Proposed two techniques for Chapter One:



Chapter 17:

Industrial Supremacy

The AP instructional strategies discussed below for Chapter 17 of American

History: A Survey focus especially, but not exclusively, on the following themes developed by the AP U.S. History Development Committee: American Diversity, Demographic Changes, Culture, Economic Transformations, Environment, and Reform. This chapter, as well as the primary documents selected below, follow the content guidelines suggested for the fifteenth topic in the AP Topic Outline ( Industrial America in the Late Nineteenth Century.

Top-Ten Analytical Journal.

Defining the chapter terms in their journals will help students better understand:

• The reasons for rapid industrial development of the United States in the late nineteenth century.

• The impact of technological innovations in promoting industrial expansion.

• The role of the individual entrepreneur in developing particular industries.

• Changes in the organization and management of American business.

• The use of classical economics and Social Darwinism to justify and defend the new industrial capitalism.

• The critics of the new industrial capitalism and the solutions they proposed.

• The conditions of immigrants, women, and children in the work force.

• The efforts of organized labor to form national associations.

• The reasons organized labor generally failed to achieve its objectives.

Each of the terms below contributes to a comprehensive understanding of how various factors combined to thrust the United States into worldwide industrial leadership. Industrial capitalism was both extolled for its accomplishments and attacked for its excesses, and American workers reacted to the physical and psychological realities of the new economic order. As your students define these terms, encourage them to demonstrate why each person, event, concept, or issue is important to a thorough understanding of this chapter.

Bessemer process

Henry Ford

Wilbur and Orville Wright

Taylorism

Moving assembly line

Corporations

Limited liability

Andrew Carnegie

Horizontal and vertical integration

John D. Rockefeller

Trusts

Holding Company

Cornelius Vanderbilt

Social Darwinism

Adam Smith and classical economics

The Gospel of Wealth

Horatio Alger

Louisa May Alcott

Lester Frank Ward

Henry George

Edward Bellamy

Monopolies

Immigration

Child labor laws

Labor unions

Molly Maguires

National Labor Union

Railroad Strike of 1877

Knights of Labor

American Federation of Labor

Samuel Gompers

Haymarket Square

Anarchism

Homestead Strike

Henry Clay Frick

Pinkerton Detective Agency

Pullman Strike

Eugene Debs

John Peter Altgeld

Getting students started on their journals. Remind students that they must analyze and synthesize their understanding of these terms in two ways:

• by creating “Top-Ten” lists of their own within their journals at the end of each chapter; and

• by justifying in their journal why their terms are essential to an understanding of “Industrial Supremacy.”

Journal entry example. Following is an example of how students might describe “Social Darwinism” and its importance to an overall understanding of “Industrial Supremacy.”

Social Darwinism. Herbert Spencer adapted Charles Darwin’s laws of evolution and natural selection to society ( and the result caught the attention of many Americans. Society benefited with the elimination of the unfit and the survival of the fit. Survival of the fittest, then, justified the success and tactics of businessmen who exploited labor, worked to destroy union demands, and lobbied to stop any governmental endeavors to regulate business activities.

Free-Response Questions.

1. Which do you feel were the most influential factors in the 19th century transformation of the American economy? What were the consequences of this transformation?

Some things to look for in the student response.

• Possible thesis statement: In the 19th century, new technologies, new forms of corporate organization, and plentiful sources of cheap labor fueled the shift from a small manufacturing economy to a major industrial giant.

• New technologies. The process of converting iron into steel is one of the most important technological advancements of the period, especially because it facilitated the growth of both the transportation and oil industries. The Bessemer and open-hearth process facilitated the production of huge quantities of steel. As it become easier to produce steel in larger quantities, new transportation technologies arose to move it. While steam freighters became important to the growing shipping industry, railroads were the primary transportation agents. Railroads provided access to distant markets and raw materials, stimulated economic growth along their routes, and dramatically changed the urban and rural landscapes. The steel industry also boasted the need for oil to lubricate new machines. The automobile and airplane were two other technological innovations that greatly changed the way products and people moved across the nation, as well as altered urban and rural landscapes.

