ISSUES OF A GILDED AGE
Feb 22, 2016
ISSUES OF A GILDED
AGE
The Gilded Age In the 1890s, 10% of Americans
owned 90% of the nation’s wealth
“Gilded” means gold-covered
Why would ‘gilded’ reflect the
distribution of wealth in the late
19th Century?
HomesWealthy Poor
Huge mansions in the city
Summer homes in country
Luxuries – indoor plumbing, electricity, lavish furnishing
Apartments, tenements
Overcrowded, little light or fresh air
No or poor shared plumbing
Few, or basic furnishings
Source of IncomeWealthy Poor
Huge corporations, monopolies
Stocks, stock options
Profits rise by keeping costs low (see )
10-14 hour workdays
20 cents per day; up to $2 per day
Unsafe workplaces with little light or fresh air
Daily LifeWealthy Poor
Social functions, huge parties
Frequent holidays
Lavish spending
Work, work, work, (men, women & children)
Tending for children (women & children)
Sleep
Limited free time
Social Darwinism Individuals compete for success
The fittest (wealthy) have won and deserve the luxuries of wealth and inferior (poor) lose
Issues of a Gilded Age:
Vocabulary
industrial union
labor organization comprised of all
workers in a factory regardless of the job
they do
craft union
labor organization made up of workers
in one particular trade
seniority
Your rank as a worker according to how
long you’ve been on the job
grievance
complaint about the way you’re being
treated
arbitration
settling of a dispute between two sides by an outside party
injunction
court order forbidding an event from taking place
radical
person with unusual or extreme beliefs
anarchist
person who believes in no government at
all
depression
bad times in the business cycle
characterized the high unemployment
recession
a mild depression
inflation
Prices go up and the value of money
decreases
deflation
Prices go down and the value of money
increases
gold standard
every paper dollar is worth a specific amount of gold
free trade
absence of tariffs and other trade barriers