Deck 16: Americas Gilded Age, 1870-1890

Question 1

What was the difference between skilled and semiskilled workers during the Gilded Age?

A) Skilled workers were less common, possessed technical skills, and enjoyed better wages depending on the industry.
B) Unskilled workers tended to have much more control over the production process than skilled workers did.
C) Skilled workers tended to live closer to the factories than semiskilled workers did and, thus, had worse conditions.
D) The designation of semiskilled workers referred only to child laborers, whereas skilled workers were any seasoned adults.
E) Skilled workers enjoyed rights, such as the eight-hour workday and paid vacations, that caused social divisions to become less visible throughout the Gilded Age.

Answer 1

Skilled workers were less common, possessed technical skills, and enjoyed better wages depending on the industry.

Question 2

Why is the period between 1870 and 1890 known as the "Gilded Age"?

A) The United States experienced generalized economic growth, but Americans had become disinterested in politics and uninfluenced by party.
B) The gold mining industry flourished and spread from the West across the rest of the country, leading other industries to suffer and lose record numbers of workers.
C) Americans grew far more politically active, as the influence of corporations was still highly limited and separate from politics.
D) All Americans enjoyed an improvement in their living standards, regardless of their race or social class.
E) While there was a generalized idea that America was doing well on the surface, it masked corruption, oppression, and poverty.

Answer 2

While there was a generalized idea that America was doing well on the surface, it masked corruption, oppression, and poverty.

Question 3

What criticism did Henry Demarest Lloyd leverage against Rockefeller's Standard Oil in Wealth against Commonwealth (1892)?

A) Rockefeller's oil corporation was excessively competitive.
B) Standard Oil was overcharging end consumers of their products.
C) Standard Oil was employing more foreigners than Americans.
D) Rockefeller's corporation was violating regulations at the New York Stock Exchange.
E) Standard Oil was undermining fair competition in the marketplace.

Answer 3

Standard Oil was undermining fair competition in the marketplace.

Question 4

What did Social Darwinists believe?

A) They believed that human progress was a natural process and, therefore, the government should not interfere with it.
B) They believed the government should take an active approach to alleviating poverty because it held the most influence.
C) They believed all different social classes needed to help one another to achieve true social equality.
D) They believed all Native Americans born in U.S. territory were equal to whites and should be granted citizenship.
E) They believed all Americans needed to fight for social justice and that the rise of the giant industrial corporation was unnatural.

Question 5

Which of the following statements accurately describes the experiences of many semiskilled industrial workers in American factories during the Gilded Age?

A) Working conditions were dangerous and unstable, and workers often lacked any type of protection.
B) By 1880 all semiskilled workers enjoyed the protection of labor unions and worked in organized and safe environments.
C) Although semiskilled workers were paid low wages, their working environments were modern and clean.
D) In general, the working class lacked the riches of the higher classes but rarely experienced poverty.
E) Workers had better working conditions than their European counterparts and were only allowed to work 50 hours per week.

Question 6

How were skilled workers able to secure new freedoms for themselves in rapidly expanding industries?

A) Their knowledge allowed them to control the production process and the training of apprentices.
B) They had the ability to advance to managerial positions and from there into the executive boardrooms of big industry.
C) They were able to market their skills by training young apprentices in exchange for high fees.
D) Their ownership and control over their shops and tools made their trades unattractive for industrial competition.
E) Skilled workers tended to be more radical and used strikes and violent uprisings to secure better wages.

Question 7

Along with New York, which city during the Gilded Age financed industrialization and westward expansion with its banks and stock exchange?

A) Boston
B) Chicago
C) Los Angeles
D) New Jersey
E) Philadelphia

Question 8

Thomas Edison, the era's greatest inventor,

A) beat Nikola Tesla by inventing the system of alternating current.
B) was elected governor of New York and transformed the organization of the city.
C) developed a system for generating and distributing electric power.
D) produced inventions that failed to impact daily life but were influential in the long run.
E) created and patented the telephone as we know it today.

Question 9

What happened to the gross national product from 1870 to 1920?

