The Gilded Age

Overview

Description: This WebQuest will help you explore aspects the Gilded Age (1876-1900) in American history and connect with issues continue to deal with today.

 

 Introduction

History repeats itself. Or does it? Your job is to investigate an aspect of the Gilded Age in America (1876-1900) and then compare that topic to what is going on in America today. Are we still dealing with some of the same issues? Or did our forefathers (and foremothers!) tie everything into a neat, tidy package by the end of the Gilded Age? Let's find out….

 Quest(ions) and the Task

You will pick one of the following topics related to the Gilded Age:

1. •The spoils system/political corruption
   

2. •Railroads
   

3. •Labor unions
   

4. •Andrew Carnegie
   

5. •John D. Rockefeller
   

6. •Population changes/growth of cities
   

7. •Growth of industry
   

8. •Baseball
   

9. •Entertainment
   

10. •Mark Twain
    

11. •Women's suffrage
    

12. •Immigration
    

13. •Inventors
    

Step 1: You must find out and list at least 10 facts about your topic from Web sites and books (library perhaps?).

Step 2: You can use the ProQuest database to find a current event article that relates to the topic you investigated. The media center folks will show you how to use ProQuest if you haven't used it before. Print out the article. If you wish to fly solo on this, you can search various newspapers / magazines to try to find articles.

Step 3: Compare what you learned about the Gilded Age to what is going on in the news today. How you do the comparison is your choice. You can do a Venn diagram (see http://www.graphic.org/venbas.html) or a comparison chart.

Step 4: Remember to explain ten key aspects of the Gilded Age. However, you do not have to find all ten counterpoints in modern times.

Step 5: Turn in your work to me on the (Unit V) exam day.

 Process

The part that may make some of you struggle is comparing the past with the present. How about a few examples?

Does the treatment of Chinese immigrants and the work they had to do remind you of the treatment of Hispanics in America ?

Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller were known as robber barrons because of their tremendous wealth, although they tried to balance that with humanitarian acts. Does that sound like a computer mogul we all know?

Mark Twain was known for being a satirist and poking fun at politics and life in America during his day. Are there any satirists currently making fun of American life?

I think you get the picture.  If not ask me.

The ten facts you gather show that you understand what life was like during the Gilded Age. Comparing it with modern times shows that you understand the past still relates to our times.

Resources

Both books and Web sites will be available to help you with your research. Here is a list to get you started.  This is just the beginning, there is much more on the web for you to discover!

General Sources about the Gilded Age

www.historycooperative.org/journals/jga/1.1/miller.html

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi (click on the search button then enter your topic)

www.loc.gov (the America Memories site has many pictures)

America 's gilded age : an eyewitness history / Judith Freeman Clark (973.8 Cla)

Spoils system/political corruption

http://dig.lib.niu.edu/gildedage/politics.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/gildedage.html

http://www.albany.edu/~dkw42/tweed.html

Railroads

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/trnshome.html

American railroads / John F. Stover   (385.0973 Sto)

Building the transcontinental railroad / by James Barter (385.09 Bar)

Empire express : building the first transcontinental railroad / David Haward Bain (385 Bai)

The railroaders (385.09 Rai)

Labor unions

http://www.slu.edu/the_arts/cupples/gilded.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/peopleevents/pande04.html

Andrew Carnegie

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/peopleevents/pande01.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/sfeature/p_carvrock.html

http://www.biography.com

John D. Rockefeller

http://www.biography.com

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/sfeature/p_carvrock.html

Population changes/Growth of cities

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/gildedage.html

http://www.pbs.org/fmc/timeline/ecities.htm

http://www.census.gov/dmd/www/maps_1790to2000.html

Growth of industry

http://www.pbs.org/saf/1304/features/climate/climateindustrial.htm

Baseball

http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/baseball/

Mark Twain

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/railton/index2.html

Entertainment

http://www.pbs.org/jazz/exchange/exchange_minstrel.htm

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/vshtml/

Women's suffrage

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/naw/

http://www.pbs.org/stantonanthony/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/lincolns/wworld/es_antebellum.html

Immigration

http://www.oah.org/pubs/magazine/gilded/daniels.html

Inventors - (e.g. Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell)

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bledison.htm

http://edison.rutgers.edu/biogrphy.htm

http://edison.rutgers.edu

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bltelephone2.htm

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/telephone/peopleevents/mabell.html

Library Databases

Proquest -- database of current newspaper and magazine articles

http://elibrary.bigchalk.com/ce (check with media center for passwords)

Evaluation

You will be graded on the following:

Distinguished:  Listed 10 facts, had article print-out and explained comparison to current event in clear, concise manner.                            (8 assessment points)

Proficient:  Listed 8-9 facts, had article print-out and explained comparison to current event in a mostly understandable manner.           (6 assessment points)

Apprentice:  Listed 6-7 facts, had article print-out and didn't clearly explain comparison to current event.                                                      (2 assessment points)

Novice:  Listed 5 or fewer facts, didn't have print-out, didn't address current event.                                                                                        (0 assessment points, but thanks for playing!)

Thank you for doing the Gilded Age WebQuest and hopefully you’ll see that Americans often deal with the same topics throughout the centuries as we constantly learn what it means to be American. 

Link to “American History A”