Chapter 19

Halfbreeds

republican reformers who were accused of backing reform simply to create openings for their own supporters, led by James G. Blaine

Gold Standard Act- 1900

-William McKinley and the republicans passed it after winning the election of 1896 -the battle of the standards ended and it was set, the dollar would be based on gold from now on.

Gilded Age

1870s - 1890s; time period looked good on the outside, despite the corrupt politics & growing gap between the rich & poor

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 Repealed in 1900.

Rutherford B. Hayes

19th President, ended reconstruction by removing federal troops, disputed Tilden/Hayes election resulted in the Compromise of 1877

Chester A. Arthur

21st U.S. President. 1881-1885. Republican, Republican (1881-1885). Ran with Garfield at the urging of Roscoe Conkling, the man for whom he worked. Passed the Pendleton Act and did much for civil service reform.

Grover Cleveland

22nd and 24th president, Democrat, Honest and hardworking, fought corruption, vetoed hundreds of wasteful bills, achieved the Interstate Commerce Commission and civil service reform, violent suppression of strikes

Mugwumps

A group of renegade Republicans who supported 1884 Democratic presidential nominee Grover Cleveland instead of their party's nominee, James G. Blaine.

Roscoe Conkling

A politician from New York who served both as a member of the United States House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. He was the leader of the Stalwart faction of the Republican Party. Was highly against civil service reforms, it was thought that the killing of Garfield was done in Conkling's behest.

William Harvey

Discovered the circulation of blood and the role of the heart in propelling it. Harvey developed an accurate theory of how the heart and ciculatory system operated. He speculated that humans and animals reproduced through the joining of an egg.

James B. Weaver

He was the Populist candidate for president in the election of 1892; received only 8.2% of the vote. He was from the West.

Wilson-Gorman Tariff

In 1894, government slightly reduced the United States tariff rates from the numbers set in the 1890 McKinley tariff and imposed a 2% income tax.

Dingley Tariff

McKinley's administration immediately began working on this tariff, which raised duties to the highest point in American history.

Greenbacks

Name given to paper money issued by the government during the Civil War, so called because the back side was printed with green ink. They were not redeemable for gold, but $300 million were issued anyway. Farmers hit by the depression wanted to inflate the notes to cover losses, but Grant vetoed an inflation bill and greenbacks were added to permanent circulation. In 1879 the federal government finally made greenbacks redeemable for gold.

Veterans' Pensions

One of the acts of the Billion Dollar Congress, it increased the monthly pensions to Civil war Veterans, Widows, and Children

Pendleton Act

Passed in 1883, an Act that created a federal civil service so that hiring and promotion would be based on merit rather than patronage.

William Jennings Bryan

Politician who ran for president 1896, 1900 and 1908 under Democrats, was a pro-silverite and Populist leader

Coins Financial School

Popular panphlet written by William Hope Harvey that portrayed pro-silver arguments triumphing over the traditional views of bankers and economics professors

Stalwarts

Republicans in the 1870s who supported Ulysses Grant and Roscoe Conkling; they accepted machine politics and the spoils system and were challenged by other Republicans called Half-Breeds, who supported civil service reform.

Sherman Silver Purchase Act

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

Free Silver

The Populists wanted to do this in addition to backing money with gold in order to cause inflation which would help the farmers pay off thier debts.

Panic of 1893

Serious economic depression beginning in 1893. Began due to rail road companies over-extending themselves, causing bank failures. 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.

Solid South

Term applied to the one-party (Democrat) system of the South following the Civil War. For 100 years after the Civil War, the South voted Democrat in every presidential election.

