Advantages And Disadvantages Of The Gilded Age

Industry, business, and machinery; these are the things that push our economy into a superior, more productive era, but, at what cost? The cost of immigrants? Native Americans? The Buffalo? Children? All of these questions should be taken into account; however, the most important question is, when does industry become less of a blessing and more of a danger to our country? The Gilded Age, a time period modeled by these advancements, allows us to recognize just how dangerous these advancements can become. The main example we will provide to display the horrors of the Gilded Age in this briefing, comes from western expansion. Using all of the above documents, we will evaluate the benefits and disadvantages of western expansion during the Gilded …show more content…
The process was quite simple, they saw land full of resources so they took it. Nothing and nobody could stand in the way of Americans from getting what they wanted, including the Native Americans. During this time period, mining for gold and silver became very popular, and once Americans realized how much gold and silver was under the surface of Native American land, they decided to proclaim it as their own. Not to mention, they already perceived Natives as a “savage” race; therefore, they did not hesitate when it came to bulldozing them off their land.
In Source A, we are given a very detailed description of how the white men, motivated by Manifest Destiny, achieved their land. They, being desperate to become more rich and esteemed, stopped at nothing to gain their “God-given land”. George Bent tells us of the chaos that happened as their land was being overdriven. We learn of the unfortunate fate of some of the helpless women, elderly and children. This happened all over the West and was never looked down on by any of the fellow …show more content…
The growing of industries and transportation provoked the growth of American urban society. Ridding the Indians of their land, and killing the buffalo for status, resulted in vast amounts of land that was used to build railways and factories. This development proceeded in transforming a land, mainly used for agriculture, into a land of industry and business; thus, creating jobs for Americans and immigrants. The deployment of new jobs benefitted our country, not only for the whites, but for immigrants as well. Our economy was able to rise and grow so we could continue to advance and flourish as a