1865-1898: Gilded Age review games for AP US History.

Prompt: 'Evaluate the extent to which the federal government supported industrial growth between 1865 and 1900.'

A strong response would argue the federal government actively promoted industrialization through land grants to railroads, high protective tariffs, and weak enforcement of antitrust law. Evidence like the Pacific Railway Acts and the toothless early application of the Sherman Act supports a claim of government complicity with big business. The argument should acknowledge limits—some state-level regulation existed—but maintain that federal policy broadly favored capital over labor or consumers.

DBQ document: A 1890 political cartoon depicting a dark-skinned immigrant labeled 'anarchist' flooding into the United States.

Students should identify the document's point of view as nativist and note that it conflates immigration with political radicalism, a common tactic after events like the Haymarket Affair (1886). The cartoon reflects anxieties about 'new' immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe who were seen as threatening Anglo-Protestant American identity. In an essay, this document would support an argument about how cultural and racial fears—not just economic concerns—drove anti-immigration sentiment.

SAQ: 'Briefly explain ONE reason why labor strikes in the Gilded Age generally failed to achieve their goals.'

A full-credit response would identify a specific cause, provide evidence, and explain the connection. Example: The federal government consistently intervened on behalf of employers—as in the Pullman Strike (1894), when President Cleveland sent federal troops over Governor Altgeld's objection, breaking the strike and imprisoning Eugene Debs. This demonstrates that even when workers had public sympathy, the government's alignment with business interests made sustained gains nearly impossible.

LEQ: 'Evaluate the extent to which the Populist movement represented a fundamental challenge to the political and economic order of the Gilded Age.'

A high-scoring response would argue Populism was a significant but ultimately limited challenge: its Omaha Platform directly attacked laissez-faire orthodoxy by demanding government intervention in the economy, which was genuinely radical for its time. However, the movement failed to build a cross-class coalition—urban industrial workers did not join—and its absorption into the Democratic Party in 1896 diluted its structural critique into a single monetary issue. The 1896 election thus reveals both the reach and the ceiling of agrarian reform in an increasingly industrial America.