The Gilded Age

Introduction

In this WebQuest you will learn about life in the United States during the Gilded Age, a period of massive economic growth after the end of Reconstruction to the turn of the 20th Century due to nearly unregulated capitalism.

It created a society dominated at the top by so called "robber barons", extremely wealthy individuals the likes the United States had never seen before, while the bottom was filled by poor, working class individuals. 

Task

Form groups of four by bringing a small sheet of paper with your group members name to me. I will assign two groups to research the lives of the wealthy while having the other three groups research the lives of the poor. 

You will make a poster describing the lives of the group you have been assigned to research. This poster must:

  • have images/drawings of the time period (none from the websites I have provided)
  • be concise in listing the information gathered
  • answers the question from the process step
  • be easy to read, understand, and flows well

Process

Below are some websites that will help you with your research for your respective classes.

Wealthy (Aristocracy):

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/gildedage.htm

http://www.lockportschools.org/cms/lib/NY19000563/Centricity/Domain/560/pg.%208-10.pdf (Don't answer the questions at the end of the article)

Poor (Working Class):

http://www.ushistory.org/us/38b.asp

http://io9.com/slum-life-in-new-york-city-during-the-nineteenth-centu-1584688488

Both:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/06/the-dark-side-of-the-gilded-age/306012/

https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/gilded-age/essays/gilded-age

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Spgdy3HkcSs

QUESTIONS 

  1. What was life like for the your class at the peak of the Gilded Age?

   

      2. Which laws passed during the Gilded Age most effected your class?

     3. In what ways was your class politcally active during the Gilded Age?

     4. Describe the relationship between the wealthy and poor during the Guilded Age?

     5. Tell about a famous member of the class you researched and how they affected society?

Evaluation

Content

Completely adddresses the content requested

 75 pts

Mostly adresses the content requested

65 pts

Partially addresses the content requested

50 pts
Clarity

Easy to follow and understand

 25 pts

Slightly difficult to follow and understand

 15 pts

Difficult to follow and understand

   5 pts

Conclusion

You should now have a better understanding of the Gilded Age which will assist you greatly now that we will be moving on to how the Progressive Era worked to fix many of the problems that arose from the Gilded Age. Definitely take time to look at the posters from the other groups as I will more than likely (wink,wink) make an extra credit question from the specific content from one of them. 

Also if you don't think hard work pays off, check out this short video about Andrew Carnegie's early life.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5ayVoY2qcY align:center]

Credits