Deck 23: Political Paralysis in the Gilded Age

Question 1

During the Gilded Age, the Democrats and Republicans

A) had few significant differences over political or economic policies.
B) were sharply divided over the questions of currency and the tariff.
C) largely agreed on domestic policy but divided over foreign policy.
D) fought fierce political battles over civil-service reform.
E) were divided over silver vs. gold currency.

Answer 1

had few significant differences over political or economic policies.

Question 2

One weapon that caused the downfall and eventual jailing of New York City's infamous Boss Tweed was

A) the cartoons of the political satirist Thomas Nast.
B) federal income tax evasion charges.
C) the RICO racketeering act.
D) New York City's ethics laws.
E) granting immunity to Tweed's cronies in exchange for testimony.

Answer 2

the cartoons of the political satirist Thomas Nast.

Question 3

As a solution to the panic or depression of 1873, debtors suggested

A) federal crop storage programs for farmers.
B) a passage of the Resumption Act of 1875.
C) stronger federal control of banking.
D) restoring the government's credit rating.
E) an inflationary policy based on "greenback" money.

Answer 3

an inflationary policy based on "greenback" money.

Question 4

During the Gilded Age, the lifeblood of both the Democratic and the Republican parties was

A) the Grand Army of the Republic.
B) the Roman Catholic Church.
C) labor unions and working-class activism.
D) big-city political machines.
E) political patronage.

Question 5

President Ulysses S. Grant was reelected in 1872 largely because

A) the Democrats and Liberal Republicans could not decide on a single candidate.
B) he promised reforms in the political system.
C) he pleaded for a clasping of hands across "the bloody chasm" between the North and South.
D) the Democrats and Liberal Republicans nominated the eccentric newspaper editor Horace Greeley as their candidate.
E) federal troops still controlled the South.

Question 6

As a result of the Civil War,

A) the population of the United States declined.
B) political dishonesty grew while honesty in business rose.
C) the North developed a strong sense of moral superiority.
D) the great majority of political and business leaders became corrupt.
E) waste, extravagance, speculation, and graft reduced the moral stature of the Republic.

Question 7

The presidential elections of the 1870s and 1880s

A) turned many voters off from partisan politics and negative campaigning.
B) were dominated by sparkling, charismatic candidates.
C) were mostly landslides for the Republicans.
D) centered on the two parties' ideological differences over issues like currency policy and civil-service reform.
E) aroused huge voter turnouts of nearly 80 percent.

Question 8

The Panic of 1873 and the depression that followed caused

A) the issuance of millions of dollars in greenbacks.
B) massive business bankruptcies and unemployment.
C) an extremely high rate of inflation.
D) a demand for a return to "sound" gold and silver money.
E) state and federal relief programs for the unemployed.

Question 9

In 1870 census takers reported over 39 million people living in the United States; the U.S. was now the third-largest nation in the West, ranking behind

A) England and Germany.
B) Russia and France.
C) Russia and England.
D) France and Germany.
E) France and England.

Question 10

Those who enjoyed a successful political career in the post-Civil War decades were usually

A) reformers.
B) those who could bridge the sectional division of North and South.
C) party loyalists.
D) political independents.
E) wealthy and well educated.

Question 11

One reason for the extremely high voter turnouts and partisan fervor of the Gilded Age was

A) the parties' sharp differences over economic issues.
B) sharp ethnic and cultural differences in the membership of the two parties.
C) religious battles between Catholics and Lutherans.
D) differences over the issue of the civil service.
E) sectional tensions between the Northeast and Midwest.

Question 12

Match each politician below with the Republican political faction with which he was associated.

A) A-2, B-3, C-4, D-1
B) A-3, B-1, C-2, D-4
C) A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4
D) A-2, B-1, C-4, D-3
E) A-4, B-3, C-1, D-2

Question 13

In the late nineteenth century, those political candidates who campaigned by "waving the bloody shirt" were reminding voters

A) of the sacrifices of Union soldiers and the "treason" of southern Democrats.
B) that the Civil War had been caused by the election of a Republican president.
C) of the corrupt radical Reconstruction regimes in the South.
D) that radical Republicans catered to freed slaves during Reconstruction.
E) of Ku Klux Klan violence against blacks.

