Unit 8 - The Gilded Age 1876-1900
Ch. 24-28
Objective:
1. How did the United States become an industrialized, modern nation?
2. Although the economic growth of the U.S. between 1860-1900 has been attributed to the governmental policy of laissez-faire, it was in facts encouraged and sustained by direct governmental intervention.” Assess the validity of this statement.
3. How successful was organized labor in improving the position of workers in the period from 1875-1900? Analyze the factors that contributed to the level of success achieved.
4. To what extent was late nineteenth century and early twentieth century United States expansionism a continuation of past United States expansionism and to what extent was it a departure?
Unit Themes:
- Development of the West in the Late Nineteenth Century
- Expansion and development of western railroads
- Competitors for the West: miners, ranchers, homesteaders, and American Indians
- Government policy toward American Indians
- Gender, race, and ethnicity in the far West
- Environment impacts of western settlement
- Industrial America in the Late Nineteenth Century
- Corporate consolidation of industry
- Effects of technological development on the worker and workplace
- Labor unions
- National politics and influence of corporate power
- Migration and immigration: the changing face of the nation
- Proponents and opponents of the new order, e.g., Social Darwinism and Social Gospel
- Urban Society in the Late Nineteenth Century
- Urbanization and the lure of the city
- City problems and machine politics
- Intellectual and cultural movements and popular entertainment
