Work And Social Class In Gilded Age

During the Gilded Age in 1870, work in the north and south had changed drastically. The Gilded Age was reconstruction after the Civil War. During this time, the separated North and South were trying to put things together as a united nation. After fighting for so long reuniting as a nation was a task that would require more effort, and required a strong hand to guide them through this tough time.

The South's, agriculture was continuing to be devastated, its economy was mainly based off cotton and tobacco, which at that time was suffering low prices. Also, the South's agricultural economy decline was because slavery was no longer allowed, so now they had no one to work for free on their massive plantation's fields. The region complete was beginning to sink deeper and deeper into poverty. African-American, farmers suffered from the most from the region’s conditions because they owned less land in 1900 than they had at the end of the Reconstruction period. The middle class of African-Americans was supported by cities through schools, churches, businesses, women’s clubs, and other places as well. The North's, industry market was flooded, and the government did not provide any assistance. There was competition between rival companies which were similar businesses that led to other business owners struggling to remain atop. There were two men who were considered the important robber barons during the Gilded Age. One is Andrew Carnegie and he was successful in the steel industry and other businesses as well. John D. Rockefeller was another successful entrepreneur that made it to the top due to his success in the oil business. He would also monopolize other small owned businesses in order to expand his product which would help the North. The North was booming with new innovations each day. The money was coming in through these massive companies that were basically in control of the economy at this point, which is why soon after the government passed the Antitrust Acts. 

When the industrial revolution started the poor class would go and get jobs at the factories for little wages though. The people who were working on the farms lost most of their jobs due to mass production being done in the north, which made things in a short amount of time. This helped some of the poor people find jobs, but it also took away other people’s jobs. The Industrial revolution had proved to be a good and bad time for workers at the time. Since the time of the development of the factory, poor people were given the opportunity to have jobs with good pay and less skill. This caused the production to have an increase and rapid result of what they produce in the factory. Although, there are some bad issues with farmers don’t have equal justice for their hard work and employees that fight for their positions in the factory. This made the poor people more wealthy, and the richer people have to work harder for less pay in a way.

Social Darwinism affected the society, and the working class by having the idea expanded into ideas about “survival of the fittest” in the society, and this eventually led to Social Darwinists believe that the government should not interfere by helping the poor, and promote the idea that some races are superior to others. Americans eventually started to move into the cities over the years, which was one effect of Social Darwinism. In order for someone to improve their social status, they must stay out of debt, keep a good record of their financial ledger, and educate children on how economics worked.