Chapter 20

Gold Standard

a monetary system in which paper money and coins are equal to the value of a certain amount of gold

Prohibition Party

a political party in the United States

Coxey's Army

a protest march by unemployed workers from the United States, led by the populist Jacob Coxey. They marched on Washington D.C. in 1894, the second year of a four-year economic depression that was the worst in United States history to that time

People's/Populist Party

a short-lived political party in the United States established in 1891 during the Populist movement (United States, 19th Century). It was most important in 1892-96, then rapidly faded away. Based among poor, white cotton farmers in the South (especially North Carolina, Alabama, and Texas) and hard-pressed wheat farmers in the plains states (especially Kansas and Nebraska), it represented a radical crusading form of agrarianism and hostility to banks, railroads, and elites generally. It sometimes formed coalitions with labor unions, and in 1896 the Democrats endorsed their presidential nominee, William Jennings Bryan.

MAW

...

U.S. Steel v. E.C. Knight Co.

...

Munn v. Illinois

1876; The Supreme Court upheld the Granger laws. The Munn case allowed states to regulate certain businesses within their borders, including railroads, and is commonly regarded as a milestone in the growth of federal government regulation.

Bland-Allison Act

1878 - Authorized coinage of a limited number of silver dollars and "silver certificate" paper money. First of several government subsidies to silver producers in depression periods. Required government to buy between $2 and $4 million worth of silver. Created a partial dual coinage system referred to as "limping bimetallism." Repealed in 1900.

Miner v. Happersett

ruled that being a citizen does not mean that a person has the right to vote and that states can block out women suffrage

WCTU

(Women's Christian Temperance Union) group organized in 1874 that worked to ban the sale of liquor in the U.S.

Pendleton Civil Service Act

1883 law that created a Civil Service Commission and stated that federal employees could not be required to contribute to campaign funds nor be fired for political reasons

Wabash v. Illinois

1886 - Stated that individual states could control trade in their states, but could not regulate railroads coming through them. Congress had exclusive jurisdiction over interstate commerce.

McKinley Tariff

1890 tariff that raised protective tariff levels by nearly 50%, making them the highest tariffs on imports in the United States history

Pollock v. Farmers' Loan and Trust Co.

1895 Supreme court case which ruled the income tax unconstitutional. Leads to 16th amendment

Cross of Gold Speech

An impassioned address by William Jennings Bryan at the 1896 Deomcratic Convention, in which he attacked the "gold bugs" who insisted that U.S. currency be backed only with gold.

Interstate Commerce Act

Established the ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission) - monitors the business operation of carriers transporting goods and people between states - created to regulate railroad prices

Sherman Antitrust Act

First federal action against monopolies, it was signed into law by Harrison and was extensively used by Theodore Roosevelt for trust-busting. However, it was initially misused against labor unions

Sherman Silver Purchase Act

Required the government to purchase an additional 4.5 million ounces of silver bullion each month for use as currency.

Grange Laws

The Granger laws were a series of laws passed in western states of the United States after the American Civil War to regulate grain elevator and railroad freight rates and rebates and to address long- and short-haul discrimination and other railroad abuses against farmers. When several Granger laws were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, the federal Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 was passed to secure the same reforms.

Greenback Party

The party opposed the shift from paper money back to a specie-based monetary system because it believed that privately owned banks and corporations would then reacquire the power to define the value of products and labor. Conversely, they believed that government control of the monetary system would allow it to keep more currency in circulation, as it had in the war

Marcus Hanna

Used the money he made in the iron business to support William McKinley's presidential campaign. He became a personification of big business in politics.

William J. Bryan

early 1900s. Ran and lost for the Presidency 3 times under Populist and Democratic party. Secretary of State. Supported Prohibition and was lawyer in Scope's Monkey Trail, against evolution in schools. Famous speaker throughout America

patrons of husbandry, the Grange

founded by Oliver H. Kelley; started as a social and educational response to the farmers' isolation, later promoted cooperatives and become indirectly involved in politics; had success in five states with passage of "Granger laws."

James Garfield Assassination

in 1881 by a frustrated and apparently deranged office seeker to gain passage of the Pendleton Act in 1883, a law that placed 10% of federal jobs under civil service.

Currency Act

restricted colonists from printing their own currency and instead using "hard" currency (gold and silver)

Crime of '73

through the coinage act of 1873, the US ended the minting of silver dollars and placed the country on the gold standard. this was attacked by those who supported an inflationary monetary policy, particularly farmers and believed in the unlimited coinage of silver