Deck 20: Gilded Age Politics, 1877-1900

Question 1

Which of the following was a major faction of the Democratic party?

A) African Americans from all regions of the nation
B) Staunch opponents of the spoils system
C) High-tariff proponents from the business community
D) Working-class men of immigrant stock who supported urban political machines

Answer 1

Working-class men of immigrant stock who supported urban political machines

Question 2

The two political parties in the Gilded Age

A) differed greatly in leadership and organization.
B) worked diligently to heal the sectional divisions left from the Civil War and Reconstruction.
C) catered to the interests of ethnic minorities rather than to the middle-class majority.
D) were both split from within by factional quarrels.

Answer 2

differed greatly in leadership and organization.

Question 3

One of the hottest issues dividing Protestant Republicans from immigrant Democrats was

A) whether God should be openly worshipped in a materialistic society.
B) whether the United States should use its power and prestige to solve long-standing problems between and among European nations.
C) the nature and extent of tax breaks extended to corporations.
D) how people used their leisure time on Sundays.

Answer 3

how people used their leisure time on Sundays.

Question 4

Policies to expand the amount of money in circulation were generally favored by

A) creditors.
B) farmers.
C) industrialists.
D) wage earners in the Northeast.

Question 5

A high protective tariff was usually favored by

A) Democrats.
B) Populists.
C) Republicans.
D) Socialists.

Question 6

Which of the following is true of political campaigns and elections during the Gilded Age?

A) Campaigns tended to be dull and unentertaining.
B) The electorate felt no loyalty to individual politicians.
C) An apathetic public saw political campaigns as a waste of time and money.
D) Interest in elections and voting was remarkably high.

Question 7

Which of the following is true of politics in the Gilded Age?

A) Allegiances to national parties and their candidates were usually evenly divided.
B) The Republican party dominated Congress throughout the period.
C) Popular-vote landslides characterized the presidential elections of the period.
D) The party that controlled the presidency usually controlled Congress.

Question 8

In Munn v. Illinois, the Supreme Court

A) upheld the principle of state regulation of railroad rates.
B) outlawed the practice of railroad regulation.
C) declared state regulation of railroads to be unconstitutional.
D) upheld ownership and management of the railroads by the federal government.

Question 9

In the late nineteenth century, politics, and especially election campaigns,

A) were seldom covered by the nation's newspapers.
B) aroused very little public interest.
C) often served as a form of recreation.
D) seldom dealt with issues that voters deemed important.

Question 10

Which of the following was true of American farmers in the late nineteenth century?

A) They enjoyed a great deal of economic power because they were primarily creditors.
B) They believed that overproduction was the cause of their economic decline.
C) They were not affected by the amount of money in circulation because they had very few fixed costs.
D) They concluded that an inadequate amount of money in circulation made their debts more burdensome.

Question 11

The basic economic motivation of those who supported the coinage of silver was to

A) ease the burden of debtors.
B) increase foreign trade.
C) encourage reduced production of agricultural products.
D) encourage increased production of agricultural products.

Question 12

Railroad lines compensated for unprofitably low rates on competitive routes by

A) using fewer crew members on such routes and cutting back on the services provided.
B) running very few trains on such routes.
C) demanding special payments from the government for such routes.
D) charging unusually high rates on noncompetitive routes.

Question 13

The late nineteenth century has been called the Gilded Age because

A) the government was firmly committed to the gold standard.
B) the era was characterized by an obsession with riches.
C) the average American's standard of living rapidly improved.
D) people from the countryside were lured to the rapidly growing cities.

Question 14

Which of the following is true of the Pendleton Civil Service Act?

A) It covered all federal jobs.
B) It applied to incumbents as well as to new applicants.
C) It permitted future presidents to increase the number of jobs covered by the act.
D) It was signed by President James Garfield.

Question 15

Which of the following was a consequence of the United States tariff and tax system during the Gilded Age?

A) It caused a reduction in the wages of industrial workers.
B) It lowered prices on manufactured goods by increasing worldwide competition among producers.
C) It led to a surplus in the federal treasury.
D) It began to threaten the survival of a large number of American industries.

