Immigration In The Gilded Age

The Gilded Age marked the beginning of a colossal rise of industrialism. America was becoming a world power economically, and had everything it needed to grow: plenty of raw materials, a growing workforce, and capital that could be invested. The growth of this industry resulted in vast wealth, as well as a growing call for reform that heavily influenced the nation. Despite the efforts of conservatives and nativists, the rise in industry and labor unions as well as the influx in immigration influence the social, economic and political atmosphere of the Gilded Age.
Immigration was a big part of the Gilded Age. There was an influx of immigrants during this time period, most of which came from southern and eastern Europe, and were Catholic. This
They grew immensely in power during the over the years, advocating for better working conditions for laborers, such as shorter hours, better pay, and a safer work environment. Labor unions were significant because they succeeded in getting better working conditions for workers, and they provided a way for workers to have some sort of power against the big businesses that they worked for. Labor unions in the Gilded Ages were pretty successful. Between 1860 and 1891, wages increased by 72.5% and hours went down from an average of 9.9 hours a day to 9.4 (doc I) Labor unions also lobbied against child labor. Companies were looking for the cheapest labor possible, so they hired children because children could be paid less than adults. This was significant because workers did not want to compete with children, so they advocated for the creation of mandatory education for children, as it kept them out of factories. A cartoon depicting child labor illustrates this fear of children taking jobs away from adults (doc B) because they could be paid so cheap. Labor union leaders and members would have agreed with this cartoon. There were also large conventions where labor unions joined together, such as the International Labor Congress, which was held in Chicago in 1893. What Does Labor Want was a speech heard at this convention. It was given by Samuel Gompers, the founder of the American Federation of Labor, a labor union. This was
There was a lot of corruption in the Gilded Age that extended into Congress, and America saw scandals such as Credit Mobilier, a scandal that not only involved members of the Union Pacific Railroad, but also members of the public. These scandals, although harmful, were significant because they paved the way for the modern relationship between big businesses and members of Congress, where businesses donate to elections and then politicians vote in favor of them in return. The American public did not like this, as seen by a cartoon of Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall standing on the corpse of New York (doc C). The price to build Tammany Hall increased dramatically because of corruption, and the American taxpayers were not happy about this, as well as the corruption in the House and the Senate that supported big businesses. Joseph Keppler drew a cartoon entitled “The Bosses of the Senate” that also captured the opinion of the public. A banner drawn in the cartoon stated, “This is a Senate of the monopolists and for the monopolists!” (doc G) The purpose of his cartoon was to show the corruption in the Senate that resulted from monopolies, such as Standard Oil, illustrated in the cartoon as “Standard Oil Trust”. This is significant because it showed the dislike that the public had for monopolies, and especially how they controlled Congress. In the face of an angry public,