(DBQs) for APUSH Unit 6
DBQ 1: The Impact of Industrialization on American Society
Prompt: Analyze the effects of rapid industrialization on American society between 1860 and 1900. Consider the economic, social, and political implications.
DBQ PromptPrompt:
Evaluate the extent to which industrialization in the United States during the period 1865–1900 shaped economic and social responses.
Documents (provided as excerpts):
Document 1: Andrew Carnegie, “The Gospel of Wealth” (1889)
“This, then, is held to be the duty of the man of wealth: To set an example of modest, unostentatious living, shunning display or extravagance; to provide moderately for the legitimate wants of those dependent upon him; and, after doing so, to consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to administer…in the manner which, in his judgment, is best calculated to produce the most beneficial results for the community.”
[Source: Andrew Carnegie, The Gospel of Wealth, 1889, public domain]
Document 2: Henry George, Progress and Poverty (1879)
“The wealthy class is becoming more wealthy; but the poorer class is becoming more dependent. The gulf between the employed and the unemployed is growing wider; social difficulties are becoming more pronounced; and the struggle for existence more intense. This is not the result of natural laws, but of social maladjustments.”
[Source: Henry George, Progress and Poverty, 1879, public domain]
Document 3: Testimony on the 1886 Haymarket Riot
“At ten o’clock the police advanced in column, ordered the meeting to disperse, when a bomb was thrown from the sidewalk into the street. It exploded, killing one policeman instantly, wounding several others, one of whom died afterwards. The police fired in every direction, hitting not only rioters, but peaceful citizens who had gathered to hear the speeches.”
[Source: Testimony from Chicago Tribune coverage of the Haymarket Affair, 1886, public domain]
Document 4: Chief Joseph, Speech in Washington, D.C. (1879)
“We were like deer. They were like grizzly bear. They came upon us. We could not hold our own. They have taken from us our land, and we have been driven to the mountains. We are tired of fighting. We ask that the white man treat us as he treats his own people. Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to talk, think and act for myself.”
[Source: Chief Joseph, Address to Congress, 1879, public domain]
Document 5: Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives (1890)
“In the tenements all the influences make for evil; because they are the hotbeds of the epidemics that carry death to the rich and poor alike; because they are the nurseries of pauperism and crime; because they are the recruiting grounds of the army of the misled, because they constantly touch the family life with deadly moral contagion.”
[Source: Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives, 1890, public domain]
Document 6: William Jennings Bryan, “Cross of Gold” Speech (1896)
“You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold. We are fighting in the defense of our homes, our families, and our posterity. We have petitioned, and our petitions have been scorned; we have entreated, and our entreaties have been disregarded. We beg no longer; we demand.”
[Source: William Jennings Bryan, Democratic National Convention, 1896, public domain]
Document 7: Ida B. Wells, Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases (1892)
“The twentieth century will find us with a heritage of shame. Men who would be outraged if accused of theft, burglary, or murder openly boast that they take part in the destruction of human life without trial by jury. They destroy the reputation of women and of men by publication of falsehoods, which serve as excuses for lawlessness, while the truth is suppressed.”
[Source: Ida B. Wells, Southern Horrors, 1892, public domain]
DBQ Skills Expected
Prompt:
Evaluate the responses of industrial workers to economic inequality and labor conditions in the United States between 1865 and 1900. To what extent were those responses effective?
Documents:
Prompt:
Analyze how migration (both international and internal) and urbanization shaped social reform movements between 1865 and 1900. In your answer, consider both positive and negative outcomes.
Documents:
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”*
DBQ 1: The Impact of Industrialization on American Society
Prompt: Analyze the effects of rapid industrialization on American society between 1860 and 1900. Consider the economic, social, and political implications.
DBQ PromptPrompt:
Evaluate the extent to which industrialization in the United States during the period 1865–1900 shaped economic and social responses.
Documents (provided as excerpts):
Document 1: Andrew Carnegie, “The Gospel of Wealth” (1889)
“This, then, is held to be the duty of the man of wealth: To set an example of modest, unostentatious living, shunning display or extravagance; to provide moderately for the legitimate wants of those dependent upon him; and, after doing so, to consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to administer…in the manner which, in his judgment, is best calculated to produce the most beneficial results for the community.”
[Source: Andrew Carnegie, The Gospel of Wealth, 1889, public domain]
Document 2: Henry George, Progress and Poverty (1879)
“The wealthy class is becoming more wealthy; but the poorer class is becoming more dependent. The gulf between the employed and the unemployed is growing wider; social difficulties are becoming more pronounced; and the struggle for existence more intense. This is not the result of natural laws, but of social maladjustments.”
[Source: Henry George, Progress and Poverty, 1879, public domain]
Document 3: Testimony on the 1886 Haymarket Riot
“At ten o’clock the police advanced in column, ordered the meeting to disperse, when a bomb was thrown from the sidewalk into the street. It exploded, killing one policeman instantly, wounding several others, one of whom died afterwards. The police fired in every direction, hitting not only rioters, but peaceful citizens who had gathered to hear the speeches.”