• New forms of corporate organization. When industrialists realized that no one person or group could finance the business ventures they were planning, they sought new forms of corporate organization. In the 1830 and 1840s, businesses began selling stock to the public, and after the Civil War, wealthier members of society began to see stock as a good investment. As industrialists accumulated larger profits from their investments, they created larger corporations. And as the corporations grew in size, new approaches to corporate management evolved, including the division of managerial responsibilities and the emergence of middle managers who created a new layer between the owners and the workers. Consolidation also occurred initially through horizontal and vertical integration. Horizontal integration occurred when several firms involved in the same enterprise formed a single corporation. Vertical integration occurred when one business took over all the different businesses upon which the company relied. Trusts and holding companies also led to consolidation, so much so that by the end of the 19th century, one percent of American corporations controlled more than 33% of all the nation’s manufacturing.

• Plentiful sources of cheap labor. Constant flow of cheap labor came to the cities from two sources: migrants from rural American who were disillusioned with life on the farm and immigrants largely from eastern industrial cities.

• Positive Consequences. The positive consequences were enormous. Economic growth in America was extensive; a giant industrial infrastructure arose that stimulated new markets, opened up jobs for many unskilled workers, and paved the way to large-scale mass production. The corporate partnerships that developed between the academic and commercial worlds formed the basis of long-term research relationships that encourage technological growth and advancement. Some of the wealthiest members of society began to devote large portions of their fortunes to philanthropy.

• Negative consequences. Wealth and power were concentrated in an increasingly small number of people and corporations. As Henry George wrote, when the wealth of modern industry increased, so did poverty. Employers exploited laborers by keeping wages low; providing no benefits, job security, or job safety; and demanding long working hours. Corporations targeted unions and union organizers to diminish their reforming zeal and successes.

• Possible conclusion: Reaching industrial supremacy by the end of the 19th century did much to improve the lives of many Americans. The owners of industry and the growing middle classes greatly benefited by America’s transition from a manufacturing economy to a major industrial power. Many others, however, did not fare so well during the transition. Because farmers, urban laborers, small businesspersons, and consumers especially suffered during this period, the consequences of their suffering would be felt in the next decade.

2. How was the late-19th century American working class both a beneficiary and victim of the growth of industrial capitalism?

Some things to look for in the student response.

• Possible thesis statement: While many late 19th century workers benefited from a rise in their standard of living and some employment upward mobility, most were also victimized by a wide array of realities.

• Beneficiaries. For some workers, the standard of living rose in the years after the Civil War. Some were able to rise from unskilled to semiskilled or skilled jobs. Others saw their children move into managerial positions.

• Victims. The average income of the American worker was below that believed to be the minimum needed for a reasonable level of comfort. There was no job security. Wages did not rise commensurate with the amount of work required and could be cut in hard economic times. Modern industrial labor was monotonous, difficult, and often demeaning. Work was dangerous and difficult, especially for women and children ( both of whom were paid less than their male counterparts. There was little time off and no time or money for leisure. Victim compensation for accidents, vacation, and sick leave were nonexistent. Workers had no control over their work.

• Possible conclusion: It was true that very few people rose from “rags to riches” during this era, but it was equally true that some very real gains were made among some workers who moved from unskilled to semiskilled or skilled jobs, whose children moved into management, and who were able to lift their standard of living somewhat. Nonetheless, the vast majority of workers were no better off at the end of the century than they had been 40 years earlier.

3. Analyze the way in which the size and membership, organization, and effectiveness of the labor movement changed in the late 19th century. What were the advantages and disadvantages of belonging to a union? (Adapted from the 1985 U.S. AP History free-response question.)

Some things to look for in the student response.

• Possible thesis statement: While unions existed in the early 19th century, they usually consisted of small groups of skilled workers with little wide-reaching organizational skills or powers. Toward the end of the century, it was clear they would have to reorganize, recruit new members, and remain united if they were to make any gains for the nation’s laborers.

• Size and Membership. At the height of the National Labor Union membership, some 640,000 people were members, but many were reformers, not laborers. By 1886, the Knights of Labor claimed 700,000 members, including women, but by 1890, its membership had shrunk to 100,000. It was the American Federation of Labor, founded in 1881, that first galvanized and retained large membership and interest.

• Organization. By the late 1860s, labor leaders recognized that they needed better organization if they were to combat labor abuses that accompanied the rise of corporate America. In 1866, the National Labor Union began as the first attempt to unite separate unions into one national organization. It excluded women from its ranks and lasted only until 1873. The Knights of Labor, the first genuine national labor organization, began in 1869 and opened its doors to women. The American Federation of Labor quickly became the most important labor group in the nation. It was not one big union for everyone, but instead was a federation of autonomous craft unions representing only skilled workers.