Question 14

One political backlash of Republican "hard money" policies was

A) the dollar's strong value against foreign currencies.
B) damage to the country's credit rating.
C) the return to the silver "Dollar of Our Daddies" as the foundation of American money.
D) the election of several Democratic presidents.
E) the formation of the Greenback Labor party.

Question 15

The person who coined the phrase "the Gilded Age" was

A) Ulysses S. Grant.
B) Horatio Seymour.
C) Mark Twain.
D) Thomas Nast.
E) William Jennings Bryan.

Question 16

In an attempt to avoid prosecution for their corrupt dealings, the owners of Crédit Mobilier

A) left the country.
B) shredded company documents and altered corporate records.
C) turned in lower-level employees to federal prosecutors.
D) tried to gain immunity by testifying before Congress.
E) distributed shares of its stock to key congressmen.

Question 17

General Ulysses S. Grant's greatest weakness as a political leader was

A) his record of voting for discredited Democratic presidential candidates.
B) his love of cigars and race horses.
C) his attempt to import military values into civilian government.
D) his lack of political experience and judgment.
E) his shaky political support from the American public.

Question 18

In the presidential election of 1868, Ulysses S. Grant

A) transformed his personal popularity into a large majority in the popular vote.
B) owed his victory to the votes of former slaves.
C) won even though he carried only New England and the Midwest.
D) proved to be a compelling campaign orator.
E) repudiated the tactic of "waving the bloody shirt."

Question 19

Which one of the following is least related to the other three?

A) Jim Fisk
B) "Black Friday"
C) Jay Gould
D) "Ohio Idea"
E) Wall Street gold market

Question 20

The Crédit Mobilier scandal involved

A) public utility company bribes.
B) Bureau of Indian Affairs payoffs.
C) railroad construction kickbacks.
D) evasion of excise taxes on distilled liquor.
E) manipulating the Wall Street stock market.

Question 21

The sequence of presidential terms of the "forgettable presidents" of the Gilded Age (including Cleveland's two nonconsecutive terms) was

A) Cleveland, Hayes, Harrison, Cleveland, Arthur, Garfield.
B) Garfield, Hayes, Harrison, Cleveland, Arthur, Cleveland.
C) Cleveland, Garfield, Arthur, Hayes, Harrison, Cleveland.
D) Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, Harrison, Cleveland.
E) Hayes, Garfield, Harrison, Cleveland, Arthur, Cleveland.

Question 22

President James A. Garfield was assassinated

A) by a still-bitter ex-Confederate soldier.
B) by a member of the opposing Half-Breed Republican faction.
C) because he opposed civil-service reform.
D) by a deranged, disappointed office seeker.
E) by a political anarchist.

Question 23

The Pendleton Act required appointees to public office to

A) take a competitive examination.
B) present a written recommendation from a congressman or senator.
C) agree to make financial contributions to their political party.
D) pledge independence from either major political party.
E) have a college degree.

Question 24

In the wake of anti-Chinese violence in California, the United States Congress

A) forced the Chinese into restricted areas.
B) sent federal agents to protect the Chinese from attack.
C) banned the Kearneyites in San Francisco.
D) sent many Chinese back to their homeland.
E) passed a law prohibiting Chinese immigration to America.

Question 25

Which of the following internal developments in China resulted in Chinese immigration to the United States?

A) the disintegration of the Chinese Empire
B) the seizure of farmland by landlords
C) the intrusion of European powers
D) internal political turmoil
E) all of these

Question 26

In the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court ruled that

A) African Americans need not be guaranteed public education.
B) segregation was unconstitutional.
C) "separate but equal" facilities were constitutional.
D) the Fourteenth Amendment did not apply to African Americans.
E) literacy tests for voting were constitutional.

Question 27

With the passage of the Pendleton Act, politicians increasingly sought money from

A) individual donors.
B) civil-service workers.
C) labor unions.
D) foreign contributors.
E) big corporations.

