Robber Barons and Rebels: Post-Civil War Reconstruction to the “Gilded Age "

The free online handouts I found for  "Young People's History", ended at Chapter 10. There is a handout for $1 at Teachers Pay Teachers, but I just made my own.

Learning Questions: What myths did people believe that helped maintain
the wealth of the Robber Barons and who reinforced such beliefs?

One thing to remind the student is about the idea of Social Darwinism was also

popular at that time, as well as the myth of the American Dream, which this chapter

goes into detail over.

Important Concepts/Vocabulary

1. Monopoly
2. Socialism
3. Communism
4. Anarchy
5. Capitalism
6. Manifesto
7. Populism

Questions:

1. What was the new technology and its effects?
2. What did such progress demand and who was affected?
3. What was the response to immigrants? Be specific
4. The greatest period of economic growth looked like a _____. Explain it’s shape.

The Rich Get Richer

1. Who were the Robber Barons? Where did they come from and how did they amass their wealth?
2. What beliefs did people have that maintained the myth/pyramid and who helped control people’s mind?
3. What was a “great American achievement”? And how is that also a “myth”?
4. What does Monopoly Capitalism support and undermine?

Voices of Protest

1. Which European ideas were considered “dangerous” and why?
2. Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1877): What was it’s purpose?
3. How was the Sherman Anti-Trust Act undermined 20 years later?
4. What were some great movements during this time?

The Haymarket Affair

1. How did we get an 8 hour workday?
2. Why did people around the world and Chicago protest the harsh sentences of the 8 men?

Rise and fall of the Populist Party

1. What was the platform of the Farmers Alliance?
2. What did the Populists believe in?
3. What were the internal divisions within the Populist Party?
4. What became of the Populist party?
5. How was William McKinley like Donald Trump?

Important People:

1. Thomas Edison
2. Gustavus Swift
3. John D. Rockefeller
4. Andrew Carnegie
5. President Grover Cleveland
6. Senator John Sherman
7. Henry George
8. Edward Bellamy
9. August Spies
10. Eugene Debs
11. William McKinley

Chapter 11 Test

Extra:

1. Two Forms of Capitalism: a.) Adam Smith b.) Corporate Capitalism
2. Who was Mother Jones?

Zinn's Chapter 11 (Not the "Young People's" version)