Context: Expansion and the Gilded Age

With the end of the Civil War in 1865, the United States was entering a new era. Prior to the war, in the early half of the nineteenth century, the United States experienced a market revolution.

New innovations (remember the cotton gin?) and transportation systems changed the way Americans lived. Manufacturing boomed in the North and agriculture took hold in the West. The country was forever linked together via railroads. America’s economy became a capitalist one. 💰 The Gilded Age of America is very much a continuation of this boom. The United States experienced incredible growth in this period (in just about all areas) but this growth also came with new problems.

The term “Gilded Age” was actually coined (no pun intended) sarcastically by the author Mark Twain in 1873. He was describing the period as something gilded in expensive metal- it looked shiny and new 💍 🏆 on the outside, but was teeming with issues within. 🏚️🐀