Gilded Age

The Gilded Age was an era in history following the American Civil War (1861–65) and Reconstruction (1866–77, the period after the American Civil War during which the Southern states were reorganized and brought back into the Union). Spanning approximately 1877 to 1900, it was a time of economic expansion and development, due primarily to the Industrial Revolution . The United States transformed itself from an agrarian (agricultural)-based economy to one rooted in industry and business.

With the advent of technology came the need for laborers, workers who could run the machines, man the factories, and work demanding schedules. These workers would be known as the working-class poor. In order to keep the various industries and factories operating smoothly, managers and office staff were required. Thus was born the middle class. Someone had to own the businesses, and that privilege belonged to a handful of men who were, for the most part, relentless in their pursuit of wealth. They grew rich at the expense of the working class and believed that was exactly as it should be. For this attitude, they were given the nickname robber barons . These select elite made up the upper class.

A characteristic of the Gilded Age was the tendency of the upper classes to go to great lengths to demonstrate and prove their wealth and position in society. Grandiose mansions and estates were built using ornate and detailed architecture. If big would suffice, gigantic was even better, and soon New York became home to most of the millionaires in the United States.

Yet while most of the nation's wealth was held by a small percentage of the population, the majority of Americans lived in poverty. Never before in the history of the United States had there existed so great a gap between those who had enough and those who had next to nothing. The working class began to fight back, and the Gilded Age was rife with labor strikes in which workers refused to do their jobs until industries met certain conditions. Unfortunately, decades would pass before the working class achieved the justice they were seeking.

Mark Twain and the Gilded Age

The term “Gilded Age” was coined by Samuel Clemens (1835–1910), better known to his readers as Mark Twain. Twain and his novelist neighbor Charles Dudley Warner (1829–1900) were attending a dinner party one evening. After hearing the two men complain about the low quality of the novels their wives were reading, someone challenged the duo to write something better. The men accepted the challenge and in 1873 published a novel titled The Gilded Age. The book was about a time when the United States was run by powerful but corrupt politicians and big businesses. The rich increased their wealth through corruption while the poor got poorer. The novel turned out to be an eerily accurate foretelling of the future. It proved to be exactly how the late nineteenth century would be remembered.

Aside from The Gilded Age as well as hundreds of short stories, essays, and lesser-known novels, Twain penned the popular novels Tom Sawyer (1876), The Prince and the Pauper (1881), and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). The author earned a place in history as one of the writers whose works reflect the era in which he lived.

Whenever power and wealth lie in the hands of a select few, corruption at any given level will often manifest. The Gilded Age was a time of intense political corruption. Favors were given and payment was expected, either in the form of jobs, money, or the passing of particular laws. Big business relied on political corruption to keep the wealth and power in the control of owners. In return, politicians got the support of big business by way of votes as well as huge monetary donations. It was a system that worked well for both parties, but which required the exploitation and suffering of the very people who ran the factories and businesses.