Yet, there was a growing resentment among the country’s laborers, who felt as if they were not receiving their share of the profits. The Gilded Age was represented by extravagant parties held in lavish mansions and supported a freewheeling attitude among the country’s wealthy. However, not everyone was experiencing the benefits of this industrial boom. Social Darwinism became the justification for the business empires and amassed fortunes created in the 2nd Industrial Revolution and gave rise to the Gilded Age.Īs a belief in the theory of Social Darwinism spread throughout the country, more and more business empires were created. Wealthy capitalists of the time viewed themselves as being the smartest, most industrious, and forward-thinking people in society and thus, entitled to all the wealth, power, and influence that they created and enjoyed. Spencer claimed that Mother Nature worked to get rid of the weak aspects in order to allow the strong to survive. Herbert Spencer’s book Principles of Biology (1864), coined the term “survival of the fittest,” which seemed to support the idea of natural selection. Working off the theories put forth by Charles Darwin in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, wealthy capitalists defended their accumulation of the nation’s wealth and influence as simply the process of natural selection. The wealthy sought to justify their amassed fortunes and the theory of Social Darwinism was exactly what they were looking for. As the country struggled with the emerging class warfare that resulted from concentrated wealth and an ever-expanding lower class, the wealthy sought to justify their amassed fortunes and the theory of Social Darwinism was exactly what they were looking for.

However, this wealth was concentrated in the hands of a few. This rapid expansion created mass amounts of wealth for the nation. The 2nd Industrial Revolution that occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries resulted in a rapid industrialization of a once agrarian-dominated economic system. Over the next several decades, the nation experienced one of the greatest technological and manufacturing booms in the country’s history. They controlled the marketplace and fully embraced the philosophy of Social Darwinism and the belief in “survival of the fittest”.Īnti-trust legislation passed in the late 19th century combined with Teddy Roosevelt’s presidency finally began to break the stranglehold these monopolies had on society, and ushered in a new Progressive Era for Americans.įollowing the end of Reconstruction in 1877, domestic policy shifted from the social issues of slavery and began to revolve around promoting economic growth in the country. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie amassed substantial power and wealth by building monopolies in oil and steel. This justification of wealth accumulation by upper-class society, as well as laissez-faire policies by the government, led to the creation of powerful monopolies and trusts that dominated the economic and political landscapes of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The theory held that due to natural selection, the most intelligent, industrious, and productive people would grow wealthy and survive while the uneducated and lazy would remain poor and die off. Social Darwinism was embraced by the nation’s wealthy upper class in the late 19th century to justify their accumulation of wealth and power. Social Darwinism is the application of Darwin’s theory of natural selection to society- specifically in economics and business in America.

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