The Gilded Age

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in the steel market. John Rockefeller became enormously wealthy in the oil industry. He did this by arranging secret deals with railroad companies and buying out opposing oil refineries. He soon established a vertically integrated monopoly, which controlled drilling, refining, storage, and distribution of oil. By 1880, his company, Standard Oil company, maintained control of around 90% of the country’s oil industry. Document E shows Rockefeller holding the government in his hands, the cartoon’s message shows how the government and country relied on his oil; that his oil “ran’’ the country. Though these industries did well for the upper class, their working conditions did little to benefit the working class. Workers, for example, in Carnegie’s factories were forced to operate nonstop with two twelve hour shifts every day of the year with the exception of July 4th. This is where labor unions emerged. In Document G, the Knights of Labor Constitution writes about the great corporations degrading systems which could lead to “pauperization.” They believed it was necessary that all workers American or not, “enjoy the full blessings of life.”

The Gilded Age was coined as Gilded for a purpose, that having to do with the abosolute corruption in the politics at the time. One such incident of corruption was New York’s Tweed Ring, run by William Tweed. He formed close relationships with railroad men and labor unions. He gained further support by creating a private welfare system that won the votes of the immigrant poor. In Document H, a cartoon depicting him and Tammany Hall as malicious vultures perched on the corpse of New York. Corruption soon spread to labor unions, the saviors of the working class. A disgusted Lucy Parsons speaks her mind in the Haymarket Documents in in Document I. The document explains why the riot took place and due to the riot it shed a negative light upon the unions and people tried to refrain from taking aid from them.

In short, it can be justified that the Gilded Age had indeed caused drastic change in every aspect previously mentioned. The Gilded Age had questionable periods with the corruption and the absolute domination by Carnegie and Rockefeller in their respective markets. The monopolies and corruption can be compared to cotton monopoly and corruption of slavery in the 18th century. During the 18th century, Southern cotton was a well-known product sought after around the entire world like Rockefeller’s oil in The States. The way each made their profit consisted of corruption as well; off cheap and menial labor. Carnegie used children and adults to work in wretched conditions whereas the slaves toiled constantly with the fear of sale and the whip hovering over their heads. It can be concluded that the rise in industry came from the influx of immigrants to create an impoverished labor force. The impoverished labor force brought up the labor unions to defend the workers conditions in the work place. These entities effected the social, economic, and political atmospheres of the Gilded Age.