Question 28

Labor unrest in the 1870s and 1880s resulted in

A) federal laws banning unions and strikes.
B) a ban on Irish immigration.
C) the use of federal troops to quell strikes.
D) the spread of working-class political parties.
E) growing middle-class support for labor.

Question 29

The Chinese immigrant tongs were actually

A) criminal organizations.
B) secret societies.
C) Confucian temples.
D) theaters.
E) cooking utensils.

Question 30

The legal codes that established the system of segregation

A) reduced illegal mob violence and lynching.
B) were called Jim Crow laws.
C) were overturned by Plessy v. Ferguson.
D) were introduced by the Populist party.
E) were passed during Reconstruction.

Question 31

At the end of Reconstruction, Southern whites disenfranchised African Americans with

A) literacy requirements.
B) poll taxes.
C) economic intimidation.
D) grandfather clauses.
E) all of these.

Question 32

The major problem in the 1876 presidential election centered on

A) the Supreme Court's decision to throw out tainted ballots from the South.
B) the two sets of election returns submitted by Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana.
C) the post-election discovery that Samuel Tilden had been a Copperhead.
D) President Grant's campaign for a third term.
E) the closeness of the election results in Florida.

Question 33

The primary difference between the "Stalwart" and "Half-Breed" factions of the Republican party was

A) that the Half-Breeds flirted with greenback and silver monetary inflation.
B) environmental and Indian policy in the West.
C) over who would control the "spoils" of political patronage.
D) about whether the corrupt campaign finance system should be reformed.
E) about whether the party should continued to protect African American voting rights in the South.

Question 34

The 1884 election contest between James G. Blaine and Grover Cleveland was noted for

A) a sharp debate over the gold standard.
B) low voter turnout.
C) mudslinging attacks on the two candidates.
D) a landslide victory for the reform-minded Republicans.
E) its virtual tie in the electoral college.

Question 35

Labor unrest during the Hayes administration stemmed largely from

A) agitation by Communist sympathizers.
B) the growth of the Socialist party.
C) transformations in industrial organization.
D) competition among rival unions.
E) long years of depression and deflation.

Question 36

The presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes was marked by

A) a reduction in partisan political conflict.
B) increased overseas expansion.
C) labor strife and ethnic conflict.
D) charges of corruption.
E) improved race relations.

Question 37

One of the main reasons that the Chinese migrated to the United States was to

A) work in gold mining and railroad building.
B) establish laundries, restaurants, and other small businesses.
C) create a basis for American cultural relations with China.
D) homestead in the American West.
E) all of these.

Question 38

The Compromise of 1877 resulted in

A) a Republican commitment to protect black civil rights in the South.
B) the withdrawal of federal troops from the South and the end of Reconstruction.
C) the election of a Democrat to the presidency in exchange for the maintenance of the monetary gold standard.
D) an end to Indian warfare and the creation of the reservation system.
E) a plan to build the first transcontinental railroad and admit new western states to the Union.

Question 39

The second American president to be assassinated was

A) Rutherford Hayes.
B) William McKinley.
C) Chester Arthur.
D) Benjamin Harrison.
E) James Garfield.

Question 40

The railroad of 1877 was created when...

A) President Hayes refused to use troops to keep the trains running.
B) the four largest railroads cut salaries by 10percent.
C) working hours were cut back by the railroad companies.
D) the railroad workers refused to cross the picket lines of cargo loaders.
E) the railroads tried to hire Chinese workers.

Question 41

The four states completely carried by the Populists in the election of 1892 were

A) Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota.
B) Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois.
C) Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Kansas.
D) Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont.
E) Kansas, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada.

Question 42

President Grover Cleveland aroused widespread public anger by his action of

A) vetoing the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act.
B) using federal troops to suppress Populist demonstrations.
C) taking the United States off the gold standard.
D) borrowing $65 million in gold from J.P. Morgan's banking syndicate.
E) wasting the federal surplus on pork-barrel spending.