• Effectiveness. By the end of the 19th century, laborers had less political power and control over the workplace than they had at the beginning of the movement for organized labor. Why? (1) Unions fell from favor during the 1870s when depression conditions created widespread unemployment and middle-class hostility towards unions and union members. (2) Federal, state, and local government leaders as well as corporate owners began to label labor leaders as “radicals” and “anarchists” who actually caused the troubles between management and labor. (3) Union members were split amongst themselves about membership (whether or not they should allow women, skilled or unskilled workers, people of color) and goals. (4) Labor organizations were never able to attract more than 4% of all workers to unions. (5) Labor organizations never had the support that the corporations were able to muster.

• Advantages. Membership brought attention to the corporate abuses of people and the economic system for all Americans. Members fought the “good fight” for improved wages, union recognition, an eight-hour workday, the abolition of child labor.

• Disadvantages. Union membership often resulted in strikes. Strikes were always broken, often violently, which sometimes led to the loss of work. Belonging to a union was risky as it targeted you as a radical or anarchist. Unionization and strikes could blacklist a worker from the labor force.

• Possible conclusion: While several large labor organizations were formed during the late 19th Century, none were strong enough to protect the interests of labor against the tremendous economic and political powers of the corporations.

Historians, Historical Detection, and DBQs.

The following DBQ and its supportive primary documents will help students gain a better understanding of the social, political, and economic consequences of industrialization in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Remind your students that when scoring the AP exams, the readers will expect to see a coherent essay that includes two required components: key pieces of evidence from all or most of the documents and a well-organized narrative drawing on knowledge from textbook readings and classroom discussion.

DBQ: By the early 20th century, big business had many opponents and proponents. Drawing from your knowledge of the period and the documents below, assess the arguments of the proponents and their defense of big business, as well as the opponents and their criticisms. What does each group suggest should be the appropriate role of government in the economy? Which arguments do you find most persuasive and why?

Documents:

1. Excerpt from George Estes and the Order of Railroad Telegraphers (Library of Congress, American Memory Website at work/estes.html)

“The Order of Railroad Telegraphers was organized in the late eighties, with a handful of members ... I was appointed chairman of the Order and charged with the hopeless assignment of expanding its membership until the most insignificant telegrapher on the least important branch of the smallest railroad in the remotest spot in America could reach into his jeans and jerk out a paid-up card in the Order. . . It took courage to belong. If the "Company" discovered an employee dallying with the notion of joining the Order, they straight-way trumped up some excuse for severing him from his job. They did a neat job of it, too. Here's how they did it: They never discharged an employee because of union activity. It was always because of "reduction of force", "reorganization" or other reason. However, in giving him his clearance papers - any employee leaving the service of a railroad was given clearance papers - they employed a secret code, known only to railroad officials, which as effectively black-listed him as if it were written in plain English. The paper on which the clearance was typed, had a water-mark. The water-mark was a crane, a bird with long legs which extended nearly the length of the paper. If there were no red lines crossing the crane's legs or neck, the clearance was exactly what it appeared to be on the surface - a recommendation to be honored by any road in need of the applicant's services. But if the red lines were there, although the wording of the clearance was identical with the honorable one, the applicant could as easily obtain work on a railroad as fly to the moon.”

2. Excerpt from Alice Henry, The Trade Union Woman, 1915. (Library of Congress, American Memory Website at )

“…What makes the whole matter of overwhelming importance is the wasteful way in which the health, the lives, and the capacity for future motherhood of our young girls are squandered during the few brief years they spend as human machines in our factories and stores. Youth, joy and the possibility of future happiness lost forever, in order that we may have cheap (or dear), waists or shoes or watches . . . Give her fairer wages, shorten her hours of toil, let her have the chance of a good time, of a happy girlhood, and an independent, normal woman will be free to make a real choice of the best man. She will not be tempted to passively accept any man who offers himself, just in order to escape from a life of unbearable toil, monotony and deprivation.