Question 16

Which of the following was a consequence of the discovery of new silver mines in the West in the late nineteenth century?

A) The price of silver increased to a level equal to the price of gold.
B) The United States Treasury increased its production of silver coins, causing severe inflation.
C) The price of silver on the open market dropped, making it more profitable for silver producers to sell silver to the government at the old sixteen-to-one ratio.
D) Silver producers refused to sell silver to the government, which in turn stopped minting silver coins.

Question 17

Which of the following is true of late-nineteenth-century Supreme Court decisions concerning the Interstate Commerce Commission?

A) The Court upheld the constitutionality of the ICC, and its decisions significantly increased the commission's powers.
B) The Court upheld the constitutionality of the ICC, but its decisions weakened the commission's powers.
C) After chipping away at the powers of the ICC, the Court ultimately declared the commission unconstitutional.
D) After initially handing down decisions that increased the powers of the ICC, the Court completely reversed itself and declared the commission unconstitutional.

Question 18

Congress's decision to provide generous pensions to former Union soldiers and their widows is an example of

A) the benefits associated with revenues from new income-tax measures enacted in the 1880s and 1890s.
B) the government assuming responsibility to provide a safety net for the disadvantaged in society.
C) an interest group using emotions associated with the Civil War for the financial gain of its members.
D) an attempt by the southern Democrats who sponsored the legislation to heal the wounds of the Civil War.

Question 19

The political tactic known as "waving the bloody shirt" was actually the practice of

A) lauding the pioneer heritage.
B) appealing for labor solidarity.
C) exploiting Civil War animosities for political gain.
D) advocating a militant foreign policy.

Question 20

Which of the following is true of the Mugwumps?

A) They believed that the federal government had an obligation to provide food and shelter for the disadvantaged within society.
B) They believed that only righteous and educated men like themselves should govern.
C) They were old-time, realistic, party-machine people.
D) They were socialists in the Gilded Age.

Question 21

In the cliff-hanger presidential election of 1884, the phrase "rum, Romanism, and rebellion" may have been the key to the victory of

A) Chester A. Arthur.
B) James G. Blaine.
C) Grover Cleveland.
D) Benjamin Harrison.

Question 22

Which of the following factors contributed to Harrison's victory in the 1888 presidential election?

A) Cleveland's stand in favor of the free coinage of silver
B) His opposition to the Pendleton Civil Service Act
C) Bribery and multiple voting in Indiana and New York
D) The charge that Cleveland had committed adultery

Question 23

Which of the following is true of the attempts between 1870 and 1910 to legalize women's suffrage on a state-by-state basis?

A) All states had granted women the right to vote in state elections by 1910.
B) None of these attempts were successful.
C) Attempts in the South and West were less successful than those in the Northeast.
D) Although these attempts met with limited success, they laid the groundwork for the future by training a corps of female leaders.

Question 24

Under the crop-lien system, a southern farmer

A) paid his farm workers in crops rather than in cash.
B) borrowed against his future crop to buy needed supplies.
C) harvested his crop with rented machinery.
D) rotated the crops he planted from season to season.

Question 25

Which of the following is true of the Bland-Allison Act and the Sherman Silver Purchase Act?

A) By putting more money into circulation, they laid to rest demands for inflating the currency.
B) They expanded the money supply so much and caused so much inflation that even farmers began to protest.
C) They did not pump enough new money into circulation to satisfy debtors.
D) They ran contrary to the political trend of the day in that both were straightforward, uncompromising pieces of legislation.

Question 26

This late-nineteenth-century presidential candidate outpolled his opponent in popular votes but lost the election.

A) Arthur
B) Cleveland
C) Garfield
D) Harrison

Question 27

In the 1870s, the Supreme Court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment

A) made discrimination against African Americans unconstitutional and illegal.
B) placed no restrictions on state governments.
C) only protected citizens' rights against infringement by state governments, and did not apply to the actions of individuals or private businesses.
D) restricted only the actions of state governments.

Question 28

In the 1870s, the southern states began to enact poll taxes to

A) raise revenue for public schools.
B) provide public funds for state political campaigns.
C) pay off Civil War debts.
D) reduce the political power of African Americans.

