Chapter 23 - Political Paralysis in the gilded Age, 1869-1896

Question 1

Ulysses S. Grant

Answer 1

18th President, former Union General, was closely responsible for victory over the Confederates in the Civil War.

Question 2

Ohio Idea

Answer 2

The Ohio idea was an idea by poor Midwesterners during the US presidential election of 1868 to redeem federal war bonds in United States dollars, also known as greenbacks, rather than gold.

Question 3

Horatio Seymour

Answer 3

He was the Democratic Party nominee for president of the United States in the presidential election of 1868, but lost the election to Republican and former Union General of the Army Ulysses S. Grant

Question 4

Bloody Shirt

Answer 4

In the American election campaigns in the 19th century, “waving the bloody shirt” was a phrase used to ridicule opposing politicians who made emotional calls to avenge the blood of political martyrs.

Question 5

Jim Fisk

Answer 5

known variously as “Big Jim”, “Diamond Jim”, and “Jubilee Jim” – was an American stockbroker and corporate executive who has been referred to as one of the “robber barons” of the Gilded Age.

Question 6

Jay Gould

Answer 6

was a leading American railroad developer and speculator. He has been referred to as one of the ruthless robber barons of the Gilded Age, whose success at business made him one of the richest men of his era.

Question 7

Black Friday

Answer 7

Sept 24, 1869 the result of the Fisk and Gould scandal, the collapse of the market.

Question 8

Boss Tweed

Answer 8

employed bribery, graft, and fraudulent elections to milk New York of as much as $200 million. He then went to prison.

Question 9

Graft

Answer 9

The corrupt acquisition of funds, through outright theft or embezzling or through questionably legal methods like kickback or insider trading

Question 10

Thomas Nast

Answer 10

He was the scourge of Democratic Representative “Boss” Tweed and the Tammany Hall Democratic party political machine.

Question 11

Samuel J. Tilden

Answer 11

the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Presidency in the disputed election of 1876, winning a popular vote majority, but ultimately being denied victory by the electoral college.

Question 12

Credit Mobilier

Answer 12

Major stockholders in the Union Pacific Railroad formed a company, and gave it contracts to build the railroad.

Question 13

Whiskey Ring

Answer 13

a scandal, exposed in 1875, involving diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, politicians, whiskey distillers, and distributors

Question 14

William Belknap

Answer 14

accused of indirectly selling weapons to France while the United States was ostensibly neutral during the Franco-Prussian War, and accepting illegal payments, known as kickbacks, in exchange for making a tradership appointment.

Question 15

Liberal Republicans

Answer 15

Republicans that wanted to put an end to corruption.

Question 16

Horace Greeley

Answer 16

Liberal Republican presidential nominee in 1872.

Question 17

Panic of 1873

Answer 17

Economic depression that happened in 1873 caused by an overexpansion of enterprises that were unable to pay off loans.

Question 18

Greenbacks

Answer 18

People that wanted to increase the amount of printed money in the united states in order to escape the financial crisis.

Question 19

Hard-money

Answer 19

People who thought that having coins was the best way to escape the recession because they kept their worth.

Question 20

Crime of ‘73

Answer 20

Congress drove production of silver up and the prices down causing western silver miners to coin the phrase.

Question 21

Contraction

Answer 21

A decrease of money being produced during the recession that worsened the economic depression but increased the government’s credit.

Question 22

Soft-money

Answer 22

An unregulated way of giving money to political parties.

Question 23

Bland-Allison Act

Answer 23

Act that was made by congress to put a certain amount of silver into circulation.

Question 24

Gilded Age

Answer 24

Sarcastic name given to the era after the civil war

Question 25

Grand Army of the Republic

Answer 25

a politically potent fraternal organization that was comprised of union veterans.

Question 26

Stalwarts

Answer 26

Groups that swapped civil service jobs for votes

Question 27

Roscoe Conkling

Answer 27

Leader of the stalwarts faction

Question 28

Half-Breeds

Answer 28

Faction that fought with the stalwarts and dabbled in civil service reform.

Question 29

James G. Blaine

Answer 29

Leader of the Half-Breeds faction

Question 30

Rutherford B. Hayes

Answer 30

Dubbed “The Great Unknown,” he was a compromise presidential candidate from Ohio in order to take the swing votes from the electorally powerful state. He was chosen as the winner of the Hayes-Tilden Dispute in 1878 where the Senate counted the Republican votes from Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida.