Crime of 1873

The Fourth Coinage Act was enacted by the United States Congress in 1873 and embraced the gold standard and de-monetized silver. U.S. set the specie standard in gold and not silver, upsetting miners who referred to it as a crime

William McKinley

The twenty-fifth President of the United States, and the last veteran of the Civil War to be elected. By the 1880s, this Ohio native was a nationally known Republican leader; his signature issue was high tariffs on imports as a formula for prosperity, as typified by his McKinley Tariff of 1890. As the Republican candidate in the 1896 presidential election, he upheld the gold standard, and promoted pluralism among ethnic groups. 25th president responsible for Spanish-American War, Philippine-American War, and the Annexation of Hawaii, imperialism. Is assassinated by an anarchist

Populist Party

U.S. political party formed in 1892 representing mainly farmers, favoring free coinage of silver and government control of railroads and other monopolies

"Cross of Gold"

William Jennings Bryan's famous speech that criticized the monetary policy of the government for being too hard on the farmer; said in the speech that farmers were being crucified on this

James G. Blaine

a U.S. Representative, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, U.S. Senator from Maine, two-time United States Secretary of State, and champion of the Half-Breeds. He was a dominant Republican leader of the post Civil War period, obtaining the 1884 Republican nomination, but lost to Democrat Grover Cleveland, published his "Big Sister" policy which aimed to rally the Latin American nations behind America's leadership and to open Latin American markets to American traders

Bi-metallism

a monetary standard under which the basic unit of currency is defined by stated amounts of two metals (usually gold and silver) with values set at a predetermined ratio

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

Sherman Antitrust Act

an 1890 law that banned the formation of trusts and monopolies in the United States

Grange

an association formed by farmers in the last 1800s to make life better for farmers by sharing information about crops, prices, and supplies. Organization begun by farmers in the late 1800's that began primarily as a social organization but also pushed for regulation of the railroads.

Interstate Commerce Act

prohibited rebates and pools, required railroads to publish rates, forbade discrimination against shippers, and outlawed charging more for short haul than for a long one over the same line

"Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion"

an insult made against NY Irish-Americans by a republican clergyman in the 1884 election. Blaine's failure to repudiate this statement lost him NY and contributed to his defeat by Grover Cleveland. Directed towards the Democrats

Mark Hanna

business mogul, financial power behind McKinley's nomination and his subsequent campaign for president; promised a strong and prosperous industrial nation; a mass media genius

Oliver H. Kelley

considered the "Father" of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry (more commonly known as "The Grange"). a fraternal organization for American farmers that encouraged farm families to band together for their common economic and political good.

Thomas Reid

from Maine, a sharp tongued bully, became Speaker of the House in 1890 and instituted an autocratic rule over the House that took years to break

Billion-Dollar Congress

gave pensions to Civil War veterans, increased government silver purchases, and passed McKinley Tariff Act of 1890

Gold Drain

gold reserve fell to a dangerously low level and Cleveland had to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act; then borrowed 65 million from J.P. Morgan in gold to support the dollar and gold standard. Gold reserve fell to a dangerously low level and Cleveland had to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act; then borrowed 65 million from J.P. Morgan in gold to support the dollar and gold standard

Gold Bug Democrats

part of the Democratic Party that broke away from the principle of unlimited coinage of silver and the rest of the Democratic Party; included Grover Cleveland

Omaha Platform

political agenda adopted by the populist party in 1892 at their Omaha, Nebraska convention. Called for unlimited coinage of silver (bimetallism), government regulation of railroads and industry, graduated income tax, and a number of election reforms.

Benjamin Harrison

the twenty-third President of the United States, serving one term from 1889 to 1893. He had previously served as a senator from Indiana. His administration is best known for a series of legislation including the McKinley Tariff and federal spending that reached one billion dollars. Democrats attacked the "Billion Dollar Congress" and defeated the GOP in the 1890 mid-term elections, as well as defeating Harrison's bid for reelection in 1892. He is to date the only president from Indiana.

James Garfield

was elected to presidency in 1880. He barely won the popular vote but won by a huge margin in the electoral college. He was assassinated so Stalwarts could be in power in the government. This brought about reforms in the spoils systems.