Introduction to the Gilded Age (1870–1900)

The Gilded Age, which lasted from shortly after the Civil War to the beginning of the twentieth century, is usually characterized as a time of corruption, greed, and vulgarity. Plenty of evidence accumulated to support that view. However, it was also an era of dynamic industrial growth, technological innovation, and especially political evolution: many of the conflicts and tactics that make up modern political debate first emerged between 1870 and 1900.

The age got its name from a novel by Mark Twain (1835–1910) and Charles Dudley Warner (1929–1900), The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today, which satirized the unscrupulous behavior and conspicuous consumption of the time. The period certainly had many well-known political scandals, one of the most notorious being the Crédit Mobilier affair, in which sixteen members of Congress were accused of profiting from a scheme to overcharge the government—by more than twenty-three million dollars—for the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad. Enormous fortunes were built by “robber barons”—businessmen who accumulated their wealth through questionable business practices and the exploitation of labor. They spent lavishly as well: stories of their extravagant homes and parties filled the newspapers. Meanwhile, the nation’s westward expansion was being accomplished at the expense of the Native American population.

Yet the Gilded Age was also a time of great energy and transformation. Those pictured by some as “robber barons” were called “captains of industry” by others. Manufacturing capacity grew by 480 percent, and the miles of railroad track quadrupled, joining the cities of the East with the resources of the West. Businessmen such as John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937), who exploited the nation’s oil reserves, and Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919), who revolutionized the steel industry, provided jobs for the 12 million new immigrants. Technological innovation, including the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922) and the light bulb by Thomas Edison (1847–1931), helped make the United States a productive giant in the world economy.

Politics, although troubled by corrupt legislators and greedy party bosses, such as New York’s William “Boss” Tweed (1823–1878), witnessed great voter interest and participation. In some states more than 80 percent of voters showed up at the polls for major elections. Many of them insisted on reforms, such as the Sherman Antitrust Act, which curbed business consolidation and monolopies, and the Pendleton Act, which created the Civil Service Commission to control political patronage.

The age may have been, as Twain and Dudley thought, a bit too shiny on the outside, but its substance was a complex mix. Greed and corruption ran into the toughness of such reformers as Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906), who fought for women’s rights, including the right to vote; Frederick Douglass (1818–1895), who crusaded against laws that segregated the races; and labor leaders, such Eugene V. Debs (1855–1926) and Samuel Gompers (1850–1924), who formed unions to protect workers from exploitation. Even Rockefeller and Carnegie, once they had made their fortunes, showed their gilded neighbors what could good could be accomplished through philanthropy.