The Gilded Age

369 Pages·2008·7.637 MB·English

by  Judith Freeman Clark

The Gilded Age
REVISED EDITION

E Y E W I T N E S S H I S TO RY
The Gilded Age
REVISED EDITION
Judith Freeman Clark
N P
OTE ON HOTOS
Many of the illustrations and photographs used in this book are old,historical
images.The quality of the prints is not always up to modern standards, as in
some cases the originals are damaged.The content of the illustrations,however,
made their inclusion important despite problems in reproduction.
The Gilded Age,Revised Edition
Copyright © 2006,1992 by Judith Freeman Clark
Maps and graphs © 2006 by Infobase Publishing
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Clark,Judith Freeman.
The Gilded Age / Judith Freeman Clark.— Rev.ed.
p. cm.— (Eyewitness history)
Rev.ed.of:America’s Gilded Age.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8160-5763-X
1. United States—History—1865–1921—Sources. I. Clark,Judith Freeman. America’s Gilded
Age. II.Title. III. Eyewitness history series.
E661.C575 2006
973.8—dc22 2005019438
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Text design by Joan M.Toro
Cover design by Cathy Rincon
Maps and graphs by Sholto Ainslie
Printed in the United States of America
VB JT 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
For my mother,Lillian Elizabeth Bartlett,
and for my grand-girls,
Julia Fay Hawkins and Averie Marion Hawkins

C
ONTENTS
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xv
1. Reconstruction,Reunion,Reconciliation:1865–1870 1
2. Scandal,Economic Instability,and Expansion:1871–1875 34
3. Compromise Politics and Fighting in the West:1876–1880 59
4. Assassination,Reform Politics,and Immigration:1881–1885 83
5. Labor Unrest and Economic Instability:1886–1891 107
6. Strikes,the World’s Columbian Exposition,
and Imperialism:1892–1896 140
7. Annexation and the Spanish-American War:1897–1901 169
Appendix A:Documents 203
Appendix B:Biographies of Major Personalities 264
Appendix C:Maps,Graphs,and Tables 284
Notes 320
Bibliography 323
Index 336

P
REFACE
History often defines the details of a single life,a limited chronology,or a spe-
cific event.This approach can provide a convenient context within which a
subject can be reviewed, interpreted, and described. But this “definitive”
approach is at odds with the reality of human experience.Americans living in
the second half of the 19th century may have struggled with immigration
issues,labor disputes,the settlement of western regions,economic crises,politi-
cal chicanery, and cultural pluralism, but citizens rarely thought in terms of a
particular era.Critics and historians were the ones who would later use lively
or eponymous terms, such as the McKinley years or the Progressive era, to
label a historical period.Such terms frequently derived from assessments made
years later,rather than from the views of the people living at the time.
To better understand the experiences of those living in the United States
between 1865 and 1901, primary sources (firsthand descriptions of issues and
events) present an authentic voice that aids in the understanding of an individ-
ual,or national,experience.Candid,unedited viewpoints,such as those found
in letters and diaries or on-the-spot reporting in newspapers and magazines,
make events and persons come alive in ways that no third-hand report can do.
An eyewitness description invariably renders facts,statistics,and analyses more
human,offering a freshness lacking in most retrospective accounts.
A E K I E
N RA NOWN BY TS XCESSES
Inevitably, there must be a context within which these contemporary sources
and vivid, if anecdotal, stories can be presented. For the period 1865 through
1901 in the United States,the context has become known as the “Gilded Age.”
Unlike other such nicknames,this was an era christened by someone who lived
at the time: the writer Samuel Clemens (widely known by his pen name,
“Mark Twain”). A master storyteller famous for his satire,Twain coauthored
The Gilded Age with writer Charles Dudley Warner. In their book,Twain and
Warner ridiculed and otherwise exposed the manners and morals of the years
following the Civil War.
The “Gilded Age”became a catchphrase for the excesses of the post–Civil
War decades,pointing to the reality that underneath the glitter was a base ele-
ment. Corruption seemed to prevail among elected officials, and private citi-
zens appeared more self-interested than altruistic.During the second half of the
19th century, accumulating wealth by whatever means possible (and enjoying
that wealth, often at the expense of others) was a goal of so many that Mark
Twain’s book The Gilded Age seemed less like fiction than journalism.A handful
ix