. . . But there is a mightier force at work, a force more significant and more characteristic of our age than even the awakened civic conscience, showing itself in just and humane legislation. That is the spirit of independence expressed in many different forms, markedly in the new desire and therefore in the new capacity for collective action which women are discovering in themselves to a degree never known before. As regards wage-earning working-women, the two main channels through which this new spirit is manifesting itself are first, their increasing efforts after industrial organization, and next in the more general realization by them of the need of the vote as a means of self-expression, whether individual or collective. . . .”

3. Excerpt from Henry George, Progress and Poverty, 1879. (Gilder Lehrman Institute, Teachers and Students Module: The Gilded Age at . Then, click on “Responses to Industrialization” under “Interpreting Primary Sources.)

“The enormous increase in productive power which has marked the present century...has no tendency to extirpate poverty or to lighten the burdens of those compelled to toil....In factories where labor-saving machinery has reached its most wonderful development, little children are at work...amid the greatest accumulations of wealth, men die of starvation, and puny infants suckle dry breasts; while everywhere the greed of gain, the worship of wealth, shows the force of the fear of want....

In the United States it is clear that squalor and misery, and the vices and crimes that spring from them, everywhere increase as the village grows to the city....So long as the increased wealth which modern progress brings goes but to build up great fortunes, to increase luxury and make sharper the contrast between the House of Have and the House of Want, progress is not real and cannot be permanent....The ideas that there is a necessary conflict between capital and labor, that machinery is an evil, that competition must be restrained and interest abolished, that wealth may be created by the issue of money, that it is the duty of government to furnish capital or furnish work, are rapidly making way among the great body of the people....Is there not growing up among us [wealthy men] who have all the power without any of the virtues of aristocracy? We have simple citizens who control thousands of miles of railroad, millions of acres of land, the means of livelihood of great numbers of men; who name the Governors of sovereign States as they name their clerks, choose Senators as they choose attorneys....”

4. Excerpt from Congregationalist Minister Washington Gladden, 1886 (Gilder Lehrman Institute, Teachers and Students Module: The Gilded Age at . Then, click on “Responses to Industrialization” under “Interpreting Primary Sources.)

“But now comes a harder question. How is this growing wealth divided? Is it rightly or wrongly divided?... During the past fourteen years the wealth of this nation has increased much faster than the population, but the people who work for wages are little if any better off than they were fourteen years ago....

What has the Christian moralist to say about this state of things? He is bound to say that it is a bad state of things, and must somehow be reformed....Christianity...ought with all its emphasis to say to society: "Your present industrial system, which fosters enormous inequalities, which permits a few to heap up most of the gains of this advancing civilization, and leaves the many without any substantial share in them, is an inadequate and inequitable system, and needs important changes to make it the instrument of righteousness."

This is not saying that Christians should ask the state to take the property of the rich and distribute it among the poor....There are, however, one or two things, that he will insist upon as the immediate duty of the state. Certain outrageous monopolies exist that the state is bound to crush....Another gigantic public evil that the state must exterminate is that of gambling in stocks and produce. . .”

5. Excerpt from Constitution of the Knights of Labor, 1878 (Gilder Lehrman Institute, Teachers and Students Module: The Gilded Age at . Then, click on “Responses to Industrialization” under “Interpreting Primary Sources.)

“The recent alarming development and aggression of aggregated wealth, which, unless checked will invariably lead to the pauperization and hopeless degradation of the toiling masses, render it imperative...that a check should be placed upon its power and upon unjust accumulation, and a system adopted which will secure to the laborer the fruits of his toil....We have formed the Knights of Labor with a view of securing the organization and direction by cooperative effort, of the power of the industrial classes....

To secure to the toilers a proper share of the wealth that they create; more of the leisure that rightfully belongs to them.... The establishment of cooperative institutions, productive and distributive. The reserving of the public lands--the heritage of the people--for the actual settlers;--not another acre for railroads or speculators. The abrogation of all laws that do not bear equally upon capital and labor, the removal of unjust technicalities, delays, and discriminations in the administration of justice, an the adopting of measures providing for the health and safety of those engaged in mining, manufacturing, or building pursuits....The prohibition of the employment of children in workshops, mines, and factories before attaining their fourteen year. To abolish the system of letting out by contract the labor of convicts in our prisons and reformatory institutions. To secure for both sexes equal pay for equal work. The reduction of the hours of labor to eight per day....”

6. Excerpt from Frederick Winslow Taylor on the principles of scientific management, 1911 (Gilder Lehrman Institute, Teachers and Students Module: The Gilded Age at . Then, click on “Responses to Industrialization” under “Interpreting Primary Sources.)

“Now one of the very first requirements for a man who is fit to handle pig iron as a regular occupation is that he shall be so stupid and so phlegmatic that he more nearly resembles in his mental make-up the ox than any other type. The man who is mentally alert and intelligent is for this very reason entirely unsuited to what would, for him, be the grinding monotony of work of this character. Therefore the workman who is best suited to handling pig iron is unable to understand the real science of doing this class of work. He is so stupid that the word "percentage" has no meaning to him, and he must consequently be trained by a man more intelligent than himself into the habit of working in accordance with the laws of this science before he can be successful.”

7. Excerpt from Testimony of Dr. Timothy D. Stow, U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Education and Labor, Report of the Committee of the Senate Upon the Relations Between Labor and Capital, 1885. (OLC, Chapter 17 under “Primary Sources.” U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Education and Labor, Report of the Committee of the Senate Upon the Relations Between Labor and Capital (Washington, D.C., 1885).)

“ . . . I have been in Fall River about eleven years, though I have been one year absent during that time. As a physician and surgeon, of course, I have been brought into contact with all classes of people there, particularly the laboring classes, the operatives of the city. With regard to the effect of the present industrial system upon their physical and moral welfare, I should say it was of such a character as to need mending, to say the least. It needs some radical remedy. Our laboring population is made up very largely of foreigners, men, women, and children, who have either voluntarily come to Fall River or who have been induced to come there by the manufacturers.

As a class they are dwarfed physically. Of course there are exceptions to that; some notable ones. On looking over their condition and weighing it as carefully as I have been able to, I have come to the conclusion that the character and quality of the labor which they have been doing in times past, and most of them from childhood up, has been and is such as to bring this condition upon them slowly and steadily. They are dwarfed, in my estimation, sir, as the majority of men and women who are brought up in factories must be dwarfed under the present industrial system; because by their long hours of indoor labor and their hard work they are cut off from the benefit of breathing fresh air and from the sights that surround a workman outside a mill. Being shut up all day long in the noise and in the high temperature of these mills they become physically weak.

Then, most of them are obliged to live from hand to mouth, or, at least, they do not have sufficient food to nourish them as they need to be nourished. Those things, together with the fact that they have to limit their clothing supply--this constant strain upon the operative--all tend to make him, on the one hand, uneasy and restless, or, on the other hand, to produce discouragement and recklessness. They make him careless in regard to his own condition. All those things combined tend to produce what we have in Fall River. . . “

8. Excerpt from Andrew Carnegie, Gospel of Wealth, 1889. (OLC, Chapter 17 under “Primary Resources.” )

“The price which society pays for the law of competition, like the price it pays for cheap comforts and luxuries, is also great; but the advantages of this law are also greater still, for it is to this law that we owe our wonderful material development, which brings improved conditions in its train. But, whether the law be benign or not, we must say of it, as we say of the change in the conditions of men to which we have referred: It is here; we cannot evade it; no substitutes for it have been found; and while the law may be sometimes hard for the individual, it is best for the race, because it insures the survival of the fittest in every department. We accept and welcome, therefore, as conditions to which we must accommodate ourselves, great inequality of environment, the concentration of business, industrial and commercial, in the hands of a few, and the law of competition between these, as being not only beneficial, but essential for the future progress of the race. . . .

Objections to the foundations upon which society is based are not in order, because the condition of the race is better with these than it has been with any others which have been tried. Of the effect of any new substitutes proposed we cannot be sure. The Socialist or Anarchist who seeks to overturn present conditions is to be regarded as attacking the foundation upon which civilization itself rests, for civilization took its start from the day that the capable, industrious workman said to his incompetent and lazy fellow, "If dost not sow, thou shalt not reap," and thus ended primitive Communism by separating the drones from the bees. One who studies this subject will soon be brought face to face with the conclusion that upon the sacredness of property civilization itself depends--the right of the laborer to his hundred dollars in the savings bank, and equally the legal right of the millionaire to his millions. . . .

This, then, is held to be the duty of the man of Wealth: First, to set an example of modest, unostentatious living, shunning display or extravagance; to provide moderately for the legitimate wants of those dependent upon him; and after doing so to consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to administer, and strictly bound as a matter of duty to administer in the manner which, in his judgment, is best calculated to produce the most beneficial results for the community--the man of wealth thus becoming the mere agent and trustee for his poorer brethren, bringing to their service his superior wisdom, experience, and ability to administer, doing for them better than they would or could do for themselves.”

