Urbanization and Gilded Age

Question 1

“Cross of Gold” speech

Answer 1

a famous speech by William Jennings Bryan in which he asserted the economic importance of ordinary people and made the case for currency based on both silver and gold; suggested that a gold standard hurt farmers and other working-class Americans

Question 2

allegiance

Answer 2

devotion or loyalty to a person, group, or cause

Question 3

Americanization

Answer 3

to cause something or someone to have characteristics of American culture

Question 4

analogy

Answer 4

a comparison of things based on ways they are alike

Question 5

bank run

Answer 5

a panic in which so many depositors withdraw so much money that a bank collapses

Question 6

black codes

Answer 6

southern laws that severely limited the rights of African Americans after the Civil War

Question 7

Boss Tweed

Answer 7

the nickname of William M. Tweed, a corrupt politician who controlled the Tammany Hall political machine in the mid to late 1800s

Question 8

bribery

Answer 8

the practice of influencing someone’s decisions by offering money or favors

Question 9

clear-cutting

Answer 9

the process of cutting down and removing every tree from an area

Question 10

Compromise of 1877

Answer 10

an agreement by Republican presidential candidate Rutherford B. Hayes to end Reconstruction in return for congressional Democrats accepting his inauguration as president after the disputed election of 1876

Question 11

cooperative (co-op)

Answer 11

a group of people who pool their money to buy or sell goods at wholesale rates

Question 12

corruption

Answer 12

use of power for personal gain

Question 13

Coxey’s Army

Answer 13

a public protest group led by Jacob Coxey that marched on Washington, D.C. in 1894 to ask the government to help the unemployed; unofficial name of the Army of the Commonwealth in Christ

Question 14

Crédit Mobilier scandal

Answer 14

a scandal in which the Crédit Mobilier company overcharged for building the Union Pacific Railroad and then used some of the extra money to bribe high-ranking federal officials

Question 15

crop-lien

Answer 15

a system in which store owners extended credit to farmers under the agreement that the farmer would give the store owner a portion of their future harvest

Question 16

Depression of 1893

Answer 16

an economic downturn caused by low bank reserves, overinvestment in railroad stocks, and low gold reserves in the U.S. Treasury

Question 17

disenfranchise

Answer 17

to deprive someone of the right to vote

Question 18

Ellis Island

Answer 18

an island in Upper New York Bay that served as a port of entry for immigrants from 1892–1954`

Question 19

ethnic enclave

Answer 19

an urban area inhabited by members of the same ethnic group

Question 20

Farmers’ Alliance

Answer 20

an alliance formed from regional groups that represented farmers’ interests

Question 21

gild

Answer 21

to coat something in a thin layer of gold

Question 22

Gilded Age

Answer 22

an era of U.S. history from 1870 to 1900 characterized by political corruption and extremes of wealth and poverty

Question 23

grandfather clause

Answer 23

in the post-Reconstruction South, a law that excused a voter from a literacy test if his grandfather had been eligible to vote on January 1, 1867

Question 24

Jacob Riis

Answer 24

an author best known for his book How the Other Half Lives, in which he documented the urban living conditions of the poor in the late 1800s

Question 25

Jane Addams

Answer 25

a female reformer who opened Hull House, a settlement house in the Chicago area, as well as exposed poor working conditions in local sweatshops and fighting for workers' rights

Question 26

Jim Crow laws

Answer 26

laws passed in the South after Reconstruction establishing segregation of whites and blacks

Question 27

kickback

Answer 27

a form of bribery in which a portion of legally spent money is illegally returned to someone as part of a secret agreement

Question 28

literacy test

Answer 28

an examination to see if a person can read and write; used in the past to restrict voting rights

Question 29

lynching

Answer 29

to kill someone who is thought to be guilty of a crime without a proper trial or conviction, especially by hanging

Question 30

mandate

Answer 30

in politics, approval is granted by voters to a candidate they believe will represent their interests

Question 31

monetary policy

Answer 31

the process through which the government can influence the nation's economy through changes in the money supply and the availability of credit

Question 32

Morrill Acts

Answer 32

acts passed in 1862 and 1890 that provided public land for colleges preparing students for careers in business, medicine, law, agriculture, and other trades

Question 33

nativism

Answer 33

a policy of favoring native inhabitants as opposed to immigrants

Question 34

Omaha Platform of 1892

Answer 34

statement of the Populist Party’s grievances and agenda for reform

Question 35

Panic of 1873

Answer 35

an economic downturn caused by low bank reserves and overinvestment in railroad stocks

Question 36

parochial school

Answer 36

a school sponsored by a church

Question 37

Pendleton Civil Service Act

Answer 37

an anti-patronage law that required some federal jobs to be awarded based on a merit-based civil service exam.

Question 38

Plessy v. Ferguson

Answer 38

1896 Supreme Court case that established the legality of racial segregation as long as facilities were kept “separate but equal”

Question 39

political machine

Answer 39

a group that controls local politics by trading favors for influencing votes

Question 40

poll tax

Answer 40

money that a voter has to pay to vote; used to keep poor voters from voting

Question 41

populism

Answer 41

the belief in the rights, wisdom, and virtue of common people

Question 42

Populist Party

Answer 42

a political party of the late 1800s that represented the interests of farmers and other working-class Americans; also called the People’s Party

Question 43

pull factor

Answer 43

a condition that attracts people to move to a new area

Question 44

push factor

Answer 44

a condition that drives people out from their homeland

Question 45

realism

Answer 45

the theory or practice of fidelity in art and literature to nature or to real life and to accurate representation without idealization

Question 46

satire

Answer 46

a work of literature that makes fun of its subject, often mocking vice or folly

Question 47

settlement house

Answer 47

an institution located in a poor neighborhood that provided numerous community services such as medical care, child care, libraries, and classes in English

Question 48

sharecropper

Answer 48

a person, usually from the South, who raises crops for a landowner in exchange for a portion of the crops

Question 49

Sherman Silver Purchase Act

Answer 49

an 1890 law that required the U.S. government to buy silver and issue silver-backed dollars; repealed in 1893

Question 50

social gospel

Answer 50

a philosophy that stated that all Christians should be as concerned about the conditions of life in the secular world as those in the afterlife

Question 51

spoils system

Answer 51

the practice of naming family members, friends, and political supporters to posts regardless of their experience or skills; also called a patronage system

Question 52

subtreasury plan

Answer 52

a plan that called for the government to hold crops to control supply and increase prices for farm goods while also loaning money to farmers for 80 percent of the value of those crops

Question 53

Tammany Hall

Answer 53

a Democratic Party political machine that influenced politics in New York from the 1790s through the 1960s

Question 54

tenement

Answer 54

a building that has been divided into many small apartments

Question 55

the Grange

Answer 55

a group that helped farmers by providing community support and lobbying for farm-friendly laws

Question 56

Thomas Nast

Answer 56

a political cartoonist of the mid to late 1800s who was known for challenging bigotry and corruption; often mocked Boss Tweed and the Tammany Hall political machine

Question 57

urbanization

Answer 57

the process by which cities develop, including increased population, business, and structures

Question 58

Whiskey Ring

Answer 58

a plot by whiskey distillers to avoid federal taxes by bribing government officials and other business owners