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A vicious cold snap hit New York in the first week of 

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February, 1897, but nothing could slow 

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the preparations for the impending revelry. The 

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city's wealthiest citizens who were readying themselves for 

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one of the most anticipated balls in the nation's history. An 

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extravagant exclamation point on what would come to be 

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known as the gilded age. During the gilded 

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age, Americans feel quite certainly that they are the 

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van gaurd of civilization and progress. There's an 

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enormous period of opportunity and possibility and hope No 

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group felt more confident about the future than the guests 

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who would gather for the party at the luxurious Waldorf 

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Hotel. The evening's total price tag, according 

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to newspaper reports, was enough to feed nearly 1, 000 

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working class families for a full year. [ MUSIC ] 

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Defenders noted that the ball stood to benefit the entire city. 

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Critics beg to differ. With 

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all the people, warned one minister, who have to lie awake 

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nights contriving to spend their time and their money. And 

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all the others who lie awake wondering how they may get 

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food. There is a danger in the air. It 

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was a fractious time in which a sense of desperation 

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amidst growing wealth was emerging. [ MUSIC ] 

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Increasingly workers begin to say, if I as a member of this 

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society, lack the ability to pay my bills and to feed my family, 

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then I'm not a free citizen of a healthy republic. I'm 

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something else. I'm something the Founding Fathers 

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would not recognize. [ MUSIC ] 

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The magnitude of the late 19th century Of American society 

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is hard to exaggerate. It was as if you 

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woke up in one country and went to bed in another. 

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[ MUSIC ] 30 years after the civil war, America had 

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transformed into an economic powerhouse. But 

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the transformation had created stark new divides in wealth, 

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standing and opportunity. It's shocking 

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for people to see a country developing before them that is 

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increasingly clearly divided into the haves and have nots. 

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Gilded is not golden. [ MUSIC ] Guilded 

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has the sense of patina covering 

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something else. It's the shiny exterior 

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and the raw underneath. By 

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the time New York's elite gathered at the Waldorf Ballroom, 

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the richest 4, 000 families in the country Less than 1 % 

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of all Americans had scooped up nearly as much treasure 

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as the other 11. 6 million families combined. We 

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are the rich, one partygoer remarked, we own America. 

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We got it, God knows how, But we intend to keep it if 

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we can. There is this fight over what 

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is America's collective self identity. Who are we? Are we 

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two nations, the poor and 

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the wealthy? Or are we one nation where everybody 

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has a chance to succeed. [ MUSIC ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ]