Rapid industrialization (The why)
How did the Bessemer process fundamentally alter the American physical and economic landscape?
It allowed for the mass production of high quality steel, enabling the construction of skyscrapers and the Transcontinental railroad which unified the national market
Contrast the Gospel of Wealth with the concept of a Robber Baron
Define the primary goal of Muckrakers like Ida Tarbell the Upton Sinclair
To investigate and expose corporate corruption and social injustice tot provoke public outcry and legislative reform
How did the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire serve as a turning point for labor legislation?
The tragedy led to strict municipal building codes and factory fire safety laws moving away from pure Laissez faire
What was the significance of the 19th amendment?
It guaranteed women the right to vote in 1920 making a peak of progressive political success
Compare the economic philosophies of Adam Smith and Karl Marx regarding the government's role in the economy.
Smith advocated for Laissez faire capitalism while Marx argued in the Communist Manifesto that the working class would inevitably overthrow the capitalist system.
How did the pullman strike and homestead strike illustrate the federal government's stance on labor in the late 19th century
Both showed that the government consistently sided wit management often using troops or injunctions to break unions
How did Jane Addams' Settlement House movement address the failures of the Gilded Age?
It provided social services, education, and healthcare directly to the urban poor and immigrants in the heart of the ghettos
Explain Theodore Roosevelt's distinction between good trusts and bad trusts
Good trusts were efficient and provided low prices bad trusts used their monopoly power to harm the public and needed to be broken by the Sherman Antitrust Act
Describe the square deal philosophy
In what way did Thomas Edison's work at Menlo Park represent a Shift in how industrial innovation occurred?
It shifted innovation from individual "lone inventors" to organized, systematic research and development
Explain the significance of Jacob Riis's How the Other Half Lives regarding Urbanization.
It used photography to expose the squalid conditions of tenements, forcing the middle class to acknowledge the urban poor and sparking the social Gospel movement
What was the intent behind Scientific Management in the workplace?
To increase industrial efficiency and mass production by breaking tasks into simple, repetitive segments
What did the 17th amendment and the secret ballot hope to achieve regarding the political machine?
To return power to the voters and reduce the influence of bosses by allowing the direct election of senators and private voting
How did Horizontal integration lead to the Antitrust movement
By creating Monopoles that eliminated competition leading to higher prices and the passage of the Clayton Antitrust Act
How did Horizontal Integration differ from Vertical integration as stratagems for market dominance?
Horizontal involves buying out competitors in the same industry, while Vertical involves controlling every stage of production from raw materials to distribution
Analyze teh push and pull factors that led to the rise of new immigrants from southern and eastern europe
Push: Persecution and poverty
Pull: The promise of industrial jobs and the American melting pot ideal
Why was the Temperance movement particularly popular among the Urban Middle class and women?
It was viewed as a way to improve social order, reduce domestic violence, and "Americanize" immigrants who frequented saloons
How did the pure food and drug act change the relationship between the consumer and the government?
It marked the end of caveat emptor and established the government role in protecting public health
What was the difference between a Market economy and a planned economy in the context of this era?
A Market Economy relies on supply and demand a planned economy involves government control of production
To what extent did social Darwinism provide a moral justification for the Concentration of Wealth?
It applied "survival of the fittest" to society, suggesting that the success of Robber Barons was a natural result of their inherent superiority discouraging government interference.
How did political machines like Tammany hall maintain power despite widespread corruption
By providing essential services and jobs to immigrants in exchange for their votes
Compare the strategies of Alice Paul and Carrie Chapman Catt in the fight for Women's Suffrage.
Catt used a state by state winning plan and lobbying Paul used more radical tactics like hunger strikes and picketing the white house
Analyze the impact of the federal reserve act on the American economy?
Who were the WASP and why id they feel threatened by New immigrants?
White Anglo Saxon protestants they feared their cultural and political dominance was being eroded by Catholic and Jewish immigrants