chapter 16 Flashcards
What 3 factors did Republicans believe helped trigger the civil war
- Andrew Jackson’s destruction of the Second National Bank (the US became vulnerable to market fluctuation).
- Land speculation on the frontier (provoked cycles of boom and bust)
- Failure to fund transcontinental railroad (left country disconnected)
How did Congress use federal power during the Civil War (3)
- Launch transcontinental rail project
- Launch new banking system
- Set a protective tariff on manufactured goods
Describe the protective tariff congress set?
Forced foreign manufactures to pay import fees. US merchants did not pay these fees, giving them an advantage.
What began to set limits on Republican’s political ambitions?
Economic depression of 1873
How can the late nineteenth century be viewed as?
- an era of laissez faire and unrestrained capitalism.
2. product of public-private partnerships in which government played critical role.
Describe US interactions with Britain after the civil war
Britain paid the US 15.5 million in damages for allowing Confederate raiding ships (e.g. CSS Alabama) to be built in its shipyards.
Senator Charles Sumner (US) wanted Canada in return for this.
Why did the US believe they could conquer more land after the civil war? (3)
The coasts were linked by rail and merchants wanted trade with Asia.
The US had a strong presence in Hawaii.
Wanted more refueling ports in Caribbean and Pacific.
Describe US interaction with Japan after the civil war?
Japan did not want to open up to trade after uneasy encounters with the Portuguese in 1600.
The US wanted coal stations in japan.
1854- Matthew Perry succeeded in getting Japanese officials to sign the Treaty of Kanagawa.
US was now allowed to refuel at two ports. By 1858: American and Japan began trade and a U.S consul resided in Tokyo (Edo).
Describe Latin America and it’s impact on the US after the civil war?
During the civil war, France deposed Mexico’s government and installed an emperor.
Mexico overthrew the French and executed the Empire on May 5, 1867.
Mexico regained independence, but it was very simple for the US to assert dominance over them.
How did William Seward wish to assert power in Latin America? (4-5)
Sec. of State- William Seward believed that commerce was the key to prosperity.
He urged senate to purchase naval base and refueling stations in the Pacific and Caribbean.
He made U.S naval vessels to join Britain, France, and Netherlands in reopening trade BY FORCE after Japan tried to close its ports.
Urged annexation of Hawaii
Predicted US claim of Philippines and building of Panama canal.
What two victories did William Seward achieve?
- 1868 congressional approval for the Burlingame Treaty with China.
This granted the rights of U.S missionaries in China and set guidelines for the emigration of Chinese Laborers in the West. - Purchase of Alaska from Russia.
Describe the usefulness of locomotives and their history in the United States
Locomotives arrived in the early 1830s (from Britain)
Railroads = year-round service in all weather
Locomotives = could run in the dark and did not need rest (except when in need of coal and water)
Steam Engines = crossed high mountains and rocky gorges
West of the Mississippi = opened up vast regions for farming, trade, and tourism
Describe the progression of railroads and the government role in them
The US promoted construction by private companies (unlike European countries).
The federal government provided loans, subsidies, and grants of public land.
States and localities gave financial aid and bought railroad bonds.
All of this allowed rail networks to grow quickly without being concentrated in urban regions.
By 1900 = all corners of the country had rail service and railroads were built into the border of New Mexico.
How did railroad companies transform American Capitalism?
They adopted a legal form of organization (the corporation) allowing them to raise capital in large amounts.
What was wrong with the idea of a corporation?
Originally, state legislatures only charted corporations for specific purposes.
Throughout the 19th century, any business could become a corporation by applying for a state charter.
This made private railroad companies large corporations that were “freer” and receiving lavish public aid.
The government accumulated too much wealth, but it was good for the economy.
What were the benefits of the protective tariffs Republicans set?
textiles + steel in NE and MW
sugar, wool, sugar beet farming, and sheep ranching in W
Funded government (the civil war left the Union with a debt of 2.8 billion. this debt was paid off with tarrif, and generated huge budget surpluses).
Why did Democrates dislike tarrifs; why did Republicans like tarrifs?
Democrats = argued that taxing American consumers denied them access to low-cost imported goods and forced them to pay subsidies to US manufacturers.
Republicans = argued that tariffs created jobs, blocked low-wage foreign competition, and safeguard America from industrial poverty.
= also believed that it helped with the abolition of slavery.
What was the result of the protective tariff debate?
While tariffs were important for economic growth and industrial power, they did not prevent industrial poverty.
Corporations would accumulate benefits from tariffs but not pass them onto the workers.
Tariffs also fostered trusts (corporations that dominated the economy with monopoly-like power), resulting in political problems.
What was something the Republicans failed to do while fostering growth?
Give the government regulatory power over the new corporations; while state legislatures had regulatory laws, the interstate companies would challenge them in court..
MUNN V. ILLINOIS (1877)
supreme court affirms that states could regulate businesses (railroads and elevators) but too many regulations would impede business and fragment the national marketplace.
1870s
= due process of law (no state could deprive any person of life liberty or property without due process of law).
Describe racial injustice with land claims and economic development?
Southwest
Mexican farmers and ranchers on NM and AZ land (called peones) after the Mexican War had agreements with land owners.
However, land-hungry Anglos after the civil war forced the MExican shepherds to leave.
How did the government handle the existing land claims?
Congress set up a special court to rule on land titles.
However, between 1891 and 1904, most traditional claims were invalidated (villages called ejidos were lost.
Mexican Americans lost 64% of their contested lands. The land was lost and sold or appropriated through a group of politicians and lawyers called the Sante Fe Ring.
Thousands of Mexican Americans were displaced.
Found work as railroad builders, mine workers, sheep raising
Describe the Gold Standard?
Gold Standard = paper notes from the Bank of England could be backed by gold in bank vaults.
Most countries did not want to create an international system of standard measurements and currency, but they all agreed that gold had a higher worth than other metals.
What was the bimetallic standard?
The use of both gold and silver coins, with respective weights, fixed at a relative value.
However, the US switched to gold because geologists believed that large silver deposits would be discovered. This massive influx of silver would upset the relative values.
SWITCHING TO GOLD WAS CALLED THE ‘CRIME OF 1873’.
= the government ceased minting silver dollars
= greenbacks or paper dollars were replaced with notes from an expanded system of national banks
= in 1879, these notes were exchanged for gold quickly
What one victory did advocates of bimetallism get?
The Bland-Allision Act of 1878
the US Minit had to coin a modest amount of silver.
