The Gilded Age was the period in United States history from the late 1870s to the late 1890s, marked by rapid industrialization, westward expansion and immense concentrations of wealth alongside stark inequality, political corruption and labor unrest. The name comes from Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner's 1873 satirical novel The Gilded Age, A Tale of Today, which likened the era's glittering prosperity to a thin layer of gold over a base metal, a term historians later adopted for the period itself. It saw the rise of industrial magnates in oil, steel and railroads, the growth of American cities, and the beginnings of the reform movements that defined the Progressive Era that followed.
Facts
Disputed
Start Year1877
Conventionally dated from the late 1870s, often anchored to the end of Reconstruction in 1877; historians vary on the exact starting point. End Year1896
Conventionally closed in the late 1890s, sometimes extended to the 1900 election; historians vary on the exact end point. Geographic Scope Connections
In Era
Placed in its broad period by the atlas SubLabel and dated range
Includes
Chief Joseph led the 1877 Nez Perce War and continued his advocacy in Washington through the 1880s and 1890s, within the Gilded Age.
Source Wikipedia: Chief Joseph
Westinghouse demonstrated the railway air brake in 1869 and built his AC power systems through the 1880s and 1890s, within the Gilded Age.
Source Wikipedia: George Westinghouse
Source Meyer Guggenheim (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Standard Oil
Succeeded By
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Sources
1. Wikipedia: Gilded Age
WikipediaLead sectionQuote, Lead section
It was a time of rapid economic and capital growth, especially in the North and West.
Wikipedia: Standard Oil
WikipediaIncludes: Standard Oil, Lead sectionQuote, Includes: Standard Oil, Lead section
The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which was founded in 1870 by John D.
Wikipedia: Chief Joseph
WikipediaIncludes: Chief Joseph, Lead sectionQuote, Includes: Chief Joseph, Lead section
in the latter half of the 19th century
Wikipedia: George Westinghouse
WikipediaIncludes: George Westinghouse, Lead sectionQuote, Includes: George Westinghouse, Lead section
prolific American inventor, engineer, and entrepreneurial industrialist based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Meyer Guggenheim (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Meyer Guggenheim, Lead section, patriarch role (era placement)Quote, Includes: Meyer Guggenheim, Lead section, patriarch role (era placement)
was the patriarch of what became known as the Guggenheim family in the United States, which became one of the world's wealthiest families during the 19th century, and remained so during the 20th.
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