AP US History Ch.19

Horatio Alger

(1832-1899) American writer of inspirational adventure books featuring impoverished boys who through hard work and virtue achieve great wealth and respect. Supported the belief that in American one could rise from rags to riches.

Major political issues of Gilded Age.

1. Civil service reform 2. Money question 3. Tariff issue

Causes of Stalemate from 1877-1900

1. Prevailing belief in limited government. Laissez Faire. 2. Campaign tatics for both parties to gain advantage over the other. 3. Party patronage.

Woman's Crusade

1873-74. Was a culmination across the United States of many years of women taking direct action against the saloon and the liquor traffic. The crusade sought to persuade saloon-keepers to destroy their beverages, close their doors, and enter some other line of business.

Separate spheres

19th century notion that men and women had distinct and different traditional roles. It was a gender division of labor with the wife at home as mother and homemaker and the husband as wage earner.

Social Darwinism

19th century of belief that evolutionary ideas theorized by Charles Darwin could be applied to society. Government interference was destructive to the natural social processes.

Rutherford B. Hayes - 19th president

19th president, won due to Compromise of 1877. Ended reconstruction by withdrawing the last federal troops. Attempted to reestablish honest government after corruption of Grant's presidency.

Populists (People's Party)

A party made up of farmers and laborers that wanted direct election of senators. Supported the Granger Movement. Many women were involved in the Populist movement.

Subtreasury System

A scheme deriving from the Texas Exchange, a cooperative in the 1880s, through which cotton farmers received cheap loans and marketed their crops.

What was the source of federal funds?

All funds came from customs duties and excise taxes on liquor and tobacco, which produced more money than the government spent.

What decision in 1873 upset silver miners that they called it "the Crime of '73?"

As the supply of silver tightened, it became more valuable as metal than as money and in 1873 was officially dropped as a medium of exchange. The price of silver suddenly fell.

National American Women Suffrage Association

Association Founded by Susan B. Anthony in 1890, this organization worked to secure women the right to vote. While some suffragists urged militant action, it stressed careful organization and peaceful lobbying. By 1920 it had nearly two million members. Focused on state campaigns.

Soft money

Backed by no specie. Debtors, farmers, and new businesses wanted more money in circulation. So they could borrow money at lower interest rates, pay off their loans with inflated dollars.

Frances Willard

Became leader of the WCTU. She worked to educate people about the evils of alcohol. She urged laws banning the sale of liquor. Also worked to outlaw saloons as step towards strengthening democracy. Did not admire Susan B. Anthony or Lucy Stone, because she did not believe in "the clamor for rights."

Readjusters

Broke away from the Democratic party. Gained power in Virginia over the issue of speculation in Reconstruction debt; they opposed repayment that would have rewarded bondholding speculators while leaving the state destitute.

How did William Jennings Bryan differ from William McKinley on the issue of silver?

Bryan led a fervent assault against the gold standard. Bryan was a passionate advocated for free silver. Nominated by the Democratic party and became a strong advocate against the gold standard. William McKinley supported the gold standard, thought government should not regulate or control businesses, and believed in a limited democracy.

What was Cleveland's greatest public relations failure?

Cleveland turned in 1895 to a syndicate of private bankers led by J.P. Morgan to arrange the gold purchases needed to replenish the treasury's depleted reserves. The administration's secret negotiations with Wall Street enraged Democrats and completed Cleveland's isolation from his party.

How do you explain the role reversal of Cleveland's presidency in his second term?

Cleveland's handling of the Coxey Army and Pullman Strike hurt his reputation and further alienated him from the labor vote. Nor did he lve up to his reputation as a tariff reformer. And his dealing with private bankers alienated him from his Democratic party forever.

Interstate Commerce Act of 1887

Cleveland's term. Federal governments effort to regulate business. Required railroads to be reasonable and just. Established first regulatory agency known as Interstate Commerce Commission. Had power to investigate and prosecute discriminatory practices. Resulted due to Munn v. Illinois and Wabash v. Illinois.

Why did Grover Cleveland win against Benjamin Harrison in 1892?

Cleveland, who had won the popular vote against Harrison in 1888, lost the electoral vote which cost him re-election. He won both the popular and electoral vote in the rematch election. Cleveland defeated Harrison, thus becoming the only person in US history to be elected to a second, non-consecutive presidential term.

Plessy v. Ferguson

Court ruled that segregation was not discriminatory and it did not violated the 14th Amendment, provided that blacks receive equal accomadations. Safeguarded Jim Crow laws.

