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Americans in the late 19th century were engaged in a great public debate over the growing gap between the very rich and the very poor. The following two passages drawn from documents assigned in Reading the American Past, edited by Michael Johnson, highlight different perspectives on poverty and success in Gilded Age America:
“The men who have not done their duty in this world never can be equal to those who have done their duty more or less well. If words like wise and foolish, thrifty and extravagant, prudent and negligent, have any meaning in language, then it must make some difference how people behave in this world, and the difference will appear in the position they acquire in the body of society, and in relation to the chances of life. They may, then, be classified in reference to these facts…If then, we look to the origin and definition of these classes, we shall find it impossible to deduce any obligations which one bears to the other. The class distinctions simply result from the different degrees of success with which men have availed themselves of the chances which were presented to them.”
“William Graham Sumner on Social Obligations,” Reading the American Past Document 18-1
“But while a man who chooses to be poor cannot be charged with a crime, it is certainly a crime to force poverty on others. And it seems to me clear that the great majority of those who suffer from poverty are poor not from their own particular faults, but because of conditions imposed by society at large. Therefore I hold that poverty is a crime – not an individual crime, but a social crime, for which we all, poor as well as rich, are responsible…”
“Henry George Explains Why Poverty is a Crime,” Reading the American Past Document 18-5
Consider these two different perspectives on poverty in the Gilded Age. (Remember that both authors are writing about American society in the Gilded Age, and are NOT writing about conditions in 2024, which we might reasonably assume are quite different.) Then, write an essay arguing in support of one of the two points of view expressed above, using specific course materials as evidence in support of your position. You can argue for either point of view, or seek some middle ground between them, but you MUST support your argument with evidence from the primary source documents listed below.
For evidence, you should look in particular at the following sources, all of which you should read carefully before proceeding:
Document 18-1: William Graham Sumner on Social Obligations (this is the source of the first quote) Document 18-2: Henry Demarest Lloyd Attacks Monopolies
Document 18-4: Andrew Carnegie Explains the Gospel of Wealth
Document 18-5: Henry George Explains Why Poverty is a Crime (this is the source of the second quote) Document 19-1: A Textile Worker Explains the Labor Market
Document 19-2: Domestic Servants on Household Work
Document 19-4: Walter Rykoff Listens to Revolutionary Workers in Chicago
In constructing your argument, you must use AT LEAST THREE OF THE SOURCES LISTED ABOVE as evidence. Please note: Document 18-3, “The Bosses of the Senate,” is NOT included among the above list of sources, and should not be one of the three you use.
These documents come from a range of different perspectives. You should be aware that sometimes, in constructing an argument, you can use evidence which disagrees with that argument – you might, for example, support Sumner’s position above in part by looking in detail at what George says in his document and explaining why George’s arguments are not more persuasive than Sumner’s. So you do not just have to use documents that agree with the passage you have chosen to support. If you use less than three of the listed sources your grade will be HEAVILY PENALIZED for failing to fulfill the minimum requirements of the assignment.
You can also use the Roark book in support of this assignment, though you must still use at least THREE of the above listed documents if you do. You should NOT incorporate any sources from outside the course into this assignment. This is not a research assignment.
NOTE: You may use the Sumner and/or George documents themselves as sources, but for either of them to count as one of the three sources required for this assignment, you must discuss more than just the quotes from those documents that I provided above. One of the main things I am looking for in determining your grade is proof that you have read the documents you use as evidence. Just repeating the quotations I provided above does not prove that. If you just parrot back the quotations I provided above, and don’t discuss any of the additional ideas or passages from those documents, it will not count as having used a primary source for the assignment.
The paper should be two to four pages in length, double-spaced. That’s TWO COMPLETE PAGES, not one page and a few lines, or one and a half pages, as the MINIMUM length for this assignment. Turn in less than two full pages of text and your grade will be penalized. The paper should also not be much over four complete pages (if you go a few lines over four pages, it’s not a big deal, but more than that may cause me to return the paper to you with a request to edit it down to the maximum allowed length.)
Because you are ONLY using course materials for this assignment, you do NOT need a bibliography or works cited page. However, any time you draw on specific words, ideas or information from any source, you MUST cite that source. In this case a simple parenthetical citation with the author’s last name and page number at the end of a sentence or paragraph will be sufficient, for example, (Carnegie, p. 56).
One of the main things I am looking for is evidence that you have read and understand the documents; if it seems that you did not read the documents carefully – for example, if you use information out of context or don’t provide any detailed discussion of the authors’ perspectives on this topic – this will be negatively reflected in your grade.
BE AWARE: Each document is preceded by an introduction from the editor; this is a short paragraph in italics that appears under the document heading. THIS IS NOT PART OF THE DOCUMENT. You may use information from this introduction IF AND ONLY IF you also use information from the document itself. The editor’s introduction is not part of the document and is not a primary source, and therefore does not by itself fulfill the requirements of this assignment. Reading a paragraph written by the editor that summarizes the document is not the same thing as reading and understanding the primary source document itself. There are no lazy shortcuts here. Do the reading.
ThepaperisdueonFriday,September27 by11:59p.m.Allpapersshouldbesubmittedelectronically via Brightspace.
PLEASE NOTE: THE COLLEGE POLICY ON ACADEMIC INTEGRITY WILL BE RIGOROUSLY ENFORCED ON THIS ASSIGNMENT. STUDENTS WHO ARE CAUGHT CHEATING WILL HAVE THEIR PAPER SUBMITTED TO THE DEAN’S OFFICEAND WILL BE SUBJECT TO DISCIPLINE THROUGH THE COLLEGE’S JUDICIAL SYSTEM. PLEASE DO YOUR OWN WORK. All papers will be scanned through Turnitin system, which compares
them to other papers submitted in all my classes both in this and previous semesters. The use of generative AI programs on this paper is absolutely prohibited; any student found to have used an AI program like ChatGPT to write this paper will receive an immediate failing grade, with no exceptions, and may be reported to the Dean’s office for violations of the college policy on academic integrity.
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