"The Work Accomplished — Ceremonies at Promontory Summit.
"Special Dispatch to the New York Times.
"Promontory, Utah, Monday, May 10.
"The long-looked for moment has arrived. . . . The inhabitants of the Atlantic seaboard and dwellers of the Pacific slopes are henceforth emphatically one people. Your correspondent is writing on Promontory Summit amid the deafening shouts of the multitude, with the tick, tick, of the telegraph close
to his ear. The proceedings of the day are: . . .
"Laying of the two rails, one opposite the other—one for the Union Pacific Railroad, and one for the Central Pacific Railroad. . . .
"Driving of the last spikes by the two Companies; [the] telegraph [is] to be attached to the spike of the Central Pacific Company, and the last blow to announce to the world by telegraph the completion of the Pacific Railroad.
"Telegram to the President of the United States.
"Telegram to the Associated
Press. . . ."
The New York Times, news report, 1869
Which of the following developments best explains a cause of the historical process described in the excerpt?
A-Nativists rejected the use of immigrant workers for transportation infrastructure construction.
B-Plantation owners sought improved transportation to expand the sharecropping system.
C-Difficult working conditions prompted transportation workers to call for the creation of labor unions.
D-Government subsidies facilitated the construction of transportation and communication networks.
"Senator Henry H. Blair: Won't you please give us . . . your idea in regard to the establishment of a postal telegraph for the purpose of supplanting or rivaling the existing telegraphic systems of the country now controlled by private ownership?
"[Industrialist] Jay Gould: Well, I think that control by the Government in such things is contrary to our institutions. A telegraph
system, of all businesses in the world, wants to be managed by skilled experts. . . . If the Government controlled the telegraph, the heads of the general managers and the superintendents would come off every four years, if there was a change in politics . . . and you would not have any such efficient service as you have now.
"Blair: . . . Do you think there would be any opposition made to a general national law regulating the fares and freight charges upon inter-state commerce?
"Gould:
Well, I don't know about that. I think the freer you allow things to be the better. They regulate themselves. The laws of supply and demand, production and consumption, enter into and settle those matters. . . .
"Blair: There has been testimony before us that the feeling generally between employers and employees throughout the country is one of hostility, especially on the part of employees toward those whom they designate as monopolists. From your observation, what do you think is really the
feeling as a general rule between those two classes?
"Gould: I think that if left alone they would mutually regulate their relations. I think there is no disagreement between the great mass of the employees and their employers. These societies that are gotten up to magnify these things and create evils which do not exist—create troubles which ought not to exist.
"Blair: Of the men who conduct business enterprises and wield the power of capital in this country today, what proportion do you
think are what are called 'self-made men'?
"Gould: I think they are all 'self-made men;' I do not say self-made exactly, for the country has grown and they have grown up with it. In this country we have no system of heirlooms or of handing down estates. Every man has to stand here on his own individual merit."
Jay Gould, telegraph and railroad company owner, testimony before a committee of the United States Senate, 1883
Which of the following can be inferred about the popular business
practices of the late 1800s referenced in Gould's testimony?
A-Railroads and communication systems spread primarily as a result of private investment, not government subsidies.
B-Labor and management generally resolved their differences without conflict or intervention by the federal government.
C-Industry leaders increased profits and concentrated wealth through corporate consolidation into trusts and holding companies.
D-Producers increasingly looked beyond the United States borders to gain control over natural resources and international markets.
"The writer [of this paper] is giving her own experience from an eight years' residence in a ward [political district] of Chicago which has, during all that time, returned to the city council a notoriously corrupt politician. . . .
"Living together as we do, . . . fifty thousand people of a score of different tongues and nationalities, . . . our social ethics have been
determined much more by example than by precept [rules]. . . . In a neighborhood where political standards are plastic and undeveloped, and where there has been little previous experiences in self-government, the office-holder himself sets the standard. . . .
