Intellectual History: "The Sum of Our Dreams," Louis Mazur, Part 2

2. The Sum of our Dreams, Louis Mazur, Rutgers University1900-1945Part two: The Sum of Our Dreams: 44 pages; 3886 words; many visualsCHAPTER 6SURVIVAL OF THE FITTESTWalt Whitman, “Leaves of Grass”Whitman never stopped celebrating the America he heard singing, as he put it. He loved democracy, yet never took it for granted “It is a word,” he wrote, “the real gist of which still sleeps.”“Is a respectable government impossible in a democracy? What is to become of us if corruption is allowed to go unchecked?” Madeline Lee, character in “the Education of Henry Adams”Robber Barons: men whose greed knew no bounds and who whatever means necessary to defeat their competition:--the first major scandal concerned money itself, in this case gold. Jay Gould and James Fish, railroad developers and financiers, sought to corner the gold market. Gould and Fisk were two of dozens of capitalists and industrialists who emerged in the decades following the Civil War.--over 6 politicians including Vice Presi