What the importance of the gilded age?

Answer 1

It was a time of progress in terms of the economic growth of the US, but there was also increasing political corruption alongside other serious problems in society, such as the upper level of society growing much richer than the lower majority. this was especially true because of the large number of immigrants coming to settle in the US. Some reforms were discussed to address these issues, but the main attitude (among the ruling class, and some of the other classes as well) was that life should take its natural course without interference. In effect, this was meaning the government should not try to control business in any way, including no laws for the protection of workers seeking minimum wages, no laws against working 60 (or more) hours per week, no having the right to form unions, etc.

This was thought, at least among some, to be the new "scientific" outlook. So big business could exploit the common worker in the Gilded Age because that was the so-called natural way of business---"survival of the fittest." Thus, such survival--or law of the jungle as its critics sometime called it---was supposedly 'scientific' according to such leading 19th century thinkers like Darwin. who had recently theorized in the evolution of animals rising up from the jungle to becoming civilized beings. Darwin himself never said anything about this use of his evolution theories being used to justify "Social Darwinism."

Many big businesses did not take this semi-scientific look at things and thought that they were simply doing a moral good by creating big businesses which would let their wealth trickle down to growing numbers in society through increased jobs. Although big companies sometimes got together in secret to control markets with high and unfair prices to the consumers. This sort of thing contributed to the creation and perpetuation of the upper thin layer of wealth in society (the gilded part). That outside thin layer of richness--the gilding (from "golding")---did much better than the comparatively "unpainted" massive part of the population beneath the shiny surface of improving American life.

It was thus an era of great contrast, with notable growth in technology and industry, providing increased wealth and great monuments for the nation overall, but with a heavily uneven distribution of that wealth to the most very rich.

Answer 2

The Gilded Age was a period of great economic boom in American history and brought the rise of large corporations in the market.

It is widely (and wrongly) believed to be a period of laissez-faire capitalism, where the government would neither help nor hinder the free market.

However, this is an incorrect interpretation, as government actively subsidized companies and helped them become larger than they would have become in the free market (think of the railroads and of Standard Oil).

Furthermore, the government used the Sherman Antitrust Act to break up unions. This hurt capitalism because unions were fundamentally capitalistic constructs, with the early union leaders wanting to buy the means of production, not steal them. Unions are a natural creation in capitalism, with workers coming together to negotiate with their employers. Government intervention froze this market force in its tracks, cutting the free market's own internal mechanism for coming to equilibrium and fairness.

Another reason why the Gilded Age was not laissez-faire was due to a protectionist tariffs. Imported goods from foreign companies are essential to keeping domestic producers honest. Tariffs help to create monopolies which would not have otherwise arisen.