Comparative Questions

COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS

Document Links

Document 18-1: Marshall Kirkman Likens Railroad Corporations to Armies

Document 18-2: William Graham Sumner on Social Obligations

Document 18-3: 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

  1. How did Andrew Carnegie's views of the obligations of wealthy people compare with those of Henry George and William Graham Sumner?
  2. How did Marshall Kirkman's belief in the efficiency of railroad corporations compare with Henry Demarest Lloyd's critique of monopolies?
  3. Carnegie, George, and Lloyd offered sharply contrasting characterizations of rich people and the social consequences of their wealth. What accounted for their differences? How would George and Lloyd have replied to Carnegie and vice versa?
  4. What can you detect about Kirkman's, Sumner's, and Carnegie's views of democracy? How did George's and Lloyd's views of democracy differ? To what extent did these men believe democracy and freedom were compatible? What did they think was the proper source of political power?
  5. Each of the documents in this chapter focuses on the striking inequalities among Americans in the Gilded Age. To what extent did these authors perceive inequality as a problem, and what did they propose to do about it? Did they believe in the ideal of equality? If so, to what degree?