Unit Six

Unit 6: 1865-1898 – The American Pageant, Chapters 22-28; Don’t Know Much About History pages 257-303

Content: The transformation of the United States from an agricultural to an increasingly industrialized and urbanized society brought about significant economic, political, diplomatic, social, environmental, and cultural change.  Includes: Rise of labor unions and the Populist Party; general themes of industrialization, urbanization, immigration, and imperialism; Indian Wars, the Spanish American War, conquests in the Pacific.

Key Concepts:

6.1 The rise of big business in the United States encouraged massive migrations and urbanization, sparked government and popular efforts to reshape the U.S. economy and environment, and renewed debates over U.S. national identity.

6.2 The rise of big business and an industrial culture in the United States led to both greater opportunities for and restrictions on immigrants, minorities, and women.

6.3 The “Gilded Age” witnessed new cultural and intellectual movements in tandem with political debates over economic and social policies.

Activities:

History Log – notes and short answers on reading assignments.

Primary Source Analysis: Red Cloud’s Speech, Excerpts from Huck Finn, Dawes Act, Chinese Exclusion Act, A Black Woman’s Appeal for Civil Rights, Populist Party Platform, Bosses of the Senate Cartoon, Images from How the Other Half Lives, Andrew Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth, Petition to the Ohio state legislature against women suffrage, Jane Addams Twenty Years at Hull House, map of the overseas possessions of the U.S.

Viewpoints: After reading excerpts from Jane Addams, Louise de Koven Bowen and Hilda Satt Polacheck students will decide if the progressive social reformers were generous and helpful or condescending and judgmental towards immigrants.  Students will list 3 main points and evidence the support.

Populist Party Speech – Students will analyze documents on the Populist Party and create a speech on why they should be the Populist Party Presidential nominee in 1892.

Unit Test – Multiple-choice questions, short answer questions, DBQ, and Long Essay.

During this unit students will discuss possible answers to the following essential questions:

Identity: How did the rapid influx of immigrants from other parts of the world than northern and western Europe affect debates about American national identity?

Work, Exchange, and Technology: How did technological and corporate innovations help to vastly increase industrial production?  What was the impact of these innovations on the lives of working people?

Peopling: How and why did the sources of migration to the United States change dramatically during this period?

Politics and Power: How did the political culture of the Gilded Age reflect the emergence of new corporate power?  How successful were the challenges to this power?  Why did challenges to this power fail?

America in the World: How did the search for new global markets affect American foreign policy and territorial ambitions?

Environment and Geography: In what ways, and to what extent, was the West “opened” for further settlement through connection to eastern political, financial, and transportation systems?

Ideas, Beliefs and Cultures: How did artistic and intellectual movements both reflect and challenge the emerging corporate order?