US HISTORY ESSAY
- 格式：docx
- 大小：93.73 KB
- 文档页数：3
American HistoryMr. HancockFinal Exam EssayMarc Yu (Period F)Back to 1865 to 1900, the industrials started booming all over the young, large United States. More and more railroads are built, more and more industrial factories opened. It seems everything went terrific in America, however, just as this name indicates – gilded, even though it has a deceptively attractive appearance, in fact, the workers and farmers underneath are really suffering a hard time.Since the railroads are being built, there is a huge demand of steel and oil. Carnegie and Rockefeller see the opportunities; they start their companies and soon become the captains of the industry. Without a doubt, those people known as monopolies in the Gilded Age are extremely successful, nevertheless, since there is no regulation to those companies and no protections to the workers’ rights, all the wealth are all raised up above those workers. They have long hours working with poor pay. Sometimes the workers need to work 12 hours a day and even 24 hours continuously. Furthermore, the working conditions for the workers are extremely harsh. No one knows who is going to die in accident next second. Because the government’s philosophy of capitalism, even if the workers go to the state government or the congress to ask for rights, they all failed. As a result, the workers start to change the condition by themselves. They start their own organizations like, Knights of Labor, American Federation of Labor and Industrial Workers of the World. They start riots and strikes in late 1800s. In1877, the leaderless strikes take place; the monopoly soon approaches the government. Ironically, the government under president Hayes, which never asks for workers’ rights before, sends federal troops to suppress th e violence. The same thing happens again and again over next 20 years. The Haymarket Riot, Homestead Strike and Pullman Strike all ended by the workers come back to work with the same poor condition as before due to the pressure by the government. Of course the workers hate the monopolies that exploit them maximally, but besides that, they also do not understand about the government, how could the people’s government never protect the rights of the common people.The almost identical story happens again on the other poor groups, farmers. In late 1800s, the profits of the farmers go to the lowest. They cannot afford the high cost of the transportation while they have to pay the high tariffs and high cost credit. It seems everything in the fixed cost goes up, ironically, the only price goes down is their product’s. Most of the farmers have huge debt behind them compare to their poor profits. The story has no more difference when they approach the government. Therefore the formers start to organize their own organizations, the Grangers, Farmers Alliances. They even start their own party, Populist Party in 1890. The party aims for breaking from laissez-faire, which means the government must regulate and asks for unlimited coinage of silver, 8 hours work a day and graduated income tax. Obvious the Populist Party is able to attract all the farmers and workers. It really makes the government to reconsider the workers and farmers’ rights.During the Gilded Age, the government proposes limited plans to protect the labors and farmers; most of them help to strengthen the monopolies. Under Hayes’ administrations, the congress ends silver coinage by the Crime of 1873. Five years later, the Bland-Allison Act keep coinage of silver and gold at 16:1 ratio with limited silver coinage. President Cleveland is the first president who tries to regulate business. Cleveland wants to retrieve land, regulate railroad and lower the tariffs. Mugwumps give him strong support. Under Cleveland’s idea, in the case, Munn vs. Illinois, the farmers win the first even though small victory. Cleveland also tries to reduce the tariff with the Mills Bill, but he failed. In 1888, when Benjamin Harrison comes on the stage, he brings the highest and broadest tariff ever in the history. On the other hand, he proposes the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, which largely solves the problem of farmers by inflation. In Cleveland’s second term, the third party, the Populist Party appear. The government at time first starts to prepare for a huge change.Above all, in the whole Gilded Age, the farmers and workers all fight for their rights for about 40 years. They are totally not satisfied with what the government is doing, they try to make the government change the way, which is to regulate the business and protect t he lower class’ rights.。
