The Gilded Age - American Dream of Equality
The Gilded Age
Achieving the American Dream of equality in the Gilded Age was an ongoing struggle for most of early society. Although the end of the Civil War and the abolishment of slavery was thought to have guaranteed the (13th, 14th, 15th) amendments, issues remained with class division, women’s rights, African Americans and immigrants. Given the experiences of early American’s we can conclude from their perspectives that the fight for equality was another war all on its own.
With the new and upcoming economic growth of America came the division of classes, Moguls like Andrew Carnegie were at the center of believing that there was a problem for the “proper administration of wealth” in his article (Gospel of Wealth 1889). Carnegie’s perspective as a wealthy man can be labeled as biased as he goes into detail explaining how the contrast of the wealthy and working man is what brought civilization. This “have” and “have not” mentality brought and caused the reasons for the formation of labor unions and their strikes during the industrial revolution thus leaving a negative impact on the common man who were simply fighting for equality.
Because of the greed driven efforts of the wealthy, more issues occurred for society as told in (Jane Addams-Women and the Public Housekeeping). Unfortunately, because women were not seen as equals and were unable to vote their points of view were not deemed important especially on the grounds of government regarding society’s safety. Jane’s perspective as a woman shows firsthand that important information could be overlooked at the time just because it was not the idea of a man. Addams’s article also provides the idea of fearing for safety just as Mary Church Tyrell’s (Lynching from a Negro’s View). Although coming from different backgrounds the common idea of safety for others plays an important role to both women. While Addams is overlooking her safety as a woman in the city, Tyrell is forced to fear for her safety as a woman of color. The culture of the time depicts how women of both races were having to face the wrongdoings of men and society. Both articles are filled with examples of inequality for women during the gilded age.