Why is the Post Civil War and Post Reconstruction Era named the “Gilded Age”?
America’s industry expanded greatly after the Civil War (c.1877), boosted by railroads and the use of steam power replacing water power (America’s second industrial revolution). This produced great wealth for a few, who showed off that wealth with mansions and a lavish lifestyle, thus introducing the Gilded Age. It was a term coined by Mark Twain who mocked the rich who could afford to put gold gilt one anything.
