Deck 21: Gilded Age Politics and Agrarian Revolt

Question 1

During the Gilded Age, voter turnout was significantly higher than it is today.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

One of the biggest problems farmers faced was falling commodity prices, caused in part by overproduction.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

One of the most important reasons that voter turnout was so high during the Gilded Age was that:

A) political leaders of the day were capable of solving the most pressing problems facing the electorate
B) voters were better educated in the late nineteenth century
C) the impulse for political reform drove voters to the polls in unheard-of numbers
D) sweeping civil rights legislation was motivating both opponents and supporters to vote
E) due to patronage and corruption by political machines, almost every government job was subject to the results of the latest election results

Answer 3

due to patronage and corruption by political machines, almost every government job was subject to the results of the latest election results

Question 4

In the civil rights cases (1883), the Supreme Court upheld the Civil Rights Act of 1875.

Question 5

The Grange was the leading farm organization through the 1890s.

Question 6

Mugwumps tended to oppose civil service reform.

Question 7

In 1896, the Republican party supported the gold standard.

Question 8

As president, Benjamin Harrison supported generous pensions for veterans.

Question 9

The Farmers' Alliances accepted female and black members.

Question 10

Farmers were generally hurt by the high tariff.

Question 11

Voter turnout during the Gilded Age was commonly:

A) about 50 percent
B) between 70 and 80 percent
C) around 15 percent of eligible voters
D) less than 25 percent
E) between 80 and 90 percent

Question 12

James Garfield was the first southerner to be elected president since the Civil War.

Question 13

Politics in the late nineteenth century were dominated by a series of strong presidents.

Question 14

Through the Gilded Age, the Democrats controlled both houses of Congress.

Question 15

When first created, the ICC was too weak to regulate the railroads effectively.

Question 16

When Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner labeled the post-Civil War era the "Gilded Age," they implied that it was characterized by:

A) widespread greed and corruption
B) the practical elimination of poverty
C) massive appreciation of art and culture
D) a real absence of political division
E) such widespread diffusion of wealth that more people had access to real gold

Question 17

Methods used to reduce the black vote stripped many poor whites of the vote as well.

Question 18

The Farmers' Alliances were strongest in the Midwest and Northeast.

Question 19

W.E.B. Du Bois emerged as the leading black critic of Booker T. Washington's accommodationist philosophy.

Question 20

William "Boss" Tweed controlled:

A) the Populist party
B) Chicago's South Side
C) the Greenback party
D) Kansas City
E) Tammany Hall

Question 21

The Stalwarts:

A) were a faction in the Democratic party
B) generally favored a lenient southern policy
C) were led by Roscoe Conkling
D) were also known as the Half-Breeds
E) had opposed Ulysses S. Grant

Question 22

Why was the tariff passed in 1883 known as the "mongrel tariff"?

A) It was a tariff only applied to dogs.
B) It called for different rates for different commodities.
C) Its rates were randomly set each year.
D) Its chief author was disparagingly referred to as "mongrel."
E) It was named for Senator Charles Mongrel.

Question 23

During the campaign for the presidential election of 1884, many prominent Republican leaders and supporters left the party because:

A) they would not vote for a woman as vice president
B) the Mugwumps had gained power within the party
C) letters were discovered linking candidate James G. Blaine to the railroads
D) the party refused to take a firm stand on the tariff
E) they would not vote for Grant to serve a third term

Question 24

Which of the following would most likely have been a Gilded Age Republican?

A) a southern white
B) a Jewish immigrant
C) a prohibitionist
D) an atheist
E) a Catholic

Question 25

As president, Chester Arthur proved to be:

A) a staunch opponent of civil service reform
B) a tool of the Stalwart faction of the Republican party
C) a loyal friend to organized labor
D) surprisingly competent and independent
E) a tool of southern Democrats

Question 26

Grover Cleveland:

A) saw government's role as strictly limited
B) said that "just as the people support the government, so should the government support the people"
C) refused to fire federal workers on partisan grounds
D) pushed through bills to help drought-stricken farmers
E) supported 100 percent of pensions for veterans

Question 27

The reason that Chester A. Arthur did not win a second term in 1884 is that:

A) he was elected to the presidency with less than half of the popular vote
B) he died in office
C) he pledged to serve only one term after replacing the assassinated James Blaine
D) Republican party leaders were not pleased with his first-term record and did not nominate him to run for a second term
E) he switched parties

Question 28

Mugwumps were centered in:

A) large cities and major universities in the northeast
B) the agricultural colleges of the south
C) the Far West and major universities
D) the Midwest and small colleges
E) the land grant colleges across the country

Question 29

Benjamin Harrison lost the popular vote in the 1888 election. How was he able to win the presidency?