Question 31

Samuel J. Tilden

Answer 31

The Democratic nominee involved in the Hayes-Tilden Dispute in 1878. He lost the election despite the fervent outcry that arose after his defeat.

Question 32

Compromise of 1877

Answer 32

Accepted the Republican ballot from Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida in return for various concessions that Democrats in Congress wanted, including a bill subsidizing the Texas and Pacific Railroad’s construction of a Southern transcontinental line.

Question 33

Electoral Count Act

Answer 33

Set up a member commission to decide on the validity of conflicting election results from three states.

Question 34

Civil Rights Cases (1883)

Answer 34

A group of five US Supreme Court cases consolidated into one issue. Against the famous dissent of Justice Harlan, a majority held the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was unconstitutional, because Congress lacked authority to regulate private affairs under the Fourteenth Amendment, and that the Thirteenth Amendment “merely abolishes slavery.”

Question 35

Redeemers

Answer 35

Former slave owners who were the bitterest opponents of the Republican program in the South. Staged a major counterrevolution to “redeem” the south by taking back southern state governments. Their foundation rested on the idea of racism and white supremacy.

Question 36

Sharecropping

Answer 36

A tenant farmer gives a part of each harvest as payment for rent on an owner’s field. Many African American farmers were caught in a system of sharecropping.

Question 37

Tenant Farming

Answer 37

Renting out land from landlord to farm on it.

Question 38

Jim Crow Laws

Answer 38

Laws written to separate blacks and whites in public areas/meant African Americans had unequal opportunities in housing, work, education, and government.

Question 39

Plessy v. Ferguson

Answer 39

A Supreme Court case that ruled that segregation in public places facilities were legal as long as the facilities were equal

Question 40

Great Railroad Strike of 1877

Answer 40

A strike that took place by railroad workers in response to the third wage cutback that year. Trains were overturned off of ripped up tracks.

Question 41

Chinese Exclusion Act

Answer 41

Passed in 1882; banned Chinese immigration in US for a total of 40 years because the United States thought of them as a threat. Caused chinese population in America to decrease.

Question 42

James A. Garfield

Answer 42

20th president of the United States. He died six months after his inauguration, two months after being shot.

Question 43

Charles J. Guiteau

Answer 43

The assassin that killed James A. Garfield. He allegedly committed this crime so that Arthur, a stalwart, would become President. Guiteau’s attorneys used a plea of insanity, but failed and Guiteau was hanged for murder. After this event, politics began to get cleaned up with things like the Pendleton Act.

Question 44

Chester A. Arthur

Answer 44

Appointed customs collector for the port of New York - corrupt and implemented a heavy spoils system. He was chosen as Garfield’s running mate. Garfield won but was shot, so Arthur became the 21st president.

Question 45

Pendleton Act of 1883

Answer 45

established that positions within the federal government should be awarded on the basis of merit instead of political affiliation.

Question 46

Chinatowns

Answer 46

small, distinct area or Chinese group enclosed or isolated within a larger Non-Chinese group

Question 47

Chinese Exclusion Act

Answer 47

signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers

Question 48

Mugwumps

Answer 48

political activists that changed from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party and supported Grover Cleveland instead of James G. Blaine because of financial corruption

Question 49

Grover Cleveland

Answer 49

22nd and 24th president, Democrat. He vetoed hundreds of wasteful bills, achieved the Interstate Commerce Commission, and civil service reform.

Question 50

Civil War Pensions

Answer 50

Old-age pensions paid to Civil War veterans that fought. Some reformers tried to make it permanent and universal, but failed. The system was dropped after all Civil War veterans died.

Question 51

McKinley Tariff Act of 1890

Answer 51

raised the average duty on imports to almost fifty percent, an act designed to protect domestic industries from foreign competition.

Question 52

Populists

Answer 52

Started as Farmer’s Alliance, farmers came together and became organized. Wanted to unite farmers of south/west/poor blacks and whites and industrial/factory workers.

Question 53

Depression of 1893

Answer 53

the gold reserve in the Treasury dropped below 100 million and President Cleveland wanted to stop the bleeding by repealing the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. Cleveland turned to J.P. Morgan to help bail out the Treasury

Question 54

William Jennings Bryan

Answer 54

A leading American politician from the 1890s until his death. He was a dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as its candidate for President of the United States (1896, 1900 and 1908).

Question 55

Wilson Gorman Tariff

Answer 55

slightly reduced US tariff rates set by McKinley