Question
"In the decades following the Civil War, American capitalism began to produce a distinct culture, unconnected to traditional family or community values, to religion in any conventional sense or to political democracy. It was a secular business and market oriented culture, with the exchange and circulation of money and goods at the foundation of its aesthetic life and of its moral sensibility. __ "By World War I, Americans were being enticed into consumer pleasure and indulgence rather than into work as the road to happiness. __ For generations, America had been portrayed as a place of plenty, a garden in which all paradisiacal longings would be satisfied.... By the early 1900s this myth was being transformed urbanized and commercialized, increasingly severed from its religious aims and focusing ever more on personal satisfaction and even on such new pleasure palaces as department stores, theaters , restaurants, hotels, dance halls and amusement parks. __ This new era heralded the pursuit of goods as the means to all 'good' and to personal salvation." William Leach, historian, Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture, 1993 Which of the following explains a similarity between the United States economy in the early 1900s depicted in the excerpt and the United States economy in the first half of the 1800s? A In both periods the federal government owned and c operated new transportation infrastructure B In both periods, new technology increasingly connected Americans to commerce and markets. C In both periods, a new political movement called for increased regulation of businesses. D In both periods, overseas colonies provided new markets for United States manufacturers
Answer
4.7
(297 Votes)
Ralph
Elite · Tutor for 8 years
Answer
B
Explanation
The question presents a passage of William Leach, a historian, which describes the evolution of American capitalism in the early 1900’s. The question then asks which choice illustrates a similarity in the U.S. economic state issuing from both the start of the 20th century and the first half of the 19th century. Central to this thread is Leach’s postulate about the United States cutural shift towards an increasingly secular business and market-oriented sentiment as being increasingly significant. Answering the question accurately necessitates understanding Leach’s illustration, and then juxtaposing ducks with each choice statement, to decipher cited congruities over these historical intervals:(A) mentions the ownership and operation of new transit infrastructure by the Federal Government in both periods. The paragraph does not comment on this at all.(B) cites the connection improvement between commerce, markets and Americans in both periods abetted by new technology. While it is palpable that novel tech was implicit in the early 1900’s culture transfer towards a more secular and market-complex attitude, the same can't be implicitly abserved about the American culture in 1st half of the 19th century.(C) ventures about political momentum implanting stronger business controls. The paragraph stays quite touchingly silent over this.(D) proffers the utilisation of newly colonised lands globally as new marketplace for all forms of U.S. factoies. While the parent paragraph speaks volumes about trade and markets relative to American culture, a point single-mindedly about the use of overseas colonies as production resources does not find place in the lines. Overall, statement (B) most convincingly satisfies the vocabulary and concept dimensions of what the paragraph at speak centralises on - the emergence of a new fervently trade- and business-led sentiment, expressing yellow-brick pathways of technological advances and commerce growth drivers likewise rendering appeal for both historical periods contextually enacted here.