Unit 8 Presentations
Read the assigned pages of Chapter 23-25 of The American Spirit; Volume II Since 1865 (provided by Ms. Niles) - Reading will all be done in class, you will not be able to
check these books out. This assignment will be in the Test section of your grade book. For further research use your Amsco book and your American Pageant.
Group 1 Read pages 42-51 Race Divides the South
You will present your findings in class next week. To assess whether your audience has grasped the information in your presentation, be sure to ask them leading questions
about your presentation (yes/no questions are unacceptable) and be prepared to answer questions that the class may have. All of this must be done in less than 25 minutes
per group. Your group will work together and you will turn in notes taken by each member. You will also address the following;
What might have been the consequences for whites and blacks in the South if the election of 1876 had gone to Tilden? In light of the conditions in the South in the late
nineteenth century, could Reconstruction be considered a success or a failure? Why has this period been called the darkest hour in the history of African-Americans?
Group 2 Read pages 51-57 & 57-56 The Populist Crusade in the South/The Spread of Segregation
You will present your findings in class next week. To assess whether your audience has grasped the information in your presentation, be sure to ask them leading questions
about your presentation (yes/no questions are unacceptable) and be prepared to answer questions that the class may have. All of this must be done in less than 25 minutes
per group. Your group will work together and you will turn in notes taken by each member. You will also address the following;
What were the strengths and weaknesses of populism in the South? Did the Populist crusade advance or hinder the struggle of black southerners for social justice? How and
why did legally sanctioned segregation emerge in the South? Why did the segregationist regime endure for so long?
Group 3 Read pages 60-63 & 65-68 Cleveland and the Tariff/The Problems of Railroads
You will present your findings in class next week. To assess whether your audience has grasped the information in your presentation, be sure to ask them leading questions
about your presentation (yes/no questions are unacceptable) and be prepared to answer questions that the class may have. All of this must be done in less than 25 minutes
per group. Your group will work together and you will turn in notes taken by each member. You will also address the following;
With reference to the tariff-surplus problem, what did Cleveland mean when he said that “unnecessary taxation is unjust taxation”? In what ways might the “surplus” have been
legitimately spent?
Which of the so-called railroad abuses of the post-Civil War period are the easiest to justify? The hardest? In view of the fact that railway rates were becoming progressively
lower when the Interstate Commerce Act was passed in 1887, why should the public have complained?
Group 4 Read pages 69-72 & 72-76 The Trust and Monopoly/The New Philosophy of Materialism
You will present your findings in class next week. To assess whether your audience has grasped the information in your presentation, be sure to ask them leading questions
about your presentation (yes/no questions are unacceptable) and be prepared to answer questions that the class may have. All of this must be done in less than 25 minutes
per group. Your group will work together and you will turn in notes taken by each member. You will also address the following;
Comment critically on the advantages and disadvantages of the monopolistic trust from the standpoint of the consumer. Was the attempted distinction between “good” and
“bad” trusts a valid one?
To what extent was Carnegie selfish in his gospel of wealth? Is it better to have large private benefactions or to have the government tax wealth and engage in benefactions
itself? Why is it difficult to give away large sums of money intelligently?
Group 5 Read pages 81-94 & 95-97 Labor in Industrial America/The Environmental Impact of Industrialization
You will present your findings in class next week. To assess whether your audience has grasped the information in your presentation, be sure to ask them leading questions
about your presentation (yes/no questions are unacceptable) and be prepared to answer questions that the class may have. All of this must be done in less than 25 minutes
per group. Your group will work together and you will turn in notes taken by each member. You will also address the following;
Why was the South, which has many natural resources and is being rapidly industrialized nineteenth century? How is industrial labor different today?
Is organized labor today tending toward the Gompers or the Powderly approach? Explain. Why does the United States not have a labor party?
Why did nineteenth-century Americans tolerate the environmental ravages of rampant industrialization?
Group 6 Read pages 104-113 The New Immigration (start with Jacob Riis on page 104)
You will present your findings in class next week. To assess whether your audience has grasped the information in your presentation, be sure to ask them leading questions
about your presentation (yes/no questions are unacceptable) and be prepared to answer questions that the class may have. All of this must be done in less than 25 minutes
per group. Your group will work together and you will turn in notes taken by each member. You will also address the following;
If the New Immigrants were disillusioned by America, why didn’t more of them return to the Old Country? Why did they congregate in slums?
Was a literacy test fairer than restricting immigrants by quota? Why was the immigrant less welcome in the 1890s than the 1790s?
Group 7 Read pages 115-117 & 117-119 The Church on the Defensive/The Anti-Saloon Crusade
You will present your findings in class next week. To assess whether your audience has grasped the information in your presentation, be sure to ask them leading questions
about your presentation (yes/no questions are unacceptable) and be prepared to answer questions that the class may have. All of this must be done in less than 25 minutes
per group. Your group will work together and you will turn in notes taken by each member. You will also address the following;
It has been said that Darwin jolted orthodox Christianity more severely than Copernicus did three hundred years earlier with his discoveries regarding the solar system.
Explain. Why was it so difficult to reconcile evolution with a literal reading of the Bible?
Critics have charged that one reason that the saloon prospered was that the churches and the community failed to provide wholesome alternatives. Discuss.
Group 8 Read pages 120-130 The Changing Role of Women
You will present your findings in class next week. To assess whether your audience has grasped the information in your presentation, be sure to ask them leading questions
about your presentation (yes/no questions are unacceptable) and be prepared to answer questions that the class may have. All of this must be done in less than 25 minutes
per group. Your group will work together and you will turn in notes taken by each member. You will also address the following;
What was new about the “new woman” at the end of the nineteenth century? Why did women in grow in numbers work for wages? Did female workers deserve special
protection?> How did the movement to the city help the campaign for women’s suffrage?