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Source set · 7 sources ✓ Lesson ready

Captains of industry or robber barons?

Carnegie's defense of wealth meets antitrust law, Populist and labor protest, and Gilded Age cartoons.

Timeline of key events →Gallery Walk: cartoon stations →

Teach it

✓ Lesson ready

A ready-to-run lesson for this set: Four Corners Debate. Slides include a hook, one slide per source, directions, a take-a-stand vote, an exit ticket, and a teacher script in the speaker notes.

Make a copy (Lesson Slides)Make a copy (Lesson Plan + materials)

1. Hook: a striking quote 3-5 min

The problem of our age is the administration of wealth, so that the ties of brotherhood may still bind together the rich and poor in harmonious relationship.
Andrew Carnegie, “Wealth” (1889)

Ask: Carnegie was one of the richest men in America. What does he think the rich owe everyone else?

2. Main activity: Four Corners Debate

Grouping: Whole class, moving among four corners; small corner groups of 5 to 8

Materials (printables are in the Lesson Plan Doc)
  • Four corner signs (printable pages in the Lesson Plan Doc)
  • Evidence cards for all 7 sources
  1. Preview evidence 5 min
    Pairs read all seven evidence cards and mark each one Captain (C) or Baron (B).
  2. Move 3 min
    Read the question on the vote slide. Students walk to the corner that matches their view.
  3. Build the case 8 min
    Each corner group picks its two strongest evidence cards and writes a 45-second argument.
  4. Make the case 12 min
    Each corner presents. After each, students may switch corners. Count switches.
  5. Rebuttal round 8 min
    Each corner gets 30 seconds to answer the strongest argument against it.
  6. Final position 5 min
    Students return to their seats and write their final position with one source.
  7. Exit ticket 5 min
    Students answer on a slip before leaving.

Take a stand: Were the great industrialists captains of industry or robber barons?

  • A. Captains of industry: they built the economy (Carnegie’s “Wealth”)
  • B. Mostly captains, but they needed rules (Sherman Antitrust Act)
  • C. Mostly barons: workers paid the price (Homestead Strike, Pullman strike scenes)
  • D. Robber barons who corrupted government (Omaha Platform, “Stop Thief” cartoon, Cross of Gold)

3. Pacing options

15-minute bell-ringer

  • 3 min Hook: Carnegie quote
  • 8 min Show the “Stop Thief” cartoon and the Omaha Platform quote; students move to two sides of the room and defend their choice
  • 4 min Exit ticket question 1

Full 50-minute lesson

  • 4 min Hook: Carnegie
  • 5 min Preview evidence
  • 3 min Move to corners
  • 8 min Build the case
  • 12 min Present and switch
  • 8 min Rebuttals and final position
  • 5 min Exit ticket
  • 5 min Buffer

4. Exit ticket

  1. Which corner did you end in, and which source kept you there (or moved you)?
  2. Carnegie gave away most of his fortune. Does that change how we should judge how he made it? Explain.

5. Differentiation

Support

Extension

  • Research one other industrialist (Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, or J.P. Morgan) and decide which corner he belongs in.
  • Explain why the Sherman Act was rarely used against big business in the 1890s.

Suggested sequence

  1. Carnegie: The Gospel of Wealth (1889)
    Essay · Fordham University · Industrialization & Gilded Age (1870-1900) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 20 min
    Andrew Carnegie's argument that the rich must use their wealth for the public good.
    Ask: What do the wealthy owe society?
    Open with this source to frame the question.
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneClaim-Evidence-Reasoning (CER)
  2. Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)
    Document · Wikisource · Industrialization & Gilded Age (1870-1900) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 5 min
    The 1890 law outlawing contracts and combinations in restraint of trade.
    Ask: Why did Congress try to break up monopolies?
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  3. Populist Party Platform (Omaha Platform, 1892)
    Document · Wikisource · Industrialization & Gilded Age (1870-1900) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 15 min
    The People's Party platform adopted in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1892.
    Ask: What did Great Plains farmers want from government in 1892?
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  4. William Jennings Bryan, Cross of Gold Speech (1896)
    Speech · Wikisource · Industrialization & Gilded Age (1870-1900) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 20 min
    Nebraskan William Jennings Bryan's 1896 Democratic convention speech for free silver.
    Ask: Why did Bryan's speech electrify farmers?
    Original ↗Copy DocCopy AdaptedSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  5. The great railway strikes - scenes in and about Chicago (1894)
    Photograph · Library of Congress · Industrialization & Gilded Age (1870-1900) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 5 min
    Library of Congress photograph: The great railway strikes - scenes in and about Chicago (1894). 1 photomechanical print : halftone. | Three bust portraits showing George Pullman, Cushman K. Davis, and Eugene Debs; and four illustrations showing "blockade of railroad cars, applicants for appointments as deputies at…
    Ask: Why did the Pullman Strike become a national crisis?
    Original ↗Copy SlidesSee-Think-WonderOPTIC
  6. The Homestead Strike (DPLA Primary Source Set)
    Document collection · Digital Public Library of America · Industrialization & Gilded Age (1870-1900) · Grades 6-8, 9-12 · ⏱ Varies
    Digital Public Library of America primary source set, 'The Homestead Strike': curated sources from U.S. libraries, archives, and museums, with a teaching guide.
    Ask: Why did the 1892 Homestead Strike turn violent?
    Original ↗Sourcing, Contextualization, CorroborationHIPP / HAPP
  7. "Stop Thief" (1871)
    Political cartoon · Library of Congress · Industrialization & Gilded Age (1870-1900) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 5 min
    Library of Congress print: "Stop Thief" (1871). 1 print : wood engraving. | Cartoon showing Boss Tweed and his Tammany Hall henchmen running from N.Y.C. Treasury yelling, "Stop Thief"; caption countains appropriate quotation from Oliver Twist.
    Ask: How did Thomas Nast use cartoons to attack corruption?
    Close with this source before writing.
    Original ↗Copy SlidesPolitical Cartoon AnalysisOPTIC

Watch

Free videos to pair with this set. Preview before showing in class.

Teach with (more from Hillsdale): Unit 5: The Turn of the Century (1877-1919) (free K-12 curriculum unit)

Culminating writing prompt

Using evidence from at least three sources in this set, write an argument that answers the question: “Captains of industry or robber barons?” Cite each source by title, explain how its author, audience, and purpose affect its reliability, and respond to at least one counterargument.

Printable writing sheet (make a copy)

Students can plan with the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning organizer.