A) It was cut in half, from $50 billion to $25 billion.
B) It increased roughly tenfold, to more than $90 billion.
C) It increased to $91.5 million.
D) It decreased to $50 million.
E) In 1920s dollars, the economy almost doubled.

Question 10

One significant economic impact of the second industrial revolution was

A) a more stable economy.
B) frequent and prolonged economic depressions.
C) higher prices for agricultural products and foodstuffs.
D) a more equitable distribution of wealth.
E) the introduction of socialism.

Question 11

For a working-class family to survive, all family members needed to work and contribute to the household. Where did the majority of working-class women work?

A) in factories
B) in domestic service
C) as artisans
D) in sweatshops
E) at banks

Question 12

Who wrote the book Sunshine and Shadow in New York, which contrasted rich and poor?

A) Jacob Riis
B) Thorstein Veblen
C) Frederick Jackson Turner
D) Henry Demarest Lloyd
E) Matthew Smith

Question 13

Economic and population growth translated into the rise of new products like Ivory Soap and Quaker Oats. What did these two items have in common?

A) They represented the integration of the economy due to the expansion of the railroad network.
B) They were only found in big cities and were meant to modernize the habits of the urban population.
C) They were produced at home using shared recipes because national chains did not yet exist.
D) The factories that produced them had to close because the government lowered tariffs.
E) They were produced in factories fully operated by women.

Question 14

What changes did railroads bring to American society during the Gilded Age?

A) The introduction of railroads lowered expectations in regard to when products would be available.
B) Because trains transported large numbers of people west, the population in the United States was rapidly decreasing.
C) The introduction of railroads marked the end of what is sometimes called the "second industrial revolution."
D) The introduction of railroads enabled a national market for goods and led to the creation of time zones.
E) Railroad lines only went west to east and east to west, so the northern economy suffered.

Question 15

Which of the following factors contributed to explosive economic growth during the Gilded Age?

A) lack of capital for investment.
B) a tight labor market.
C) abundant natural resources.
D) high tariffs.
E) bank loans to railroads.

Question 16

The second industrial revolution was marked by

A) a return to handmade goods.
B) a more equalized distribution of wealth.
C) the rapid expansion of industry across the South.
D) increased activity in the mining and railroad industries.
E) a decline in the growth of cities.

Question 17

By 1890, the majority of the American workforce

A) worked for wages.
B) was composed of women and children.
C) worked in rural areas.
D) owned small artisan shops.
E) was unionized.

Question 18

What did the 1880 census show for the first time?

A) The majority of Americans owned land.
B) Two-thirds of Americans owned their houses.
C) A majority of Americans engaged in nonfarming jobs.
D) Immigration to the United States was nonexistent.
E) Out of all the regions in the United States, the South had the largest population.

Question 19

Why did railroad companies and other businesses form "pools" during the American Gilded Age?

A) They wanted to cut each other out from the market.
B) They hoped to escape the chaos of market forces by fixing prices with their competitors.
C) They hoped to gather enough capital in a pool in order to buy out their largest and most dangerous competitor.
D) They wanted to share their assets in order to maintain liquidity in times of financial panic.
E) They were sharing patents for new technologies in the railroad industry.

Question 20

How did the expansion of railroads accelerate the second industrial revolution in America?

A) Time zones let businesses communicate by telegraph for the first time.
B) Railroads created a true national market for U.S. goods.
C) Large banks were now able to locate in western railroad towns.
D) The adoption of a standard railroad gauge made private and federal land grants more available.
E) The expansion of trains increased the efficiency of small businesses.

Question 21

Why did western territories take longer than eastern territories to achieve statehood?

A) Easterners were wary of granting statehood until white, non-Mormon settlers counterbalanced the large Latino and Mormon populations.
B) Local leaders were hostile to federal involvement in territorial affairs and resisted calls for statehood.
C) Long-term warfare with native peoples made the establishment of stable communities difficult for white settlers.
D) The Mormon and Latino populations in these areas did not grow rapidly enough to reach the numbers necessary and sufficient for statehood.
E) Settlers experienced more difficulty than easterners had moving native peoples off the territory.

