1. The Gilded Age

2. The Gilded Age: Crash Course
Read through the questions before the video starts so you know what to keep an ear out for.

3. Purpose To practice analyzing sources
To practice historical thinking skills
To practice writing skills
To practice having meaningful arguments and thoughts based on evidence and then communicate them clearly to others verbally and through writing

4. Lesson Structure Topic 1 – The New Economy
Document Analysis with questions (identify, analyze, evaluate)
ID – (plan, claim, support, analyze)
Topic 2 – Discontents of the New Economy

5. Introduction

6. DOC 13.1 – Analyze with your Guild…be ready to share out!
Similarities and Differences between the 2 images (identify)
Which is more optimistic in it’s view of America’s future and why? (analyze)
To what extent did mobility (railroad) foster a new national identity? (evaluate)

7. DOC 13.2 – Read and Analyze individually
Annotate for…
Grady’s main argument (identify)
Who is his audience? (analyze)
What are the political and economic motivations for reintroducing Southern workers into the Northern Economy?

8. DOC 13.3 – Analyze with your Guilds
What figures are most prominent? What do they represent and what details explain that representation? (identify)
Relationship between the larger and smaller men? What does that tell you about the artist’s perception of business and gov. at this time? (analyze)
Does this image distort the relationship between big business and the gov? explain (evaluate)

9. DOC 13.4 – Analyze with your Guilds
Which features are most prominent or noticeable? (identify)
How does this image of women reflect a larger development about leisure in the US at this time? (analyze)
What ways was the pursuit of leisure an important part of America’s emerging economy? (evaluate)

10. DOC 13.5 – Read and Analyze individually
Annotate for the following….
Main purpose of this message? (identify)
Describe the changing views toward the annexation of Hawaii as detailed by Foster. (analyze)
To what extent were these changing views toward annexation driven by political or economic motivations? (evaluate)

11. DOC 13.6 – Read and Analyze individually
Annotate for the following…
What does “public purposes” mean toward the end? (identify)
How does he argue that wealth that is held by a few can ultimately benefit the masses? (analyze)
Evaluate his argument by identifying the potential flaws and strengths in his logic…be able to explain. (evaluate)

12. Contextualization! With your Guilds…
Determine the documents that SUPPORT this was a gilded age (deep social and political problems masked by outward appearance of walth and prosperity
Determine the features of each document that reveal one or another (or both) sides of the Gilded Age…note documents that directly oppose each other
Think about the following contexts that would or wouldn’t define this age as “gilded”
Economic, Social, Political, Moral

13. ID – The New Economy
Using the documents and your knowledge of this time period, determine to what extent the period between 1865 and 1898 was, in fact, “gilded”.
Make sure to plan and to have a clear claim/thesis, to have evidence, and to have analysis (from your notes).

14. DOC 13.7 – Analyze with your Guilds
Most prominent images in the cartoon (identify)
Purpose of fire in this image? (analyze)
Why is the image titled “Hopelessly Bound to the Stake”? What is the creator’s argument here? (evaluate)

15. DOC 13.8 – Read and Analyze individually
Annotate for the following…
What is the local reaction to the Colored Farmers’ Alliance? (identify)
What does the final phrase suggest about the motivations of the local reaction? Is racism the only reason for the protest? (analyze)
To what extent did journalism act as a way of addressing social problems? (evaluate)

16. Doc 13.9 – Read and analyze individually
Annotate for the following…
Summarize Main Points of the White caps (identify)
To whom are the White Caps referring when they say “enemies of bulldozers and tyrants”? (analyze)
Compare to 13.8…to what extent were the situations of the A2 and White Caps similar? (evaluate)

17. Doc 13.10 – Analyze with your Guild
Describe each image (identify)
What mood or feeling is created in these images? Explain (analyze)
Compare these to Are the figures in Riis’s images “hopelessly bound to the stake”? Explain… (evaluate)

18. DOC 13.11 – Read and Analyze individually
Annotate for the following…
Harrison’s main message (identify)
In what ways were the goals for a national park system and for a transcontinental railroad similar? In what ways wer the goals different? (analyze)
To what extent was the creation of a national park system in competition with the Second Industrial Revolution? Explain the phrase “Whether of commercial value or not” (evaluate)

19. DOC 13.12 – Read and Analyze individually
Annotate for the following…
List five significant reasons for the formation of this party (identify)
What factors encouraged the formation of the People's Party? Were they strictly economic? (analyze)
To what extent does this platform represent the needs of the marginalized groups, such as African Americans and Hispanics? (evaluate)

20. Causation and Continuity and Change over Time! With your Guilds…
Which documents expressed ideas that challenged the status quo of the Gilded Age.
What events caused these ideas that challenged the status quo
During this time, what changed and what stayed the same (politically, economically, socially, etc.)

21. ID – Discontents of the New Economy
Choose three of the documents that express a desire to revise the status quo of the Gilded Age and explain in what ways these documents were shaped by historical events that preceded them. Make sure to plan and to have a clear claim/thesis, to have evidence, and to have analysis (from your notes).