Industrialization During The Gilded Age

During the nineteenth century Americans were experiencing something they had never seen before. From one perspective America was flourishing, big companies owned a vast majority of America’s wealth and were gaining more power every day. But the truth was the majority of people were stuck in poverty with no way out. The upper class was small and lived lavishly, while the lower class was huge and could barely get by. Unequal distribution of wealth led many to respond, labor unions formed because Americans wanted things to change. The United States was filled with riches but also inequalities, the boundary between upper and lower classes was only getting larger; this was a period in American history known as the Gilded Age.
During this age the …show more content…
With the rapid growth of industry there were bound to be some problems that would affect society. Industrial companies now required more laborers to meet demands, all sorts of people started flowing into the cities for a chance to fill in these jobs. Although, not all these people looking for jobs could get one, with so many people willing to work these industrial jobs were hard to get into because of intense competition. Even if you could get a job working was not easy. Knowing the people were desperate and needed the money, the companies did not care for their workers at all. Wages were low, but it was their only source of income so the workers could not leave. Hours were gruesomely long, but they had to keep working to feed their families. The working conditions were also horrible, many worked dangerous jobs with no protection of their lives because they could be easily replaced by the next guy looking for a job. Industrialization may have had a positive outcome for some but it hurt more people than it helped. With no government regulation over business companies could form huge monopolies to control whole industries. This lead to even more problems, with no other competitors these monopolies controlled their own prices and had enough power to even influence government. The laissez-faire government could not regulate the prices so people were forced to pay what the companies asked. The lower …show more content…
The Industrial Revolution led to a lot of economic, social, and political problems, and drastically changed the way people lived. Big business ran the world, they influenced government, and held most of the nation’s wealth. But the people of American did not just stand back and watch, they fought to improve their lives. Workers would strike on the job, form labor unions, and even influence politics to try and reform government. Although they faced substantial challenges along the way, they persevered and eventually saw things change slowly. An age of reform followed the Gilded Age, the United States had progressed forward becoming closer to the society we live in today. The Gilded Age may have been a dark time in history for many but it made America strong, it changed people’s views on what government should do for its people and as a result America has learned that the people are what matters