Gilded Age
The Gilded Age saw enormous industrial progress accompanied by the growth of appalling conditions in the slums of the cities and in the plight of farmers and others ground up by the "wheels of progress." The struggle between capital and labor (called a "war" by historian Page Smith) showed that Americans were prepared to fight for their economic rights, as they had done in 1776, and from 1861 to 1865. If the terrible conditions of the working poor had not been addressed, it is highly possible that some sort of revolution might have taken place. In fact, a revolution of sorts did take place, through it came largely from the top-or at least from the middle class. This revolution was called the Progressive Movement, and in many ways to was a conservative movement, not meant to upset society, but to fix what was wrong with it in order to retain its essential character. The progress that Henry George had talked about in his work, Progress and Poverty, made possible the Progressive movement in many ways. Despite the harsh conditions for workers, living standards had risen dramatically for many since the Civil war. Education was expanded, people had more leisure time, newspapers, books and magazines proliferated, and a new breed of jou
But in a room below us we were sometimes allowed to peer in through a sort of blind door at the great water wheel that carried the works of the whole mill. " (Larcom, 59) Half of the day when they were not spending their time or spinning thread at the spinning at the spinning room they were frolicking. Finally, at late hour, they reach their quarters, sleepy and overcome with the long day's toil. For still others they were helping working people by rescuing capitalism from its worst excesses, and because businessmen were smart enough to see that discontented, angry workers were a threat to their livelihood, they often supported Progressivism and even led the charge, thought it might cost them in the short run. Then a fire must be kindled in the cabin, the corn ground in the small hand-mill, and supper, and dinner for the next day in the field, prepared. Therefore, the life of a slave in the 1830's was far more stressful than the life of a factory worker because of exhausting physical labor, physical punishment, and the lack of technology 'in the south. They also sought to make government more efficient, so that the taxpayer got what he was paying for. While the southern slaves had a hard time doing their job because of the lack of technology, the northern factory workers had an immense amount of technology. The Progressives were activists, generally impatient, often misguided, but rarely satisfied until they had achieved a good portion of their goals. The punishment of a factory worker was not nearly as severe as the punishment of a slave. "This done, the labor of the day is not yet ended, by any means. They got fined money, but it didn't happen often because of the lenience of the job. They took on bossism, profiteering, child labor, public health and safety, prostitution, alcohol, political corruption and almost every aspect of public and even private life.
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Acceptance Essays