"Because of simple friendliness, the alderman [city council member] is expected to pay rent for the hard-pressed tenant when no rent is forthcoming [and] to find jobs when work is hard to get. . . . The alderman of the Nineteenth Ward at
one time made the proud boast that he had two thousand six hundred people in his ward upon the public pay-roll. . . . When we reflect that this is one-third of the entire vote of the ward, we realize that it is very important to vote for the right man, since there is, at the least, one chance out of three for a job.
". . . What headway can the notion of civic purity, of honesty of administration, make against this big manifestation of human friendliness . . . ? The notions of the civic
reformer are negative and impotent before it."
Jane Addams, social reformer, "Ethical Survivals in Municipal Corruption," International Journal of Ethics, 1898
The historical situation of the excerpt supports which of the following arguments about reform in the Gilded Age?
A-The idea of the Social Gospel inspired the development of many new reform movements.
B-The position of women as prominent leaders in reform movements increased their public role in society.
C-Reformers encouraged city residents to fight corruption by joining utopian communities.
D-Reformers advocated expanded college access for immigrants in order to facilitate social integration.
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows
world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tos[sed] to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Emma Lazarus, poet, "The New Colossus," written to raise funds for the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, 1883
Which of
the following best explains a similarity between the characteristics of immigration described in the poem and earlier immigration to the United States?
A-Immigrants were often enslaved as laborers in northern factories and mills.
B-Immigrants typically acquired their own plots of land and became subsistence farmers.
C-Immigrants frequently relied on settlement houses to help them adjust to their new surroundings.
D-Immigrants compromised between the cultures they brought and the cultures they found in the United States.
"The measures to which we are indebted for an improved condition of [American Indian] affairs are, the concentration of the Indians upon suitable reservations, and the supplying them with means for engaging in agricultural and mechanical pursuits, and for their education and moral training. . . . The light of a Christian civilization seems to have dawned upon their moral darkness, and opened up a brighter
future. . . .
"It has become a matter of serious import whether the treaty system in use ought longer to be continued. In my judgment it should not. A treaty involves the idea of a compact between two or more sovereign powers, each possessing sufficient authority and force to compel a compliance with the obligations incurred. The Indian tribes of the United States are not sovereign nations. . . . Many good men, looking at this matter only from a Christian point of view, will perhaps say that
the poor Indian has been greatly wronged and ill treated; that this whole county was once his . . . and that he has been driven from place to place until he has hardly left to him a spot where to lay his head. This indeed may be philanthropic and humane, but the stern letter of the law admits of no such conclusion, and great injury has been done by the government in deluding this people into the belief of their being independent sovereignties."
Ely Parker, commissioner of Indian affairs,
report to the secretary of the interior, 1869
"My friends, I have been asked to show you my heart. I am glad to have a chance to do so. I want the white people to understand my people. . . . I will tell you in my way how the Indian sees things. . . .
"[In 1863] a chief called Lawyer, because he was a great talker, . . . sold nearly all the Nez Percés country. . . . In this treaty Lawyer acted without authority from our band. He had no right to sell . . . [our] country. That had always
belonged to my father's own people. . . .
"In order to have people understand how much land we owned, my father planted poles around it and said: 'Inside is the home of my people—the white man may take the land outside. Inside the boundary all our people were born. It circles around the graves of our fathers, and we will never give up these graves to any man.' . . .
". . . I was granted permission to come to Washington. . . . I have shaken hands with a great many friends, but there are
some things I want to know which no one seems able to explain. . . . Too many misrepresentations have been made, too many misunderstandings have come up between the white men about the Indians. . . . You might as well expect the rivers to run backward as that any man who was born a free man should be contented when penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases. . . . I have asked some of the great white chiefs where they get their authority to say to the Indian that he shall stay in one
place, while he sees white men going where they please. They can not tell me."
