Gilded Age
United States, 1870–1900. Draft, not yet reviewed
In United States history, 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. The rapid expansion of industrialization led to real wage growth of 40% from 1860 to 1890, spreading across the expanding labor force. Railroads were the major growth industry, with the factory system, oil, mining, and finance increasing in importance. The Gilded Age was also an era of visible poverty.
Seat of power: Washington, D.C.
Rulers
Ulysses S. Grant
President of the United States, 1869–1877
In 1871, he created the first Civil Service Commission. Grant was re-elected in the 1872 presidential election, but was inundated by executive scandals during his second term. His response to the Panic of 1873 was ineffective in halting the Long Depression, which contributed to the Democrats winning the House majority in 1874.
Portrait of Ulysses S. Grant: Brady-Handy Photograph Collection, Library of Congress, Public domain, file
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Rutherford B. Hayes
President of the United States, 1877–1881
One of the defining events of his presidency was the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, which Hayes resolved by calling in the Army against the railroad workers. Hayes implemented modest civil service reforms that laid the groundwork for further reform in the 1880s and 1890s. At the end of his term, Hayes kept his pledge not to run for reelection and retired to his home in Ohio.
Portrait of Rutherford B. Hayes: Mathew Benjamin Brady, Public domain, file
Chester A. Arthur
President of the United States, 1881–1885
Arthur signed into law the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883. Arthur's administration saw the largest expansion of the Navy, the end of the so-called "spoils system", and the implementation of harsher restrictions for migrants entering from abroad.
Portrait of Chester A. Arthur: Abraham Bogardus / Adam Cuerden, Public domain, file
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James A. Garfield
President of the United States, 1881–1881
Garfield's accomplishments as president included his assertion of presidential authority against senatorial courtesy in executive appointments, a purge of corruption in the Post Office, and his appointment of a Supreme Court justice. He served as president from March 1881 until his death in September that year after being shot in July.
Portrait of James A. Garfield: Unknown; part of Brady-Handy Photograph Collection., Public domain, file
Grover Cleveland
President of the United States, 1885–1889
During his first presidency, Cleveland signed the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, which made the railroad industry the first industry subject to federal regulation by a regulatory body, and the Dawes Act, which subdivided Native American tribal communal landholdings into individual allotments. In the 1888 election, Cleveland won the popular vote but lost the electoral college and therefore the election to Benjamin Harrison.
Portrait of Grover Cleveland: Napoleon Sarony, Public domain, file
Benjamin Harrison
President of the United States, 1889–1893
Hallmarks of Harrison's administration were unprecedented economic legislation, including the McKinley Tariff, which imposed historic protective trade rates, and the Sherman Antitrust Act. During his administration six western states were admitted to the Union.
Portrait of Benjamin Harrison: Adam Cuerden, Public domain, file
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Grover Cleveland
President of the United States, 1893–1897
One month before his second presidency began, the Panic of 1893 sparked a severe national depression. Cleveland intervened in the 1894 Pullman Strike to keep the railroads moving, angering Illinois Democrats and labor unions nationwide.
Portrait of Grover Cleveland: Napoleon Sarony, Public domain, file
William McKinley
President of the United States, 1897–1901
McKinley's presidency saw rapid economic growth. He raised protective tariffs, signing the Dingley Tariff of 1897 to protect manufacturers and factory workers from foreign competition and securing the passage of the Gold Standard Act of 1900.
Portrait of William McKinley: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, file
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Culture
- As American wages grew much higher than those in Europe, especially for skilled workers, and industry demanded an increasingly skilled labor force, the period saw an influx of millions of European immigrants. Immigrants typically settled in industrial centers, and many planned to return to Europe with their earnings.
- Economic inequality grew as the concentration of wealth became more visible and contentious, with urban slums developing and growing during this era.
- Labor unions became increasingly important in the rapidly growing and industrializing cities.
- 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 severely economically disadvantaged.
Picture
Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River.
Image: Christian David, CC BY-SA 4.0, file
Sources
Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.