CHAPTER 18: INDUSTRY, IMMIGRANTS, AND CITIES, 1870–1900
Multiple Choice
1. The term gilded age refers specifically to a time when __________.
A) labor unions were successfully promoting their own candidates for president
B) America reached a healthy balance of wealth among all social classes
C) Americans were migrating from the North to the South in record numbers
D) materialistic excess and sharp social divisions existed
2. As the size of the industrial work force grew in the late nineteenth century, __________.
A) the number of firms in given industries shrank
B) immigration to the Northeast decreased
C) working conditions greatly improved
D) ethnic urban regions experienced a golden age of prosperity
3. Between 1870 and 1910, the percentage of people working in __________ shrank.
A) agriculture
B) mining
C) manufacturing and construction
D) commerce
4. The major significance of Elihu Thomson’s career was his __________.
A) leadership of Kodak as the world’s major photographic company
B) successful and prosperous General Electric Company
C) role in creating the first commercial telegraph
D) use of vertical integration in dominating the oil industry
5. After 1870, __________.
A) American inventiveness and technological progress flourished
B) America became more dependent on European technology
C) labor unions ceased being a factor in labor-management relations
D) American engineers only attended college in either Germany or England
6. Before the industrial boom of the late 1800s, __________.
A) monopolies harmed economic growth in the urban areas of the North
B) middle-class artisans were rare in the Northeast
C) labor was entirely organized by middle-management employees
D) labor was done by artisans who controlled the pace and output of their labor
7. An industrial owner who practiced horizontal integration __________.
A) aimed to appease labor
B) invested in a wide variety of industries
C) bought out competitors in the same industry
D) believed that monopoly was destructive to economic needs
8. One disadvantage for American workers of the rise of corporations was __________.
A) corporations now controlled the conditions and nature of work
B) fewer jobs were provided because of automation
C) the government’s decision to cut off all immigration
D) corporations refused to work in coalition with investment banks
9. An example of vertical integration was __________.
A) John Rockefeller’s mergers with other oil companies
B) Andrew Carnegie’s belief in helping his working-class laborers
C) Gustavus Swift’s control of all aspects of meatpacking
D) J. P. Morgan’s belief in the “gospel of wealth”
10. The aggressive tactics of John D. Rockefeller were supported by his __________.
A) strong support for the Knights of Labor
B) financial alliance with investment banker J. P. Morgan
C) belief in the “gospel of wealth”
D) refusal to adapt to new technological advances
11. The pioneer of horizontal integration was __________.
A) James B. Duke
B) Gustavus Swift
C) John D. Rockefeller
D) George Pullman
12. An effect of the rise of corporations in America was __________.
A) a decrease in the amount of long-term planning by leaders of companies
B) that shareholders were held personally responsible for corporate debts
C) a stimulation of capital investment and technological advances
D) an increase in the number of owners who became middle-management leaders as well
13. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle focused on the problems of __________.
A) textile factories
B) sweatshops
C) child labor
D) meatpacking plants
14. The workplace of the late 1800s included which of the following conditions?
A) large forces of skilled laborers
B) short hours
C) increased mechanization
D) a safe and healthy environment
15. The use of sweatshops was most common in __________.
A) coal mining
B) new factories in the West
C) Andrew Carnegie’s steel plants
D) the garment industry
16. One effect of workers being required to work long hours was __________.
A) an increase in hourly wages
B) larger numbers of workers becoming artisans
C) a decrease in deaths and injuries on the job
D) a disruption of workers’ family lives
17. By 1900, legislative acts that regulated the horrors of child labor were __________.
A) successful at ending the practice in the United States
B) passed by state legislatures in 90 percent of the states
C) supported by most industrialists in the East
D) not effectively enforced by authorities
18. Regarding the increase of female workers, most Americans believed that __________.
A) a woman’s proper role was still caring for home and family
B) national legislation should ensure equal pay
C) daycare centers should be established to help working women
D) women deserved more jobs as professionals
19. Jacob A. Riis’s How the Other Half Lives focused on __________.
A) the new opportunities for the growing middle class
B) the sordid life of the urban poor
C) how white males had oppressed the women of America
D) the plight of African Americans
20. Horatio Alger stories __________.
A) reinforced Gospel of Wealth ideas
B) first appeared in the early nineteenth century
C) were critical of capitalism
D) were aimed at an African American audience
21. Andrew Carnegie stated a differing view of the Gospel of Wealth by expressing that __________.
A) socialists and capitalists should cooperate in labor negotiations
B) settlement houses were ineffective at addressing the needs of the poor
C) the affluent class should return some of their wealth to working class communities
D) the government was entirely responsible for poor living conditions
22. The purpose of the settlement house movement was to __________.
A) moderate poverty through neighborhood reconstruction
B) promote labor candidates for national political offices
C) involve congressmen in community service
D) support the cooperative ideals of the Knights of Labor
23. Which statement would most likely have been said by a believer in Social Darwinism?
A) “Charity and the goodness of the affluent heart will lead this era of progress.”
B) “The government must regulate business if we are to help the working poor.”
C) “The laws of nature dictate the conditions of life for both rich and poor.”
D) “Nature’s mighty laws tell us that the rich must donate endowments for the poor.”
