Christina Eickenroht
AP UNITED STATES HISTORY
2010 SCORING GUIDELINES
The time period between 1870 and 1910 is usually referred to as “the Gilded Age.”
Analyze how applicable this title is to the social, economic, and political trends of the
time period.
The 8-9 Essay
 Contains a well-developed thesis that examines the ways in which “the Gilded
Age” applies to the time period in social, economic, and political trends.
 Presents an effective analysis of the social, economic, and political trends of the
time and how they reflect the era’s title.
o References to the social, economic, and political trends may be implicit,
yet should still be clear.
 Effectively uses a substantial number of documents.
 Supports thesis with substantial and relevant outside information.
 May contain minor errors.
 Is clearly organized and well written.
The 5-7 Essay
 Contains a thesis that addresses the ways in which the title “the Gilded Age”
applies to the time period in social, economic, and political trends.
 Has some limited analysis of the social, economic, and political trends during this
time period and how they reflect it’s title.
o References to the trends may be implicit; may only address two of the
three trends.
 Effectively uses some documents.
 Supports thesis with some relevant outside information.
 May have errors that do not seriously detract from the quality of the essay.
 Shows acceptable organization and writing; language errors do not interfere with
the comprehension of the essay.
The 2-4 Essay
 Contains a limited or underdeveloped thesis.
 Deals with the question in a general manner; simplistic treatment of social,
economic, and political trends and how they support the title, “the Gilded Age.”
 May address only one category.
 Merely refers to, quotes, or briefly cites documents.
 Contains little outside information, or information that is inaccurate or irrelevant.
 May have major errors.
 May be poorly organized and/or written.
The 0-1 Essay
 Contains no thesis or a thesis that does not address the question.
 Exhibits inadequate or incorrect understanding of the question.
 Has little or no understanding of the documents, or ignores them completely.
 Has numerous errors.
 Written so poorly that it inhibits understanding
-- blank or completely off task
UNITED STATES HISTORY
SECTION II
Part A
(Suggested writing time—45 minutes)
Percent of Section II score—45
Directions: The following question requires you to construct a coherent essay that
integrates your interpretation of Documents A-J and your knowledge of the period
referred to in the question. High scores will be earned only by essays that both cite key
pieces of evidence from the documents and draw on outside knowledge of the period.
1. The time period between 1870 and 1910 is usually referred to as “the Gilded
Age.” Analyze how applicable this title is to the social, economic, and political
trends of the time period.
Document A
Source: “Boss Murphy and Civic Progress” from The Nation
We cannot shut our eyes to the fact that no Tammany boss was ever as secure as
Charles Murphy when he died; nor that there is endless graft and inefficiency,
and doubtless grave corruption, in many of the bureaus of the municipality. We
cannot hide the sad truth that the anti-Tammany forces are utterly without
leadership; that not one man whose voice can reach and move the multitude is
today making front against government by and for Tammany Hall… Pun,
political influence, and the power of money reigned supreme… We are
conscious, of course, that much of this improvement lies in externals; that
underneath there are still infinite wrongs, waste, extravagance, thieving… Let no
one be deceived. Government by Tammany Hall remains a crime against the
American democracy. As long as it survives it menaces every municipal
government under the Stars and Stripes.
Document B
Document C
Source: The Bosses of the Senate, Puck
Document D
Source: The Gilded Age original book
cover; published 1873
Document E
Source: The Dangerous Classes of New York and
Twenty Years Among Them by Charles Loring Brace,
1872
There are thousands on thousands in New York who
have no assignable home, and "flit" from attic to attic,
and cellar to cellar; there are other thousands more or
less connected with criminal enterprises; and still
other tens of thousands, poor, hard-pressed, and
depending for daily bread ou the day's earnings,
swarming in tenement-houses, who behold the gilded
rewards of toil all about them, but are never permitted
to touch them.
Document F
Source: “Tweed Days in St. Louis,” Lincoln Steffens, 1902
Business men were not mere merchants and the politicians were
not mere grafters; the two kinds of citizens got together and
wielded the power of banks, railroads, factories, the prestige of
the city, and the spirit of its citizens to gain business and
population… a change occurred. Public spirit became private
spirit, public enterprise became private greed.
