AP Success - AP US History: Social Darwinism in the Gilded Age
Source 1
"The ideas of the age were tailored to fit the rich barons. Economists, journalists, educators, and writers who rushed to do them honor found a strikingly plausible rationale in Darwinian biology…From Darwin and his popularizers they learned that life is a fierce and constant struggle which only the fittest survive. Confusing evolution with progress, as was natural to optimistic spokesmen of a rising class and a rising nation, they concluded that the bitter strife of competitive industry, which seemed to mirror so perfectly Darwin’s natural world, was producing a slow but inevitable upward movement of civilization. Those who emerged at the top were manifestly the fittest to survive and carry on."
Hofstadter, Richard. The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made it. Vintage, 1989.
Question 1
According to Hofstadter, how did proponents of Social Darwinism in the Gilded Age interpret the relationship between Darwin's theory of evolution and economic competition?
Question 2
The passage suggests that the 'rich barons' of the Gilded Age were supported by which of the following groups?
Question 3
The 'upward movement of civilization' mentioned in the passage most directly reflects which of the following historical concepts?
Question 4
The ideas described in the passage most directly contributed to which of the following trends in the late 19th century United States?
Question 5
Which of the following groups would have been most likely to oppose the ideas presented in the passage during the Gilded Age?
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