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.