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