Essay Database

The Gilded Age saw enormous industrial progress accompanied by the growth of appalling conditions in the slums of the cities and in the plight of farmers and others ground up by the "wheels of progress." The struggle between capital and labor (called a "war" by historian Page Smith) showed that Americans were prepared to fight for their economic rights, as they had done in 1776, and from 1861 to 1865. If the terrible conditions of the working poor …

…when they were not spending their time or spinning thread at the spinning at the spinning room they were frolicking. Machinery made their life much easier. Without the water wheel, which carried the whole factory, their work would be a lot harder. In conclusion, the life of a slave in the 1830's was far more stressful than the life of a factory worker because of exhausting physical labor, physical punishment, and the lack of technology.