[Source: Testimony from Chicago Tribune coverage of the Haymarket Affair, 1886, public domain]
Document 4: Chief Joseph, Speech in Washington, D.C. (1879)
“We were like deer. They were like grizzly bear. They came upon us. We could not hold our own. They have taken from us our land, and we have been driven to the mountains. We are tired of fighting. We ask that the white man treat us as he treats his own people. Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to talk, think and act for myself.”
[Source: Chief Joseph, Address to Congress, 1879, public domain]
Document 5: Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives (1890)
“In the tenements all the influences make for evil; because they are the hotbeds of the epidemics that carry death to the rich and poor alike; because they are the nurseries of pauperism and crime; because they are the recruiting grounds of the army of the misled, because they constantly touch the family life with deadly moral contagion.”
[Source: Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives, 1890, public domain]
Document 6: William Jennings Bryan, “Cross of Gold” Speech (1896)
“You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold. We are fighting in the defense of our homes, our families, and our posterity. We have petitioned, and our petitions have been scorned; we have entreated, and our entreaties have been disregarded. We beg no longer; we demand.”
[Source: William Jennings Bryan, Democratic National Convention, 1896, public domain]
Document 7: Ida B. Wells, Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases (1892)
“The twentieth century will find us with a heritage of shame. Men who would be outraged if accused of theft, burglary, or murder openly boast that they take part in the destruction of human life without trial by jury. They destroy the reputation of women and of men by publication of falsehoods, which serve as excuses for lawlessness, while the truth is suppressed.”
[Source: Ida B. Wells, Southern Horrors, 1892, public domain]
DBQ Skills Expected
- Use evidence from at least six documents.
- Provide additional outside evidence.
- Apply historical reasoning (causation, comparison, continuity/change).
- Contextualize industrialization within the post–Civil War U
Prompt:
Evaluate the responses of industrial workers to economic inequality and labor conditions in the United States between 1865 and 1900. To what extent were those responses effective?
Documents:
- Excerpt from the Knights of Labor Preamble (c. 1885)
“We hold that the working people should have the benefit of all they produce; that every individual should have justice, and that the laborer is worthy of his hire. We demand the eight-hour day, the ballot, and universal suffrage.” - Excerpt from the “Pullman Strike Report,” Testimony by George Pullman and by Eugene V. Debs (1894)
“The cause of the strike lies deeper than wages. It lies in the feeling of the workers that they are not partners in the enterprise, that their toil enriches others far more than themselves.” - Photograph or image (c. 1880-1890) of child labor in factories
- Visual Document: Example: factory interior with children operating machinery. (One can use e.g. public domain images from Library of Congress, e.g. “Child Labor, Textile Mill, Fall River, Massachusetts, 1910” though slightly later; or closer images from 1880s textile mills.)
- Linked image source: Library of Congress – Child Labor Photograph (or similar)
- Excerpt from Samuel Gompers, Speech at the founding convention of the American Federation of Labor (1886)
“We believe in the principle that labor has rights as well as duties; that labor should receive for its toil a just share of the wealth it helps create; that the laws should not favor capital at the expense of labor.” - Political cartoon from Punch or Puck magazine showing contrasting wealth of industrial magnates vs. poor factory workers
- Visual Document: For example, the cartoon titled “The optimistic employer, his hopes for prosperity” (if rights allow) or any similar cartoon from late 19th century.
- Excerpt from a factory worker's diary or letter (circa 1887-1895)
“We work from sunrise until darkness, often more than 12 hours a day. A child cries from hunger; a woman coughs from the dust, yet the foreman cares not. We see our wages eaten away by cost of house, coal, food, while the owners count their gold.” - Data Table: Average Wage Growth of Skilled vs. Unskilled Workers (1870-1900)
- Numeric Document: Show difference in wages between skilled trades (e.g. machinists, railroad engineers) vs. unskilled laborers / women / children over 30 years.
Prompt:
Analyze how migration (both international and internal) and urbanization shaped social reform movements between 1865 and 1900. In your answer, consider both positive and negative outcomes.
Documents:
- Excerpt from Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives (1890)
“In those narrow, dark streets, where the side-walls seem to close in upon the overhanging tenement windows above, the air is so foul that the children gasp and cough at every breath… The dwellings are too small for the thousands whose windows stare at such places; the alley-ways are foul, breeding disease in quiet.” - Census Data: Urban Population Growth (1860, 1870, 1880, 1890, 1900)
- Numeric Document: Percentages showing proportion of U.S. population in urban areas over those decades.
- Excerpt from Emma Lazarus, “The New Colossus” (1883)
*“Give me your tired, your poor,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”*
- Photograph or image of crowded immigrant neighborhoods / tenements in New York City (c. 1880-1890)
- Visual Document: E.g., Tenement House in Manhattan; images from Library of Congress or New York Public Library (public domain).
- Excerpt from Jane Addams, Twenty Years at Hull-House (1902; discuss movement beginning in late 1880s)
“We saw the majority of our people seeking room in the city; immigrants who came from all lands and lands; with their hopes and despair, with their needs spiritual and material, streaming in through our door.” - Political Cartoon: Boss Tweed or Tammany Hall controlling votes
- Visual Document: A cartoon showing political machines soliciting immigrant votes or exploiting them.
- Data Table: Immigration by Country/Region, 1865-1900
- Numeric Document: Showing influx from Ireland, Germany, Southern/Eastern Europe, etc., and internal migration (ex-slaves moving north / westward).