The GIlded age was a time period in US history from the 1870s to about the early 1900s. The term Gilded Age was derived from Mark Twain's novel called the "The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today. Mark Twains novel was a satirical piece on the time period. Now the hard money policies associated with the Gilded Age were reflected in the Resumption Act of 1875, The "Crime of 73", and the contraction.