Comparison - The Old West
Below are the questions that students had about the unit (answers are soon to follow)
1. What inventions caused the most change in America during the 2nd Industrial Age?
This is a pretty subjective question - in what area of American life? Change in regards to what? You have inventions and innovations such as the Bessemer Process (steel), homemade appliances, electricity, skyscrapers, etc. I would look over the changes, innovations, and inventions discussed in these chapters and decide for yourself.
2. What famous texts/groups influenced American culture at the time?
Once again, a pretty loaded question - Horatio Alger's books, Herbert Spencer and Social Darwinism, Andrew Carnegie's Gospel of Wealth, Mark Twain, Labor Unions, Political Machines, Captains of Industry (or Robber Barons), Immigrants, - do you see where I'm going with this?
3. With immigrants taking many factory jobs, how did lower class Americans manage to collect income?
This would be a continued struggle - one of the reasons for the emerging importance (and presence) of labor unions such as the Knights of Labor, the American Federation of Labor, and the Industrial Workers of the World. I would go back and look at methods utilized by these organizations. You would also see the "safety valve" theory come into play with the increased migration out West (see Homestead Act and Morrill Land Grant Act as government incentives). The failure to succeed also influenced social philosophies such as Social Darwinism as a way to justify the division between social classes.
4. What is the test mostly on?
5. Explain the reasoning behind monopolies.
The first reason behind the development of monopolies (or combination and consolidation) would be for greater efficiency. As America saw the increase of production, there had to be a way in which the work of production and distribution could be continued efficiently - the idea of combining capital and utilizing methods such as vertical integration was seen as a means to this end. The second reason was market control - vertical and horizontal integration eventually squeezed out or bypassed the smaller businesses (also see trusts).
6. How was the railroad affected by monopolies.
The development of railroad corporations - those who were successful were the ones that had the best access to capital (think Cornelius Vanderbilt). You see with changes such as time zones, standard track gauges, George Westinghouse's airbrake - railroads were beginning to be able to meet the transportation needs of the industrial economy. However, the costs of competition and growth were high. Investors started to consolidate companies. You also saw tactics such as stock watering - where RR stock promoters inflated their claims about a given line's assets and profitability and sold stocks and bonds far above the railroad's actual value. You also see the emergence of the "pool" - an agreement to divide the business in a given area and share the profits. RR guys would offer rebates or kickbacks to powerful shippers (Rockefeller) in return for steady traffic. They would also slash prices on competitive lines and make up the difference on noncompeting ones (think Farmers out west )
7. Development of the west.........(I'm not sure what you want here)
8. How was the art/social culture relevant and influential to other aspects of American life and the growth of the identity of the American people?
American writers and artists started to gravitate towards realism, naturalism, and regionalism. This means instead of depicting life as it out to be lived or had supposedly existed in the past, realism sought to document life and society as it was - warts and all. Naturalism took this one step further, examining the influence of heredity and social environments in shaping human character. Regionalism sought to capture the "local color" of a particular region. I would look on pages 566 and 567 in the text for more information.
9. How many questions is it?
10. How is it distributed among chapter 23-26?
11. How much will it focus on Gilded Age art and culture?
**note - #4, 9,10,11 are not review questions, therefore I will not answer them.
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