Politics of the Gilded Age[edit]During the Gilded Age, politics were characterized by the political machines of the cities and states. The "spoils system" was still in use. When a political machine won an election, it could remove all appointed office holders, leading to change in make up of the body as well as the heads of government departments. At that time many political offices were also elected. Many elected officials were elected to represent their ward, and not by the entire city. This system led to the election of people personally known to their communities, as opposed to people voters had heard of but didn't know.

The machines in the cities tended to be controlled by the Democratic party which allied with new immigrants by providing jobs, housing, and other benefits in exchange for votes. This was a challenge to the power of the old elites, whose families had lived in the US for generations. Political machines routinely used fraud and bribery to further their ends. On the other hand they also provided relief, security, and services to the crowds of newcomers who voted for them and kept them in power. By doing this they were able to keep the peoples loyalty, thus giving themselves more power.

The political machines gave lucrative government contracts and official positions to supporters. Opponents of the political machines called this corruption, and wished to give a corrupt government contracts and official positions to people they preferred. One of the most well known machines was that of Tammany Hall in New York. Long led by William Tweed, he was better known as Boss Tweed. In addition to rewarding supporters, they saw themselves as defending New York City from the residents of upstate New York and the New York state government who saw New York city as a ready source of funds to benefit upstate New York.

Most bosses such as "Duke" Vare, Tom Pendergast, and Richard Croker had an official income that was very low but were still able to live in luxury despite this fact.

Republican political machines also existed, one of the most important was the Republican machine in Ohio run by Mark Hanna. Ohio had a comparatively large population and was very important in national politics. Mark Hanna was a successful businessman and political operator and long time friend of Rockefeller. He later helped mastermind McKinley's run for president.

There was a darker side to early politics in the Gilded Age in the form of Jim Crow segregation laws. Although slavery was now abolished, many whites still saw themselves as better than blacks and sought out new ways to oppress them. In the 1896 Supreme Courte case Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation was legal as long as the institutions maintained separate but equal qualities. After the ruling segregation laws in the South began to pop up. Known as Jim Crow laws, they relegated blacks to sit in the back of street cars, separate public drinking fountains and toilets, and separate sections of cemeteries and hospitals. Disenfranchisement was one of these big things. During this time, every Southern state passed laws designed to prevent African Americans from having the right to vote. Another thing that happened was that the Jim Crow Laws were passed. These were laws that segregated the whites from the colored. They required things like separate bathrooms and drinking fountains with signs stating whether they were for white or colored people. Advances in technology drove American Industrialization, as did access to the immense and untapped resources of the North American continent. Industrialization brought the growth of new American cities such as Chicago, and the arrival of a flood of immigrants from all over Europe to man the factories. The Civil War had transformed the North into one of the most heavily industrialized regions in the world, and during the Gilded Age, businessmen reaped enormous profits from this new economy. Powerful tycoons formed giant trusts to monopolize the production of goods that were in high demand. Andrew Carnegie, for one, built a giant steel empire using vertical integration, a business tactic that increased profits by eliminating middlemen from the production line. Though industrialization caused many long term positives, it did cause problems in the short term.[1] Rich farmers who could afford new machinery grew even richer, while poorer farmers were forced to move into urban areas as they could not compete in the agricultural sector. had entered a time of success after a long downfall of the mid 1870's. The number of manufacturing plants and number of people doubled. Also, by the 1900's the South had consisted of more than 400 mills. Women and also children worked in bad conditions for long periods of time, mostly about 12 16 hours per day. They only made about a half a dollar per day, which was not much in that day of time. This invention would bring about a wave of new employment opportunities for women in America. Along with this new machine also came other inventions such as the telephone and the telegraph. Jobs for women went up substantially. In the 1890s, while the number of women telephone and telegraph operators went up 167 percent, the number of women stenographers and typists went up almost twice as much at 305 percent.

This huge event, when women were getting more and more jobs, was during the era where white, middle class women strove to branch out from the home. These women wanted to do more than just wash the clothes, keep the house clean, make all of the meals, and take care of the kids. These women wanted to be equal with men. This movement was referred to as "The Woman Movement." In this movement women expanded their jobs, creating clubs and crusades, and receiving more rights such as voting. One of the motivations for women to begin this movement was that women believed that they were superior to men and that they should share their greatness with the rest of America instead of keeping it combined to the home. This later became one of their arguments for many things such as voting. Jane Addams argued that "If women have in any sense been responsible for the gentler side of life which softens and blurs some of its harsher conditions, may not they have a duty to perform in our American cities?" Arguments such as these would fuel the fire for women across America to continue to fight for rights and recognition.

Early innovations in the technology of the internal combustion engine took place in Europe. In 1885 a German engineer, Gottlieb Daimler, built a lightweight engine driven by vaporized gasoline. This development inspired one of America's most visionary manufacturers, Henry Ford. In the 1880's, Ford, an electrical engineer in Detroit's Edison Company, experimented in his spare time using Daimler's engine to power a vehicle. George Selden, a Rochester, New York, lawyer, had already been tinkering with such technology, but Ford applied organizational genius to this invention and spawned a massive industry. [2]

As industrialization boomed, more job opportunities than ever opened up. Factory line jobs were perfect for women and Ka'Deem Carey Jersey children, mostly because the factory owners could pay the women less. Despite terrible work conditions, increasing numbers of women began to move from purely domestic workers to factory help. Although women now had a part in the workforce, sexual discrimination lasted. Where women had the opportunity to take some low positions, virtually no women were trusted with responsibilities such as managing, or even handling money. The factories also took advantage of immigrants and used them as cheap labor. Immigrants from Ireland, Germany and other European countries were considered second class citizens and this was evident in the work place. Immigrants received extremely low wages and no benefits, it was common for a worker to suffer a serious injury and lose his job if he was unable to perform.

