Chapter 23: Political Paralysis in the Gilded Age, 1869-1896
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| 5108163996 | Ulysses S. Grant | Great military leader whose presidency foundered in corruption and political ineptitude | 0 | |
| 5108164000 | Thomas Nast | He was the gifted cartoonist who exposed Burly "Boss" Tweed to the public through his cartoons | 1 | |
| 5108164001 | William Marcy "Boss" Tweed | was the leader of New York's Tammany Hall and the most notorious of all late nineteenth-century corrupt politicians. He extracted millions from graft-ridden city contracts. He was lampooned by cartoonist Thomas Nast, and eventually jailed. | 2 | |
| 5108164006 | Rutherford B. Hayes | Winner of the contested 1876 presidential election who presided over the end of Reconstruction and a sharp economic decline. | 3 | |
| 5108164008 | James A. Garfield | President whose assassination after only a few months in office spurred the passage of a civil service law, the Pendleton Civil Service Reform of 1883. | 4 | |
| 5108164009 | Chester A. Arthur | Arthur, Garfield's vice-president and a former Collector of the New York Customs House, became president when Garfield was assassinated in 1881. Like presidents Hayes and Garfield, Arthur was not a strong presidential leader. | 5 | |
| 5108164012 | Grover Cleveland | First Democratic president since the Civil War; defender of laissez-faire economics and low tariffs | 6 | |
| 5108164013 | Benjamin Harrison | Harrison, a noted waver of the "bloody shirt" accusing Democrats of treason for the Civil War, was elected president in 1888. Like other late nineteenth-century presidents, he usually deferred to Congress for leadership on the issues. | 7 | |
| 5108164015 | William McKinley | New York Republican Senator William McKinley won the presidential election in 1896. He was a noted expert on tariff policy (he was pro-protectionist) and was a solid supporter of the gold standard. He won reelection in 1900, but was assassinated by anarchist Leon Czolgosz in 1901 | 8 | |
| 5108164019 | William Jennings Bryan | Bryan, on the strength of his famous "Cross of Gold" speech, won the Democratic and Populist parties' nominations for president in 1896. He campaigned widely on a "free silver" platform for currency inflation, but was defeated by Republican William McKinley. | 9 | |
| 5108164020 | J. P. Morgan | Enormously wealthy banker whose secret bailout of the federal government in 1895 aroused fierce public anger | 10 | |
| 5108164021 | soft/cheap money | paper money which is not connected to a treasury or gold supply, favored by debtors so their debts could be payed off for lose, when issued caused depreciation | 11 | |
| 5108164022 | hard/sound money | The metallic or specie dollar is known as hard money. It was extremely important during the late 1860's and early 1870's, especially during the Panic of 1873. It was in opposition with "greenbacks" or "folding money." The issuing of the "greenbacks" was overdone and the value depreciated causing inflation and the Panic of 1873. "Hard-money" advocates looked for the complete disappearance of the "folding money." | 12 | |
| 5108164023 | contraction | Policy which decreased the amount of money per capital in circulation between 1870 and 1880 | 13 | |
| 5108164024 | resumption | The Resumption Act of 1875 said that the government would withdraw greenbacks and replace them with gold currency | 14 | |
| 5108164025 | Gilded Age | 1870s - 1890s; time period looked good on the outside, despite the corrupt politics & growing gap between the rich & poor | 15 | |
| 5108164026 | spoils system | rewarding people with government jobs on the basis of their political support | 16 | |
| 5108164027 | crop-lien system | in this system, Storekeepers granted credit until the farm was harvested. To protect the creditor, the storekeeper took a mortgage, or lien, on the tenant's share of the crop. The system was abused and uneducated blacks were taken advantage of. The result, for Blacks, was not unlike slavery. | 17 | |
| 5108164029 | populism | Farm-based movement of the late 1800s that arose mainly in the area from Texas to the Dakotas and grew into a joint effort between farmer and labor groups against big business and machine-based politics. The movement became a third party in the election of 1892. | 18 | |