Wabash v. Illinois

Courts ruled that states could not regulate interstate commerce. Nullified most of the achievements made by Granger Laws.

William Jennings Bryan

Delivered the powerful "Cross of Gold" speech. Captured the Democratic nomination. Favored the unlimited coinage of silver. Lost to McKinley in election of 1896. Populist party goes away after his loss.

Why were the tariffs of 1880s to become a major controversy?

Democrats charged the tariffs as a giveaway to business interests, allowing the Democratic party to siege power and winning the election for Grover Cleveland.

Laissez Faire

Describes a situation in which the transaction between the private parties are free from state intervention. The idea that less the government did, the better. Cause of stalemate.

Campaign Strategy

Elections from 1876-1892 votes evenly matched between Democrats and Republicans. Objective of campaigns was to encourage voter turnout and not alienate voters on issues. Elections brought out nearly 80% of eligible voters due to party patronage. Cause of stalemate.

Era of Sectional Strife

Ended in 1877, with Rutherford B. Hayes safely settled in the White House.

Free Silver

Farmers hoped that an increase in the money supply would raise farm prices and give them some relief.

Grover Cleveland - 22nd president

First Democratic president elected since 1864.

Rise of Populists

Formed to serve the needs of farmers such as education in agricultural sciences and economic/political action. Similar to the previous Granger movement.

Election of 1888

Grover Cleveland ran for his second term against Republican Benjamin Harrison. Benjamin Harrison becomes the 23rd president.

James Garfield - 20th president

He was a halfbreed. His vice president, Chester Arthur, was a stalwart. Assassinated due to party patronage towards Halfbreeds and undermining Stalwarts.

William Graham Sumner

He was an advocate of Social Darwinism claiming that the rich were a result of natural selection and benefits society. He, like many others promoted the belief of Social Darwinism which justified the rich being rich, and poor being poor.

Herbert Spencer

He was the foremost philosopher of Social Darwinism, who spun out an elaborate anaylsis of how human society had advanced through competition and survivial of the fittest.

List some measures whites enacted to prevent African Americans from voting.

In 1890 Mississippi enacted a literacy test that effectively drove the states's blacks out of politics. The literacy test was dressed up as a reform for white Mississippians who were tired of electoral fraud and violence. Lousiana's Grandfather Clause exempted from the test those entitled to vote on January 1, 1867, before the 15th Amendment gave freedmen that right.

Describe the ideology of individualism. Who is Horatio Alger and how is he associated with individualism?

Individualism was the idea that there is little at stake in public affairs and any man could rise as far as his talents carry him. Horatio Alger was an American writer of classic stories promoting the concept of rags to riches.

Jim Crow Laws

Laws designed to enforce segregation of blacks from whites in the Southern states. By 1890s the South became fully segregated.

How did women use the separate sphere doctrine to make strides towards franchise?

Many argued that these reforms would bring positive benefit to the home and family, the precise area which women are tasked to safeguard.

How did the Democrats beat the Populists in the elections of 1892?

Mischief at the polls enabled the Democrats to win.

Party patronage

Neither party had a legislative agenda. Politics became a game of gaining office, holding office, and providing government jobs to party faithful. Cause of stalemate.

In re Jacobs

New York State Court of Appeals shot down law that prohibited cigar production in tenements because such regulation was not within the state's powers. stated that contracts were above the law.

Woman's Christian Temperance Union - WTCU

One of the groups that was most involved in trying to bring about the end of alcohol sails and close down the business that made alcoholic beverages.

Granger Laws

Passed by state legislatures to regulate rates of railroad and unfair rebates to preferred customers. Passed under National Grange Movement. Munn v. Illinois, in reaction railroad companies raised inter state freight rates.

Pendleton Act (1883)

Passed in reaction to the assassination of President Garfield. Established a non-partisan Civil Service Commission authorized to fill federal jobs by examination.

Pendleton Act of 1883

Passed in reaction to the assassination of President Garfield. Established a non-partisan Civil Service Commission authorized to fill federal jobs by examination.

William Jennings Bryan

Passionate advocated for free silver. Nominated by the Democratic party and became a strong advocate against the gold standard.

Green Back Party

Political party for supporters of paper money. Eventually died out but the goal of increasing money in circulation did not.

Limited Government

Prevailing idea of 1800s can be described as passive. "Do-little Government." Coincided with laissez faire and social darwinism. Involved the idea of individualism.

Money question

Questioned whether or not to expand money supply. Initiated a debate on hard money vs. soft money. Money existed as greenbacks, gold, and silver.