Question 22

Who was Frederick Jackson Turner?

A) an economist
B) a social reformer
C) a historian
D) a cattle ranching baron
E) a preacher

Question 23

Which of the following descriptions accurately characterized the West during the Gilded Age?

A) land the federal government was highly reluctant to give out to individuals and corporations
B) a region where slavery legally persisted because it was so unsettled
C) an area that saw little federal intervention in interactions with Native Americans
D) a variety of regions such as plains, mountains, and desert
E) a haven that remained untouched by the interests of business

Question 24

Which of the following statements summarizes what moral reform groups stood for during the Gilded Age?

A) First and foremost, they wanted to alleviate the living circumstances of the poor and relied purely on "moral suasion" to do so.
B) They wanted to spread Protestantism in other parts of the world and started a missionary campaign that reached all classes.
C) Their main concern was to eradicate the "sinful" activities such as alcoholism, prostitution, and gambling and to "Christianize the government."
D) Above all else, they believed the pursuit of riches was immoral and focused on the sins of corporations over the individual.
E) They exclusively represented the interests of former slaves and failed to gain any members in the white South.

Question 25

Which of the following statements generally describes the view of middle-class reformers on social conditions during the Gilded Age?

A) They were concerned with the stark economic and social differences between the rich and the poor.
B) They largely disavowed their past calls for equality as a result of the steady economic growth that had vastly improved conditions for the lower classes.
C) They sided with Social Darwinists and promoted the idea that the government should not interfere in social affairs.
D) Although they lamented social problems at meetings, they failed to propose any actual plans for change.
E) They sided with the working poor and formed a new Labor Party that came to seriously rival the two major parties.

Question 26

The impact of the second industrial revolution on the trans-Mississippi West was

A) dramatic in agriculture.
B) insignificant.
C) concentrated in the cities.
D) beneficial to Indians.
E) significant only for native-born whites.

Question 27

What did Native Americans have in common with the Zulu of South Africa and the aboriginal people in Australia?

A) They belonged to some of the most ancient agricultural civilizations in the world.
B) They all looked to central governments for protection and assistance in their struggle against white supremacist settlers.
C) They found themselves pushed aside by a centralizing government trying to control large interior regions.
D) They all saw themselves pulled into the vicious debt cycle that accompanied cotton sharecropping.
E) Both groups saw such little chance at advancing in civil rights that they resorted to emigration.

Question 28

Part of the justification offered for the idea of the "liberty of contract" was that, as long as labor relations were based on contracts freely written by the independent individuals, the government lacked the right to interfere. Which of the following socioeconomic groups most tended to embrace this idea?

A) Social Gospel groups
B) labor unions
C) business and professional classes
D) semiskilled and skilled workers
E) women working as domestic servants

Question 29

Bonanza farms

A) were small, self-sufficient farms.
B) were the sharecropping farms found in the South.
C) typically had thousands of acres of land or more.
D) were free homesteads in California.
E) were settled along the railroad lines of the Union Pacific.

Question 30

"The Significance of the Frontier in American History" lecture concluded what about the West?

A) The movement westward acted as a safety valve that counteracted the threat of social unrest.
B) The native peoples deserved the land more than the whites.
C) Immigrant labor needed to be recruited heavily.
D) The farmland was too arid, so most states and territories needed to focus on manufacturing.
E) The region was too large geographically, so not enough railroad track would ever be built to connect the region.

Question 31

In Lochner v. New York (1905), the Supreme Court voided a state law that established the maximum hours bakers could work in New York. What reasoning did the Court give for this ruling?

A) The Court believed the state of New York did not enjoy jurisdiction to pass labor laws.
B) The Court believed this law interfered with the right of contract and therefore infringed upon individual freedom.
C) The Court believed that this law would discriminate against African-Americans and thus was illegal.
D) The Court believed this law was detrimental to workers' health and that yellow-dog contracts were unconstitutional.
E) The Court believed that baking was not as dangerous as other lines of work and did not require such protections.

Question 32

Which of the following statements describes settlement and development of the American West most accurately?

