Gilded Age
Post-Civil War boom
The Gilded Age was the period in American history from roughly the 1870s to 1900, characterized by industrialization, railroad expansion, robber barons, political corruption, and extreme wealth disparity.
Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner coined the term satirically in their 1873 novel, suggesting the era's prosperity was a thin gold coating over deeper problems: Carnegie and Rockefeller epitomized Gilded Age excess. (Lowercase gilded age describes any similar era.)
Powerful business leaders
- industrialistsOwners of manufacturing enterprises
- robber baronsExploitative nineteenth-century capitalists
- railroadsTrain transportation systems
- steelCarbon-hardened iron alloy
oil · Carnegie · Rockefeller · Morgan · Vanderbilt · factories · mills · innovation
Illicit political gain
- briberyCorrupt payment for influence
- kickbacksIllegal return payments
- patronageSupporter's financial backing
- spoils systemAwarding posts to supporters
political machine · Tammany Hall · cronyism · nepotism · backroom deals · scandal · muckrakers · reform
Believes in reliability
- Standard OilHistoric petroleum monopoly
- antitrustAgainst corporate market dominance
- consolidationCombining into unified whole
- vertical integrationOwning multiple production stages
price fixing · cartels · oligopoly · predatory pricing · barriers to entry · holding companies · market dominance · Ida Tarbell
Overcrowded urban dwellings
- sweatshopsExploitative manufacturing facilities
- child laborMinors performing paid work
- povertySevere lack of resources
- slumsImpoverished, crowded districts
working class · labor unrest · strikes · breadlines · immigrants · Ellis Island
Excessive richness or abundance
- luxuryExpensive nonessential comfort
- splendorImpressive, striking beauty
- grandeurImpressive splendor and scale
- magnificenceImpressive beauty or scale
ostentation · elegance · mansions · ballrooms · chandeliers · marble · velvet · brocade
tycoons
Powerful business leaders
- industrialistsOwners of manufacturing enterprises
- robber baronsExploitative nineteenth-century capitalists
- railroadsTrain transportation systems
steel · oil · Carnegie · Rockefeller · Morgan · Vanderbilt · factories · mills · innovation · expansion
graft
Illicit political gain
- briberyCorrupt payment for influence
- kickbacksIllegal return payments
- patronageSupporter's financial backing
spoils system · political machine · Tammany Hall · cronyism · nepotism · backroom deals · scandal · muckrakers · reform · civil service
trusts
Believes in reliability
- Standard OilHistoric petroleum monopoly
- antitrustAgainst corporate market dominance
- consolidationCombining into unified whole
vertical integration · price fixing · cartels · oligopoly · predatory pricing · barriers to entry · holding companies · market dominance · Ida Tarbell · trust-busting
tenements
Overcrowded urban dwellings
- sweatshopsExploitative manufacturing facilities
- child laborMinors performing paid work
- povertySevere lack of resources
slums · working class · labor unrest · strikes · breadlines · immigrants · Ellis Island
lavishness
Excessive richness or abundance
- luxuryExpensive nonessential comfort
- splendorImpressive, striking beauty
- grandeurImpressive splendor and scale
magnificence · ostentation · elegance · mansions · ballrooms · chandeliers · marble · velvet · brocade · Newport
- 1800s AmericaOregon Trail, Trail of Tears, transcontinental railroad, Civil War, Abraham Lincoln
- industrializationfactory, industrial revolution, Industrial Revolution, factories, manufacturing
- US HistoryAmerican Revolution, US history, Civil War, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln
- 1800sVictorian era, Napoleon, Queen Victoria, Industrial Revolution, Abraham Lincoln
- erasera, epoch, period, Victorian era, colonial era
- high societygossip, socialites, socialite, aristocrats, aristocrat
Gilded AgeProgressive Era
US social reform period
New Deal era · Great Society · Fair Deal · War on Poverty · Reconstruction
Gilded AgeGreat Depression
1930s global economic crisis
economic collapse · social democracy · hard times · egalitarian society
age, gild, gilded, gilding, gilt, guilder, gilds, gilder, guildhall