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Playlist U.S. History: 1865 – 1898 10 videos

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AP U.S. History 1.1 Period 6: 1865-1898
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AP U.S. History 1.1 Period 6: 1865-1898. The sentiment expressed above was primarily a response to which of the following economic trends?

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AP U.S. History 1.2 Period 6: 1865-1898
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How did the wealthy justify their status and privilege? Other than the customary way of having large gold statues built in their likeness with sign...

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AP U.S. History 1.3 Period 6: 1865-1898
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AP U.S. History 1.3 Period 6: 1865-1898. Which of the following groups would be most likely to agree with the goals of the Populist Party?

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AP U.S. History 1.1 Period 6: 1865-1898 313 Views


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AP U.S. History 1.1 Period 6: 1865-1898. The sentiment expressed above was primarily a response to which of the following economic trends?


Transcript

00:00

[ musical flourish ]

00:04

And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by Social Darwinism,

00:08

the life of the anthropological party.

00:11

Yeah. Go Darwin.

00:15

All right, give this excerpt a look-see.

00:17

[ mumbles ] All right.

00:21

The sentiment expressed above was primarily a response

00:24

to which of the following economic trends?

00:26

And here are your potential answers.

00:28

[ mumbles ]

00:32

All right, well what exactly is the sentiment expressed in our excerpt?

00:37

Well we see phrases like

00:38

"the men who have not done their duty...

00:40

can never be equal...

00:42

The difference will appear in the position

00:45

they acquire in the body of society...

00:47

and such classes always will exist."

00:51

Hmm.

00:52

Well that sounds like Social Darwinism,

00:54

the idea that the strong will increase in wealth, while the weak

00:58

will decrease.

00:59

We can also tell by the year 1883 that we're

01:01

dealing with the Gilded Age,

01:03

which featured a bunch of industrialization

01:06

and rapid economic growth.

01:08

So let's keep all those things in mind as we look to our answers.

01:11

Is the sentiment expressed in the excerpt a response to

01:13

A - stronger financial regulation?

01:16

Well, remember, this is the Gilded Age we're talking about.

01:18

Big business was everyone's boss,

01:20

so in reality financial regulation was pretty weak

01:23

if it existed at all.

01:24

And if there were no financial regulations,

01:27

well, then forget about breaking up monopolies or trusts.

01:30

So it's a no-go on A and D.

01:32

Could the sentiment be a reaction to B -

01:34

the growth of the middle class?

01:36

Well, there was certainly growth during this period, but it was

01:38

pretty much exclusively for the men who owned those

01:41

big companies. And they got rich - like filthy,

01:44

I could buy two islands kind of rich.

01:47

The middle class?

01:48

Eh, they didn't see their standard of living rise one bit.

01:51

So that eliminates B, as well.

01:53

Which means that the sentiment was a response

01:55

primarily to C - rising inequality between the rich and poor.

02:00

During the Industrial Age, products became cheaper

02:02

to produce, and expansion of the U.S. opened new markets,

02:06

which allowed companies to grow larger than they ever had before.

02:09

But this newfound wealth wasn't evenly distributed,

02:12

and industrialists like Rockefeller and Carnegie had to

02:15

justify their status, relying on scholars

02:17

like our friend William Sumner

02:19

to say that the rich were stronger

02:21

and deserved their wealth.

02:23

So the correct answer is C.

02:25

Survival of the fittest? Well, more like survival of the fattest.

02:29

[ groan ]

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