Chief Joseph, chief of the Nez Percé American Indian nation, "An Indian's View of Indian Affairs," published in the North American Review, 1879
Unlike Commissioner Parker, Chief Joseph supports the claim that American Indians
A-sought to preserve their culture
B-wanted better compensation for their land
C-sought access to boarding schools for their children
D-wanted to permit railroad construction through reservations
"Most Populists sought economic and political reform, not the overthrow of existing systems. . . . The ethos of modernity and progress swept across the cultural landscape of late nineteenth-century America, driven by the winds of commercial capitalism. The Populists mainly shared this ethos. . . . A firm belief in progress gave them confidence to act. Because they believed in the transforming power of science and
technology, they sought to attain expertise and knowledge for their own improvement. Because they believed in economies of scale, they strove to adapt the model of large-scale enterprise to their own needs. . . . Because they believed in the logic of modernity, the Populist[s] . . . attempted to fashion an alternative modernity. . . .
". . . The demands of [Populist] farmers for currency inflation . . . threatened the dogmas and profits of bankers and creditors. . . . The capitalist elite
pursued a corporate power that left little room for the organized power of men and women of the fields, mines, or factories. Their corporate vision clashed with the Populist vision of an alternative capitalism."
Charles Postel, historian, The Populist Vision, 2007
Which of the following pieces of evidence would refute Postel's claim in the first paragraph of the excerpt about the "ethos of modernity and progress" and the Populists?
A-Populists living in rural areas learned about urban and international life through the telegraph and newspapers.
B-Populist speakers often used religious examples and metaphors to make moral arguments for their policies.
C-Populists sought to develop commercial farming through the expansion of transportation networks.
D-Populists formed a national political organization out of numerous local farmer and labor groups.
"The writer [of this paper] is giving her own experience from an eight
years' residence in a ward [political district] of Chicago which has, during all that time, returned to the city council a notoriously corrupt politician. . . .
"Living together as we do, . . . fifty thousand people of a score of different tongues and nationalities, . . . our social ethics have been determined much more by example than by precept [rules]. . . . In a neighborhood where political standards are plastic and undeveloped, and where there has been little previous experiences in
self-government, the office-holder himself sets the standard. . . .
"Because of simple friendliness, the alderman [city council member] is expected to pay rent for the hard-pressed tenant when no rent is forthcoming [and] to find jobs when work is hard to get. . . . The alderman of the Nineteenth Ward at one time made the proud boast that he had two thousand six hundred people in his ward upon the public pay-roll. . . . When we reflect that this is one-third of the entire vote of the ward, we
realize that it is very important to vote for the right man, since there is, at the least, one chance out of three for a job.
". . . What headway can the notion of civic purity, of honesty of administration, make against this big manifestation of human friendliness . . . ? The notions of the civic reformer are negative and impotent before it."
Jane Addams, social reformer, "Ethical Survivals in Municipal Corruption," International Journal of Ethics, 1898
Which of the following pieces of
evidence could best be used to support Addams' argument in the excerpt about politics in the late 1800s?
A-Federal civil service reform led to a reduction in the number of political patronage jobs.
B-The allegiance of immigrant voters led to the creation of urban political machines.
C-Many writers gained a large audience with criticisms of corruption in city politics.
D-African Americans predominantly identified with politicians of the Republican Party.
"While it is apparent that immigrants were not free to move into the industrial economy wherever they desired, they were able to remain within the confines of small groups and networks, which assisted them tremendously. Such groups could mass around links of friends, villages, or regions but were mostly held together by ties of blood. Kinship [family relationships] formed the stable core of immigrant groups as they flowed into the [economic] opening available to them in
particular times and places. . . .
". . . The . . . discovery of modern historical scholarship . . . has made it quite clear that immigrant families did not whither in their encounter with American capitalism. Immigrant kinship associations . . . continued to perform indispensable functions in the industrial city. . . .
". . . The immigrant family with its essential ingredients of sharing and reciprocity was found wherever immigrants settled. . . . Family goals came to supersede individual
goals, and parents and children both worked vigorously to contribute to familial welfare."
