mark-carlile.com | home
Review Sheets
Review Sheet
Final Exam
The Gilded Age in America
The following are areas that you should consider in preparing for the exam.
ESSAY ONE (material since midterm)
1. The progression of American foreign policy, from relative isolation to overseas empire, and possible factors behind this transition.
2. Controversy over the silver question, and its relationship to the political and economic trends of the late 19th Century.
3. Dissatisfaction of America's farmers, the factors which they believed caused their plight, and the various collective actions and solutions which resulted.
4. The events surrounding the 1896 election, and the discussion concerning its status as a “realigning” election.
5. The factors leading to increased immigration, the effect of this influx on urban America, and the growth of “nativist” reaction.
6. Changes in the “separate spheres” concept of womanhood, and how women were involved in political and social reforms.
7. Economic and social trends in the “New South” in the years following Reconstruction, and the parallel developments in the region's African-American population.
8. Social, cultural, and literary trends, from “realism” to “yellow journalism” to the symbolism of the “White City.”
ESSAY TWO (comprehensive question)
1. Gilded Age politics from the beginning of the period to the end of the 19th Century, including changes in social and regional alignments and the style of political expression.
2. Economic developments over the length of the period, including industrial growth, agricultural difficulties, and the 1893 Panic.
3. The social effects of industrialism on different sectors of American society, such as farmers, laborers, immigrants and women.
4. The shifting nature of “middle-class” life, from everyday “consumerism” to employment to recreational choices.
5. The question of the true nature of the Gilded Age: a time of greed and corruption, a crucial transition phase to 20th Century America, both, or neither.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Review Sheet
Midterm Exam
The Gilded Age In America
The following are areas that you should consider in preparing for the exam:
1. The scope of industrialization in the Gilded Age, along with the factors behind expanded production and the effect this had on the economy as a whole.
2. Changes in the workplace due to the emergence of the factory system, and the varied responses of workers and labor groups to these changes.
3. The effects of urbanization, both in the physical boundaries of the city and in living conditions, and the extent to which urbanization was connected to industrialization.
4. The ways in which perceptions of American society changed in the Gilded Age, due to greater class divisions, the "closing" of the frontier, or greater reliance on mechanization.
5. Farming practices, including both their effect on agricultural production and the consequent impact of these practices on the rest of society.
6. Effects of the industrial age on middle- and upper-class society, including the beginnings of a mass consumption society.
7. Government policies toward Native Americans and the attempts to "Americanize" Indian tribes and their members.
8. The prevailing political scene in the Gilded Age, concerning partisan alignments, the structure of political parties, and popular political expression.
9. The importance of political issues of the early Gilded Age, and the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of the political system in dealing with these issues.