Why The Gilded Age

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Brooke Belcher History 1302-8400 Gilded Age The Gilded Age was a time of great growth economically and as well growth in the population. This all happened during the post-Civil War era. “Gilded Age” was first used by Mark Twain, as his opinion was the perfect wording that described that time. The Gilded Age lasted from 1870 to around 1900. The Gilded Age was a time when everything flourished. It is heavily known because the industry which included things like factories, railroads and coal mining almost exploded. One big accomplishment during this time was the first Transcontinental Railroad which provided a six day service that would travel between San Francisco and the East Coast. In this time period also, the steel…show more content…
It was around from 1892 through 1908. It was mainly known as part of the Populist Movement. This also tied into a lot with the election of 1896 which elected William McKinley, a republican as a president. The Populist Party was made in part of “the people” who basically represented the people of the US. People that were tired of how the government was acting and decided to take a stand for themselves and get things done. The Populist Party was started by mostly farmers, cotton and wheat farmers to be exact. The felt cheated by their county. They fought against banks, railroads and elites. As the economy flourished and the cities grew the country became more main stream and more capitalized. While all this happened, the farmers, the fruits of the country, struggled to stay alive and the Agricultural world diminished. The farmer’s alliance was formed, and they traveled from farm to farm, place to place trying to get anyone to listen. Pretty soon it came to a point where no would help them. In 1892 The Populist formed a platform. The platform was known as the Omaha Platform. In this platform they asked for abolition of national banks, direct election of Senators, civil service reform and an 8 work days and government control the railroads, telegraphs and…show more content…
Ferguson Plessy V. Ferguson, is best known for “Separate but Equal”. This Supreme Court decision is one that has gone down in history. It was a law that was passed allowing racial segregation in public facilities. Back in 1890, Louisiana had a law that required separate quarters for blacks and whites and separate railway cars. During this time, blacks that were free decided to get together and formed The Committee of Citizens, which as a group they tried to repeal the law. Homer Plessy was an American born man, which these days would be consider him of mixed races (black and white). But back then it didn’t matter, black was black. Plessy was also a member of this group and was chosen to try something, to stir something up. One day, Plessy decided to sit in the “white area of the train.” He got on and sat down, like nothing mattered. Plessy was asked to leave but refused. When he did refuse he was arrested and taken to jail. The original case was “Homer Adolph Plessy v. The State of Louisiana. During this case Plessy argued that his rights had been denied due to the thirteenth and fourteenth Amendments. He was overturned and went for a writ of
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