24. A turning point in the Pullman strike occurred when __________.
A) President Cleveland ordered federal troops to enforce a court order against the strike
B) commitment to the strike did not spread outside of the company town
C) Pullman offered a large increase in pay
D) Eugene Debs withdrew his support for the strike
25. American workers were drawn to the American Federation of Labor’s __________.
A) refusal to create conflict through strikes
B) promotion of socialist ideals
C) open recruitment policies
D) emphasis on collective bargaining
26. The Great Uprising of 1877 was a general strike against the nation’s __________.
A) steel manufacturers
B) railway companies
C) coal-mining operations
D) garment industry
27. A major difference between the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor was
__________.
A) the American Federation of Labor disapproved of strikes
B) membership in the Knights of Labor was open to all workers
C) the American Federation of Labor had close ties with the Socialist Party
D) support for the Knights of Labor was restricted to craft workers only
28. Seven policemen and four workers were killed by a bomb at Haymarket Square in __________.
A) Chicago
B) Homestead, Pennsylvania
C) New York
D) Fort Collins, Colorado
29. The year 1886 saw the labor movement unify behind the move for __________.
A) equal pay for equal work
B) putting an end to child labor
C) laws that would ensure worker safety
D) getting the eight-hour day
30. According to your text, how many strikes were called in the late nineteenth and earlier twentieth
centuries?
A) 7,000
B) 14,000
C) 22,000
D) 50,000
31. A huge group of Jewish immigrants escaped from the pogroms in __________.
A) Italy
B) England
C) Germany
D) Russia
32. __________ immigrants began immigrating to the United States in the late 1880s because of land
shortages more serious than those in Europe.
A) Japanese
B) Chinese
C) Mexican
D) African
33. In the urban, working-class neighborhoods of the early twentieth century __________.
A) middle-class people often lived alongside ethnic laborers
B) immigrants tended to live among people from the same homeland
C) immigrants’ cultural traditions were replaced by Americanism
D) sanitary and living conditions were clean and luxurious
34. Of the following groups that migrated to the United States in the late nineteenth century, which were
motivated most by fear of violence?
A) Chinese
B) Japanese
C) Italians
D) Russian Jews
35. Francesco Barone’s success in America led to __________.
A) a restriction on immigration from Sicily
B) the creation of the Bank of Italy
C) nativist mobs attacking his home and business
D) the chain migration of many Sicilians to his new town
36. Religious institutions in immigrant communities were important, in part, because they __________.
A) provided free healthcare
B) helped immigrants adopt American ideas
C) were a gathering place for community leaders
D) they provided a place for immigrants from different backgrounds to mix
37. Immigration and migration patterns from 1880–1910 resulted in __________.
A) high unemployment by the turn of the century
B) the impressive growth of many cities
C) the rise in popularity of the Knights of Labor
D) an increase in the percentage of Americans living in the South
38. In the latter part of the nineteenth century, countries that attracted migrants usually __________.
A) had growing industrial economies
B) had non-democratic governments
C) were located in eastern or southern Europe
D) had extensive networks of social services set up for migrants
39. The American Protective Association specifically focused on __________.
A) promoting the colonization of blacks in Africa
B) defeating the goals of the Knights of Labor
C) attracting immigrant voters to the Republican Party
D) limiting the civil rights of Catholic Americans
40. Which statement would most likely have been said by a nativist?
A) “The nation’s purity is being ruined by Catholics and undesirable foreigners.”
B) “Labor must organize across ethnic lines to achieve justice and equality.”
C) “The needs of the working class outweigh the desires of industrialists.”
D) “The workers’ movement must be global and cannot be restricted to local concerns.”
41. The term “Great Migration” refers to the __________.
A) thousands of Mexicans who entered the United States across the Rio Grande River
B) mass movement of American blacks from the rural South to the urban North
C) recruitment of Jewish workers by agents of American industrialists
D) westward expansion of ethnic workers from eastern and southern Europe
42. Stereotypes of blacks were reinforced __________.
A) because few blacks lived in northern cities
B) by portrayals of blacks in vaudeville and film
C) when the Knights of Labor refused to accept blacks as members
D) by immigrant newspapers such as the Chicago Defender
43. Residential suburbs were first populated by __________.
A) new immigrants
B) industrial magnates
C) members of the middle class
D) unskilled laborers
44. “Downtown” districts tended to include __________.
A) mass-production factories
B) ethnic neighborhoods for new immigrants
C) retail shops and financial institutions
D) middle-class dwellings
45. The new middle class __________.
A) had tastes for tradition that caused them to reject time-saving devices
B) were not targeted by advertisers, who preferred upper-class consumers
C) represented a move toward an economy based on corporate buying
D) often pioneered national social trends
46. Joseph Pulitzer and Randolph Hearst capitalized on the middle class’s taste for __________.
A) fast foods such as soup and instant coffee
B) getting news in an easy-to-read format
C) spending money at dance clubs and music halls
D) riding on trolleys and faster, improved trains
47. Which spectator sport was largely favored by the middle class at the turn of the century?
A) college football
B) professional baseball
C) professional boxing
D) professional football
48. Coney Island in New York served as an optimal example of Americans’ love for __________.
A) going to seaside resorts on vacation
B) shopping in a central district of department stores
C) amusement parks and technological wonders
D) building monuments to contemporary leaders
49. In 1900, the largest city in the United States was __________.
A) Chicago
B) Philadelphia
C) Boston
D) New York
50. The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago was dubbed the __________.
A) Eighth Wonder of the World
B) White City
C) City on a Hill
D) Windy City
Essay Questions
51. What social developments reveal the emergence of a predominant middle-class culture in the United
States?
52. Compare and contrast the philosophies and tactics of the Knights of Labor and the American
Federation of Labor. Why, in the long run, did one group succeed while the other one failed?
53. Support one of the following positions:
“New immigrants were assimilated into mainstream American culture.”
“New immigrants adjusted to mainstream American culture.”
“New immigrants adjusted to American culture and contributed to its diversity.”