Even though the gilded age ended as the United States being one of the top ten nations that had industrial changes it was one of the times where there was a lot of greed and inequality in the economy. One very good thing that came from the period was the railroad buildings. This made life a lot easier because it let people travel in a safe way. This led to many more inventions like telephones, cars, light bulbs, and many more helpful things.
One very big question everyone had was how freedom was going to work during the gilded age. Black Americans never had fully been free. They were always made less because of the color of their skin and always had to do things they didn’t want. They also wanted an education so they can learn new things but were never given the chance to because of their skin, so when the gilded age began their question was did they have freedom finally without a corrupt government. Even though they had hoped freedom for balck really was not a thing. the black Americans were left poor and looking for jobs like in farms or factories. the factories had no safety for them. Many of those jobs would not pay them enough to get out of poverty.
When the second revolution in the industry happend many workers who had freedom were mostly white workers who were skilled and asked for a very high pay.
When we think of the word freedom we think of being able to do whatever we want. The gilded age definition of freedom is not like it is today. The people never had freedom; they always were depending on someone. Back Then it was divided into four types of classes.
The classes were the poor, rich, smart and the dumb. The gap between the society was so big. Many of the wealth would privately provide money for hospitals, schools, museums, and opera houses. How was it possible that the rich could do all that while the poor could not even put food on the table for their families. The poor felt left out and not remembered. Many strikes were made but they were not very successful at all. The conditions they lived in were so bad. Since cities did not have the proper things to dispose of waste they would leave the trash where the poor were and it was a horrible way to live for them. Many people thought the poor were just lazy people and that they did not want to do anything and that they deserve the way they live.
One very ugly event that happened would be the robber Barons. This was when men were men who wanted wealth no matter what. They would do anything to win against anybody. Many of them would use fraud, violence, and would use their powerful connections to get whatever they want so they could take any company they want and become more wealthy. Many of these men would break the law and they did not care. Many of these men ended up owning really big companies.
A very big change that happened was when they changed from living on farms to living in the city. Many farmers were struggling when everything happened. They had to look for a city job. Many cities were not ready for this big change. It came as a really big surprise to them. By the year 1990 about fifty percent lived in the city. There were not a lot of places where somebody could live because it was really limited.
Medical care was not the best at that time. There was very little or sometimes didn’t even exist. Sadly many of them died of disease because of the lack of treatment. Many of the poor were willing to work anything and would get paid very little for the amount of hours they would put in. There was a very ugly income inequality between the poor and the rich. The rich would live in very clean and decent homes while the working kept getting poorer. The rich were able to eat anything they wanted and their kids could get anything they wanted. The poor lived in horrible conditions.
When the gilded age ended it ended because major companies ended up failing. Which set a very ugly bad time for America. Many banks and stock markets crashed which left many people without jobs. Many people ended up being homeless and without food . It was a very ugly time that lasted four years.
Conclusion
In conclusion the gilded age brought a lot of people to the city. It invented many things that we have today but of course a lot better and more modern. The people were not free because it was always like the rich would control everything that happens . The poor would have to work so hard and could barely even afford food. The city was really dirty and had trash everywhere because they didn’t have a system that would throw the trash. The poor would have to go through all that because they could not afford money to get nice apartments. All that trash would lead to people getting sick and they would die because there was no hospital.
America never actually got freedom because the rich were always one step ahead of them because they had money and they were white. They would get anything they want with a snap of a finger and the poor are the one who would have to pay for that. So freedom was never a thing during the gilded age. The poor were always under control. They would always try to fight back but they never got heard. The saddest part is this lead to a very tragic event which killed many. Many of the poor would work in dangerous places risking their lives and getting paid almost nothing and having to go see that their families are hungry.