A) Corruption by the political machines.
B) His opponent died before he could take office.
C) He ran in and won the 1892 election.
D) The House of Representatives voted to overturn the election results.
E) He earned a majority of the electoral votes.

Question 30

Who of the following was named the father of an illegitimate child?

A) Chester A. Arthur
B) Grover Cleveland
C) James Garfield
D) John Sherman
E) Benjamin Harrison

Question 31

To fend off Cleveland's efforts to reduce the tariff, ______ gave the Republicans over $3 million in the election of 1888.

A) farmers
B) business owners
C) shipping companies
D) Irish political bosses
E) prohibitionists

Question 32

Why did President Cleveland's support of tariff reform hurt his chances at reelection in 1888?

A) The vast majority of the country was definitively against tariff reform.
B) Cleveland lost the support of farmers, a key Democratic constituency who supported high tariffs.
C) It contradicted his 1884 campaign pledge to keep tariffs very high.
D) It eliminated any difference between him and Benjamin Harrison, his Republican challenger.
E) It inspired business leaders who supported high tariffs to donate millions of dollars to the Republican campaign to defeat Cleveland.

Question 33

The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act:

A) provided for appointment to a number of government jobs on the basis of competitive exams
B) was signed into law by James Garfield
C) was vetoed as "an unconstitutional intrusion of government into the private sphere" by Benjamin Harrison
D) set up the first racial quotas for government service jobs
E) provided for appointments only in the postal service

Question 34

The Mulligan letters tied former Speaker of the House James Blaine to:

A) Gerald Mulligan, the infamous sports bookie
B) the powerful Maine shipbuilding lobby
C) the bribes of rich railroad barons
D) Rutherford Hayes and the Compromise of 1877
E) Tammany Hall

Question 35

Which of the following would most likely have been a Gilded Age Democrat?

A) a New England Protestant
B) an Irish immigrant
C) a nativist
D) an African American
E) a Union veteran

Question 36

With the Murchison letter, a California Republican used a lie to suggest a link between:

A) anarchist miners and the Populist party
B) the Democrats and the Imperial Valley cotton growers
C) Bryan and the Canadian fisheries debate
D) Cleveland and British free traders
E) Harrison and the New York media

Question 37

Why was the Interstate Commerce Commission created?

A) To regulate railroads
B) To expand American exports
C) To encourage increased imports of foreign goods
D) To boost the dairy industry
E) To clean up corruption in politics

Question 38

When a Republican supporter of James Blaine made a reference to the Democratic party as the party of "rum, Romanism, and rebellion," it hurt James Blaine's presidential campaign because:

A) Blaine was the Democratic candidate
B) the Republican Blaine was heavily invested in the rum industry despite supporting calls for prohibition
C) the Democrat Blaine supported the right of states to rebel and secede despite his public denials
D) Democrats spread the word that Blaine was anti-Irish and anti-Catholic despite his public claims to the contrary
E) Republicans were supposed to be the party of "rum, Romanism, and rebellion."

Question 39

All of the following laws were passed during the Harrison administration EXCEPT:

A) Sherman Anti-Trust Act
B) The McKinley Tariff
C) The Sherman Silver Purchase Act
D) The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act
E) The Dependent Pension Act

Question 40

Which of the following best describes Rutherford B. Hayes and civil service reform?

A) Hayes was able to get several civil service reform bills through Congress.
B) Hayes was against civil service reform, but Congress passed several bills over his vetoes.
C) Hayes was against civil service reform, but he signed several bills for political expediency.
D) Hayes did not get civil service legislation through Congress, but he set up his own rules for merit appointments.
E) His actions on civil service reform earned him the nickname "His Fraudulence."

Question 41

One of the main reasons McKinley defeated Bryan in the election of 1896 was that:

A) Bryan could not win the support of rural America
B) Bryan was a terrible orator who bored his audience with his speeches
C) Bryan's "front-porch" campaign alienated many voters
D) the Populists refused to support his candidacy
E) Bryan got little support from factory workers in the cities

Question 42

In the depression of 1893, unemployment hovered around:

A) 20 percent
B) every industry, particularly construction
C) 50 percent
D) as high as 75 percent in New York
E) manufacturing jobs, but not the service sector

Question 43

Passage of the "Granger laws":

A) laid a foundation for stronger legislation to follow
B) proved very effective in the short term
C) split the Grange Alliance
D) helped the urban workers of the Northeast
E) helped the commodities industry in Chicago to take further advantage of farmers

Question 44

In the presidential election of 1892, the Populist candidate:

A) won
B) came in second
C) did best in the Northeast
D) won twenty-two electoral votes
E) was also the candidate for the Democrats

Question 45

Which of the following individuals was NOT one of the leaders in the Farmers' Alliance movement?