Document G
Source: A Call to Action, James B. Weaver, 1892
If the master builders of our civilization one hundred years
ago had been told that at the end of a single century,
American society would present such melancholy contrasts of
wealth and poverty, of individual happiness and widespread
infelicity as are to be found to-day throughout the Republic,
the person making the unwelcome prediction would have
been looked upon as a misanthropist, and his loyalty to
Democratic institutions would have been seriously called in
question.
Document H
Source: “Wealth” Essay, Andrew Carnegie, 1889
The problem of our age is the proper administration of
wealth, so that the ties of brotherhood may still bind
together the rich and poor in harmonious relationship. The
conditions of human life have not only been changed, but
revolutionized, within the past few hundred years. In
former days there was little difference between the
dwelling, dress, food, and environment of the chief and
those of his retainers…
The contrast between the palace of the millionaire and the
cottage of the laborer with us to-day measures the change
which has come with civilization.
Document I
Source: Twenty Years at Hull-House, a memoir by Jane Addams, 1910
You may remember the forlorn feeling which occasionally seizes you when
you arrive early in the morning a stranger in a great city: the stream of
laboring people goes past you as you gaze through the plate-glass window of
your hotel, you see hardworking men lifting great burdens; you hear the
driving and jostling of huge carts and your heart sinks with a sudden sense of
futility…
You turn helplessly to the waiter and feel that it would be almost grotesque
to claim from him the sympathy you crave because civilization has placed
you apart, but you resent your position with a sudden sense of snobbery.
Document J
AP UNITED STATES HISTORY
2010 SCORING GUIDELINES
Document Information and Inferences—DBQ 2010
Document A: “Boss Murphy and Civic Progress”
Document Information:
• Emphasizes the political corruption through political machines and city bosses
• City bosses were powerful and effective
• Discusses the Tammany Hall political machine in particular
• Discusses the time where greed and money were prominent in politics
• Points out that underneath the virtual prosperity of the time was corruption
Document Inferences:
• The corruption of the time was a cause and result of the industrial development
• The importance of immigrants in being a cheap labor source and a target/power
base of city bosses
• Extravagant wealth and waste of the time
• External improvement and prosperity masking the underlying poverty, unequal
distribution of wealth, and corruption
• The power of money –the concept of greed leading to corruption
Document B: Map of U.S. Steel Company
Document Information:
• A map of the U.S. Steel Company’s many firms that it incorporated
• Shows that much of the country’s steel production was concentrated in the
northeast around Ohio and Pennsylvania
• Geographically demonstrates the vast control of big business
Document Inferences:
• U.S. Steel is an example of a monopoly that began to absorb its competition
• Industrial production during the Gilded Age was concentrated toward the eastern
and especially northeastern regions of the country
• Trusts and other forms of industrial management were required due to these giant
monopolies
• Vertical and horizontal integration; undercutting competitors
• Massive industrial production
• Immigrants, particularly those in the northeast, provided a major source of labor;
other available skilled and unskilled labor
• Laissez-faire led to few restrictions on big business, which allowed for
monopolies to form
Document C: The Bosses of the Senate, Puck
Document Information:
• A political cartoon demonstrating the power of trusts – ‘trusts’ dominating
‘senators’
• Shows the various industries that controlled the ‘senate’ of the time (sugar, oil,
coal, etc.)
Document Inferences:
• ‘senate of the monopolists for the monopolists” -the power of trusts in comparison
to the power of government
• the ‘people’s entrance’ is closed; the ‘entrance for monopolists’ is open –
government not working for public will but for private greed and big business
• Political corruption and monopolies through trusts
• The greed of the era that led to corruption, trusts, and monopolies
• Monopolies and trusts controlled prices, wages, trade, etc.
• Laissez-faire philosophy
• Political cartoons speaking out against corruption/big business (another political
cartoonist is Thomas Nast)
• Trusts were cumbersome
• Trusts were a way to aid in business management –bankers/financiers (ex. J.P.