A) The federal government played little to no role in helping to settle and develop the West because those powers rested solely with the states.
B) Territories in the West were admitted as states after relatively short periods of time, compared with the East.
C) Mormons and Latinos often accounted for a majority of western territories' populations at the time they attained statehood.
D) The West became known as a place that depended heavily on federal assistance and lacked individualism.
E) The federal government actively acquired Indian territories, distributed land to companies, and helped to open large areas to commercial farming.

Question 33

Which of the following did the Knights of Labor try to eliminate?

A) labor unions
B) liberty of contract
C) massive strikes
D) the Sherman Anti-Trust Act
E) Protestantism

Question 34

The Social Gospel

A) was formed exclusively by aristocratic women who sought leadership roles within the church.
B) was a movement largely financed by the government to try to win political donations.
C) was an effort first led by the Catholic Church to gain power in the western United States.
D) focused primarily on supporting "liberty of contract" and tried to convince others to accept it.
E) was an effort to expand the appeal of the Protestant Church into poor neighborhoods.

Question 35

What was one result of the increased emphasis on farming on the Middle Border?

A) Cotton became the dominant cash crop, and slavery persisted as the main form of labor.
B) The population significantly increased over four decades and included a diverse group of farmers.
C) Settlers received a large amount of help from Native Americans, who had farmed the region first.
D) Women's household chores became easier because growing crops was seen as strictly a male task.
E) Farmers from other countries were prohibited from moving to the area as part of the Homestead Act.

Question 36

In How the Other Half Lives, Jacob Riis

A) highlighted the benefits of the second industrial revolution.
B) discussed the lives of wealthy Americans.
C) focused on the wretched conditions of New York slums.
D) provided a fictional account of life in 1890.
E) wrote about captains of industry.

Question 37

The year 1886 marked the high point of the popularity of the Knights of Labor; however, it soon began to wane. Why did the Knights of Labor lose force after that year?

A) New, similar political parties emerged and started to compete for constituents.
B) Its leader was Henry George, and he was involved in a case of corruption.
C) The Whig Party experienced a major resurgence.
D) The press and employers started to associate it with violence and radicalism.
E) It began to promote public and private police forces against strikes.

Question 38

How did many Protestants, also known as "Christian lobbyists," try to eradicate sin during the Gilded Age?

A) They focused on the new concept of stamping out "sinful" behavior using moral persuasion.
B) They formed national organizations and used politics to outlaw "sinful" behavior.
C) They promoted and celebrated the growth of cities, lamenting the "immorality" of rural areas in comparison.
D) They focused on better working conditions as the only way to tackle "sinful" activities head-on.
E) They spread information about Darwinism and relied on scientific advances to make their points

Question 39

Which of the following statements accurately describes farming in the Great Plains?

A) Women were required to stay off the farm and instead do housework.
B) Farming was relatively easy, as the climate remained steady throughout the year.
C) Husbands and sons tended to cash crops, while women tended to animals and grew crops for food.
D) Farm families enjoyed an active social life with the many families on nearby farms.
E) Farmers were a homogenous group mainly comprising easterners.

Question 40

By the 1880s, what role did the courts, including the Supreme Court, take in the debate over liberty of contract?

A) The courts generally sided with business enterprises and ruled against labor regulations.
B) The courts tended to side with the workers because Americans' safety was their priority.
C) The courts tended to focus purely on equality before the law for former slaves.
D) The courts tended to rule in favor of workers because they were intimidated by labor unions.
E) The courts ruled on a case-by-case basis, making a clear trend one way or the other nonexistent.

Question 41

The Indian victory at the Little Bighorn

A) was typical at the time.
B) only temporarily delayed the advance of white settlement.
C) brought an end to the hostilities.
D) came after an unprovoked attack by Indians.
E) resulted in no U.S. Army casualties.

Question 42

The Interstate Commerce Commission was established in 1887 to

A) distribute land allocations to railroad companies.
B) standardize the transportation of animal feed between states.
C) oversee state taxes.
D) regulate railroad gauge size.
E) ensure that railroads charged farmers and merchants reasonable and fair rates.

