The “Gilded Age”? “Relentless capitalism, widespread corruption, vulgar tastes, and ostentatious displays of wealth marked the last three decades of the 19th century. The advent of technology, use of steel, and industrial expansion brought prosperity for some, wealth for a few, but most Americans were impoverished.” -Source: “The American Experience: The Richest Man in the World”

Freedom and the Gilded Age By the end of Reconstruction, the idea of equality becomes less important in the country’s understanding of freedom An understanding of freedom emerges that stresses the absence of restraint on individuals (in the form of limited government and laissez faire economics)

E.L. Godkin writes: “Liberty meant the liberty to buy and sell and mend and make, where, when and how we please without interference from the state.”

Regulations and laws designed to improve labor conditions were seen by some as a form of “slavery” since they deprived people of the right to handle their own labor as they saw fit

The idea of “free labor”—which once celebrated the independent small producer or farmer, was now interpreted as a defense of the uncontrolled operations of the marketplace

Some industrial workers saw their situation as “wage slavery”, organized and protested Industrialists saw regulations on their businesses as a form of “slavery”, and often sought and received help from the authorities against protesting workers