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The period between the end of the American Civil War and the turn of the century,

so 1865 through to 1900 in the United States, was a time of rapid economic growth that became known

as the Gilded Age. During the 1870s and 1880s, the US economy grew at the fastest rate

in the country's history, with real wages, wealth, GDP and capital formation, all growing massively.

The rapid pace of industrialisation led to real wage growth of 60% between 1860 and 1890.

This growth meant that American wages were much higher than those in Europe, especially for skilled workers,

which drew in millions of European immigrants.

The growth of railroads across the United States meant that large-scale commercial farming

could happen. Millions of acres of land became feasible for farming once railroads were in place, providing

a long-distance outlet for wheat cattle and hogs that reached all the way to Europe.

Shipping live animals was slow and expensive, so major packing centres were set up in the

Midwest that could ship meat in refrigerated freight

cars to stores around the country.

The rail cars were cooled by slabs of ice that had been harvested in the north in wintertime,

stored for use in the warmer times of the year and shipped around the country by rail. During the gilded age, the output of grain

in the United States increased by 250%, coal by 800%, and miles of railway track by 570%.

National networks for transportation and communication were created and the corporation became

the dominant form of business organization.

Wealthy industrialists like Vanderbilt, Rockefeller and Carnegie built out and financed the

infrastructure of the United States, becoming fabulously wealthy in the process,

...