Question 29

Senators opposed to passage of the Women's Suffrage Amendment argued that

A) it would disrupt the political balance of power between Democrats and Republicans.
B) it would interfere with women's family responsibilities.
C) women would become a dangerous political force.
D) women had too little education to be allowed to vote.

Question 30

In the 1883 Civil Rights cases, the Supreme Court

A) upheld the constitutionality of the 1875 Civil Rights Act.
B) strengthened the 1875 Civil Rights Act.
C) modified the 1875 Civil Rights Act.
D) struck down the 1875 Civil Rights Act.

Question 31

Which of the following is true of President Chester A. Arthur?

A) He stood against all attempts to lower tariff rates on manufactured goods.
B) He stood adamantly against federal regulation of the railroad industry.
C) He supported civil service reform by signing the Pendleton Civil Service Act.
D) He was successful in strengthening the United States Navy.

Question 32

This presidential candidate tempered his assault on high tariffs when running for reelection.

A) Cleveland
B) Garfield
C) Harrison
D) Hayes

Question 33

Jim Crow laws spread rapidly through the South after

A) southern workers began forming labor unions.
B) northern states passed immigration restriction quotas.
C) the Supreme Court upheld the separate-but-equal doctrine.
D) African Americans began a massive migration into southern cities.

Question 34

The only American president to serve two nonconsecutive terms was

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

Question 35

Which of the following late-nineteenth-century presidents exercised the most vigorous leadership?

A) Blaine
B) Cleveland
C) Garfield
D) Harrison

Question 36

In the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court asserted that

A) states had the authority to impose a poll tax on voters.
B) the Fifteenth Amendment prohibited the establishment of literacy as a prerequisite for voting.
C) states could constitutionally enact legislation by which separate-but-equal facilities were required for whites and blacks.
D) separate schools for blacks were by their very nature unequal and therefore unconstitutional.

Question 37

Which of the following is true of President Rutherford B. Hayes?

A) Although he had been a Union general during the Civil War, as President he emphasized national harmony over sectional rivalry.
B) He worked for the passage of welfare legislation to aid the nation's poor and unemployed.
C) He spoke passionately for the passage of legislation that would prevent southern blacks from being disenfranchised.
D) He called upon Congress to enact legislation that would grant full citizenship to American Indians.

Question 38

Which of the following is true of Ida B. Wells?

A) She caused many to question the government's Indian policies by offering detailed accounts of the poverty, disease, and inhumane living conditions on Indian reservations.
B) As a union organizer in the North, she openly questioned the government's alliance with big business against organized labor.
C) She actively mobilized public support for the government's campaign against the Socialist Party.
D) Both in the United States and Europe, she published articles and gave speeches to gain support for her anti-discrimination, anti-lynching stance.

Question 39

The Supreme Court applied the separate-but-equal doctrine to schools in

A) the Civil Rights cases.
B) Lawton v. Maryland.
C) Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.
D) Cummins v. County Board of Education.

Question 40

Which of the following contributed to Grover Cleveland's narrow victory in the 1884 presidential election?

A) He promised to increase the pensions of Union army veterans.
B) A New York Protestant minister's attempt to slur the Democrats angered the state's Irish Catholics.
C) It was revealed during the campaign that major railroad companies had made massive contributions to the Republican campaign.
D) Republican candidate James G. Blaine was unable to campaign during the last two weeks of the campaign because of a bout of influenza.

Question 41

Which of the following became the leading spokesman for American socialism in the 1890s?

A) William Sylvis
B) Charles Guiteau
C) Henry Clay Frick
D) Eugene V. Debs

Question 42

One of the major causes of the depression of 1893 was

A) too much money in circulation.
B) overexpansion by American railroads and industries.
C) excessive wage increases.
D) lack of automation in American industry.

Question 43

Which of the following is true of Jacob S. Coxey?

A) He called on the government and employers to recognize the legitimacy of labor unions.
B) He called for public works projects financed by low-interest loans from the federal government to local governments.
C) He advocated the government takeover of the railroads.
D) He advocated tough immigration restrictions.

