Lesson #1 - What was the Gilded Age
Introduction:
Today's assignment begins with an understanding of the era. Henry Ford is highlighted in this clip from the History Channel, using your group's iPad, watch the following video and submit the quiz afterward. Complete the quiz in the first 15 minutes of class.
Overview:
The Gilded Age is a time in American History that was very productive, however at the same time very destructive. Immigrants were seen as laborers that supported the interests of the wealthy. Many that came during this time period were looked at as beneath those that had been in America, those that had died in American wars, those that had been born in America (although some to immigrants themselves). Safety was a thing that was seen as a "waste of money" and work hours were long and often without breaks. People became replaceable with the invention of the "assembly line", as skill to do simple tasks that were helped along by machines were not hard to teach to people. Children worked in lieu of school, families often had little money left over after rent, clothing, and food. The poor were stuck in jobs that offered no way out of the tough life they had.
PART ONE: Read this passage:
What is the Gilded Age?
Mark Twain called the late 19th century the "Gilded Age." By this, he meant that the period was glittering on the surface but corrupt underneath. In the popular view, the late 19th century was a period of greed and guile: of greedy Robber Barons, dishonest speculators, and corporate pirates, of shady business practices, scandal-plagued politics, and vulgar display.
It is easy to create cartoons of the Gilded Age as an era of corruption, conspicuous consumption, and unrestrained capitalism. But it is more useful to think of this as modern America's formative period, when an agrarian (farming) society of small producers were transformed into an urban society dominated by industrial corporations.
The late 19th century saw the creation of a modern industrial economy. A national transportation and communication network was created, the corporation became the dominant form of business organization, and a managerial revolution transformed business operations.
An era of intense partisanship, the Gilded Age was also an era of reform. The Civil Service Act sought to curb government corruption by requiring applicants for certain governmental jobs to take a competitive test. The Interstate Commerce Act sought to end discrimination by railroads against small shippers and the Sherman Antitrust Act outlawed business monopolies.
These were stormy years that saw labor violence, rising racial tension, militancy among farmers, and discontent among the unemployed. Burdened by heavy debts and falling farm prices, many farmers joined the Populist Party, which called for an increase in the amount of money in circulation, government assistance to help farmers repay loans, tariff reductions, and a graduated income tax.
After reading, complete the checkpoint below.
Checkpoint 1 - Complete within the first 25 minutes of class
Today's assignment begins with an understanding of the era. Henry Ford is highlighted in this clip from the History Channel, using your group's iPad, watch the following video and submit the quiz afterward. Complete the quiz in the first 15 minutes of class.
Overview:
The Gilded Age is a time in American History that was very productive, however at the same time very destructive. Immigrants were seen as laborers that supported the interests of the wealthy. Many that came during this time period were looked at as beneath those that had been in America, those that had died in American wars, those that had been born in America (although some to immigrants themselves). Safety was a thing that was seen as a "waste of money" and work hours were long and often without breaks. People became replaceable with the invention of the "assembly line", as skill to do simple tasks that were helped along by machines were not hard to teach to people. Children worked in lieu of school, families often had little money left over after rent, clothing, and food. The poor were stuck in jobs that offered no way out of the tough life they had.
PART ONE: Read this passage:
What is the Gilded Age?
Mark Twain called the late 19th century the "Gilded Age." By this, he meant that the period was glittering on the surface but corrupt underneath. In the popular view, the late 19th century was a period of greed and guile: of greedy Robber Barons, dishonest speculators, and corporate pirates, of shady business practices, scandal-plagued politics, and vulgar display.
It is easy to create cartoons of the Gilded Age as an era of corruption, conspicuous consumption, and unrestrained capitalism. But it is more useful to think of this as modern America's formative period, when an agrarian (farming) society of small producers were transformed into an urban society dominated by industrial corporations.
The late 19th century saw the creation of a modern industrial economy. A national transportation and communication network was created, the corporation became the dominant form of business organization, and a managerial revolution transformed business operations.
An era of intense partisanship, the Gilded Age was also an era of reform. The Civil Service Act sought to curb government corruption by requiring applicants for certain governmental jobs to take a competitive test. The Interstate Commerce Act sought to end discrimination by railroads against small shippers and the Sherman Antitrust Act outlawed business monopolies.
These were stormy years that saw labor violence, rising racial tension, militancy among farmers, and discontent among the unemployed. Burdened by heavy debts and falling farm prices, many farmers joined the Populist Party, which called for an increase in the amount of money in circulation, government assistance to help farmers repay loans, tariff reductions, and a graduated income tax.
After reading, complete the checkpoint below.
Checkpoint 1 - Complete within the first 25 minutes of class
Gilded Age Assignment - Robber Baron or Industrial Statesman
The assignment we will be doing for a better understanding of America during the Gilded Age is a DBQ over the super rich industrialists during this period in U.S. History. Names like Carnegie, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Morgan were made during this time, as these men took over much of the industry in the U.S. and became extremely rich in the process, one even loaned the government money so that it did not go bankrupt. They did this through business practices that established monopolies.
In contrast, the money that they acquired took away from the common man. Many people went hungry, worked low paying jobs that were in some cases extremely dangerous, with no room for growth. Robber Baron or Captain of Industry DBQ - We will be reviewing the documents for our DBQ in class Monday before you all get started on it. Your task is to answer whether or not you think the richest people of industries were 'Robber Barons' or 'Industrial Statesmen. This will be in the form of an essay due at the end of the DBQ. In order to complete the essay, you will be reading supporting documents to learn more about the leaders of American industry to decide for yourself if they are Robber Barons or Captains of Industry. Click the link and read pages 2 and 3 to learn about the background of the DBQ and to answer Checkpoint 2. Checkpoint 2 - to be completed before the end of class on day 1
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Understanding a DBQFor starters, what does DBQ stand for?
DBQ is an acronym for "Document Based Question" or "Data Based Question". The idea of a DBQ is to give a number of resources that are linked to a central issue or concept. The student explores the multiple resources, each one having some guiding questions to answer, and then using the information gained through the resources, answers an overall question in the form of an essay. Your DBQ for this lesson is found in the link above and titled - "Robber Baron or Industrial Statesman". The whole idea is to think about the central question as you are working through your resources, so make sure to look at it first. |
DBQ Checkpoints:
Document A Checkpoint
Document B Checkpoint Document C Checkpoint Document D Checkpoint * Commodore is the nickname of Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jim is the nickname of James Fisk Document E Checkpoint Document F Checkpoint |