John Bodnar, historian, The Transplanted: A History of Immigrants in Urban America, published in 1985
"Family celebrations [were] the main form of recreation for [immigrant] women. . . . For poor communities with scant resources, these celebrations also provided a . . . mode of redistributing what little wealth there was throughout the community. While Americans watched with disapproval or envy, the
new immigrants [at the end of the nineteenth century] found ways to maintain culture and create community.
"Here, . . . however, there was a conflict between the old ways and the new, between the parental wish to preserve the customs of the old country and the younger generation's desire to be free of these restrictions and adopt a more 'modern' outlook. Old-world conventions concerning love and marriage were challenged by the young, who were exposed to different ideas and new passions. In
the Old World both Jewish and Italian marriages had been arranged. . . .
". . . In general the institution of matchmaking was losing ground to more social forms of courtship, organized more along lines of individual choice. . . . New ideals of romantic love were taking precedence over customary values."
Elizabeth Ewen, historian, Immigrant Women in the Land of Dollars: Life and Culture on the Lower East Side, 1890-1925, study of immigrants in New York City, published in 1985
Which of
the following describes a difference between Bodnar's and
Ewen's arguments in the excerpts about immigrants in the late 1800s?
A-Bodnar argues that some immigrants embraced modern social values, whereas Ewen argues that most immigrants preserved traditional practices.
B-Bodnar claims that immigrants were supported by family networks, whereas Ewen claims that immigrants depended mostly on their own initiative.
C-Ewen asserts that some immigrants sought personal fulfilment, whereas Bodnar asserts that most immigrants focused on supporting their families over individualism.
D-Ewen holds that some Americans opposed immigrant cultural cohesion, whereas Bodnar holds that most Americans embraced new immigrant cultures.
"The writer [of this paper] is giving her own experience from an eight years' residence in a ward [political district] of Chicago which has, during all that time, returned to the city council a notoriously
corrupt politician. . . .
"Living together as we do, . . . fifty thousand people of a score of different tongues and nationalities, . . . our social ethics have been determined much more by example than by precept [rules]. . . . In a neighborhood where political standards are plastic and undeveloped, and where there has been little previous experiences in self-government, the office-holder himself sets the standard. . . .
"Because of simple friendliness, the alderman [city council member]
is expected to pay rent for the hard-pressed tenant when no rent is forthcoming [and] to find jobs when work is hard to get. . . . The alderman of the Nineteenth Ward at one time made the proud boast that he had two thousand six hundred people in his ward upon the public pay-roll. . . . When we reflect that this is one-third of the entire vote of the ward, we realize that it is very important to vote for the right man, since there is, at the least, one chance out of three for a job.
". . .
What headway can the notion of civic purity, of honesty of administration, make against this big manifestation of human friendliness . . . ? The notions of the civic reformer are negative and impotent before it."
Jane Addams, social reformer, "Ethical Survivals in Municipal Corruption," International Journal of Ethics, 1898
Addams' point of view expressed in the excerpt supports which of the following historical arguments?
Activists believed that political machines hindered immigrant
adoption of American political norms.
A
Women claimed that their participation in reform movements would increase support for women's rights.
B
The Democratic Party feared that foreign migrants weakened political support for Democrats in urban areas.
C
Chicagoans worried that they faced more political corruption than other cities in the northern United States.
"The Thirteenth Amendment does not permit the withholding or the deprivation of
any right necessarily inhering in freedom. It not only struck down the institution of slavery as previously existing in the United States, but it prevents the imposition of any burdens or disabilities that constitute badges of slavery or servitude. It decreed universal civil freedom in this country. This court has so adjudged. But that amendment having been found inadequate to the protection of the rights of those who had been in slavery, it was followed by the Fourteenth Amendment, which added
greatly to the dignity and glory of American citizenship and to the security of personal liberty. . . .
"These two amendments, if enforced according to their true intent and meaning, will protect all the civil rights that pertain to freedom and citizenship. . . .
