Assignments for Unit 5: Industry and Empire (1865-1900)

#501: Industrialization, Railroads, and Chinese in America

  • View “The Industrial Economy: Crash Course US History #23,” 12 minutes. See below, left.
  • View “Growth, Cities, and Immigration: Crash Course US History #25,” 13 minutes. See below, right.
  • Read “Timeline of Chinese Immigration and Exclusion” (PDF).
  • Consider:
    • Identify at least four connections between the timeline and the two videos above.
Materials needed for class:
  • Neither Foner nor your Course Reader will be needed for tomorrow's class. However, please do bring a charged laptop.

#502: The Industrialists: “Robber Barons” or “Captains of Industry”?

Read:
  • In Foner, read:
    • 480-82 (“Competition and Consolidation,” “The Rise of Andrew Carnegie,” “The Triumph of John D. Rockefeller”)
    • 494-95 (“The Corruption of Politics”)
    • 498-500 (“The Social Problem” and “Social Darwinism in America”)
  • In the Course Reader, read Andrew Carnegie, “The Gospel of Wealth,” 79-80.

Materials needed for class:
  • Please bring a charged laptop and both Foner and your Course Reader to class. You will earn 3 points for materials preparation (1 point for each item listed).
Picture
"The Bosses of the Senate" published in Puck, 23 January 1889.

#503: Poverty & Inequality

  • Read: Henry George, “The Crime of Poverty,” 1885 (PDF)
    • As you read, consider:
      • In your own words, describe what Henry George means when he says “poverty is a crime.”
      • Explain George’s central contention, that “the great majority of those who suffer from poverty are poor not from their own particular faults, but because of conditions imposed by society at large.” If the poor are not to blame for poverty, what, in George’s view, causes poverty?
      • Do you think George’s arguments are still relevant today? Why or why not?
  • View “The Slums of New York” photo gallery (external link) prepared by NPR and the Museum of the City of New York.
  • Read or listen to NPR, “Jacob Riis: Shedding Light On NYC's ‘Other Half’” (external link). Note:  the radio version is 12 minutes 52 seconds.
Materials needed for class:
  • Neither Foner nor your Course Reader will be needed for tomorrow's class. However, please do bring a charged laptop.​

#504: Organizing Labor

Read:
  • Foner 500-06 (“Liberty of Contract and the Courts” and all of “Labor and the Republic”)
Materials needed for class:
  • Please bring Foner to class.

#505: An American Empire

View: Read:
  • Foner 529-34.
  • Consider:
    • What ideas and interests motivated the United States to create an empire in the late nineteenth century?
Materials needed for class:
  • No printed materials needed for class. Please bring a fully charged laptop.

#506: The Spanish-American War and its Aftermath

Read: Materials needed for class:
  • No printed materials needed for class. Please bring a fully charged laptop.

#507: The Philippine War

Read: 
  • “Soldiers in the Philippines” (PDF) collection of primary source documents to prepare for in-class discussion. The goal here is to familiarize yourself with the contents, not necessarily to conduct a “close read” line by line. Please budget your time so you do not exceed the time allotted for homework.
​Materials needed for class:
  • No printed materials needed for class. Please bring a fully charged laptop.

#508: DBQ Assessment

Review the materials handed out in the DBQ packet during class to prepare for an in-class writing assessment.