420 Midterm Essay '23
In-class writing exercise
Remember the Two Cousins (from units 8 & 11)? You are their uncle. You’ve just come from a tour of the Doohicky factory where they are employed. It’s 1900. You are in a thoughtful mood. As you think about the huge changes that have occurred over the past 40 years and their letters, write them a note that seeks to resolve their conflicting views and suggests how they should feel about America’s industrial “progress” and it’s impact on working class folks like you and your nephews and their families. In order to convince them, you will need to use some examples and show that you fully understand and respect their arguments by acknowledging the better points on each side (in other words you are a person who fully embraces the principles of PWG 4c).
We will have take one day to review material from earlier in the term, and then you will come to class the next day and write an essay for 50 minutes. If you have accommodations for test-taking, please let me know in advance.
Study guide below (relevant items that may have relevance to your point; use pull-down arrow):
Items from unit 10:
From Unit 10: Taylorism; efficiency; productivity; advertising; mechanization; division of labor; economies of scale; mergers; trusts; managers; limited liability; stock; stock exchange; dividends; capital; profits; capitalists; robber barons; tarrif; invention factories; free labor; wage labor; contract freedom; eight-hour day; strikes; competition; real wages; deflation; permanent working class; greenbacks.
Items from Unit 11
General Strike
8-hour day
Child labor
Great Upheaval
Mechanization
Knights of Labor
Industrial Union
Pinkertons
Homestead
Haymarket
AF of L
Craft Union
Pullman strike
Eugene Debs
Pres. Cleveland
Injunction
Telegraph
Meatpacking Industry
Immigration
Push and pull factors
Urbanization
Melting Pot
Chain migration
Political machines
Tammany Hall
Slums
Suburbs
Socialist Party
Lochner v. NY
Police powers
Due process
Liberty of Contract
Judicial Review
Items from Unit 12
Farmer's Alliance
Populist Party
Omaha Platform
Subtreasury system
Monetary policy
Hard money
Free sliver
Bimetallism
Inflation
Deflation
Tom Watson
Colored Farmers’ Alliance
Fusion
William Jennings Bryan
Eugene V. Debs
Socialist Party
Bourbons
Henry Grady
New South boosters
Jim Crow
Lynching
Disfranchisement
Poll tax
Literacy tests
Ida B. Wells
Lost Cause
The plain people