Chapter 6 Essays For Test
Section 1
1. Why did the nation’s industrial productivity
rise in the late 1800s.
1. Due to new technology, the great increase in
inventions, and the investments to fund
them.
3. How did inventions such as the light bulb
and the telegraph change daily life in the
late 1800s?
3. They extended the usable hours of the day,
allowed for efficient long distance
communication, and made possible the
creation of entirely new industries.
4. What were the advantages of building the
transcontinental railroad?
4. Reduce cost and increase efficiency of
transportation; facilitate commerce; create
national markets; stimulate other industries,
like the steel industry.
6. How did the system of patents encourage
innovation and investment?
6. By giving inventors and investors ownership
of their ideas and creations, and the
resulting profits.
Section 2
1. How did the theory of social Darwinism
affect the governments relationship to big
business?
1. Social Darwinism encouraged government to
take a hands-off approach toward big
business because of the belief that society
should not interfere with people’s successes.
4. Why did the Sherman Antitrust Act
seek to stop big business from forming
trusts?
4. Public concerns over large trusts led
Congress to attempt to stop trusts from
limiting industrial competition and from
restraining interstate commerce.
6. Explain why you view the nation’s early
industrialists as either “robber barons” or
“captains of industry.”
6. Industrialists increased the availability of
goods, provided jobs, and endowed cultural
institutions. However, many were ruthless
and corrupt, stopping at nothing to gain
control over the competition.
Section 3
1. Why did the American work force grow in
the late 1800s?
1. Two population shifts occurred; farm to city
and immigrants arriving in the United States.
Both groups sought work in the factories.
4. Why did children work?
4. Their income was often vital for family
survival; no laws existed to prohibit child
labor at this time. Families had no insurance
for illness or unemployment.
Section 4
1. Why did socialism appeal to some
Americans in the late 1800s?
1. The gap between rich and poor was vast.
Socialism seemed to offer a political and
economic philosophy which favored the
public at large, rather than a few wealthy
individuals.
4. How successful were labor unions at the end
of the century?
4. Labor unions had only limited success at that
time. They brought many of labor’s pressing
issues to light, but often met with violence
and government opposition during strikes.
5. How did the goals of socialism and the labor
movement differ?
5. Socialists hoped to see all Americans share
equally in the nation’s wealth. The labor
movement worked mostly within the free
enterprise system, attempting to attain fair
treatment for workers.