Robber Barons During The Gilded Age

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The gilded age is, by most, defined as the time period between the end of the civil war and the beginning of WW1. During this time the U.S. economy flourished and the population grew vastly however ,as Mark Twain put it, the gilded age was an era of serious social problems masked by a thin gold gilding. While the wealthy industrialists did have a hand in the economy's growth they were all Robber Barons. There was a lot of political corruption and laws and politicians were being manipulated, children were being over worked in factories twelve hours a day with very low pay while robber barons lived fancy easy lives, and there were poor working conditions in the factories the lower class people worked in. This can all be credited to the robber barons of the time who accrued there riches off of the backs of the poor. …show more content…
was transforming into a powerful country due to the accomplishments of inventors, business men, thinkers, and writers. However little to no people with “political power” had anything to do with america’s growth. The easiest way to describe america’s government during this time is as a Plutocracy. A plutocracy is a government run by the wealthy. The robber barons used their wealth to influence political figures and manipulate the way the government was run. As the power of these robber barons grew it was hard to be controlled by the government. These fat cats used this power to manipulate the stock market in their favor and also bribe politicians and government officials. Now that the government was out of the way the robber barons were free to run their business however they