Global InformationGilded Age information
| Gilded Age | |||
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| 1870s – late 1890s | |||
 The Breakers, a Gilded Age mansion in Newport, Rhode Island, built by the wealthy Vanderbilt family of railroad tycoons | |||
| Location | United States | ||
| Including | Third Party System | ||
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Chronology
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In United States history, the Gilded Age is described as the period from about the 1870s to the late 1890s, which occurred between the Reconstruction Era and the Progressive Era. It was named after an 1873 Mark Twain novel by historians in the 1920s who saw this interval of economic expansion as an era of materialistic excesses combined with political corruption.
It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Western United States. As American wages grew much higher than those in Europe, especially for skilled workers, and industrialization demanded an increasing unskilled labor force, the period saw an influx of millions of European immigrants. The rapid expansion of industrialization led to real wage growth of 40% from 1860 to 1890 and spread across the increasing labor force. The average annual wage per industrial worker (including men, women, and children) rose from $380 in 1880 ($11,998 in 2023 dollars[1]) to $584 in 1890 ($19,126 in 2023 dollars[1]), a gain of 59%.[2] The Gilded Age was also an era of poverty,[3][4] especially in the South, and growing inequality, as millions of immigrants poured into the United States, and the high concentration of wealth became more visible and contentious.[5]
Railroads were the major growth industry, with the factory system, mining, and finance increasing in importance. Immigration from Europe and the Eastern United States led to the rapid growth of the West based on farming, ranching, and mining. Labor unions became increasingly important in the rapidly growing industrial cities. Two major nationwide depressions—the Panic of 1873 and the Panic of 1893—interrupted growth and caused social and political upheavals.
The South remained economically devastated after the American Civil War; the region's economy became increasingly tied to commodities, cotton, and tobacco production, which suffered from low prices. With the end of the Reconstruction era in 1877 and the rise of Jim Crow laws, African American people in the South were stripped of political power and voting rights and were left economically disadvantaged.
The political landscape was notable in that despite rampant corruption, election turnout was comparatively high among all classes (though the extent of the franchise was generally limited to men), and national elections saw two evenly matched parties. The dominant issues were cultural (especially regarding prohibition, education, and ethnic or racial groups) and economic (tariffs and money supply). With the rapid growth of cities, political machines increasingly took control of urban politics. In business, powerful nationwide trusts formed in some industries. Unions crusaded for the eight-hour working day, and the abolition of child labor; middle-class reformers demanded civil service reform, prohibition of liquor and beer, and women's suffrage.
Local governments across the North and West built public schools chiefly at the elementary level; public high schools started to emerge. The numerous religious denominations were growing in membership and wealth, with Catholicism becoming the largest. They all expanded their missionary activity to the world arena. Catholics, Lutherans, and Episcopalians set up religious schools, and the largest of those schools set up numerous colleges, hospitals, and charities. Many of the problems faced by society, especially the poor, gave rise to attempted reforms in the subsequent Progressive Era.[6]
- ^ a b 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Census1890was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "The Gilded Age". PBS. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
In 1890, 11 million of the nation's 12 million families earned less than $1200 per year; of this group, the average annual income was $380, well below the poverty line. Rural Americans and new immigrants crowded into urban areas. Tenements spread across city landscapes, teeming with crime and filth. Americans had sewing machines, phonographs, skyscrapers, and even electric lights, yet most people labored in the shadow of poverty.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Fraserwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Stiglitz, Joseph (2013). The Price of Inequality: How Today's Divided Society Endangers Our Future. W. W. Norton & Company. p. xxxiv. ISBN 978-0-393-34506-3. Archived from the original on January 20, 2023. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
- ^ Hudson, Winthrop S. (1965). Religion in America. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 228–324.