US History II

I’ve added a new page to the website with the Powerpoints from previous lectures. See the “Slides” tab, above.

For Wednesday, Jan 25

Read GML Chapter 16. Notice the economic, cultural, and political changes in this era. Also pay attention to the changing makeup of society in this time period (the scholarly word for studying the social makeup of a society is “demography”) and to new ideas and intellectual debates, especially about the role of government in establishing and securing progress and freedom. We often think about the US as being without rigid social classes – was that true for the Gilded Age?

I’ll also be interested to see if you perceive echoes of the Gilded Age in our own time. How might this chapter’s history be relevant to you today?

For example: January 24, 2017 Standing Rock Sioux press release opposing Trump Executive Memorandum on Dakota Access Pipeline

A link to explore: check out some of the “summer cottages” of the Gilded Age upper class in Newport, Rhode Island. Many are maintained as house museums – definitely worth a daytrip if you haven’t been.

Also you might be interested to know that there’s an organization just for historians who study this time period, SHGAPE (Society for the History of Gilded Age and Progressive Era).