Question 43

By 1880, Chinese immigrants to the West

A) concentrated in California, where they made up over half of the farmworkers.
B) were seasonal workers moving back and forth between the two coasts.
C) worked exclusively in the western gold fields.
D) tended to purposefully cut all ties with their families in China.
E) faced little discrimination because the area had had a large Chinese presence for almost a century.

Question 44

Crédit Mobilier and the Whiskey Ring

A) were international corporations.
B) were the largest labor unions in the country.
C) introduced the gold standard.
D) focused on providing relief for the poor.
E) illustrated corruption under President Grant.

Question 45

Why was the Hollywood version of the western "cowboy" based more on fantasy than reality?

A) Railroad expansion before the Civil War had eliminated the need for "cattle drives" from Texas.
B) Most cowboys were low-paid workers, some of whom even went on strike for higher wages.
C) By the time of the Civil War, most open-range longhorns had been killed by disease and harsh winters.
D) Clothing such as wide-brimmed hats and boots were twentieth-century inventions of writers and movie producers.
E) Many worked as cowboys for a short time before moving on to other employment.

Question 46

Why did President James Buchanan replace Utah's territorial governor Brigham Young with a non-Mormon appointee in 1857?

A) Brigham Young had advocated for slavery in the trans-Mississippi West.
B) Mormons had slaughtered more than 100 settlers in the Mountain Meadows massacre.
C) Brigham Young was a known polygamist.
D) It became known that the work of federal judges in Utah was being obstructed.
E) Under Young, Utah had granted Native Americans equal citizenship.

Question 47

Which of the following describes the interactions between white settlers and Indian tribes in the West most accurately?

A) Before 1850, migrants on the Oregon and California Trails often encountered hostility from Indians.
B) President Grant issued a "peace policy" that curbed Indian warfare.
C) Settlers aimed to boost Indian economies because this would improve trade for everyone.
D) When settlers encroached on Indian lands, Indians rarely retaliated violently.
E) Army campaigns sought to destroy Indian economies by killing many buffalo.

Question 48

Which of the following most accurately describes the relationship between the government and the economy in the Gilded Age?

A) State and local governments diminished in scope and purpose, as the federal government extended its control over business and banking regulation.
B) The rise of the Republican Party in national politics signaled new growth in the national government and a new commitment to breaking up monopolies.
C) Politicians of both major parties favored business and banks and supported a reduction in the money supply and a return to the gold standard.
D) Western state governments lobbied to block new tariffs that would raise the price of manufactured goods and bankrupt farmers.
E) State and local government increased in scale while the federal government decreased.

Question 49

Which of the following statements is accurate about the West?

A) Cowboys led a far more romantic life than that depicted in Hollywood movies.
B) By 1900, Native Americans still outnumbered white settlers.
C) By 1890, the West had a higher percentage of people living in cities than other regions.
D) Immigrants avoided the West because of limited opportunity.
E) Most Chinese settled in the interior of the West as opposed to the coastal states.

Question 50

In Southern California, what became a dominant crop in the late nineteenth century?

A) corn
B) squash
C) cotton
D) oranges
E) potatoes

Question 51

As the West grew increasingly integrated with the national economy, the lives of Plains Indians permanently changed. How did the government respond to the conflict that arose from Indians who resisted these changes?

A) The government signed a treaty promising to respect what remained of the Indian tribes and their culture.
B) The government sent troops to destroy the Indian economy such as by attacking their horses and buffalo.
C) The government left all Indian tribes alone since it wanted to maintain good trade relations.
D) The government kindly invited tribes to move to unsettled land in Canada.
E) The government initiated an official campaign to move all Indian tribes to Mexico.

Question 52

Which of the following describes the impact of corporations on the American West?

A) Chinese immigration to the western United States slowed due to the decline of agricultural industries.
B) Lumber companies protected coastal forests and began the first conservation movement.
C) Urban populations in California declined as people moved to the centers of agricultural production.
D) Communal landholdings in New Mexico were taken over by commercial farmers and ranchers.
E) Average farmers were at the heart of corporate investments.