"These notable additions to the fundamental law were welcomed by the friends of liberty throughout the world. They removed the race line from our governmental systems. They had, as this court has said, a common purpose, namely to
secure to a race recently emancipated, a race that through many generations have been held in slavery, all the civil rights that the [White] race enjoy.'"
John Marshall Harlan, United States Supreme Court Justice, dissenting opinion in the case Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896
The situation of the excerpt could best be used by a historian to support which of the following explanations of changes in society during the Gilded Age?
New scientific theories of race emerged to justify
segregation.
A
Businesses and government generally limited workers' rights.
B
Nativists were effective in enacting limitations on immigration.
C
Westward mobility improved through the construction of rail networks
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of
Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tos[sed] to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Emma Lazarus, poet, "The New Colossus," written to raise funds for the pedestal of the
Statue of Liberty, 1883
Which of the following explains a similarity among reactions to the characteristics of immigration in the late 1800s described in the poem and reactions to earlier immigration to the United States?
Social Darwinists argued that competition among immigrant workers would benefit the economy.
A
Reformers sought to assist immigrants in maintaining the traditional cultures of their home countries.
B
Religious leaders urged Americans to embrace the religious
diversity created by Catholic immigrants.
C
Nativists advocated that the government should reduce the power of immigrant voters in elections.
"[China] has been separated from [the world] by limitless deserts, and by broad oceans. But now, when the views of men expand, we behold the very globe itself diminished in size. Now, when science has taken away, or dissipated the desert; when it has narrowed the ocean, we find that China, seeing another
civilization approaching on every side, has her eyes wide open. . . . She sees a cloud of sail on her coast, she sees the mighty steamers coming from everywhere. . . . She feels the spark from the electric telegraph falling hot upon her everywhere. . . . She tells you she is willing to trade with you, to buy of you, to sell to you, to help you strike off the shackles from trade. She invites your merchants, she invites your missionaries. . . . She offers you almost free trade today. Holding the
great staples of the earth—tea and silk—she charges you scarcely any tariff on the exports you send out in exchange for them. . . . But the country is open; you may travel and trade where you like. What complaint, then, have you to make of her? Show her fair play. Giver her that, and you will bless the toiling millions of the world."
Anson Burlingame, former United States minister to China, speech given in New York City, 1868
Which of the following developments most likely explains the
trade policies Burlingame advocates in the excerpt?
A-Growing influence of populist political arguments
B-Continuing resistance to the formation of labor unions
C-Increasing support for laissez-faire economic policies
D-Developing practices of sharecropping and tenant farming
"Why is it that the middle class has a monopoly of the real enjoyment in Chicago? . . .
"Theoretically, at least, there are no classes in Chicago. But the
'middle class' means all those people who are respectably in the background, who work either with hand or brain, who are neither poverty-stricken nor offensively rich, and who are not held down by the arbitrary laws governing that mysterious part of the community known as society. . . .
"It is quite a privilege to belong to the middle class, especially during the warm weather in June. A middle-class family may sit on the front stoop all evening and watch the society people go to the weddings
in their closed carriages. Father doesn't have to wear a tight dress coat all evening and have a collar choking him. . . .
"In Lincoln Park . . . the young man who drives the delivery wagon sits of an evening and holds the hand of the young woman who addresses letters. They are very happy, as well they may be, for no Chicago millionaire has such a magnificent front yard, with such a large lake and so many stately trees around it. They must feel sorry for the millionaire, who cannot go to a
public park in the evening to stroll or sit. . . . It doesn't trouble the delivery boy to have other people present and enjoying themselves."
George Ade, journalist, "The Advantage of Being 'Middle Class,'" Chicago Record, 1890
The excerpt best serves as evidence of which of the following developments for many individuals who amassed great wealth during the period?
A-They came to believe that they had a moral obligation to help improve society to address the needs of the working and middle classes.
B-They began to resist and disregard the many social conventions and "arbitrary laws" that defined their class.
C-They sought to escape the undesirable conditions of city living by moving to the countryside.
D-They attempted to expand middle- and working-class access to political systems by supporting Progressive reforms.