Digital Commons Network^™

Treatment Of The Mentally Ill In The U.S. Gilded Age, Madeline Whelan

Honors Program Theses and Projects

The maltreatment of the working class and immigrants was quite prominent throughout the Gilded Age of the United States. The endless capitalist desires of a growing industrial nation often left American laborers at the mercy of corporations and businessmen. Workers endured strenuous labor, hazardous work environments, and unjust management; yet, earned barely enough money to pay for their rent, let alone food and other necessities. Immigrants flooded the country with hopes of securing profit for their relatives back home, only to encounter inhumane working conditions and prejudice from nativists. As the distribution of wealth between laborers and the middle and …