A) Mary Elizabeth Lease
B) Thomas Watson
C) Jeremiah Simpson
D) George H. Pendleton
E) Charles W. Macune

Question 46

What distinguished the Farmers' Alliances from the Granger Movement?

A) The Grangers focused solely on social and recreational activities, while the Alliances focused solely on political action.
B) The Grangers supported "free silver" economic policies, while the Alliances supported the gold standard.
C) The Grange was a national organization that tended to attract more prosperous farmers, while the Alliances were grass roots organizations filled with struggling farmers.
D) The Grangers supported low tariffs, while the Alliances supported high tariffs.
E) The Grangers were predominantly a wing of the Democratic party while the Alliances were predominantly a wing of the Republican party.

Question 47

The Independent National party:

A) was more commonly known as the Greenback party
B) won five states in the presidential election of 1888
C) drew most of its support from nativists in New England
D) appealed mainly to immigrant voters in the Northeast
E) felt that the immigration of Catholics had ruined America

Question 48

In the 1896 campaign, William Jennings Bryan:

A) spoke and campaigned all over the country
B) tried to de-emphasize his platform's demand for free silver
C) promised to continue the policies of Grover Cleveland
D) refused to mix politics and religion
E) ran what journalists called a "front-porch campaign"

Question 49

Mary Elizabeth Lease:

A) founded the Patrons of Husbandry (the Grange)
B) was a Kansas Alliance leader
C) was the presidential candidate of the Greenback party in 1892
D) wrote the 1892 Omaha platform for the People's party
E) was the lone female leader in the Stalwart movement

Question 50

The McKinley Tariff of 1890:

A) abolished taxes on sugar coming out of Hawaii
B) was, oddly, championed by McKinley's rival, Grover Cleveland
C) raised duties on manufactured goods
D) was called "the America Stamp Act" by Britain
E) lowered duties on manufactured goods

Question 51

Following the 1893 depression, Coxey's Army:

A) tried to overthrow the government
B) organized a massive protest march down Wall Street
C) demanded government jobs for the unemployed
D) carried Cleveland into the White House
E) was led by a poor, broken farmer from Iowa

Question 52

"You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold!" This statement was made by:

A) William Jennings Bryan
B) William McKinley
C) Grover Cleveland
D) Thomas E. Watson
E) William Henry Harrison

Question 53

Commodity prices during the Gilded Age declined in large part because of:

A) rampant inflation
B) low American tariff rates
C) "free silver" policies.
D) overproduction and international competition in world markets
E) lazy farmers.

Question 54

One of the causes of the 1893 depression was failure of:

A) the stock market
B) the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad
C) the commodity price index
D) housing starts in 1891 and 1892
E) President Cleveland to regulate the railroads

Question 55

In the presidential election of 1896, all of the following may be applied to William Jennings Bryan EXCEPT that he:

A) was the candidate of the Populist party
B) carried most of the states in the West and the South
C) could not win the votes of urban workers in the Northeast
D) advocated the expansion of federal powers
E) won after gaining the support of Theodore Roosevelt

Question 56

Why did the Populists endorse an eight-hour workday and immigration restrictions as part of their 1892 platform?

A) Eight-hour workdays and immigration reform eased the burden on American farmers by shortening the workday and limiting the contributions of cheap foreign labor.
B) They were hoping to win support from urban factory workers to complement their agrarian base.
C) The movement never lost sight of its origins as one based on the support of urban labor.
D) They understood that America would soon be an urban-dominated nation and that they needed to adopt more urban-oriented policies.
E) Populist membership came predominantly from factory workers.

Question 57

The Supreme Court decision Munn v. Illinois was significant to understanding the power of government to regulate industry because:

A) it denied the right of state and local governments to regulate industry essential to the public welfare
B) it upheld the right of state and local governments to regulate industry essential to the public welfare
C) it denied the federal government any power to regulate any industry
D) it upheld the sweeping power of the federal government to regulate any industry in any fashion it saw fit
E) it decided that all government regulatory power over industry rested with city and town governments

Question 58

What was the purpose of the "subtreasury plan"?

A) It promoted deflation by withdrawing silver certificates from circulation.
B) It re-established the gold standard.
C) It allowed farmers to secure low-interest government loans.
D) It reclaimed unused land from the railroads.
E) It said that the National Bank could pull supplemental cash from private banks.

