Scarpino/Torrella

                                                                             H106

                                                         Study Questions for Exam #1

 

Directions:  Two of these questions will appear on the exam.  You will be required to answer one (1).  Answers must include appropriate examples from lectures, readings, and class discussions.  YOU MUST TAKE THE EXAM IN A BLUE BOOK THAT I PROVIDE; IT MUST HAVE A HISTORY DEPARTMENT STAMP ON THE FRONT.

 

We will be happy to check one or two outlines per student.  While we will not write (or rewrite) answers, we will tell you whether or not you are headed in the right direction.  We will also be pleased to talk to you about the readings or lectures or to answer questions about the class.

 

Please keep the following in mind:   Good essays answer the entire question by drawing on appropriate material from the lectures and the readings.  An effective essay is well organized, clear, and persuasive.  SUMMARIZE means that you briefly state the main points.  ANALYZE means write an answer that is fully developed with major points, supporting points,  and examples from the lectures and readings.

 

Office Hours:

 

Torrella:  Thur.,  Feb. 16th,11am-2pm; Tues, Feb. 21, 12-2:00 pm, and 4:00-5:00 pm; Thur., Feb. 23, 11:00 am - 2:00 pm; and by appt.

 

Scarpino: Tues., Feb. 21, 4:00-5:00 pm; Wed, Feb. 22, 2:00-3:30 pm; and by appt.

 

1.  This question has two parts, both of which deal with the transition from slavery to freedom.  (1) Start with  Reconstruction, 1865-1877, and explain the circumstances that surrounded the transition from slavery to freedom, e.g., What did northern Republicans do?  What did newly freed African Americans do?  What did southern whites do?  (2) Explain what happened to African Americas in the South after 1877, when the North pulled its occupation army out of the South.  See Text; Chapter 16.

 

2.  In 1891, a farmer from Kansas summed up his feelings of betrayal when he wrote the following:

 

"At the age of 52 years, after a long life of toil, economy, and self-denial, I find myself and family virtually paupers.  With hundreds of hogs, scores of good horses, and a farm that rewarded the toil of our hands with 16,000 bushels of golden corn we are poorer by many dollars than we were years ago.  What once seemed like a neat little fortune and a house of refuge for our declining years, by a few turns of the monopolistic crank has been rendered valueless."

 

(1) Summarize the major problems faced by American farmers in the last third of the nineteenth century that could have led a farmer to such conclusions.  (1) Analyze the economic and political solutions that farmers sought for these problems.  A good answer will draw on appropriate material from the Text, Chapters 17 and 20.

 

3.  Late nineteenth and early twentieth century America witnessed rapid social and economic change:  large-scale industrialization, fierce competition, boom and bust, deflation, the "new" immigration, etc.  Compare the attempts of businessmen and farmers to restore some measure of control over what they perceived to be a chaotic situation.  See, also, Text, Chapters 18 and 20.

 

4.   In the period we have been studying so far, many different groups of people attempted to understand, explain, and control changes going on around them.  Both the Populist and Progressive reform movements may be seen as responses to changes taking place in late 19th and early 20th century America.    Summarize ( no more than two paragraphs): What were the key problems in late 19th and early 20th century America that gave rise to the Populist and Progressive movements.  Analyze: The economic and political solutions that the Populists and Progressives sought for these problems.  Were they successful?  See, also, Text, Chapters 20 and 21.

 

5.  On page 74 of Looking Backward, Edward Bellamy illustrates “the point” of his book in a paragraph that uses the umbrella as a symbol of the ills of Bellamy’s own time and the solutions to those ills that he describes in the year 2000.  Bellamy has Dr. Leete say: “The difference between the age of individualism and that of concert was well characterized by the fact that, in the nineteenth century, when it rained, the people of Boston put up three hundred thousand umbrellas over as many heads, and in the twentieth century they put up one umbrella over all the heads.”

 

This question has two parts: (1) Summarize what Bellamy meant by “the difference between the age of individualism and that of concert.”    (2) Focus on “the age of individualism” and  analyze the ways in which businessmen did the following:  (a) How did they attempt to justify the fierce competitive struggle that characterized the late 19th century American economy, and (b) in what ways did they try to bring "order" to their society and control competition.  See also, Text, Chapter 18.