Autumn, 1994
Professor K. Austin Kerr
140 Dulles Hall 230 W. 17th Ave. 292-2613
Prefered: e-mail is kerr.6@osu.edu Hours:
In this course students should develop an understanding of main
themes of historical devel- opment in the United States during the
four decades when the nation evolved from a mostly rural, agrarian
society to an urbanized and indus- trialized world power. Students
will explore those themes through extensive and intensive read- ing
of works by historians and, especially, of the writings of American
leaders from the times who grappled with the problems of "big
business," political corruption, immigration, ethnic diver- sity
and racism, "the labor question," and imperialism. Students will
display the results of their explorations through carefully written
and presented papers, and through an essay final examination.
REQUIRED READINGS
Available at the University Bookstore:
Melvyn Dubofsky, Industrialism and the American Worker, 1865-1920
Alan M. Kraut, The Huddled Masses: The Immigrant in American
Society, 1880-1921
Glenn Porter, The Rise of Big Business, 1860-1910 (2nd. ed.)
IN ADDITION, You will be reading the following list of materials,
made available to you in photocopy form from Co-Eezlocated in the
basement of Bricker Hall.
Addams, Jane "The Subjective Necessity for Social Settlements,"
from Philanthropy and Social Pro- gress (New York, 1893): 1-26
Atkinson, Edward Addresses Upon the Labor Question (Boston, 1886):
13-26
Baker, Ray Stannard "Following the Color Line in the North,"
American Magazine vol. 65, 1908, pp. 345-57
Bryan, William Jennings, "The Cross of Gold," Speech before the
Democratic National Convention of 1896
Foster, J. Ellen, "Women in Politics" from The Congress of Women
(Chicago, 1893) Mary Kavanaugh Oldham Eagle, ed.
George, Henry Progress and Poverty (New York, Modern Library,
1929): i-xx and 1-13
Gladden, Washington Applied Christianity (Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
1886): 1-101, 180-209 History 563
Greely, S.H., et. al., "Views of Business Con- solidation," from
Chicago Conference on Trusts (1900)
Hunter, Robert, on "The Immigrant," and "Conclu- sion" from Poverty
(New York, 1904), 261-340
Johnson, Tom My Story (New York, 1913): xxxv-xli, 112-17, 121-15,
130-31
Kellor, Frances, Out of Work (New York, 1915): 1- 57
Lloyd, Henry Demarest "Lords of Industry," The North American
Review, vol. CCCXXXI (June, 1884), abridged
Lodge, Henry Cabot "The Philippine Islands," A Speech Before the
United States Senate, March 7, 1900
Rauschenbusch, Walter Christianity and the Social Crisis (New York,
1907): 230-08, 403-11
Roosevelt, Theodore "The Trusts, the People, and the Square Deal,"
from Outlook, Nov. 18, 1911, pp. 649-56
Schurz, Carl "American Imperialism," An Address Opposing Annexation
of the Philippines, January 4, 1899
Steffens, Lincoln "Enemies of the Republic," McClure's 22(March,
1904): 587-93, 599
Taylor, Frederick Winslow, The Principles of Scientific Management
(New York, 1911): 5-29
Timberlake, James, Prohibition and the Progressive Movement, and
"The Debate in Congress," reprinted in K. Austin Kerr, The Politics
of Moral Behavior: Prohibition and Drug Abuse (Reading, MA, 1973):
49-58, 95-116
Willard, Frances Glimpses of Fifty Years (Evanston, Ill.: Woman's
Christian Temperance Union, 1889): 331-41; 469-78
Wilson, Woodrow from The New Freedom (New York, 1913)
PREPARED CLASS ATTENDANCE IS REQUIRED.
Class attendance is the norm; absense is excused in the case of
emergency (please stay home and get well if you are ill!). More
than two absences normally result in a lowered course grade. The
norm is to have read the assignment prior to class; not having read
the assignment on time is counted as an absence.
PAPERS
Students are required to write two papers. based on the assigned
readings and on further library exploration, and the final
examination. WARNING: Revisions may be required on the papers, so
it will behoove students to use a computer for their preparation,
which will facilitate their revision task. Misspelled words, for
instance, in this age of spell checkers, are simply unacceptable.
