Things to know about the Industrial Revolution
In 1873 Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner gave this period of time a nickname known as the Gilded Age. The term reflected the combination of outward wealth and dazzle with inner corruption and poverty.
During the "Gilded Age," every man had the sense that they were a potential Andrew Carnegie, a potential John Rockefeller. Anything was possible, right? If you were lucky enough to strike it rich you celebrated wealth like never before. "In New York, the opera, the theater, and lavish parties consumed the ruling class' leisure hours. Sherry's Restaurant hosted formal horseback dinners for the New York Riding Club. Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish once threw a dinner party to honor her dog who arrived sporting a $15,000 diamond collar!" While the rich wore diamonds, many (most) wore rags. In 1890, 11 million of the nation's 12 million families earned less than $1200 per year; of this group, the average annual income was $380, well below the poverty line. Rural Americans and new immigrants crowded into urban areas. Tenements spread across city landscapes, teeming with crime and filth. Americans had sewing machines, phonographs, skyscrapers, and even electric lights, yet most people labored in the shadow of poverty." Liz Collins |