In Assignment 2, we ask you to choose one of two topic choices listed below on the subject of economic change and innovation in the period of the late 1800s and early 1900s, then use the Writing Guide provided in Blackboard to write a paper on the subject. One topic is on the individual level of pioneering entrepreneurs of the period, who developed distinctive strategies for the production and marketing of very different parts types of products. The other topic is on the macro level, exploring successful and unsuccessful government attempts to shape and regulate the changing industrial economy of the period. As you prepare and brainstorm your paper, first read and review what our Schultz textbook covers on the subject. Then, consider the other sources listed with each topic below. It is important that you review these sources carefully because you must use a minimum of three sources (from the list below) to write your paper.
TOPIC CHOICE ONE: Innovative Entrepreneurs—Walker and Ford
Here you will focus on the business approaches of Madame C. J. Walker and Henry Ford. Both developed innovative and successful approaches in a time of rapid economic change. You will compare them in the way they started their respective businesses and the key innovative features that made each successful. One might find virtues, problems and successes associated with both. You might see elements of each in strategies of later leaders and related issues even today.
Sources: Schultz, p. 396–7 (only Ford is discussed in our textbook). For Madam C. J. Walker (1867–1919), see http://www.madamcjwalker.com/bios/madam-c-j-walker/; and https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/100-amazing-facts/madam-walker-the-first-black-american-woman-to-be-a-self-made-millionaire/ . For Henry Ford, see https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/henry-ford.
TOPIC CHOICE TWO: Government Economic Policies—Hits and Misses
Here you will choose two historical examples from the following list: Prohibition; Hawley-Smoot Tariff; Sherman Antitrust Act; Pure Food and Drug Act; Federal Trade Commission; Civilian Conservation Corps; Agricultural Adjustment Act; the Wagner Act, and the Social Security Act. These are examples of government economic intervention or economic policy in the long period from 1870 to 1940. These might be thought of as burdensome government interference or as needed government regulation, depending on the example and one’s thinking on those things. For your paper, you will explore and describe each of your two examples, its historical context, and the reasons it arose. One might find virtues, problems and successes associated with both. You might see elements of each in examples in our current economy today.
Sources: Schultz, p. 362–4, 367, 401–2, 417, 425–9, 432. Besides the textbook, use any two of these sources that you think relevant to your paper: http://college.cengage.com/history/wadsworth_9781133309888/unprotected/ps/impact_factory.htm
http://college.cengage.com/history/wadsworth_9781133309888/unprotected/ps/attack_meatpackers.htm and https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1884hdlloyd.asp.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
Use Strayer Writing Standards (SWS). The format is different than other formats like APA. Please take a moment to review the SWS documentation for details.
Be typed, double spaced between lines, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow SWS format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the Sources page are not included in the required assignment page length.
The paper must be submitted (uploaded and attached) in the course shell provided online.
Discuss events after 1865 in terms of social and economic conditions that caused corresponding changes in the attitudes of the people and policies of the government.