Chapter 16 Questions And Answers 2024

Chapter 16 Questions And Answers 2024 The American economy thrived because of federal involvement, not the lack of it. How did the federal government actively promote industrial and agricultural development in this period? The Federal government enacted high tariffs that protected American industry from foreign competition, granted land to railroad companies to encourage construction, and used the army to remove Indians from Western lands which was then regulated and distributed to farmers and mining companies (ex. Homestead Act). The Federal government also assisted in developing the West through irrigation and dams which made settlement in the West possible. Why were railroads so important to America's second industrial revolution? What events demonstrate their influence on society and politics as well as the economy? The transcontinental railroad opened new areas to farming and created a national market for goods. National brands and mail-order companies became widespread, even able to reach rural families throughout the country. However, the negative effect of widespread railroads was that in order to avoid competition, rival railroad companies would merge under a single director. Why did organized efforts of farmers, workers, and local reformers largely fail to achieve substantive change in the Gilded Age? Reform movements failed during the Gilded Age because of the industrial, territorial, economic, and political concentration of power to a few elite individuals. Describe the involvement of American family farmers in the global economy after 1870 and its effects on their independence. Many people immigrated to the U.S. because they wanted to own land and to have economic opportunity. Because work was difficult on the Great Plains, farmers found that it was easier to specialize in a single crop to sell to foreign countries. However, this caused farmers to be more dependent on loans to purchase land, machinery, and industrial products. As the American West, South America, and Australia all expanded agricultural production, the price of agricultural goods decreased. According to "The Gilded Age" by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner, the era's slogan was "Get rich, dishonestly if we can, honestly if we must." Explain how this was true of the politics of the era. Because the American dream was to get money, land, and power, people would sacrificed moral and ethical behavior to succeed. Monopolists like Carnegie, Rockefeller, and J.P. Morgan forced their employees to work long hours and suppressed unionization movements among workers. Many workers were forced to accept low-paying or hazardous jobs and couldn't support their families. How did American political leaders seek to remake Indians and change the ways they lived? Originally, the government wanted to keep peace, but since conflict broke out the Federal army got involved in suppressing native tribes. The Indians were relocated onto reservations and their land was taken by the Federal government to redistribute mostly to white farmers or railroad companies. Congress also refused to recognize and negotiate with Indian tribes as if they were independent nations to break up tribal sovereignty which was an obstacle to railroad companies. Indian children were often sent to boarding schools to become "Americanized" through changing their clothes, hair, and names and educating them in "white ways." Explain how social thinkers misapplied Charles Darwin;s ideas to justify massive disparities in wealth and power and to deny governmental role in equalizing opportunity. Social Darwinists believed that industrial corporations were a "higher form of evolution" and therefore it was wrong to restrict its actions through laws that might regulate working conditions or provide public assistance to the poor. It was believed that the poor were responsible for their poverty due to lack of character and should practice personal economics rather than relying on the government. As a result, the government spent more time and energy on determining the "deserving" and the "undeserving" poor instead of actually helping the poor. How did social reformers such as Edward Bellamy, Henry George, and advocates of the social gospel conceive of liberty and freedom differently than the proponents of the liberty of contract ideal and laissez-faire? Social reformers believed liberty could not be achieved without government control because it provided equality. However, proponents of the liberty of contract ideal and laissez-faire believed liberty was attained personally, without any dependence on the government. This allowed capitalists to take advantage of workers. In what ways did the West provide a "safety valve" for the problems in the industrial East? In what ways did it reveal some of the same problems? The West provided a safety valve for those in the East who could not find work, homes, or a comfortable life because land was available and cheap. However, the economic issues followed as farmers went into debt when agricult