PAPER ONE
You will be assigned a person as your topic for this paper. The
person will be the author of one of the photocopied readings for
the course. On September 27 a sign up sheet will circulate in
class, upon which you will choose the person about whom you are
writing this first paper. This paper is to be 5 pp. double spaced,
and it may provide the script for a ten minute oral report. For
this paper you will use standard reference sources, which will
include visits by you to the University Library; for a compilation
of standard sources you will consult the "Biographies" section of
the 2nd edition of the Harvard Guide to American History. Starting
on page six of your paper you will dis- cuss your sources. For
this discussion you should consult, at a minimum, the Dictionary of
American Biography, Notable American Women, the Encyclopedia of
American Business History and Biography, Who Was Who, and the New
York Times Obituary Index (and the obituary in the Times to which
it referred). The subjects of the papers and reports are the
authors of the readings you are completing for the class
discussions. Your paper and report will explain who the author of
the piece was, when he or she lived, and what the main features of
his or her career were so as to explain what gave rise to the
authorship of the statement you and the other students have read
for the class discussion. In other words, the paper will place the
author of the reading in the appropriate historical context and
discuss, in a critical fashion, how the sub- stance of the assigned
reading helps enlarge an understanding of the emergence of modern
America. Your report should define the dates of the per- son's
life, and explain the main features of his or her career. What
were his or her principal experiences in life that shaped his or
her ideol- ogy? With what other significant individuals, groups,
or institutions did the person associate? How does what you have
learned about the author of the document the class is reading help
you understand that document more clearly? The paper and report are
due on the dates assigned to the class for the individual assigned
readings. Thus, if you are reporting on Jane Addams, you will hand
in your paper on the day the class is assigned to read Jane Addams,
and you will participate in and help lead the discussion in the
class for which her essay was assigned.
PAPER ASSIGNMENT NUMBER TWO
Your second paper will follow one of two approaches:
Approach 1.:
You may expand on your oral report in a different second paper. If
you follow this path, you may use up to three pages of material
from your first paper so long as you have an addi- tional five
pages of analysis. The expansion of your oral report will involve
additional explora- tion of the career of the person you are
studying, including analysis of other writings and activities by
that person. In doing so, you should largely confine your work to
the time period of this course, 1877-1917. For instance, if you
have reported on Theodore Roosevelt's views of the trusts as
expressed in his article in Out- look, you might write a paper
about his actions and views toward the trusts while he served as
president. Approach 2.: You may use the material you gathered for
your oral report and draw upon the assigned documentary readings
provided in photocopy form to critique work by Porter, Dubofsky,
and/or Kraut. This critique may be positive as well as negative.
The critique might, for instance, show how ethnic prejudice as dis-
played by some of the historical persons you have encountered in
the course supports part of what Dubofsky explains about
"industrialism and the American worker." Or, you might draw a
combined theme from Dubofsky and Kraut, and show how it is
clarified by rooting it in some of the photocopied selections you
have read.
The second paper is due no later than November 17 unless its
subject is race relations, prohibition, or Tom Johnson or Lincoln
Steffens, in which case it is due no later than November 29th.
FINAL EXAMINATION
The university has scheduled the final examination for Monday,
December 6 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:18 p.m. The final examination
procedures will be announced; they may include a take-home essay.
The final examination will, among other matters, elicit your
comprehension of the books by Dubofsky, Porter, and Kraut.
PAPER RULES
In both of your papers for this course, there are some rules to
follow.
1. The rules of plagiarism apply. You should cite materials, and
ideas not your own, in either endnotes or footnotes.
2. Your use of English is important in the papers and in almost
any serious work you do. Be careful to use the language properly.
Spell words cor- rectly, use complete sentences, and make sure that
each paragraph includes a topic sentence (experi- enced writers
often make the first sentence in a paragraph the topic sentence).
Provide your readers with a structure for the paper--an intro-
duction, main body, and conclusion. Improper English may result in
a lowered grade for the paper. You may correct last minute
mistakes with a pencil.
3. You do not need to purchase a folder or binder for your paper,
but make sure the pages are all securely fastened together. Have
your name and SS number on the first page, and your name on each
subsequent page. You must keep a copy of the paper until you
receive your course grade. You do need to present your paper
printed with a fresh ribbon in at least Near Letter Quality.
Double space your paper. On some expensive word process- ing
programs, a right justified margin is more difficult to read than
an unjustified margin, so please exercise care in instructing the
printer to justify the right margin.
COURSE CALENDAR
9/22 Organization and Introduction
The Contrasts between 1877 and 1917
9/27 Industrialism and the Dynamics of Change
Due: Porter, 1-45; Dubofsky, 1-33
9/29 The Rise of Big Business
Porter, 46-90; Henry Demarest Lloyd
10/4 Big Business and Controversy
Greely, S.H., et. al.
10/6 Workers and Industrial Change
Dubofsky, 33-77
10/11 Labor Controversies
Atkinson, George, Gladden
10/13 The Political System of the Gilded Age
Kraut, 1-74; Willard; Foster
10/18 Agrarian Revolts
Bryan
10/20 Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism
Lodge; Schurz
10/25 Social and Intellectual Changes and Reform
Rauschenbusch
10/27 Regulation of Business
Porter, Completed
11/1 The Trust Question
Roosevelt; Wilson
11/3 Labor Revisited
Dubofsky, completed; Taylor
11/8 Poverty Discovered
Hunter; Addams; Kellor
11/10 Immigration
Kraut, completed
11/15 Urban Reform
Johnson; Steffens
11/17 Race Relations
Baker
History 563 Page 6
11/22 The Prohibition Reform
Warburton; Timberlake; Hobson; Underwood
11/24 Topic to be announced
11/29 Politics, Parties, and Progressive Pressures
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Patrick D. Reagan
Tennessee Technological University
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