Mckinley Tariff of 1890

Raised tariffs to the highest level they had ever been. Big business favored these tariffs because they protected U.S. businesses from foreign competition. Democrats charged the tariffs as a giveaway to business interests, allowing the Democratic party to siege power and winning the election for Grover Cleveland.

What was the most important determinant for party affiliation aside from sectionalism?

Religion and ethnicity were the most important determinant for party affiliation.

Chester A. Arthur - 21st president

Replaced James Garfield. Passes Pendleton Act that set up the Civil Service Commission. Classified certain jobs under civil service in which individuals would be hired on the basis of competitive examination. Prohibited civil servants from making political contributions.

Mugwumps - Republican faction

Republicans who did not play the patronage game. Divided on national politics. Reform to them was to create a disinterested, impartial government run by educated elite.

Republicans vs Democrats

Republicans: -Waived the bloody shirt, reference to Civil War. -Supported by reformers and African Americans. -Majority of support came from middle class and business,northern whites. -Supported high tariffs. Democrats -Won every election in the former states of the confederacy. -In the north they won votes from political machines and immigrant votes. -Supported state rights and limited powers.

Bland-Allison Act of 1878

Resumed silver coinage but limited government's purchasing of it to $2-4 million per month. Compromise for dropping silver as a form of currency.

Panic of 1893

Serious economic depression beginning in 1893. Began due to rail road companies over-extending themselves, causing bank failures.Stock market crashed. Was the worst economic collapse in the history of the country until that point, and, some say, as bad as the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Assasination of President Garfield

Shot and killed by Charles Guiteau. Civil service reformers blamed the poisonous atmosphere of a spoils system that left many disappointed in the scramble for office for the assasination of President Garfield.

Hard money

Supported by bankers, investors, creditors, and established businesses. Favored currency backed by gold stored in government vaults. Argued that a specie standard would resist inflation.

Williams v. Mississippi

Supreme Court validated the disenfranichising devices of the southern stateson the grounds that race was not a specificed criterion.

How do you explain the disenfranchisement of southern African Americans during the 1890s?

The Democrats in the South were a class of corrupt office seekers who dominated the will of the white people through the instrumentality of the stolen negro vote.

What key decision can be seen as the downfall of the Populist party?

The decision to be absorbed into the Democratic silver campaign can be seen as their downfall.

Residual powers

The powers that not mentioned in the Constitution are left for the States to exercise.

Why could de presidents from 1876 to 1900 be seen as weak presidents?

They considered themselves caretakers, not dynamic initiators of new legislation.

List the key features of the Populist ideology. (Omaha Platform)

Threatened to disrupt the two-party system. Called for the nationalization of the railroads and communications; protection of the land, including natural resources, from monoply and foreign ownership; a graduated income tax; and the free and unlimited coinage of silver. Direct popular elections of US senators.

Gerrymandered

To draw a district's boundries to gain an advantage in elections. Ensured that while Blacks got some political offices, political control remained in White hands.

National Grange Movement (1886)

Took political action to defend farmers against middlemen, trusts, and railroads. Sought to create cooperative (business owned and operated by farmers) to save the costs charged by middlemen. Granger Laws, passed by state legislatures to regulate rates of railroad and unfair rebates to preferred customers.

Republican Factions

Two factions emerged within the Republican party. Differed over patronage. Halfbreeds favored civil service reform and merit system. Stalwarts favored political machines and spoils system.

Billion Dollar Congress

Under Harrison's presidency. He increased pensions to Civil War vets. Also enacted McKinley Tariff, raised taxes on products to highest rate. *Sherman Antitrust Act, outlawed combinations in restraint of trade; prevented monoplies. Sherman Silver Purchase Act, increased the coinage of silver.

Coxey's Army (1894)

Unemployed workers marched from Ohio to Washington to draw attention to the plight of workers and to ask for goverment relief. President Cleveland dispersed them forcibly and arrested the leader.

Munn v. Illinois

Upheld State's rights to regulate business Street passage of Granger Laws. Railroads countered Granger Laws and ruling by suggesting that they cross state lines, thus they could only regulate local rates consequently the railroads raised long distance, interstate rates.

How did the end of Reconstruction have an effect on African Americans?

When Reconstruction ended, so did the hopes of African Americans that they would enjoy the equal rights promised by the 14th and 15th Amendments.

Election of 1896

William Jennings Bryan, a populist, is the Democratic nominee. William McKinley is the Republican nominee. McKinley wins.