Gilded Age

How did the "Gilded Age" glisten? How was it tarnished? How did the progressives of the early 20th Century want to change the coating of their society?

The Gilded Age glistened in many ways. It also tarnished in many ways as well. Some of the topics that were considered highly important during this time period included political issues, race relations, workers, class issues, agriculture, and reconstruction, and the ways that this time affected the women. For this I chose to write about the political issues that happened during this era if time.

During the years of "The Gilded Age", the face of modern America took shape. Waves of people from all over the world came to America causing small towns to become much, much bigger. Because of the people coming from all over the world, the United States began to consist of much more than just Protestant, and Anglo. The neighborhoods were filled with many different ethnicities and cultures. Because of all the different types of people there were many different ways that everyone did things which taught everyone else many things. On the negative side of this because of the amount of people who came to the United States so fast there were problems such as overcrowding, poverty, and health problems which led to the issues of new government problems, prompting reform efforts, politically, journalistically, and also social issues.

There were many political issues that were brought up during the "Gilded Age" that made the era glisten. The textbook says, "For a brief period of years, black politicians exercised more power in the South than they would for another Century." (Divine 407). During those years black politicians had more power than anyone else. It definitely boosted their confidence. During that time it showed everyone that black people were just as good as white people and it also showed everyone that black people could do anything that a white person can do. It also showed people that blacks can be just as powerful as a white person.

Another issue that had major affects on this period and made this era glisten was that, "the Reconstruction Era also saw major transformations in American society in the wake of the Civil War-new ways of organizing labor and family life, new institutions within and outside of the government, and new ideologies regarding the role of institutions and government in social and economic life. Many of the changes begun during the Reconstruction Era laid the groundwork for later revolutions in American life." (Divine 407-8). The reconstruction period was a major time because there were so many changes that took place. Most of the changes that took place were positive ones. The changes included new ways of organizing the lives of people, mainly the people who were slaves to not be slaves anymore. Some of the other changes that happened included new institutions in and out of the government. The last part of the quote states, "Ð'...Many of the changes begun during Reconstruction laid the groundwork for later revolutions." That right there is the way that our everyday lives are. Most of the time we do something because someone else has done it and if it was not done recently it was most likely done at some point in time. Every person follows others even if they do not think that they do.

There were also many other things that happened during the "Gilded Age" that tarnished the time. One of those issues that was a major event that happened was, "A series of political developments on the national and regional stage made reconstruction Ð''an unfinished revolution' promising but not delivering true equality for newly freed African Americans." (Divine 407). This made the newly freed African Americans very angry because