Interpret the Evidence and Put It in Context

Document Links:

Document 16.5 William Graham Sumner, A Defense of Laissez-Faire, 1883

Document 16.6 Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward, 2000–1887, 1888

Document 16.7 Andrew Carnegie, The Gospel of Wealth, 1889

Document 16.8 Henry Demarest Lloyd, Critique of Wealth, 1894

Interpret the Evidence

  1. According to William Graham Sumner (Document 16.5), how are reformers mistaken in their attempts to help the poor?

  2. Do Sumner (Document 16.5) and Andrew Carnegie (Document 16.7) agree on whether the wealthy have a responsibility to help the poor?

  3. According to Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward (Document 16.6), why should the federal government intervene to halt the expansion of big business?

  4. How do wealthy Americans maintain their power at the expense of everyone else, according to Henry Demarest Lloyd (Document 16.8)?

  5. What might Bellamy and Lloyd see as the greatest obstacles to the realization of America’s potential? What about Sumner and Carnegie? What changes in U.S. society and government might each man suggest to eliminate those obstacles?

Put It in Context

Despite their different philosophies, what do these men think about the growth of organizations during the late nineteenth century?

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