Morgan)
• Soon the anti-trust movement led to reforms during and after Progressive era
Document D: The Gilded Age book cover, 1873
Document Information:
• This is the book cover of Mark Twain’s The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today
• Published in 1873
Document Inferences:
• Criticism of the Gilded Age society, politics, and economy
• Mark Twain coined the term “the Gilded Age” to reflect the underlying issues of
the time
• Twain was a political satirist and commentator on society and life of the time
• The “Gilded Age” was not a time of complete prosperity; the prosperity and
industrial boom of the time covered/masked the underlying issues
• Muckraking and satire show people who sought to uncover what was beneath “the
Gilded Age”
• Protest against the corruption and extravagant wealth later let to reform
movements
Document E: The Dangerous Classes of New York, 1872
Document Information:
• Poverty and vagrancy were prevalent in this era
• Not everyone achieved the prosperity of the Gilded Age –many could see the
benefits but did not receive them
Document Inferences:
• Later led to social reform and the Progressive era
• Unequal distribution of wealth –extravagant wealth versus poverty and terrible
conditions
• “Gilded”: covers underlying social issues
• Social Darwinism
Document F: “Tweed Days in St. Louis,” Steffens, 1902
Document Information:
• Corruption of government and business
• Individuals and big business controlled major assets of the industrial economy
Document Inferences:
• Lincoln Steffens was a muckraker –connection to Progressive movement
• The gap between the extravagant wealth of those who benefited from the
industrial economy versus the treatment of workers and their conditions
• Private greed leading to corruption
• Municipal political machines and city bosses (example, Boss Tweed or Tammany
Hall)
Document G: A Call to Action, Weaver, 1892
Document Information:
• Uneven distribution of wealth
• Suggests that the corruption and social issues went against American democracy
and democratic ideals
Document Inferences:
• Appearance of prosperity covering the underlying poverty and social gaps,
particularly the gap between the rich and the poor
• Weaver was later a Populist party candidate
Document H: “Wealth,” Carnegie, 1889
Document Information:
• Uneven distribution of wealth
• Gap between the rich and poor
• Written by Andrew Carnegie
Document Inferences:
• Andrew Carnegie: big business owner (Carnegie Steel Co.); “robber-baron”
• The Gospel of Wealth
• Carnegie and philanthropy –his beliefs that the wealthy had a responsibility in
philanthropy
Document I: Twenty Years at Hull-House, Addams, 1910
Document Information:
• Gap between rich and poor
• Jane Addams, Hull House
Document Inferences:
• Gilded Age covered or masked the unequal distribution of wealth and the gap
between the rich and the poor; social problems underneath
• Jane Addams: social reformer (specifically, Hull House, which was a settlement
house for social reform); against social Darwinism
• Some from the upper and middle classes began to feel guilt and responsibility for
the social problems. This led to reform toward the end of the Gilded Age and into
the Progressive era.
Document J: Political Cartoon of Boss Tweed
Document Information:
• ‘in counting there is strength’ –corruption within political machines
• Boss Tweed –city bosses
Document Inferences:
• Political cartoons as a way of protesting the Gilded Age corruption; led to
pressure for political reform (muckrakers; Progressive era, etc.)
• the importance of immigrants in the labor source and support base for city bosses
and political machines
AP UNITED STATES HISTORY
2010 SCORING GUIDELINES
Document Information and Inferences—DBQ 2010
Commonly Seen Relevant Outside Information
robber-barons
political machines
monopolies
trusts
extravagant wealth
Muckrakers
Philanthropy
Vertical integration
Horizontal integration
Laissez-faire
Social Darwinism
Progressive era
Hull House
Jane Addams
Rockefeller
Standard Oil Co
Carnegie
Carnegie Steel Co
Vanderbilt
Big business
Tenement houses
Upton Sinclair
Boss Tweed
Tweed Ring
Tammany Hall
“honest graft”
gap between rich and poor
distribution of wealth
McClure’s Magazine
Lincoln Steffens
Entrepreneurs
J.P. Morgan
Thomas Nast
Puck
Crédit Mobilier
Whiskey Ring
Scandals
Ida Tarbell