Gilded Age part DEUX

So, I've got the Essay from Jose. It's three pages long, and I will be writing it down on this post tomorrow. So this is pretty much just a reserved space right now. But feel free to read about Duff while you're here, in homage to Jose's blog, which can be found at my bloglist just to the right under the playlist, called True*Rock*NEVER*Dies, which is by the way, an amazing blog.

And just to remind the people reading that plagiarizing this piece is a crime, and I WILL find you, and proceed to lawfully kick your pet chiuaua (not literally, I think that's illegal) as a punishment. All the words and ideas belong to Jose, and you will not use any of it without his permission.

Edit: Essay! (Finally!)

Gilded Age Essay: By Jose (Name omitted)

The "Gilded Age", sarcastically named by Mark Twain, refers to the major growth in population in the United States and extravagant displays of wealth and excess of America's upper-class during the post-Civil war and post-Reconstruction era.It was also commonly seen as a political seesaw that was delicately balanced. In fact so delicate that even the parities themselves were on the verge of split, often because of a few significant economic issues. Competition between the two parties was fierce. Many politicians, fearing the high chances of an easy "political homicide" launched on them, "tip toed" timidly, producing a political record that was often trivial and petty. Thus the presidents of the era, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Harrison, and Cleveland were known as the forgettable presidents. Many argue that governments led by these presidents, particularly the main "Gilded Age" president, Grover Cleveland, supported this era with greed. It is valid to say that these presidents had many unethical policies that were backed at the time by many members of society. However, the presidents of this era cannot be held solely responsible for the widespread corruption that came out of the greed. many of their intentions were not bad at all. It was the people surrounding the president that influenced and misled their presidents for selfish reasons. In addition to members of the general public being corrupt, members of the federal government also participated in unethical actions and should be blamed as well.

With a strong and growing economy, came a lot of wealth and prosperity, and with that came corruption. As seen during Grant's administration, there was a "Carnival Of Corruption." One of them was the Credit Mobilier scandal that erupted when Union Pacific Railroad insiders formed the Phony Credit Mobilier construction company, and then hired themselves at inflated prices to build the railroad line, earning high dividends. When it was found out that the government officials were paid to stay quiet about the illicit business, some officials were censured. Another example of widespread corruption was the Whiskey Ring involving diversion of tax revenues in conspiracy among government agents, politicians, and whiskey distillers. Although there were more of these cases, these two managed to hurt the Republican Party's reputation, and with the delicate political balance, it would not be long until the Democrats were favored and voted back into power for the first time in decades. During this time, voting turnouts reached above 90%, one of the highest ever recorded. This was a time when the public responded to these perceptions intellectually.

Although the public's perspective on the Democrats was that of a lesser corrupt one, Democratic presidents like Grover Cleveland still used the very unethical spoils system. Cleveland replaced thousands of federal employees with Democrats. Although slightly infamous for using the same system that killed President Garfield, Cleveland actually had good intentions to ending widespread corruption and regulating some areas of the economy with new laws. These regulations were necessary because many corporations, feeling that they were above the law, abused the public by bribing judges and legislatures. Railroad kings and Oil barons were manipulators of a huge natural monopoly and exercised too much direct control over the lives of people. The people saw them as robber barons and supported by the government. One way Cleveland and his government tried to restore order was by passing the Interstate Commerce act. It prohibited rebates and pools, required the railroads to publish their rates openly, forbade unfair discrimination against shippers, and outlawed charging more for a short trip than for a long one over the same line. it also created the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to administer and enforce the new legislation. The new laws provided an orderly forum where the competing business interests could resolve their conflicts in peaceful ways. The laws tended to stabilize the existing railroad business. This time congress had actually acted in favor of the greater good instead of the greed.

Although many times, there were measures taken by Congress against the direct abuse of the public, the corporations were too strong. They could use their lawyers to thwart control by the state legislature, plus they had the 14th amendment to back them up. The corporations set everything from the working conditions at the factory to the wages. The public responded socially with the National Labor Union, the first in its kind. They knew that together, they would be stronger and strike more effectively towards higher wages and better working conditions while not getting fired simply because the factories couldn't fire most or sometimes all of their employees that were striking. Many other labor unions followed and rallied for the improvement of the worker's place in society.

As it is shown, the public responded strongly to all these events. In most cases, their perceptions were that most of these presidents actually had good intentions rather then greed. The widespread corruption that was faced during the Gilded Age should not only be blamed on the selfish members of the government, but on the corruption of the public as well. For in a democracy, the government is ruled by the people, and if the people are corrupt, then so is the government. The biggest mistake is for people to stay quiet while being witnesses of corruption. As for the corporations, a lot of wealth can be dangerous in the hands of a few. Corporations are too large almost to become a monopoly should be regulated because they might actually be a threat to the economy as well as society.