American History Homework Seven Answers - Student Two

American History Homework Seven

Deborah Beach

1\. What was the "Gilded Age"? The "Gilded Age" was the time period starting at the end of the 1880s that writer Mark Twain (real name Samuel Clemens) dubbed as "gilded" because it was seemingly bright, beautiful, and gold on the outside, but underneath the good-looking surface was ugliness, greedy men, corruption, and hard times for the people. It was during this time that Jay Gould, a terrible "rober-baron" (term used for business men who made lots of money and became rich through ruthless business practices) was going strong with his illegal living. But the Gilded Age was not only a time of corruption. Andrew Carnegie was an immigrant of Scotland who came to the U.S. with no money and, through hard work and a lot of perseverance, ended up becoming a very rich man with massive through the founding of the Carnegie Steel Co. It was his book, written in 1990, the "Gospel of Wealth" that described his vision of capitalism that is so evident in America today!

Superb answer! ("robber-baron", not "rober-baron")

2\. What do you like about Thomas Edison, and do you think homeschooling him created enormous wealth? Of the many things I love about Thomas Edison, one trait that particularly sticks out was his extremely motivational, never giving up attitude. Edison said, "Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time." In just one sentence, a few words, Edison is displaying a huge amount of character. It is amazing how much motiviation is put into just one quote, and how much power it can have over the reader: I know for myself this convicts me of all the times I have given up or been too lazy to do something, and makes me want to keep going, even when I feel like giving up!

I think being homeschooled DEFINITELY helped - as you stated in class and in the lecture, his teacher called him an idiot and wrote him off as worthless in her class as a learner. If he had instead of being taken out of public school stayed in for the rest of his years of learning, he could have been time and time again ignored and ridiculed and thought lower and lower of himself. Instead of being encouraged day after day like his Mother did, which helped him form his amazing worth ethic, public school had the potential to lower him. Yes, there is a chance that if his character was truly persevering and motivational he could have overcome what the teachers were saying and still turned out to be the ingenius influential inventor that he was, but in the long run, the years spent in the public school system that at least when he was younger only discouraged him would probably have been a waste of time. Nothing beats the encouragement and hope of being taught at home by a loving, believing in her children mother like Thomas Edison had!

Terrific answer. (Work on spelling a bit)

3\. How do you think the frontier might have affected the views of Americans? I think it gave them a great sense of hope for the future, and the ability to set goals and really accomplish them! Everything about living on the frontier had to do with constantly moving on to what would be best for the family, and the ability to be able to move when something came up that had better potential for life.

Very good. Might use as a model answer.

4\. What do you think is special about the United States that has made it the world leader in inventions? I think the huge amount of freedom (freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom of pretty much any BELIEF or idea!) that American's have encouraged and still encourages people everywhere to invent new things! In other countries where people are majorly oppressed,they may not have the huge opportunity and FREEDOM that Americans have to be able to think something, anything, and put that idea into action without fear!

Terrific insight. Will use as a model answer.

5\. How influential do you think political cartoons really are? Give an example or two. I think political cartoons are DEFINITELY influential. One example (noted in the lecture) was that of America's most famous cartoonist Thomas Nast of New York Times. He harshly mocked the leader of "Tammany Hall" (the name of the completely corrupt "machine" Democratic Party organization that controlled New York City, which elected people, gave out jobs, and even stole money from the City) nicknamed "Boss" Tweed. The cartoons Nast drew whipped the public into scorning Boss Tweed and demanding that he be brought to justice, and when Boss Tweed was eventually sent to jail, Nast cheered Tweed's humiliation through his cartoons. Another example is the famous cartoon drawn in 1754, showing the snake cut into 13 pieces. Originally drawn around the time of the French and Indian War, the cartoon really became popular in the 1770s during the time of the Revolutionary War when the Colonies were being encouraged to unite against England or eventually fade away and be overcome by their dominating power and rule.

Superb answer and examples.

6\. Other than Thomas Edison, who do you think was the most influential person between 1877 and 1896? I think that Andrew Carnegie was the most influential person.He was an immigrant of Scotland who came to the U.S. with no money and, through hard work and a lot of perseverance, ended up becoming a very rich man with massive through the founding of the Carnegie Steel Co. It was his book, written in 1990, the "Gospel of Wealth" that described his vision of capitalism that is so evident in America today!

A "very rich man with massive ..."? Seems like a word is missing there. But your answer is terrific.

7\. Please interpret the above cartoon, with special emphasis on explaining the images used and including a description of the point of view of the cartoonist. The cartoon depicts Uncle Sam riding on a horse, stuck in quicksand labeled "quicksand gold." There is a road leading out of the quicksand and into the beautiful sunset, the sunset labeled "prosperity." To the left of the horseman is a looming mountain labeled "silver." The approximate date of the cartoon would be around 1878. It was during this time where there was extreme pressure to return to Alexander Hamilton's "bimetallism" standard of money which meant adding a silver standard to the gold standard. (money and debts were based on two metals rather than one). The cartoonist was clearly for "bimetallism" because he is portraying gold as a nuisance and a problem that the U.S. (Uncle Sam on the horse) is completely STUCK in (the quicksand). He is also showing that the gold is bogging down any chance that the United States had for prosperity.

Superb, except the date is a bit later (early 1890s, I think), and the "quicksand" symbolizes deflation. (Minus 1). Otherwise terrific.

Excellent answers! Score: 69/70.--Aschlafly 18:47, 30 October 2008 (EDT)