“In the United States, the Gilded Age is the period from about the late 1870s to the late 1890s, which occurred between the Reconstruction Era and the Progressive Era…. Historians saw late 19th-century economic expansion as a time of materialistic excesses marked by widespread political corruption” (Wikipedia.com).
It was the age of the robber barons, rich industrialists and bankers like John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, and Andrew Carnegie. It was an age of great wealth and extreme poverty, especially in the South. At this time, millions of immigrants were pouring into the nation, mainly from Europe, but also from China, looking for better, freer, more prosperous lives. Most ended up working in sweatshops in the large cities of the northern Midwest and the East.
In this era there was great wealth inequality as the rich got richer and the poor were abused by big corporations. 60-70-hour work weeks were common. Working conditions were abominable. Children as young as five worked long hours for little pay. Accidents were common and frequent. There were no safety standards. If someone got hurt or killed on the job, it was the workers’ fault.
Violent labor riots became common. The federal government sent in the military to put down strikers and to protect the super wealthy and their industries. Their rationale for doing this came from the evolutionary belief in natural selection where the strong survive and the weak perish. The economic belief of Laissez faire (government stay out of the affairs of business—except to aid them) ruled. Religious belief called the Puritan Work Ethic demonstrated to conservative Christians that if you were wealthy, God was blessing you. If you were poor, then you were that way because God was cursing you for your sins and laziness.
It was the era of Jim Crow laws—legalized segregation and discrimination in the South. Blacks were removed from government leadership positions they had held after the end of the Civil War, and white Confederate conservatives returned to their positions of power as the North focused on profits and expansion over human rights.
During this period, government employment was determined largely by what political influence a person held. The spoils system—to the victor goes the spoils of political victory—was how government jobs were allocated.
The spoils system only ended after the assassination of President James A. Garfield, who was killed by an assassin angry because he didn’t get a government job. Eventually, the Pendleton Act for Civil Service Reform was passed by Congress in 1883. Competence, training, education, and skills became the norm with only a few positions being selected by presidents. Civil service employees had secure jobs and could not be fired arbitrarily. Due process laws protected government workers from political influence and retribution.
Image courtesy courses bowdoin.edu
The Populists and later the Progressives arose as political movements to counteract this corrupt time. Populists were farmers abused by greedy railroad magnates. Frank Baum’s story, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written at this time, is really a political allegory of the era: the brainless Scarecrow represented farmers, the Tinman represented industrial workers who were worked so hard that they lacked a heart, and the cowardly Lion represented politicians and reformers who lacked any real power in this industrial age. The Wizard of Oz represented those hucksters and snake oil salesmen who lied about miracle cures for all human ills. Coca Cola became popular for the cocaine added to the sugary drink to create a pleasant buzz. Opium abuse was common and legal with no regulations. Thousands died from drug abuse.
Child labor laws were enacted to protect children, and compulsory public education for all children became the norm due to the efforts of the Progressives, educated middle class reformers, living in the growing cities in the early 20th century.
Educated white middle-class women fought for rights. Eventually their demonstrations and civil disobedience resulted in getting the right to vote with the 19th Amendment in 1920. Through the efforts of reformers, poor women were educated about birth control, although there was fierce opposition from the conservatives.
A century and a half later, this time of profit-driven oppression has been largely forgotten or taken for granted. What became the norm for American culture is now under attack again in a second Gilded Age. This time the robber barons are not so much wealthy industrialists and bankers, but tech giants/oligarchs who have learned to buy members of Congress and get laws passed that transfer money to the uberwealthy.
“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” –Mark Twain
Examine this political cartoon of the first Gilded Age. Look familiar?
