appear...
After the Civil War, business and corporations have expanded significantly throughout the United States. During this time period, known as the Gilded Age, many aspects of the United States were influenced by these large corporations. The Gilded Age was given that name after Mark Twain referenced it in one of his works. In the post Civil War period, big businesses governed by corrupt acts and held power of both the political system and the economy.
By the mid 20th century, the scale and prominence of corruption had increased dramatically, due to the widespread transition to vast urban cities and industrialized systems. The greed and desperation that resulted from the shift towards industrialism accelerated the growth of corruption in politics. Although the shift to industry was a necessary stepping stone in the development of the modern society existing today, it was accompanied by various consequences to American society and facilitated the corruption of government officials. The exploitation of fellow
During the Gilded Age, several Americans emerged as leaders in many fields such as, railroads, oil drilling, manufacturing and banking. The characterization of these leaders as “robber barons” is, unfortunately, nearly always correct in every instance of business management at this time. Most, if not all, of these leaders had little regard for the public or laborers at all and advocated for the concentration of wealth within tight-knit groups of wealthy business owners.
In the late nineteenth century known as the Gilded Age (or the Reconstruction period) and the early twentieth century known as the Progressive era, the nation went through great economic growth and social change. Beginning in the 1870s, there was rapid growth in innovations and big businesses. This could be because there was population growth and when there is population growth, there is a high demand for products and other necessities in order to strive in society. Many immigrants from Europe, mostly from the eastern and southern Europe, and Asia moved to American cities. Additionally, farmers from rural America desired to increase economic growth and since corporations ruled and political problems occurred, they decided to move into the cities.
The article “Testimony before a U.S. Senate Committee, 1885” is written by the U.S. Congress as a Report of the Senate Committee in 1885. This testimony takes place during the Gilded Age, an era marked by industrialization, corruption, and American greed. The testifier in this article Thomas O’Donnell, describes what it was like to be a worker during the Gilded Age. O’Donnell is a husband and a father of two children. He tells the senate that he is not very well educated since he had to start working when he was a young boy. During this time child labor was a very common thing. To be able to go to school and participate in the free education system was a luxury that many Americans could not afford. O’Donnell continues to testify how difficult
The corruption and greedy materialism widespread throughout the United States during the Gilded Age was the result of the rapid industrialization and growth of the American economy. The potential to accumulate vast quantities of wealth through politics or business attracted people to corrupt practices, and led to dishonesty in both government and private industry.
The exact period of time in which the Gilded Age occurred is ever-debatable, but most historians can at least agree that it started within the 20 years after the Civil War ended and lasted until the early 1920s. (West) The Gilded Age itself was characterized by the beginnings of corporations and corrupt political machines. Policies such as the General Incorporation Laws allowed business to grow larger more easily, and with less red tape involved. New technology allowed faster and more efficient production, but this explosive growth of industry called for not only more resources, but new business practices and leaders as well. (Moritz 10-12)
5. Perry, Elisabeth Israels, and Karen Manners Smith. The Gilded Age and Progressive Era: a student companion. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. Print.
Towards the end of the 19th century, reformers used many different tactics to encourage the public to advocate for social reforms. Jacob Riis used photographs of New York City’s slum tenements and its inhabitants to shock people with the truth. His book, How the Other Half Lives, provides a clear picture of the dangers that tenement life poses to middle-class values. Because all life is a product of its environment, Riis used pictures to encourage members of the middle class to see the poor’s struggles before it became a problem that undermined society’s ability to function. His approach had on tenement reform and the struggles of life in the tenement houses were detrimental to changing the poor’s way of life Jacob Riis, used a first-person perspective to explore the living conditions of that era. Riis was an immigrant, a photojournalist, a police reporter, and more importantly a social reformer He paints a very clear un-shielded
Expansive growth was the moniker which expressly defined the Gilded Age. Industry in all sectors, witnessed massive growth leading to the creation of an American economy. Due to the rapidly changing nature of industrialization important men of both the public and private sectors attempted to institute their own controls over it. However this transforming landscape integrated both economic and political changes, but also cultural and social interactions. In turn, those who controlled the flow of business would also steadily impact the American social scene by extension. Alan Trachtenberg, professor of American studies at Yale and author of The Incorporation of America, argues that the system of incorporation unhinged the idea of national identity that all American’s had previously shared. As a result incorporation became the catalyst for the great debate about what it meant to actually be American, and who was capable of labeling themselves as such. Throughout his work Trachtenberg consistently tackles the ideas of cultural identity and how those ideas struggled against one another to be the supreme definition of Americanism. This work not only brings to life the issue of identity but it attempts to synthesize various scholarly works into a cohesive work on the Gilded Age and demonstrates that concepts developed during the incorporation of the time period have formed the basis for the American cultural, economic, and political superstructure. The Incorporation of America sets a high standard for itself one in which it doesn’t necessarily meet; however the work is still expansive and masterful at describing the arguments of the Gilded Age.
From the period between the 1870’s through the 1890’s, it became an era known as the Gilded Age. The term was characterized by a famous American Literature author named Mark Twain. The writer tried to point out that the term means that while on the outside society may seem perfect and in order, underneath there is poverty, crime, corruption, and many other issues between American society’s rich and poor. This era’s gild is thicker than the cheaper material it’s covering. This can be shown through the countless numbers of achievements and advances America has made during the period of reconstruction and expansion, industrialization, and foreign affairs.
The Gilded Age, known for the economic boom and a time of great industrialization, along with the promises of America brought immigrants from all over seeking life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness though the many great opportunities that America had to offer. However, the opportunities that America had to offer were compromised by corruptions during this era, which were seen in the cities during this time. Once entered into the cycle that so many immigrant workers were stuck in, it was difficult to gain independence and to truly have lived out the American Dream, which brought these immigrants to America in the first place.
In the words of Thomas Jefferson, “A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circlue of our felicities.” (Jefferson, 1801) This idea echoed far beyond it’s time and into the minds and hearts of the Populist’s, and became the center and the driving force of the Progressive era. During the gilded age railroads were being built, Industrialization was rising, the population of United States was increasing dramatically; and corporate businesses were becoming extremely powerful. The gilded age was known for its corruption and business domination, it wasn’t until the Populist movement when people started to fight back and also not until the Progressive movement when people started changing the government system.
As immigrants began to flood into America in the late 1800's and early 1900's, they had hopes of a miraculous new life in the Land of the Free. They may have thought that they would not have to live in cramped and unsanitary conditions as they had in their old homes. They may have had hopes of finding a great new career that would skyrocket them to fame and fortune and allow them to live like the Carnegies, Rockefellers, and Morgans did. It could be possible that all their hopes were assured once they caught sight of the New York City skyline, expanding as far as the eye could see and stretching like arms spread welcoming home a loved one. The sun may have been shining bright and golden, bathing the not-so-distant city in a fantastic light. At a distance it was quite possibly one of the most exquisite sights that their eyes had ever come upon. However, the land that looked so beautiful and grand from the distance was actually filled with greed, corruption, and opportunists. That is how America can be described during the Gilded Age. The wrapping was pretty, but the present was awful.