| 5108164030 | grandfather clause | notorious clause in southern voting laws that exempted from literacy tests and poll taxes anyone whose ancestors had voted in 1860, thereby excluding blacks | 19 | |
| 5108164031 | "Ohio Idea" | Proposal by midwestern Democratic delegates to redeem federal war bonds in greenbacks instead of gold, to keep more money in circulation and interest rates low. | 20 | |
| 5108164032 | the "bloody shirt" | Republican campaign tactic that blamed the Democrats for the Civil War; it was used successfully in campaigns from 1868 to 1876 to keep Democrats out of public office, especially the presidency. | 21 | |
| 5108164033 | Tweed Ring | A group of people in New York City who worked with and for Burly "Boss" Tweed. He was a crooked politician and money maker. The ring supported all of his deeds. The New York Times finally found evidence to jail Tweed. Without Tweed the ring did not last. These people, the "Bosses" of the political machines, were very common in America for that time | 22 | |
| 5108164034 | Crédit Mobilier | Corrupt construction company whose bribes and payoffs to congressmen and other created a major Grant administration scandal | 23 | |
| 5108164035 | Whiskey Ring | scandal during Grant's presidency when his cabinet members siphoned tax money from alcohol tax revenue into their own bank accounts | 24 | |
| 5108164038 | Bland-Allison Act | 1873 law that required the federal government to purchase and coin more silver, increasing the money supply and causing inflation. | 25 | |
| 5108164039 | Greenback labor party | "Soft-money" third party that polled over a million votes and elected fourteen congressmen in 1878 by advocating inflation | 26 | |
| 5108164043 | Compromise of 1877 | The complex political agreement between Republicans and Democrats that resolved the bitterly disputed election of 1876 | 27 | |
| 5108164044 | Pendleton Act | 1883 - The first federal regulatory commission. Office holders would be assessed on a merit basis to be sure they were fit for duty. Brought about by the assassination of Garfield by an immigrant who was angry about being unable to get a government job. The assassination raised questions about how people should be chosen for civil service jobs. | 28 | |
| 5108164046 | "Redeemers" | Largely 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. Redeemer governments waged and agressive assault on African Americans. | 29 | |
| 5108164047 | Plessy v. Ferguson | a 1896 Supreme Court decision which legalized state ordered segregation so long as the facilities for blacks and whites were equal | 30 | |
| 5108164048 | Jim Crow | Term for the racial segregation laws imposed in the 1890s | 31 | |
| 5108164049 | Chinese Exclusion Act | 1882 law that barred Chinese laborers from entering the United States | 32 | |
| 5108164050 | U.S. vs. Wong Kim | Supreme Court ruled in favor of Chinese born Americans, felt that they could not strip them of citizenship because of 14th Amendment set an important legal precedent about the role of jus soli (birth in the United States) as a factor in determining a person's claim to United States citizenship | 33 | |
| 5108164052 | Billion-Dollar Congress | Republican congress of 1890. passed record # of significant laws that helped shape later policies and asserted authority of federal govt., gave pensions to Civil War veterans, increased government silver purchases, and passed McKinley Tariff Act of 1890 | 34 | |
| 5108164053 | People's Party (Populists) | Insurgent political party that gained widespread support among farmers, formed in 1892; composed mostly of southern and western farmers; against government injustices; demanded -inflation through the coinage of silver -graduated income tax -government ownership of railroads, telegraphs, telephones -direct election of US senators -one term presidencies -shorter work days -ability to shape legislation directly -immigration restriction -most support from Kansas, Colorado, Idaho, and Nevada | 35 | |
| 5108164054 | Sherman Silver Purchase Act | Forced the treasury to buy 4.5 million ounces of silver each month. However, the price of silver did not rise and precious gold was being drained away from the treasury while cheap silver piled up. Led to panic of 1893. | 36 | |
| 5108164055 | McKinley Tariff | 1890 tariff that raised protective tariff levels by nearly 50%, making them the highest tariffs on imports in the United States history | 37 |