Possible evidence:

• Opponents. The opponents range from labor leaders and organizations like George Estes and the Knights of Labor, to wage-earning women like Alice Henry, ministers like Washington Gladden, and physicians like Dr. Timothy Stow. Estes describes how the railroad industry not only discouraged its employees from joining unions, but also actually fired and blacklisted them for even “dallying with the notion” of union involvement. The Knights of Labor constitution laments the dangers of the emerging industrial order ( the “aggression of aggregated wealth” and its failure to “secure to the toilers a proper share of the wealth that they create.” Henry explains that workingwomen are simply “human machines in our factories” who have forever lost “youth, joy and the possibility of future happiness” in the economic quest for industrial profit. Gladden challenges the “Christian moralist” to question the “inadequate and inequitable system” and “insist” upon some type of reform. Dr. Stow finds the textile workers at Fall River are “dwarfed physically” by the unhealthy and inhuman working conditions as well as their lack of nourishment. The combined conditions had led to be “careless in regards to his own condition.”

• Proponents: The defenders of big business were generally owners, government officials, and economic philosophers. In general, they emphasized the innovative achievements of big business ( economies of scale, vertical and horizontal integration, technical innovation, and promotion of efficient labor, organization, capital, and research. Taylor emphasizes the latter by showing that the labor that is most efficiently suited for a man “fit to handle pig iron” should be “stupid” and incapable of understanding the “real science” of his work. To successfully deal with the “grinding monotony of work,” he required training “by a man more intelligent than himself.” Andrew Carnegie expressed the belief of many of his contemporaries that while the “law of competition” comes with a heavy price and “may be sometimes hard for the individual,” it is “best for the race.” He echoes his support of Social Darwinism by explaining how big business “insures the survival of the fittest,” which in turn justifies the “great inequality of environment, the concentration of business…in the hands of a few…as being not only beneficial, but essential for the future progress of the race…” Those who seek to change this order are “attacking the foundation upon which civilization itself rests…”

• Role of government. The opponents of big business generally request legislation to improve working conditions and protect collective action. Henry expresses optimism in the “spirit of independence” that manifested itself in “the new capacity for collective action” and is especially hopeful for legislation that not only will provide her with better wages and working hours, but also will give women the right to vote “as a means of self-expression.” George not only calls upon the men who own big businesses to recognize the “virtues of aristocracy” and understand how their unrestrained wealth accumulation hurts society as a whole, he also criticizes the fact that industrial giants work hand-in-hand with the “Governors of sovereign States” to protect their interests as the expense of the “House of Want.” Gladden calls for the state to “crush” particular “outrageous monopolies” as well as the “gambling in stocks and produce.” The Knights of Labor constitution calls upon the government to reserve “the public lands” for the people rather than “for railroads or speculators” and to abrogate all laws “that do not bear equally upon capital and labor.” Carnegie, presumably, sees no role of the government in what he believes is the natural order of the industrial world. Instead, he assumes that as a man of wealth, it is his responsibility to care for and provide moderately “for the legitimate wants of those dependent upon him…” In this role, he sees himself as a trustee who determines what is best for his employees and their community, and that in so doing, he can best determine what is best for them better “than they would or could do for themselves.”

• Most persuasive arguments. Will depend on the opinion of the student.

Creative Extensions.

1. Before reading Chapter 17, read aloud, or have students individually read, a section from Horatio Alger’s Ragged Dick. Begin a discussion about what this story tells them about life in industrial America at the end of the 19th century. If they were young men during that period, how might these novels shape their expectations for the future? Then, have them write a modern “rags to riches” Horatio Alger story that would be due in class the following day. Ragged Dick is available online at .

2. After reading Chapter 17, have students read portions of Mark Twain’s, The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today. Ask them why Twain called this period of “Industrial Supremacy” a “Gilded Age.” Do they think this is an appropriate term for the era? Ask them to provide examples of how the era was and was not gilded. Challenge them to create another name for the era and explain why it is more accurate. Have them create a name for the first decade of the 21st century and explain why it is descriptive. The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today is available online at )

3. Stage a classroom debate on any one of the following:

Resolved: Labor unions are un-American.

