APUSH Chapter 23

Mugwumps

Republican clean-government advocates who supported Democrat Cleveland in 1884 because of the corruption of Republican nominee Blaine

Half-Breeds

Republican party faction led by Senator James G. Blaine that gave lukewarm support to the civil-service reform

Stalwarts

Republican party faction led by Senator Roscoe Conkling that opposed all attempts at civil-service reform

Liberal Republicans

Short-lived third party of 1872 that attempted to curb Grant administration corruption

civil service

System of choosing federal employees on the basis of merit rather than patronage introduced by the Pendleton Act of 1883

Compromise of 1877

The complex political agreement between Republicans and Democrats that resolved the bitterly disputed election of 1876

the inability of populist leaders to overcome divisions between white and black farmers

led to a failure of the third party revolt in the south and growing racial backlash

Upright Republicans' disgust with Grant administration scandals

led to the formation of the Liberal Republican party in 1872

the Compromise of 1877 that settled the disputed Hayes-Tilden election

led to the withdrawal of troops from the south and the virtual end of federal efforts to protect black rights there

the withdrawal of federal troops from the South in 1877

left African subjected to oppression and segregation

McKinley Tarriff Act of 1890

sky-high Republican tariff that caused widespread anger among farmers in the Midwest and the South

"Rum, Romanticism, Rebellion"

the nasty "RRR" label attached to the Democratic party by a Republican speaker in the election of 1884

Republican attacks on Democrats as the party of "Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion"

tipped New York Irish voters away from Blaine and helped elect Cleveland in 1884

Gilded Age

Mark Twain's sarcastic name for the post-Civil War era, which emphasized its atmosphere of greed and corruption

silver

Precious metal that "soft-money" advocates demanded be coined again to compensate for the "Crime of '73"

Greenback Labor

"Soft-money" third party that polled over a million votes and elected fourteen congressmen in 1878 by advocating inflation

Chinese

Asian immigrant group that experienced discrimination on the West Coast

The economic crash of the mid-1870s

Caused unemployment, railroad strikes, and a demand for "cheap money".

Grand Army of the Republic

Civil War veterans' organization that became a potent political bulwark of the Republican party in the late 19th century

Credit mobilier

Corrupt construction company whose bribes and payoffs to congressmen and others created a major Grant administration scandal

Local cultural, moral, and religious differences

Created fierce partisan competition and high voter turnouts, even though the parties agreed on most national issues

The New York Times and cartoonist Thomas Nast

Forced Boss Tweed out of power and into jail.

"waving the bloody shirt"

The symbol of the Republican political tactic of attacking Democrats with reminders of the Civil War

White workers' resentment of Chinese labor competition

caused anti-Chinese violence and restrictions against Chinese immigration

Favor-seeking business-people and corrupt politicians

caused numerous scandals during President Grant's administration

Public shock and Garfield's assassination by Guiteau

helped ensure passage of the Pendleton Act

the 1890s depression and the drain of gold from the federal treasury

induced Grover Cleveland to negotiate a secret loan from JP Morgan's banking syndicate

People's (Populist) Party

insurgent political party that gained widespread support among farmers in the 1890s

"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