Karl Marx once said, “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.” Marx’s quote carries a heavy weight in the matter of Antebellum Slavery and the Gilded Age of American history. Although the Gilded Age and slavery had a different name they are far too similar, just as Black Codes and Jim Crow Laws were. Some working 18 hour days the amount of free time was far too little to even be counted. Furthermore historians say that unionization was 20 or 30 years behind that of Britain, this can be compared to the thoughts of the citizens of Great Britain. Of course a gilded age worker would defiantly not trade their lives to be a slave they still faced eerie work conditions.
“Every mill in the city is making money…but the operatives travel in the same path- sickness, suffering, and small pay.” A Massachusetts commissioner explains. Swap a few words out (mill to plantation, small pay to no pay) and you would have an accurate statement of times during the Antebellum Slavery era. Slaves during this time faced unbearable working conditions and had no say in what labor they would have to face daily. Slaves also had little free time, akin to the workers in the early Gilded Age. Not to say they had no free time, but it was limited. Some slaves were given a few hours a week for free time, this was called “courting”. A Gilded Age worker faced similar realities, many worked through the week with little or no sleep, and many were granted with Sundays off. They were defiantly “Workin’ for the weekend”. Maryland miners in the Gilded Age did not have much to brag about when it came to housing. The miners, many of them, lived in low income and makeshift housing. The slaves during the Antebellum Period would be lucky to have a floor or even a structured home. The lack of realistic housing led to a harsh and depressing life, more for slaves, but still included most Gilded Age workers. In the current 2010 American society, the United States government now has laws that protect the financial needs of the common worker, caller Workman’s Compensation. Nearly all companies during the Gilded Age did little to nothing to help compensate for work-related injuries. The worst financial forgiveness for injuries affected the children and women in the workforce. These high paying ages for the plantation owners and the plant owners, had their grip on the nation for several years, but eventually fell to fresh laws passed by Congress.
The most embarrassing event in American history is nearly a unanimous choice, slavery. Slavery contributed to some of the worst lives of any human to live on this earth. For one to say that the Gilded Age was exactly the same as Antebellum Slavery would be preposterous. Slaves were considered property while Gilded Age workers were not considered property but rather their work contract was considered property. Even without unions the average wage during the 1890s was about $9, which was 1000x more than any slave would receive. Later in the Gilded Age when unionization was rapidly increasing, the thought that this time period was just like slavery was starting to be more and more of a stretch. One could say that slaves lived a more optimistic life, maybe because they had to, then the American worker. Slaves would take part in singing and dancing frequently. In addition American workers were not forced to work and could quit just as easily as go to work. On the other hand if a slave tried to escape they would be taken back to plantations by patty rollers most of the time. Sure some slaves were granted cotton beds or small gardens to produce revenue; the idea that the labor was forced and the freedom was stripped from blacks is the major difference of the Gilded Age and the Antebellum Slavery time period.
Exploration, Revolution, Expansion, Slavery, Reconstruction, Gilded Age, has there even been a time without a major conflict in America? The answer is no, when looking at slavery and the Gilded Age a conflict is clearly evident. The two things are eerily similar. The long hours, the harsh living conditions, the feeling that there is no end all lend themselves to the idea that the ideas coincide with each other. The idea that we should not let history repeat itself was evidently ignored by the plant managers and plant owners, more proof that Marx was correct in stating that “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.”
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