Good Essay About America In The Late 18th Century

In the 1890’s, the public had been complaining about the growing monopoly of the large corporations in the industry. The industries had been growing at a rate that rendered the playing ground for the small businesses unequal. It led to unfair competition between the big players in the industry and the trailing companies. Most of the small businesses had been forced out of the competition, leaving the large corporations to dominate the sector. The big businesses argued that they were facilitating the growth of the economy. However, the small businesspersons said that the monopoly would lead to poor quality of products since the companies were not seeing the necessity to compete by producing high-quality products at fair prices (Olson, 2014).
These frequent complaints led to calling a meeting between the leaders of the business world, the farmers and the industrial workers. The meeting’s purpose was to share a vision they had for their country. Many issues arose during this meeting that had an enormous number of people in attendance. When representatives from the two sides rose to spoke, it was clear that each side had a whole different perception of how the future would be or rather should be.
The business leaders had a vision that a more favorable environment be created for conducting their activities. They wanted their companies to be protected against competition from outside the country. They had a vision that America would grow and move from the old economic practices to become an industrial country. They had a vision that they would employ very many workers to see the industries grow to and reap maximum benefits from the economies of scale (Hillstrom, 2005). 
The farmers and the industrial workers had a different vision altogether. On their part, they were not so interested in the growth of the industries or the favorable working conditions. These lower class citizens were interested in having better pay that would improve their lives and lift them out of poverty (Clark, 2006). They hoped that in the future, they would not be oppressed by their employers and that their plight would be addressed. They hoped that the market prices for their farm produce would go up for them to sustain themselves. They hoped that the marginalized groups in the society would be given an equal chance in societal issues (Larson, 2003). They hoped that the government would protect them and to stop grabbing their land and giving it to the wealthy settlers.
The farmers and the workers envisioned an equal society. It followed the unjust ruling by the Supreme Court in the Edmund-Tucker Act that oppressed the religious freedom of the Mormon. The members of the Congress were also pushing for a bill that would prevent the Mormons from participating in elections. Also, the when the striking workers of the silver mines were killed, it was an indication that the government protected the interests of the few who were at the top of society (Hillstrom, 2005). Another indication of the unjust society was how the government facilitated the occupancy of the 6 million acres of Cherokee land by over100, 000 white settlers. The workers and the farmers were living in abject poverty as their employers were paying them very low wages that could not sufficiently sustain them. The rising cost of the machinery and farm inputs discouraged many farmers in the 90s and forced them out of farming. They hoped for a change so that their lives would improve.

References

Brands, H.W. (2002). The reckless decade: America in the 1890’s. Chicago, IL: University of
Chicago Press
Clark, J. (2006). The Gilded Age (Rev. ed.). New York: Facts On File.
Hillstrom, K. (2005). The industrial revolution in America. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO.
Larson, E. (2003). The devil in the white city: Murder, magic, and madness at the fair that
changed America. New York: Crown.
Olson, G. (2014, January 1). Industrialization, Urbanization, and Immigration in the Gilded Age.
Retrieved March 14, 2015, from http://users.humboldt.edu/ogayle/hist111/industrial.html