Department of History

	HISTORY 153, Fall 2000 Final exam is Wednesday, December 13, 10:50-1:20
FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE	**bring pens and blue books!!***

CHEAT SHEETS!!: Each student will be allowed to bring to the exam one 4X6 note card, on which each student may write anything he or she wants. 

The final exam will consist of two parts, each worth 100 points. 
Total exam point value = 200 points. 

Part One: Comparison and contrast of identification terms.  

You will be given 5 PAIRS of identification terms from the list of 24 pairs below. You will prepare a short answer (approximately one–three paragraphs) for each (20 points each = 100 points for this half of the exam). Your task will be to prepare an short answer which identifies and explains the significance of each term in relation to the other (see sample answer below). You are, then, not only to explain each term, but specifically to explain the significance of the term in relationship to its pair. 

Here is the list of ID pair possibilities:

ESSAY QUESTION

You will be given ONE of the TWO essay questions below, for an essay question worth 100 points. As always, use SPECIFIC evidence from all parts of the class to support your generalizations. Construct and clearly articulate a defensible argument, and then defend that argument throughout the essay.

ESSAY POSSIBILITY ONE:

Pick six of the eight characters (or social "types") listed below. Describe what their deepest aspirations might have been in 1870 or so; to what degree they would have been able to achieve those aspirations in 1920; how their lives would have changed from 1870–1920; what social or political movement would have most affected them (for the better or for the worse); who might have been their social and political heroes and enemies; and how they might have felt about whether America truly was the land of freedom and opportunity for all, as of 1920.

a) southern farmers; b) major owners in the steel and railroad industries (such as Andrew Carnegie); c) white middle–class urban women; d) immigrant workers; e) farmers, ranchers, and miners in the West; f) Native Americans; g) progressives; h) Populists; i) social conservatives and nativists

ESSAY POSSIBILITY TWO:

Agree or disagree with the following statement, and explain why, using examples from all parts of the course: "Despite social conflicts and the stubborn intractability of some problems, the United States came through the Gilded Age and Progressive Era well, with most social groups advancing rapidly and with the remarkable accomplishment of the creation of an urban industrial order from which we all benefit today. Whatever else may be said of this age, it built."

SAMPLE PAIRED TERM ID ANSWER: 

Suppose you were given the pair "the paradox of progress and poverty is the great enigma of our times" together with "the age of individualism is gone, never to return." These would be two ID terms, each one a quotation. Here would be a sample answer. 

These two quotations show contrasting interpretations of American economic and social development during the Gilded Age. The first, penned by social reformer and activist Henry George, outlined his basic idea that progress seemed always to bring with it poverty--as he expressed it, with the steam locomotive came the hobo. With this enigma George attempted to explain to Americans how it was that, in the Gilded Age, so much wealth was being created, and yet so little of that wealth seemed to find its way to ordinary Americans. Production skyrocketed even as wages and prices remained stagnant, thus creating a disparity between wealth that was seemingly available, versus wealth that was actually available. The second quotation comes from the oil tycoon and king of the "robber barons," John D. Rockefeller. Rockefeller's dictum expressed his notion that "free enterprise" as Americans had known it was a bygone relic of another era, now replaced with larger, more efficient business combinations--trusts, holding companies, and the like. While Rockefeller saw this as good and inevitable, other Americans, such as George, viewed it as disturbing evidence of the very "enigma of progress and poverty" that George had outlined. If free enterprise and small business had represented the "American dream," the route from poverty to progress, then what route would be left if corporate capitalism crushed all smaller competitors?  Rockefeller's oil competitors wondered about this very problem, as one by one they were eliminated, bought out, or coopted by Standard Oil, a corporation that had perfected the techniques of horizontal and vertical integration. 

MIDTERM EXAM STUDY GUIDE

• Your midterm exam is Monday, October 9^th, for the full class period. You should bring exam bluebooks and more than one pen. The exam will be in two parts.
• First, there will be two five–point ID terms, chosen from the list of six below. For each, you should write three–four sentences identifying the item, giving an approximate date when appropriate, and suggesting why the term was significant during its time. The two ID terms will be worth 10 points.
• The remainder of the exam will consist of two short essays, chosen from the list of five below. On the exam, you will see three listed as options, and you will write on two. Each essay will be worth 70 points, for a total of 140 points. You have just over 30 minutes per essay, so these should be short, to–the–point discussions. 
• Concentrate on articulating a clear thesis statement, supported by evidence drawn from classroom discussions and lectures, readings, films, and any supplementary material (such as websites) you have consulted. Do not rely on generalizations alone; use specific evidence to support your assertions.
• Midterm exams will be returned to you week of Oct. 16-18

Here are the six ID term possibilities. You will be given two to write on. 5 points each

14^th Amendment 
Ku Klux Klan 
scientific management
Buffalo Bill
Ghost Dance
Dawes Act

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Here are the essay possibilities. I will choose three of these to appear on the exam, and you will write on two of them.

Each essay will be worth 70 points. 

1) Discuss two major arguments made by made by Frederick Jackson Turner in "The Significance of the Frontier in American History." Then, outline two major critiques of that thesis, and in your conclusion suggest briefly whether Turner's view of the frontier is convincing to you, and why (or why not).

2) Discuss how three of the following four people/groups would have responded to Henry George's statement, "this association of poverty with progress is the great enigma of our times": a) Russell Conwell; b) workers at Homestead Steel plant (from film); c) freedpeople after the Civil War; d) Populists

3) Discuss how three of the following five people might have responded to reading Turner's frontier thesis paper. Would it have struck them as relevant to their experience as westerners? Would it have made sense intuitively? Would it have effectively described their experience? A) Indian Ghost Dancers at Wounded Knee; B) Buffalo Bill Cody; C) buffalo hunter (as described in document in Fink); D) Mabel Barbee Lee; E) women in the West (from essay by Robert Griswold)

4) Take three incidents in the life of Mabel Barbee Lee, as recounted in her autobiography Cripple Creek Days. Suggest how these experiences shaped her view of the West, and of America. Was there something about growing up in the West that developed a distinctive character in people, or is that just a romantic myth?

5) Discuss briefly how three of the following five groups of people would have defined the term "free labor." Then, at the end, explain whether Americans had any basis of social consensus on the meaning of that term during the Gilded Age, or whether Americans were hopelessly far apart in what they meant by the term: a) sharecroppers in the South after the Civil War; b) steelworkers described by David Montgomery's essay; c) Andrew Carnegie; d) authors of the 14^th Amendment; e) gold miners in Cripple Creek (as seen in Cripple Creek Days)

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