392 ChApTEr 17 | ChaLLenGes to the statUs QUo | period seven 1890 –1945document (example of either
continuity or change over time)local contexts:
politics and power,
environment and
technologyBroad contexts:
peopling, identity,
and work, exchange,
and technologyDoc. 17.1, Chicago Streetcar, 1900Doc. 17.2, “Our Superb 1914 Model
Peerless Bicycle,” 1914Doc. 17.3, Model T Fords Coming Off the
Assembly Line, 1900Doc. 17.4, Clarence Darrow versus William
Jennings Bryan, 1925Doc. 17.5, F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great
Gatsby, 1925Doc. 17.6, Zora Neale Hurston, “How It
Feels to Be Colored Me,” 1928steP 3 Formulate your position
After you have completed the second table, you may formulate your position (argumentation)
on the statement “The first thirty years of the twentieth century represented a new era in
American history.” If all your responses indicate a change, then you would accept the state-
ment. If all your responses indicate continuity, then you would refute the statement. And if
some of your responses indicate a change and others indicate continuity, then you would
modify the statement.
Beyond the initial response (to accept, refute, or modify the statement), your argument
also must contextualize. For example, you may choose to see the Model T Ford as a contin-
uation of the assembly-plant approach that Eli Whitney used with the cotton gin nearly fifty
years earlier. From an economic perspective, this represents continuity.
The development of a new national identity, however, was enhanced by transportation
and technology. This changed the meaning of technology. It became more than a means of
mass production as it ushered in an era of mass migration and distribution of wealth. You
may reasonably argue that in terms of work, exchange, and technology, there was a new
national identity that made the Model T a symbol of a new era.TopIC II | Challenges to Civil Liberties 39318_STA_2012_ch17_381-404.indd 392 01/04/15 4:17 PM