Resolved: If a person works hard enough, he can make it rich in America.

Resolved: American society benefits from the elimination of the unfit and the survival of the strong and talented.

Resolved: The great entrepreneurs of this period were really robber barons.

Resolved: Economic progress justifies environmental degradation.

4. Give students a homework assignment in which they write a weeklong diary from the perspective of one of the following people who lived in this era.

• A sixteen-year-old female laborer in a textile mile where a strike is about to occur, and who is considering joining a union.

• A poor, working-class teenage recent immigrant to America with great hopes and dreams for the future.

• A laborer participating in the Railroad Strike of 1877, the Homestead Strike, or the Pullman Strike.

• A member of the recently formed union, the American Federation of Labor.

• A poor young man who is reading Ragged Dick, one of the most popular of the Horatio Alger books.

• A Molly Maguire working in the anthracite coal region in Pennsylvania.

• A female leader in the Knights of Labor in the 1870s.

• An observer of the events before, during, and after Haymarket Square.

• A young anarchist who is a member of a new labor union.

5. Give students a homework assignment in which they write a speech from the perspective of any one of the following people who lived during this era:

• Andrew Carnegie explaining why he resigned from his business and became a philanthropist.

• John D. Rockefeller describing how and why he became the owner of the largest and most powerful monopoly in the late 19th century.

• Cornelius Vanderbilt explaining why he said, “What do I care about the law. H’aint I got the power?”

• Herbert Spencer defending his adaptation of Social Darwinism to the industrial world.

• Horatio Alger describing his feelings about the new industrial order he wrote about in his books.

• Henry Clay Frick explaining his decision to break the union’s control over the Homestead plant.

• An employee of the Pinkerton Detective Agency describing his involvement in strikebreaking.

• George Pullman explaining his decision to slash the wages of his workers by 25 percent.

6. Describe the art of writing critical book reviews to your students. Then, have them read a book written in the late 19th century. (See examples below.) When they have completed the book, ask them to write a critical book review (not a book report) of their book. The review should include a description of how well the author portrayed the characters, circumstances, and events of the era. On the day the assignment is due, ask them to get into pairs and present their book critique to one another. Possible books include, but are not limited to, any of the Horatio Alger books; Henry James, A Portrait of a Lady, The Bostonians, The Americans; Mark Twain, The Gilded Age; Kate Chopin, The Awakening; Frank Norris, The Octopus; Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence; Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, Little Men, Jo’s Boys.

7. Assign the book The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. Give the students at least three weeks to complete it. When they are finished, assign Eric Scholsser’s 2001 investigation into American slaughterhouses in “The Chain Never Stops.” Then assign an essay after reading both that is entitled, “The Jungle: 95 Years Later.” This article can be accessed at .

8. Divide the class into four groups ( each of which will study one of the following strikes: the Railroad Strike of 1877; McCormick Harvester Strike; the Homestead Strike; and the Pullman Strike. After examining the perspectives of both the corporate owners and the laborers, the facts surrounding the strikes, and the outcomes of each of the strikes, have each group discuss their findings with their classmates. Then, open the class for discussion: Where do their sympathies most often lie ( with the owners or workers? Why? How did they feel about union involvement in the strikes? Were unions or management more often to blame for the strikes? Are strikes ever justifiable ( in the past as well as the present?

9. Invite several guests to a town meeting held in New York City during the late 19th century in which the following topic will be discussed: “Capitalism provides the best system to realize the American Dream.” Guests can include, but are not limited to, Andrew Carnegie, Horatio Alger, John D. Rockefeller, Louisa May Alcott, Henry George, Adam Smith, Samuel Gompers, Herbert Spencer, Henry Clay Frick, and Eugene Debs. Assign students to assume each of these roles and to conduct research on how their character would respond to the topic. The remainder of students in the class must prepare 2(3 questions that ordinary Americans living in the city at that time might ask these particular speakers and must engage in conversation with the guests during the town meeting.

10. Invite students to watch any of the following three movies at home either with their family or with a group of friends from class: Little Women, The Bostonians, and Newsies.

• What does this production tell you about life in America in the late 19th century?

• Do you think this film was a realistic portrayal of an historical event? Why or why not? Be specific.

• In your opinion, is this movie of any real use to understanding this period in American history? Be specific about how and why ( or why not.

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