Question 59

The Mississippi plan of disenfranchisement included all the following EXCEPT a:

A) residency requirement
B) provision disqualifying anyone who owned less than $300 in personal property
C) provision disqualifying those who had not paid their poll taxes
D) literacy requirement
E) an "understanding" clause

Question 60

All the following were included in the 1892 Omaha platform of the People's party EXCEPT:

A) progressive income tax
B) unlimited coinage of silver
C) federal control of the railroads
D) implementing the subtreasury plan
E) returning to the gold standard

Question 61

Discuss the relationship between President Grover Cleveland and special-interest groups. Which groups were happy with President Cleveland's policies, and which groups were not?

Question 62

Describe the controversy over civil service reform in the Gilded Age. Which groups favored such reforms? What types of reforms did they achieve?

Question 63

Detail the election of 1884. Who were the major parties? What were the major issues, and what was the outcome?

Question 64

Booker T. Washington:

A) was born of a slave mother and a slave father
B) had a Ph.D. in history from Harvard and wrote several distinguished historical works
C) criticized W.E.B. Du Bois's "Atlanta Compromise" speech
D) edited the Memphis Free Speech newspaper
E) offered an indirect endorsement of segregation

Question 65

Compare and contrast the philosophies of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois. What were the similarities and differences of their approaches to the conditions of blacks?

Question 66

Discuss the systematic disenfranchising of blacks in the latter part of the nineteenth century.

Question 67

What was the basis of W.E.B. Dubois's opposition to Booker T. Washington?

A) Washington believed that blacks faced no problems related to discrimination, while Du Bois believed it was a big problem.
B) Du Bois disagreed with Washington's argument that slavery had been a net benefit for blacks.
C) Du Bois emphasized the acquisition of practical skills for blacks to advance in the U.S., while Washington believed that literacy was key.
D) Du Bois objected to Washington's emphasis on vocational education for blacks and advocated ceaseless political agitation against discrimination and segregation.
E) Washington advocated for civil rights to be extended to all minorities, while Du Bois insisted the focus should be solely on advancing African American rights.

Question 68

Who was the first president of the National Association of Colored Women?

A) Ida B. Wells
B) Mary Elizabeth Lease
C) Mary Church Terrell
D) Oliver Kelley
E) Booker T. Washington

Question 69

Describe the rise of Chester
A. Arthur to the presidency of the United States, and discuss the highlights of his administration.

Question 70

Trace the issues and events surrounding the election of 1888. How was it that the person who won the popular vote still lost the election?

Question 71

What were the main planks of the 1892 Omaha platform of the Populist party? How would these provisions have helped solve the problems the farmers faced?

Question 72

Describe politics in the Gilded Age. What were the main issues? What factors influenced voters to be either Republican or Democrat?

Question 73

What problems did American farmers face in 1890?

Question 74

Why was the Supreme Court's ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson so significant?

A) It banned segregation in the public schools.
B) Segregation was permitted on the basis of establishing "separate but equal" facilities.
C) Only railroads that did not cross state-lines were permitted to segregate.
D) The unanimous decision declared the amendments outlawing slavery had been improperly passed.
E) Interracial marriages were prohibited.

Question 75

The lynching of blacks in the South:

A) prompted the passage of a federal anti-lynching law in 1892
B) decreased just before the turn of the century, possibly because whites could control blacks through Jim Crow laws
C) increased at about the same time that Jim Crow laws spread through the South
D) occurred at the same rate at the turn of the century as similar lynchings in the North
E) caused Booker T. Washington to change his views about accommodation

Question 76

Discuss the status of the American economy as the nineteenth century came to an end. Be sure to include the issues of currency and the tension between the silverites and the goldbugs.

Question 77

Ida B. Wells became famous for:

A) starting a black college in Tuskegee, Alabama
B) becoming the South's leading black scientist and inventor
C) leading a campaign against lynching
D) leading Exodusters to Kansas
E) labeling Washington's speech the "Atlanta Compromise"

Question 78

In the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court:

A) ruled that a federal civil rights act could not extend to individual action
B) decided that segregation on railroad cars was illegal under the Fourteenth Amendment
C) upheld a southern segregation law
D) ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of "equal protection of the laws" applied to private businesses
E) voted unanimously to effectively end Reconstruction

Question 79

Economic prosperity was returning to the country by 1897 because of:

A) the implementation of "free silver" policies
B) the dramatic lowering of tariff rates
C) the decline of the farming sector
D) the inflationary impact of various gold discoveries around the world
E) the China trade

Question 80

"By the end of the Gilded Age, the values of a metropolitan and industrial America had triumphed over those of a rural and agrarian America." What evidence supports this statement?