Workers adjusted to mechanization as best they could. Some people submitted to the demands of the factory, machine, and time clock. Some tried to blend old ways of working into the new system. Others turned to resistance. Individuals challenged the system by ignoring management's orders, skipping work, or quitting. But also, anxiety over the loss of independence and a desire for better wages, hours, and working conditions drew disgruntled workers into unions. [3]

In the cities, laborers and employers often clashed over wages, sanitary conditions, working hours, benefits, and several other issues. Laborers organized themselves into unions to negotiate with companies. The companies, however, attempted to shut down labor unions. Some imposed yellow dog contracts, under which an employer could dismiss a worker who participated in union activity.

In 1886, the American Federation of Labor was formed to fight for laborers in general. The AFL and other union groups employed as many tactics as possible to force employers to accede to their demands. One tactic was the strike. Some strikes escalated into riots, as with the Knights of Labor's strike in 1886 becoming the Haymarket Riots. The Haymarket Riots of 1886 occurred when an unknown person threw a dynamite bomb into a group of police officers. Eight officers were killed in the explosion and gunfight that ensued. As a result, eight anarchists were tried for murder four were sentenced to death and one committed suicide.

The Pullman Strike occurred in 1894, in response to Pullman Company workers' wages being cut following the Panic of 1893, an economic depression which was caused in part by excessive railroad speculation. Approximately 3,000 workers began the strike on May 11. Within four days, approximately 125,000 ARU members had quit their jobs rather than switch Pullman cars. On July 6, President Cleveland sent Army troops to break up the strike, ostensibly because it prevented delivery of mail and was considered a threat to public safety.

The companies sometimes retaliated against strikes by suing the unions. Congress had passed the Sherman Antitrust Act to prevent trusts, or corporations that held stock in several different companies, from obstructing the activities of competitors. Though the Sherman Act was intended to target trusts, the companies sued the union under it, claiming that unions obstructed interstate commerce.

During the machine age, there were a number of strikes that took place due to the demands from factories and time clocks. It was hard for individuals to adjust to that system, and as a result, they challenged the system by ignoring management's orders, skipping work, or quitting. The desire and longing for better wages let to anxiety and frustration. Like farming and mining, industry was massive in size and changed not only the nature of the work but the person doing it. Soon, all of these disgruntled individuals David Fales Authentic Jersey formed specialized groups into unions. The different jobs varied in not only skill, but other things as well that were non related to worker conflict; race, sex, etc. These jobs were such as working on/in railroads, steel factories, and automobiles. The outcome for many working in labor during the Gilded Age led to horrific labor violence. Industrialists and workers literally fought over control of the workplace. Many suffered due to the strikes and riots and it inevitably led to deaths, loss of jobs, and often continuous violence. For most American workers, the Machine age had varying results. At times there was no job stability and when costs of living would increase drastically there were even more problems. [4]

Prices, and consequently wages, fell sharply in about the 1870 and stayed that way all the way through the 1970s. The prices of necessities in the late 1800s were: 4 pounds butter for $1.60, 1 bag of flour $1.80, a quart of milk for $0.56, vegetables $0.50, 2 bushels of coal $1.36, soap, starch, pepper, salt, vinegar, etc. $1.00, rent for $4.00 a week, and more. The average total of a person's wages was $16.00. The increasing factory businesses created many more job opportunities in the cities. Soon people began to flock from rural, farm areas, to large cities. Minorities and immigrants added to these numbers. Factory jobs were the only jobs some immigrants could get, and as more came to the cities to work, the larger the urbanization process became. In 1870 there were only two American cities with a population of more than 500,000, but by 1900 there were six, and three of these, New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia had over one million inhabitants. Roughly 40 percent of Americans lived in cities and the number was climbing. These large populations in the cities caused the crime rates to go up, and disease was rapidly spreading. Not only did urbanization cause cities to grow in population, it also caused cities to grow in building size. Skyscrapers were being built in the cities and the idea of mass transit had started. With these mass transits being built it allowed people to commute to work from further distances. Suburbs were beginning to form and higher class families began to move to them to get out of the over crowded city but still gave them the ability to go into the city to work each day. City living was for the lower class the upper class had enough money to get away from all of the pollution and the city stench. This still holds true today in larger cities a lot of the nicer homes are located further out from the center of the city. For example, in the city of Chicago, you will find a lot of the nicer homes away from the city, and more towards the suburbs. In this case, this is because there are a lot of violence in the inner city. Farmers had only one way of farming, which was by horse or a mule. Now, today we use tractors for the farm work. Farmers raised cows, pigs, chickens, and horses. They grew turnips, potatoes, carrots, grain, wheat, and corn. Farmers often ate off of their own establishment, because it was cheaper and it also was a way of life.

While industry generally increased in importance, farmers struggled due to debt and falling prices. The crop failures of the 1880s greatly exacerbated the situation.