page_title: History of Rhode Island
section_title: The Gilded Age
hierarchical_section_title: History of Rhode Island / The Gilded Age
caption_attribution_description: English: Nelson W. Aldrich
context_page_description: The history of Rhode Island is an overview of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and the state of Rhode Island from pre-colonial times to the present.
context_section_description: The fifty or so years following the Civil War were a time of prosperity and affluence that author William G. McLoughlin called "Rhode Island's halcyon era." Rhode Island was a center of the Gilded Age and provided a home (or summer home) to the many of the country's most prominent robber barons. This was a time of incredible growth in textile mills and manufacturing, and saw a huge influx of immigrants to fill those jobs. The state saw increased population growth and urbanization, even as the state denied the growing urban masses access to political power. In politics, the state was dominated by Republicans allied with their mouthpiece newspaper, The Providence Journal. The Journal's editor Henry B. Anthony and his later protege Nelson Aldrich, along with war hero Ambrose Burnside, all Republicans, dominated politics during this time. Aldrich, as US Senator, became known as the "General Manager of the United States," for his ability to set high tariffs to protect Rhode Island — and American — goods from foreign competition.
  In Newport, New York's wealthiest industrialists created a summer haven to socialize and build ostentatious grand mansions. In Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls, and Woonsocket, thousands of French-Canadian, Italian, Irish, and Portuguese immigrants arrived to fill jobs in the textile and manufacturing mills. In response, the Know Nothing party, allied with the Republicans and the Providence Journal, sought to exclude these newcomers from the political process. The constitution of 1843 denied the vote to the landless poor, and ensured that urban centers were disproportionately underrepresented in the state legislature.
  Around the start of the 20th century, Rhode Island had a booming economy, which fed the demand for immigration. During World War I, Rhode Island furnished 28,817 troops, of whom 612 died. After the war, the state was hit hard by the Spanish Influenza.
  In the 1920s and 30s, rural Rhode Island saw a surge in Ku Klux Klan membership, largely among the native-born white population, in reaction to the large waves of immigrants moving to the state.  The Klan is believed to be responsible for burning the Watchman Industrial School in Scituate, Rhode Island, which was a school for African American children.
caption: Nelson W. Aldrich pushed for protectionist tariffs
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