Industrial America,Robber Barons or Captains of Industry?,Imperialism at Home and Abroad,The Progressive Era,World War I & Its Aftermath,From New Era to New Deal.

February 25, 2025February 25, 2025 Discipline: History

-https://www.americanyawp.com/reader/16-capital-and-labor/william-graham-sumner-on-social-darwnism-ca-1880s/-https://www.americanyawp.com/reader/16-capital-and-labor/henry-george-progress-and-poverty-selections-1879/-https://www.americanyawp.com/reader/16-capital-and-labor/andrew-carnegies-gospel-of-wealth-june-1889/-https://www.americanyawp.com/reader/16-capital-and-labor/grover-clevelands-veto-of-the-texas-seed-bill-february-16-1887/-https://www.americanyawp.com/reader/16-capital-and-labor/lucy-parsons-on-women-and-revolutionary-socialism-1905/.

Robber Barons or Captains of Industry?

**NOTE 2/7: DEAR STUDENTS: APOLOGIES THAT SOME OF THESE LINKS ARE NOT WORKING. I HAVE EMAILED HUGO AND HE IS GOING TO REFRESH THEM. BUT YOU ARE NOT LIMITED TO THESE SOURCES. PLEASE RESEARCH ONLINE AT WILL–JUST MAKE SURE YOUR SOURCES ARE RELIABLE.** What bio details to research about your assigned industrialist:

  1. Born/died?
  2. Lived where?
  3. Family/wife/children?
  4. Net worth?
  5. Start of their business? How did he make his money?
  6. How did he acquire his wealth?
  7. How did he treat his workers?
  8. How did he spend his money?
  9. Examples of “good” and “bad” things he did?
  10. What was his legacy?

ANDREW CARNEGIE (STEEL)

JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER (OIL)

CORNELIUS VANDERBILT (STEAMSHIPS AND RAILROADS)

JOHN Pierpont Morgan (BANKING AND FINANCE)

Resource Page: Imperialism at Home and Abroad

Readings Due In Class:

You will need to print the weekly readings in order to read/annotate them, and add them to your portfolio. Students who don’t keep printers at home can print for free using CSUN PrintAnywhere. Come to class with your printouts thoroughly read and annotated.

William McKinley on American Expansionism (1903)

Rudyard Kipling, “The White Man’s Burden” (1899)

James D. Phelan, “Why the Chinese Should Be Excluded” (1901)

William James on “The Philippine Question” (1903)

Mark Twain, “The War Prayer” (ca.1904-5)

Chinese Immigrants Confront Anti-Chinese Prejudice (1885, 1903)

African Americans Debate Enlistment (1898)

Optional textbook reading if you need more background info on this topic(s): The American Yawp, Ch. 19Links to an external site. https://www.americanyawp.com/text/19-american-empire/

Questions to be answered

In addition to the readings above read and thoroughly annotated, you should write out answers to the following questions and bring them with you to class. These questions/answers will also go in your portfolio. Your answers should be handwritten and here is why.

How long should your answers be? Let me put it this way: I would not ask any question that could be answered in a sentence of two (or three). This is college after all. Aim for a half page handwritten for each question (if you write gigantically, you’ll need more obviously). Remember to use details from the readings in support of your answer.

  1. Summarize William McKinley’s perspective on the Philippines. Why does he want to keep them “on the map of the United States”?
  2. What is “The White Man’s Burden” according to Rudyard Kipling? What is your reaction to this idea?
  3. Why should the Chinese be prohibited from immigrating to the U.S., according to James D. Phelan? What did Phelan mean when he declared they “may be good laborers, but they are not good citizens”?
  4. What specifically were William James’ objections to American imperialism? What is your reaction to his ideas?
  5. Summarize Mark Twain’s “The War Prayer.” What point(s) was Twain trying to put across to his readers? What was his opinion of American imperialism and why?
  6. What specific arguments did Mary Tape and Lee Chew put forward to confront anti-Chinese prejudice?
  7. How did military recruiting efforts in Hartford, Connecticut go? How did African-American men feel about enlisting to fight in the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars?

Optional media sources if you’re interested

Not everyone appreciates John Green. If he doesn’t drive you crazy, here is the episode where he teaches you about American Imperialism.

In which John Green teaches you about the massive immigration to the United States during the late 19th and early 20th century. Immigrants flocked to the US from all over the world in this time period.

From Crash Course: Economics: Is immigration good or bad? Immigration is a touchy subject in the United States. This video looks at the economics of immigration and the effects of immigration on economies.

Only watch if you’re a John Oliver fan because, you know, he’s not PC (at all) and he’s not G-rated. Viewer discretion advised.

I could not find this documentary in the CSUN Library databases, but it is worth seeking out on streaming services. If you want to understand the American empire as it exists today, this film tells that story. The film trailer is linked below.

The Insular Empire: America in the Mariana IslandsLinks to an external site.

Six thousand miles west of California, the Mariana Islands are American territory; but after generations of loyalty, the people of Guam and the Northern Marianas still remain second-class US citizens. Following the personal stories of four indigenous island leaders, this provocative film explores the history of American colonization in the Pacific – a moving story of loyalty and betrayal, about a patriotic island people struggling to find their place within the American political family.

https://www.newday.com/films/the-insular-empire

More on the Insular Cases:

Insular Cases: Millions of Americans Denied Equal ProtectionLinks to an external site.

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