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The American Gilded Age Revisited

The American Gilded Age Revisited American Gilded Age War years was the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a few individuals and corporations. Strong and ambitious men, like John D. Rockefeller in oil, Andrew Carnegie in steel, Cornelius Vanderbilt in railroads, and Jay Cooke and J. P. Morgan in finance, controlled the economic life of the nation. The rise of this economic plutocracy can be considered a victory for some of the economic ideas of Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers. A commanding leader of the Federalists, Hamilton had devised an economic program for the early Republic that had an enduring influence on American development. Wanting a government by and for the upper classes, he had advocated an alliance between the federal government and business. Hamilton believed that American business should be encouraged and supported by the government-a belief that became a fixed part of business thought in this country. Thus he favoured government intervention in the economy, as in the imposition of a protective tariff, in behalf of the moneyed class. In the decades that were to follow, the government’s proper relationship to the national economy became a source of continuing controversy. Following the Civil War, Hamiltonian ideas http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Australian Journal of Politics and History Wiley

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Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company
ISSN
0004-9522
eISSN
1467-8497
DOI
10.1111/j.1467-8497.1983.tb00202.x
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

American Gilded Age War years was the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a few individuals and corporations. Strong and ambitious men, like John D. Rockefeller in oil, Andrew Carnegie in steel, Cornelius Vanderbilt in railroads, and Jay Cooke and J. P. Morgan in finance, controlled the economic life of the nation. The rise of this economic plutocracy can be considered a victory for some of the economic ideas of Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers. A commanding leader of the Federalists, Hamilton had devised an economic program for the early Republic that had an enduring influence on American development. Wanting a government by and for the upper classes, he had advocated an alliance between the federal government and business. Hamilton believed that American business should be encouraged and supported by the government-a belief that became a fixed part of business thought in this country. Thus he favoured government intervention in the economy, as in the imposition of a protective tariff, in behalf of the moneyed class. In the decades that were to follow, the government’s proper relationship to the national economy became a source of continuing controversy. Following the Civil War, Hamiltonian ideas

Journal

Australian Journal of Politics and HistoryWiley

Published: Aug 1, 1983

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