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The Gilded Age

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The Gilded Age
Samantha Jane
American History Essay Test

The Gilded Age The well-known author Mark Twain named the Gilded Age, it means “golden”. The Gilded Age received its name from the massive amount of inventions, expansion in the West, and the economics doing the best it has ever done before. Another reason it is viewed as the golden age is because of the huge step in railroads. Steel replaces Iron because it is cheaper, tougher and easier to make. Steel is used mainly for railroads but also for farming tools, and cans for food. Although the railroad is built almost entirely by immigrants the railroad knits the nation together. The government has to make time zones to keep train schedules, and they also make the Interstate Commerce Act to try to stop corruption that runs wild in the railroads.
The Gilded Age also got its name for the amount of important inventions that came to be in that time. Thomas Edison was the best-known inventor of the Gilded Age. He invented the light bulb, a phonograph, a movie camera, and the first ever power plant. He used direct current at first, which was not very safe but the technology for an upgrade ha not been invented yet. Alexander Graham Bell invented the first working telephone and the first words ever said over telephone were, “Watson, come here, I need you.” It was spoken by Alexander Graham Bell himself to his butler whose name was Watson. This surged the expansion to the West because now families could still stay in touch from across the country. The phone calls were cheaper, and faster then telegrams and settlers didn’t have to make their way down to town for a Morse code message to be sent or received.
These things were what gave the Gilded Age its name, but this time in history was only dusted in gold. Underneath the small amount of gold coverings was the rotten and corrupted ways of businesses, the government, and immigrants. There were people nicknamed Robber Barons. They were people who misused their workers to become

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