ADVANCED PLACEMENT UNITED STATES HISTORY
Homework Assignment
The Progressive Era

 

Directions:  Read Chapter Twenty of your textbook, and answer the following questions in complete sentences.  Your responses must be either typewritten or hand-written in black or blue ink.

 

1.  What did institutional economists criticize about traditional economic theory?

2. What was the impact of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire on labor reform?

3. How did the direct-primary reform in the North differ from that in the South?

4. How did the progressivism of Wilson compare with that of Roosevelt?

5. How did Presidents Roosevelt and Taft differ in their treatment of trusts?

6.  What role did the Federal Trade Commission play in the regulation of trusts?

7. Refer to American Voices, Charles Edward Russell: Muckraking in Chapter 20 of the text. After reading the document, write a brief response to each of the following questions.

The muckrakers of the Progressive Era engaged in a form of investigative journalism that has characterized periods of reform in American history. Through careful research and dramatic writing, they sought to wake society from its lethargy and indifference and to energize the impulse for change. The Gilded Age and its aftermath provided rich sources for muckraking exposés, and the reading public devoured magazines and books that chronicled the venality of the age. This selection describes how Charles Edward Russell became a muckraker and indicates some of the reactions elicited by his revelations.

   
a. How does Russell characterize the change in the way that business leaders were portrayed?

    b.  What was there about muckraking that led Russell to call it an "exhilarating sport"? What does this help to explain about the popularity of muckrakers?

    c. Why did reformers believe that the work of the muckrakers was important?

 

 

8.  Refer to American Voices, Dr. Alice Hamilton: Tracking Down Lead Poisoning in Chapter 20 of the text. After reading the document, write a brief response to each of the following questions.

Exposure to lead negatively affects nearly every part of the body. Neurological effects include a decreased ability to store information and to retrieve memories. Lead also incapacitates the peripheral nervous system, attacking the body's muscles and organs, which results in decreased muscle strength. When accumulated in the kidneys, lead causes kidney disease. High quantities of lead in children leads to extreme and permanent brain damage.

 

      a.  What analogy does Dr. Hamilton use to describe her research at Hull House? Why?

      b.  Why does Dr. Hamilton begin to research industrial diseases? What does she hope to accomplish?

      c.  Look at the example of the Polish man with colic and double wristdrop—Hamilton eventually diagnosed this worker as suffering from lead poisoning. How is much of Hamilton's research accomplished?