1. Explain how the building of the nation's railroad network stimulated American industrialization and the growth of large corporations.
2. Discuss government attempts to stop the growth of trusts and monopolies in the late nineteenth century. Why were these efforts ineffective?
3. Briefly explain the new technology involved in the creation of flush toilets and indoor plumbing and the impact those had, both positive and negative, on American life.
4. How were the objectives of the American Federation of Labor different from those of the earlier National Labor Union and Knights of Labor?
5. What was the theme of Horatio Alger's novels? How realistic were these books in terms of late-nineteenth-century American experience?
6. Explain what a conservative Social Darwinist would believe that government should do about poverty and exploitation of labor. How would the Social Darwinist justify such recommendations?