How were families affected by the rise of manufacturing during the Gilded Age?

The Gilded Age was characterized by rapid industrialization, reconstruction, ruthless pursuit of profit, government, corruption, and vulgarity. After the Civil War, America was beginning to regroup as a nation. There were many other changes developing in the country. Industrialization was taking over the formerly agricultural country. The nation’s government was also in great conflict. Many changes occurred during the Gilded Age. These changes affected farmers, labor, business, and politics.

Many southerners saw Reconstruction as an attempt by the north to punish the south, rather than an attempt to rebuild the nation. This period was marked by intense bitterness and anger. Regional and racial pressure remained powerful. The Ku Klux Klan came into full force, terrorizing blacks by tactics such as night riding. Poll taxes forced an unreasonable fee on blacks at the voting booth. During Reconstruction, the northern economy experienced a tremendous industrial boom, while the South struggled through Reconstruction. Immigrants began pouring into northern cities and provided a cheap labor source for Northern Industry. The south remained primarily agricultural. Much of the Gilded Age can be seen as a response to the result of the events of Reconstruction.

Almost all of the Gilded Age politics revolved around the effort of the government to find some system so they could regulate big business and to regulate its own abuses. Machine Politics was the government’s response. The first reason machine politics worked was because there were no secret ballots. Ballots were very colorful and it was easy to tell who someone was voting for when they went to the polls. When a party controlled a district, which was very common, that party might threaten people who decide to vote against it. Police officers did nothing about this although it was illegal because they have government jobs also

Many new jobs for women were created during the Industrial Age. From 1880 to 1900 the number of employed women went from 2.6 to 8.6 million. In 1880 4% of clerical workers were women; by 1920 the figure was 50%, but women could not get management positions. Although middle class married women were able to stay at home, among the poor, women-and children-had to work. (Truant officers who patrolled factories to get children into school were thwarted by struggling parents who needed the extra income.) A state of quasi-slavery existed where parents bound children to work, but child labor would not be squarely addressed until the Progressive Era.

Unions were generally hostile to women; men believed women shouldn't work for wages because they undercut wage levels. Some separate women's unions did exist, and they sought special legislation for female workers, etc. The International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union led a massive strike against New York City sweatshops. Union leaders came from the middle class and were not militant, but insistent. In the 19th century no special concern existed over children or women doing hard work-they had always worked within the family on farms or in family businesses. By 1890 18% of the labor force consisted of children between the ages of ten and fifteen.