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AP®HistoryCollege BoardUS HistoryExam QuestionsPeriod 6: 1865-1898Development of the Middle Class

Development of the Middle Class (College Board AP® US History): Exam Questions

4 mins4 questions
11 mark

"They must remember that our hero was very much in earnest in his desire to improve. He knew that, in order to grow up respectable, he must be well advanced, and he was willing to work... He knew that it would take him a long time to reach the goal which he had set before him, and he had patience to keep on trying. He knew that he had only himself to depend upon, and he determined to make the most of himself, — a resolution which is the secret of success in nine cases out of ten."

Horatio Alger Jr., “Ragged Dick or, Street Life in New York with the Boot Blacks” (1868)

The excerpt most directly reflects which of the following popular concepts of the Gilded Age?

  • The Social Gospel movement’s focus on collective moral reform

  • The idea of Social Darwinism, which emphasized survival of the fittest

  • The ideal of the self-made man and upward mobility through hard work

  • The belief that government intervention was necessary to create economic opportunity

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21 mark

"They must remember that our hero was very much in earnest in his desire to improve. He knew that, in order to grow up respectable, he must be well advanced, and he was willing to work... He knew that it would take him a long time to reach the goal which he had set before him, and he had patience to keep on trying. He knew that he had only himself to depend upon, and he determined to make the most of himself, — a resolution which is the secret of success in nine cases out of ten."

Horatio Alger Jr., “Ragged Dick or, Street Life in New York with the Boot Blacks” (1868)

Which of the following groups would have been most likely to reject the perspective expressed in the excerpt?

  • Progressive reformers advocating for worker protections

  • Business tycoons who dominated the Gilded Age economy

  • Immigrants arriving in the U.S. during the late-nineteenth century

  • Politicians promoting laissez-faire economic policies

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31 mark

"They must remember that our hero was very much in earnest in his desire to improve. He knew that, in order to grow up respectable, he must be well advanced, and he was willing to work... He knew that it would take him a long time to reach the goal which he had set before him, and he had patience to keep on trying. He knew that he had only himself to depend upon, and he determined to make the most of himself, — a resolution which is the secret of success in nine cases out of ten."

Horatio Alger Jr., “Ragged Dick or, Street Life in New York with the Boot Blacks” (1868)

The ideas expressed in the excerpt are most similar to which of the following?

  • The reform efforts of the Populist Party in the 1890s

  •  The labor union demands outlined by the Knights of Labor

  • The economic policies of the New Deal during the Great Depression

  • The arguments made by Andrew Carnegie in The Gospel of Wealth

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41 mark

"They must remember that our hero was very much in earnest in his desire to improve. He knew that, in order to grow up respectable, he must be well advanced, and he was willing to work... He knew that it would take him a long time to reach the goal which he had set before him, and he had patience to keep on trying. He knew that he had only himself to depend upon, and he determined to make the most of himself, — a resolution which is the secret of success in nine cases out of ten."

Horatio Alger Jr., “Ragged Dick or, Street Life in New York with the Boot Blacks” (1868)

Which of the following best describes a limitation of the perspective expressed in the excerpt?

  • It assumes that business monopolies were the primary cause of wealth inequality

  • It argues for expanded government intervention in the economy

  • It fails to account for the economic benefits of the Industrial Revolution

  • It ignores structural barriers such as racism, class divisions, and gender discrimination

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