The Gilded Age Free Essays

The Gilded Age – Immigration Urbanization Immigration and Urbanization during the Gilded Age were without a doubt a major issue. Many of the political leaders were Immigrants themselves when they started from the bottom. The controversy with them is whether or not they held on to their roots. We will write a custom essay sample on The Gilded Age or any similar topic only for you Order Now Urbanization during the Gilded age had a horrible impact for the lower class. Their living environments were beyond unpleasant. Having open sewers also created diseases and contamination. The amount of poverty during this time was very high. The Urbanization of cities separated the classes causing an even bigger mess. The rich and poor no longer lived in the same areas. Instead they each had their own suburbs. (B) Mass amounts off people were homeless, crime rates grew at a fast pace, and children were left starving. All these problems happened because of the urbanization. While the poor were living miserable lives, the rich had all they could ask for living the good life. (D) The Streets were also a very filthy place in any weather condition. When it rained it turned into slimy conditions. When it didn’t rain, the streets were full of dust. The sprinkling in the summer made the dust into mud and then that mud was turned into dust by the winds. No matter what time it was always an unpleasant setting. Sewers were clogged by the grease that came from the wagon axles, pavements couldn’t even be viewed because of the mass amounts of dust. The open sewers filled the air with an unpleasant smell on every land. Once the citizens were tired of it all the voters soon influenced their political leaders to do something about it. O) We’ve seen these types of influences by the voters in the present day as well. The pros of living in a democracy is that with the will power of the people things can be changed for the better. Religion was also a big craze during this time. Reverends during this time focused on converting citizens to Christ’s Religion. They came up with a belief in religious remedies. These remedies were said to purify a man’s whole be ing. They swore they had converted many foul men and women by sanctifying them. They claimed that by doing this, it would free them from committing any social sins. Desires for drinking, anger, pride, and love were also â€Å"removed† and healed by the blood of Christ. (K) These different types of religions were also a reason as to why different groups were separated. Immigration during this time was good for those who employed. Not so good for those who were employed by them. When big amounts immigrants arrived at one time, those in the industry lowered the wages knowing that the new immigrants would work for any salary. Long hours and very little pay most likely exhausted the workers. Conditions were not the best even though the companies claimed they were. Q) These problems are still slightly seen today. Immigrants are still being paid whatever the employers want and it’s obviously not fair at all. It is such a shame that there is still no solution to this problem. Cultural differences also separated many couples. They might have started loving each other while in one of their countries and eventually gotten engaged. The opinion s of others could also have caused these separations. The fact that couples from two different places could have been the cause of the very judging opinions of others. Those opinions from others could also have created the same thoughts about their partners. (V) The knowledge that some of the people who were joined could have benefited the governments but because of the judgment it became otherwise. All of these factors contributed the bad times during the gilded age. We still see many of those problems in the present day. It makes us think about the different options that we have in order to change these repeated troubles. It is up to the young generation to think these things through. With many contributing great thinking minds anything can be solved How to cite The Gilded Age, Essay examples The Gilded Age Free Essays Week 2 Response During the Gilded Age (1876-1900), Congress was known for being rowdy and inefficient. It was not unusual to find that agreement could not be achieved because too many members were drunk or otherwise preoccupied with extra-governmental affairs. It was an era in which political corruption seemed to be the norm. We will write a custom essay sample on The Gilded Age or any similar topic only for you Order Now Practices that today would be viewed as scandalous were accepted as a matter of routine. The narrow division between Republican and Democratic voters made both parties hesitant to take strong stands on any issue for fear of alienating blocs of voters. The result was that little got done. The halls of Congress were filled with tobacco smoke, Businessmen wantonly bribed public officials at the local, state and national level, and political machines turned elections into exercises in fraud and manipulation. (Kennedy, pg 591) The Senate, whose seats were often auctioned off to the highest bidder, was known as a â€Å"rich man’s club,† where political favors were traded like horses, and the needs of the people in the working classes lay beyond the vision of those exalted legislators. The dominant fact concerning the American political parties between 1875 and 1900 was that the parties were evenly divided. The Republican Party held a slight edge in national politics, largely on their repeated claim that it was the Democratic Party that had caused the Civil War. Republicans were noted for waving the â€Å"Bloody Shirt,† calling Democrats responsible for the blood that was shed over secession. (Kennedy, Pg 602) Union veterans gravitated heavily to the Republican Party, which caused its popularity. Before the Civil War the Democratic Party had become a heavily Southern party, and its strong Southern base continued until well into the 20th century. The northern wing of the Democratic Party leaned heavily in favor of the working classes, whose demographic makeup included Roman Catholics of German and Irish descent, and many of the working class immigrants once they became eligible to vote. Neither Democrats nor Republicans were willing to take strong stands on issues important to the voters. Due to the corruption of the parties, little was done in office. The sectionalism caused unfair elections and favored voting that would last for the next decades to come. How to cite The Gilded Age, Essay examples