Effects Of The Gilded Age

From 1865 to 1900, America was paving the way for industrialization. The country had built and invented more than anyone had thought possible. However, this time in history was known as the “Gilded Age”. The thought of going to an American city, getting a job, and getting paid was ideal to most outsiders. The problem was once they arrived and found a job, it was not as wonderful as it seemed . It was called the Gilded Age because, from the outside, everything looked wonderful, but on the inside it was spoiled. During America’s industrialization era, the immigration numbers skyrocketed, the quality of working conditions plummeted, and the environment suffered. The industrialization era brought people to American cities in excessive numbers and led to tenement houses, ghettos and nativism. Immigrants from all over the world were going to American cities for a better life but instead ended up living in tenement houses. From 1800 to 1880, New York City’s population doubled each decade. These immigrants needed somewhere to live and the tenement houses were their only option. The buildings were low-rise, narrow, cramped, poorly lit, and lacked indoor plumbing or ventilation (Tenements). With the tenement housing came ghettos. A ghetto is a trashy or raunchy area, usually …show more content…
People were not worried about the effects the power plants and factories had on the environment, which led to mass pollution. An example is that, before John Rockefeller knew the value of gasoline, he was dumping it into the rivers because it was a byproduct of kerosine. With no regulations by the government, factories were pumping pollution into the air constantly. People were also cutting down as many trees as they could to keep up with the increasing population. It may not have been obvious then, but the government was smart enough to realize the environmental problems created by the industrialization