Homework/In-class Assignment
Railroads and the Gilded Age
30 points
Please read your chapter, the attached lecture notes. Then answer the following
questions. Remember to use complete sentences and write with clarity and good
analysis.
1. Discuss the concept of laissez-faire as it was used in the late nineteenth century to
describe the ideal relationship between the U.S. government and the American
economy. How was the relationship between the two truly “laissez faire” during
the Gilded Age and how, on the other hand, did government actually work to
build and strengthen corporate capitalism?
2. Discuss the concept of social Darwinism. Include a summary of its roots and an
explanation of the theory itself. How did Andrew Carnegie's gospel of wealth
refine the concept?
3. Describe and explain Vertical Integration and Horizontal Integration. (This is an
Identification question; your answer should include information about who
developed it, what it was, how it was implemented, what the effect was, what the
consequences were for business and for the people of the time and why it is
important for students to understand it today.)
4. Using the internet, your text and other outside sources, discover and then describe
in detail one instance of Labor Violence between 1877 and 1889. Remember to
include information about who was involved, what started and ended the violence,
where it took place, when and why it happened, what were the consequences for
the people of the time and why it is important for students to understand it today.
5. Discuss three ways leading industrialists transformed American business in the
late nineteenth century. Considering Ida Tarbell's criticism of John D.
Rockefeller, should those industrialists be considered symbols of American
business ingenuity or of ruthless business practices?