THE GILDED AGE

• The Gilded Age lasted from 1870-1900
• The name came from the title of a Mark Twain book
• Period of great industrial growth and expansion of the economy

THE GILDED AGE

• "Gilded" meaning covered with gold on the outside, but not really golden on the inside
• The Gilded Age was a period of rapid economic growth but also a lot of social conflict
• The Gilded Age has been often seen as a dark period in American history, a period of greed
• and corruption, of brutal industrial competition and harsh exploitation of labor.

INDUSTRIAL WORKERS IN THE GILDED AGE

• Industrial workers were exploited
• Working conditions were awful
• Hazardous jobs with little pay
• they responded by forming the organizations that would gradually improve their wages and working conditions.

FARMERS IN THE GILDED AGE

• They lost a lot of money and traditional influence in national affairs
• They too worked and established the organization that would
• Help their living conditions and earn their spot in American life

Businessmen IN THE GILDED AGE

• faced competitive forces and financial difficulties in the marketplace
• they developed the new structures that would allow modern American corporate capitalism to flourish.

citizens IN THE GILDED AGE

• endured antidemocratic rule by corrupt machine politicians
• pushed for the reforms that would soon restore a measure of democracy to urban politics.

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