Gilded Age

The Gilded Age was a period in the late 1800s in the United States when people had a lot of money, but most of it was concentrated in the hands of a few people. People with a lot of money were called "rich" and were able to buy very nice things like mansions and big cars. They were also able to build factories and take advantage of the new technologies of the time, like the railway and telephone. This era was called the Gilded Age because it was like a gold coating over the top - it looked like a time of great wealth, but there was a lot of poverty and struggle underneath that surface.