Question 43

The "Billion-Dollar Congress" quickly disposed of rising government surpluses by

A) providing subsidies to wheat, corn, and cotton farmers.
B) building an expensive new steel navy.
C) expanding pensions for Civil War veterans.
D) cutting tariffs and other taxes.
E) increasing spending on railroads and other transportation projects.

Question 44

On the issue of the tariff, President Grover Cleveland

A) supported high rates.
B) advocated lower rates.
C) outmaneuvered the Republican candidate Benjamin Harrison.
D) was content to follow the lead of Congress.
E) favored tariffs on agricultural but not industrial products.

Question 45

The greatest political beneficiary of the backlash against President Cleveland in the Congressional elections of 1894 were

A) the Republicans.
B) the Populists.
C) the "goldbug" Democrats.
D) the Greenback Labor Party.
E) the Knights of Labor.

Question 46

In late-nineteenth century elections, Democrats could generally count on the support of

A) the South.
B) northern industrial cities.
C) immigrant groups.
D) the Midwest.
E) Catholics and Lutherans.

Question 47

The political developments of the l890s were largely shaped by

A) the widespread economic prosperity of more and more Americans.
B) America's growing involvement in overseas conflicts.
C) the most severe and extended economic depression up to that time.
D) the growing black rebellion against segregation and racial oppression.
E) the deadlock among Republicans, Democrats, and Populists in Congress.

Question 48

Most of the presidents of the 1870s and 1880s

A) opposed high protective tariffs.
B) were from Ohio or New York.
C) were Republicans.
D) won narrow victories.
E) provided strong leadership to Congress.

Question 49

The early Populist campaign to create a coalition of white and black farmers ended in

A) a racist backlash that eliminated black voting in the South.
B) the transformation of Tom Watson into a fervent civil rights leader.
C) an alignment of wealthy "Bourbon" whites with moderate blacks.
D) the breakdown of segregation in areas outside southern cities.
E) the resurgence of Republican political power in the South.

Question 50

The Liberal Republican movement favored

A) an end to military Reconstruction in the South.
B) civil-service reform.
C) cheap money.
D) Ulysses S. Grant for president.
E) a two-term limit on the presidency.

Question 51

Under Benjamin Harrison and other administrations of the late nineteenth century, the center of political initiative and power was generally

A) Congress.
B) the president.
C) the Supreme Court.
D) the federal bureaucracy.
E) the states.

Question 52

As president, Grover Cleveland's numerous vetoes particularly earned him the political enmity of

A) former Confederates and the South.
B) farmers and the Grand Army of the Republic veterans' organization.
C) those who favored lowering the tariff.
D) labor unions and industrial workers.
E) businesspeople and bankers.

Question 53

The major campaign issue of the 1888 presidential election was

A) civil-service reform.
B) civil rights for blacks.
C) the currency question.
D) foreign policy.
E) tariff policy.

Question 54

Which of the following was not among the platform planks adopted by the Populist Party in their convention of 1892?

A) government ownership of the railroads, telephone, and telegraph
B) free and unlimited coinage of silver in the ratio of 16 to 1
C) a one-term limit on the presidency
D) government guarantees of "parity prices" for farmers
E) immigration restrictions

Question 55

In the Gilded Age, "hard money" policies were reflected in

A) the Resumption Act of 1875.
B) the "Crime of '73."
C) Grover's Cleveland's federal loan from J.P. Morgan's banks.
D) the position of the Greenback Labor party.
E) the Sherman Silver Purchase Act.

Question 56

Which one of the following Gilded Age presidents had a different party affiliation from the other four?

A) Ulysses S. Grant
B) Rutherford Hayes
C) Grover Cleveland
D) Benjamin Harrison
E) Chester Arthur

Question 57

Economic unrest and the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act led to the rise of the pro-silver leader

A) Tom Watson.
B) William Jennings Bryan.
C) William McKinley.
D) James B. Weaver
E) Adlai E. Stevenson.

Question 58

In the late nineteenth century, the Republican party was associated with the cultural values of

A) the religious heritage of Puritanism.
B) strong codes of personal morality.
C) toleration of differences.
D) community welfare.
E) non-immigrant Americans.