Question 44

Under the subtreasury plan, the Farmers' Alliances proposed that the federal government

A) coin all the silver mined in the West.
B) make loans to farmers against their stored crops.
C) finance purchases of farmland and equipment.
D) regulate the supply and availability of credit.

Question 45

As a result of changes in the southern backcountry in the late nineteenth century,

A) farmers in that area became more dependent on merchants.
B) yeomen and African Americans began to ally against large landowners.
C) poor farmers were allowed to let their animals feed on the open range.
D) yeomen forged a political alliance with large landowners.

Question 46

President Cleveland's action to save the nation's gold reserves in 1895 was widely criticized because it

A) took the nation off the gold standard.
B) substantially increased the tax burden on low-income families.
C) allowed a banking syndicate led by J. P. Morgan to make a large profit.
D) increased the cost of living for the average working-class family.

Question 47

The Populist party called for

A) the free and unlimited coinage of silver.
B) higher tariffs on farm products.
C) a national sales tax.
D) women's suffrage.

Question 48

A farmer operating under the crop-lien system usually

A) reduced soil erosion.
B) increased his production.
C) sank ever deeper into debt.
D) added land to his holdings.

Question 49

Which of the following is true of the depression of the 1890s?

A) It did not affect the banking industry in the United States.
B) It was not felt nationally but was confined to the South and West.
C) Its magnitude resulted in large part from the interdependence of various sectors of the American economy.
D) Most American farmers were able to escape the depression's effects.

Question 50

In response to the depression that began in 1893, President Cleveland sought the repeal of the

A) Interstate Commerce Act.
B) Dependents' Pension Act.
C) Sherman Silver Purchase Act.
D) Mills Tariff.

Question 51

In the last two decades of the nineteenth century, midwestern farmers were confronted with

A) a mounting worldwide surplus of agricultural products.
B) their own inability to increase production.
C) a growing unavailability of farm machinery.
D) a highly inflated currency that worsened their indebtedness.

Question 52

When the Granges first organized in the late 1860s and early 1870s, they

A) extended loans to farmers.
B) established political organizations at the local level for national candidates.
C) established economic cooperatives.
D) helped relieve the loneliness of farm life by sponsoring meetings and educational events.

Question 53

William Jennings Bryan's principal campaign issue in the presidential election of 1896 was his

A) promise to increase existing tariffs.
B) vehement opposition to immigration restriction.
C) support of strict immigration restriction.
D) commitment to the free coinage of silver.

Question 54

Which of the following is true of the $100 million gold reserve that the federal government kept on hand?

A) It gave investors at home and abroad confidence in the nation's economic stability.
B) It was the lowest amount required to meet the government's obligations.
C) It was the result of farmers' demands that they be paid for all purchases by the government in gold.
D) It fluctuated so much in price that by 1893 people had lost faith in it.

Question 55

Which of the following was a consequence of William McKinley's victory in the presidential election of 1896?

A) The long political standoff between the Democrats and the Republicans ended.
B) The government provided special relief programs for farmers.
C) The federal government no longer served the interests of big business.
D) The era of passive presidents and congressional dominance was over.

Question 56

The Populist party resolved its dilemma in the presidential election of 1896 by

A) nominating William Jennings Bryan for president but naming a Populist candidate for vice president.
B) grudgingly accepting the Democratic party's nominees for president and vice president.
C) advising its members to boycott the election.
D) continuing to support a Populist presidential candidate.

Question 57

The Populists ultimately failed to build an urban-rural coalition because they

A) overemphasized the free silver issue.
B) did not support labor union organization.
C) were more conservative than the workers.
D) supported strict immigration restriction.

Question 58

After the Civil War, small backcountry farmers in the South shifted toward

A) subsistence agriculture.
B) crops other than cotton.
C) commercial farming.
D) agricultural diversification.

Question 59

Which of the following is true of the presidential campaign of 1896?

A) William McKinley crisscrossed the nation, constantly speaking about the issues.
B) William Jennings Bryan was so sure of victory that he did little campaigning.
C) William Jennings Bryan lost votes when revelations about his private life caused people to question his moral judgment.
D) William McKinley made speeches on moderation and prosperity in which he offered something to everyone.