The Issues of the Gilded Age
The Gilded Age spanned from 1865 to around 1914. It was an important time in American history. On the surface, the Gilded Age seemed to be a wonderful era, but if you dug deeper, it would be obvious it was not. Immigration, industrialization, and urbanization are the three main issues of the Gilded Age.
Immigration was a great problem in the United States during this time period. Literally, millions upon millions of people were flooding to this country in hopes of a better lifetime. Immigrants were coming from all over the world (deleted comma) in hopes of their own American dream, just to get here, and realize that it would never be realized. People were coming to America(removed "n") to avoid pogroms (the systematic massacre of Jews in Russia). They were also trying to escape never ending poverty. The draft was a threat to many young men living in other countries. They would be drafted into a war they did not want to be in. To avoid these drafts they would travel to America. A big part of immigration was Ellis Island. Ellis Island was a trafficking island, to care for immigrants, give them food, shelter and medical attention if needed. (Ellis Island was a checkpoint, actually) Millions of immigrants went through through this island, in hopes of being accepted and allowed into America, where they could have a better life.
Urbanization was also a very large issue in the time period of the Gilded Age. Urbanization was the process of becoming a city. American cities were expanding upward and outward becoming larger as more and more immigrants flooded to them. There was much poverty and overcrowding, so much that the air was black with soot. (what do poverty and overcrowding have to do with soot?) This urbanization started the beginnings of public transportation and subways. It also paved the way for the birth of skyscrapers. Many immigrants came for a new life and this caused much overcrowding. (< already said this) From 1880, to 1920, over eleven million people left rural areas and moved to more urban areas, forming extremely large cities and causing devastating overcrowding. This overcrowding produced disease infested rats that were found in the sewers. Overcrowding became so bad, sometimes six or seven families would share one toilet. Urbanization caused ghettos to form. These ghettos were formed because of the natural inclination to live by other people of your same ethnicity. Overall, urbanization was a disaster, and it had horrible effects on the people.
Industrialization was another contributing factor to the issues of the Gilded Age. Industrialization was the process of becoming industrialized (really?), which included factories, businesses and railroads. Industrialization mocked the first enterprises on the military, using a hierarchy as their way of functioning. Railroads were the first major corporation in America, and they were funded by the government. Some important people involved with industrialization were John D. Rockefeller, he was a large oil company (the man himself was a company?), and Andrew Carnegie, who was a steel manufacturer. They owned very large factories, and contributed to the process of industrialization. They were the ones in power, the ones holding the nation’s wealth. In 1900, Carnegie’s income for that year was 23 million dollars with no income tax. Rockefeller’s personal wealth was around one billion dollars in today’s standards. Clearly they held most of the nation’s wealth. Although they held most of the nation’s wealth, 1/8 of the population which was approximately ten million people, lived under the poverty line, and 1/5 of the people lived barely at the poverty line. Overall, industrialization was a very large contributor to both the nation’s wealth, and the nation’s poverty.
(removed "In conclusion")There were three main contributing factors to the Gilded Age, industrialization, immigration, and urbanization. They all affected the nation, some for the better, and some for the worse. Those three issues were the most important in terms of the Gilded Age.
