THE GILDED AGE1
In the United States the period that followed the Civil War and the Reconstruction
was termed as the Gilded Age. This era occurred during the end of the 19th century, between
the years of 1870 and 1900. However, the term ‘Gilded’ was later applied in the 1920s and
the 1930s. This term was sourced from Mark Twain’s and Charles Dudley Warner’s work
The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today. The focal point of this discussion is to analyze the Gilded
Age and the events that comprised this historical era.
The term ‘gilded’ indicates that even though the occurrences of the era seemed to be
progressing, there were a hoard of problems hiding underneath it. One of the major
occurrences in this period was the Dawes Act of 1887 that allowed the federal government to
segregate the existing tribal lands of the Native Americans by sectioning them into individual
plots (Otis, 2014). This act was specifically assembled to undermine the tribal equality of the
Native American population. Not only did it exterminate tribal land ownership but it also
transferred the control of the land to the white settlers (Nichols, 2014). Thus, even though
there was rapid economic growth and development, beneath this progress was the violation of
basic rights and liberties.
Moreover, with the advent of the Gilded Age, the practice of mining and trading
emerged. This led to industrialization and a consequent exploitation of natural resources on a
humongous scale (Fink, 2014). Through mining and the various trade activities that were
carried out majorly in the west, the economic state of the United States progressed
excessively. Furthermore, the Gilded Age can also be identified as the golden age of trade.
However, this rapid urbanization led to overpopulation and even major health issues that
resulted due to the unsatisfactory crowded conditions. Thus, even though there was a
recognizable development in the economy, the degrading conditions of the city were masked
under the glittering economic success.

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