Question 53

The Grange was an organization that

A) focused its efforts on child labor laws.
B) sought to raise railroad rates.
C) opposed government regulation of shipping charges.
D) pushed for railroads to acquire more land in the West.
E) established cooperatives for storing and marketing farm output.

Question 54

What happened in both the 1876 and 1888 presidential elections?

A) Democratic candidates won close elections.
B) Republicans won the presidency after landslide victories.
C) Third-party candidates placed second.
D) The losers of the popular vote won the electoral college.
E) Former Confederate generals won the presidency.

Question 55

In order to enter the Union as a state, Utah banned what in its constitution?

A) slavery
B) immigration
C) polygamy
D) prostitution
E) public schools

Question 56

Which of the following properly assesses the significance of the passage of the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890?

A) The passage of the law was a Republican triumph in an era of Democratic dominance.
B) The law triggered an avalanche of frivolous lawsuits that would tarnish the reputation of anti-monopolists for years.
C) The law was so finely grained and complicated that few prosecutors in the country dared to apply it.
D) The law established a precedent that the national government could regulate the economy in the interest of the public good.
E) The law had the unintended consequence of empowering unions and socialist organizations.

Question 57

Why was William Tweed so popular with New York's immigrant poor?

A) He was willing to speak truth to power and challenged labor unions.
B) He fought hard for more liberal immigration laws.
C) He had provided food, fuel, and patronage to them in exchange for their votes.
D) He uncovered much of the corruption in the city and introduced crucial political reforms.
E) He himself was a recent immigrant with roots in German proto-socialist movements.

Question 58

Which of the following statements about nineteenth-century Chinese immigrants to the United States is accurate?

A) Unlike Europeans, Chinese immigrants tended not to keep in touch with relatives in China due to greater levels of assimilation.
B) After the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, most Chinese immigrants were unable to find additional work and returned to China.
C) Chinese immigrants rarely worked in western mines after the Civil War, thanks to Anglo resentment and the lack of demand for cheap labor.
D) By 1880, the majority of Chinese immigrants lived in California, where many worked on farms, but they also lived elsewhere and performed other jobs.
E) Most Chinese women migrated east via the transcontinental railroad to work as domestics and helped transform the region.

Question 59

How did the displacement of native peoples in Australia differ from the experience of Indians in the American West?

A) Aboriginals were gathered together into centralized areas set aside by the government.
B) White diseases decimated Aboriginals.
C) Government policy orchestrated the removal of Aboriginal children from their homes for official adoption by whites.
D) Aboriginals were subject to cultural reconstruction.
E) Aboriginals were well compensated for their land.

Question 60

How did expanding agricultural production in places like Argentina and the American West lead to the migration of rural populations to cities?

A) Increasing output in the countryside created a new prosperity that allowed rural populations to travel.
B) As the growing agricultural output attracted ever-larger numbers of immigrants to the countryside, the older generations of rural settlers left for the cities.
C) Increasing output worldwide pushed down the prices of farm products, making it more difficult for farmers to make ends meet.
D) New production methods that were at the heart of growing farm productivity alienated many rural folks familiar with traditional farming practices.
E) Peasants made such tidy profits in agriculture that they could afford to move to cities.

Question 61

The Knights of Labor

A) was an inclusive group that called for an array of reforms including the eight-hour workday.
B) organized only skilled, white, native-born workers.
C) exclusively admitted men and supported the idea that women should not be allowed to work.
D) never had more than a few hundred members due to a downturn in labor organizing in the 1880s.
E) cooperated with big business because they sought to be as prosperous as business owners.

Question 62

The Greenback-Labor Party enjoyed significant but short-lived success during elections. Which of the following statements accurately describes this party's platform?

A) It promoted the creation and development of banks and private financial institutions.
B) Its members lobbied for big commercial enterprises.
C) Its members believed the federal government should keep taking money out of circulation.
D) It proposed that the federal government should control the money supply.
E) Its members, first and foremost, wanted to create an international party for workers.

Question 63

Which of the following properly assesses the significance of the Great Railroad Strike of 1877?

A) The strike signaled the power of labor unions and the beginning of the socialist challenge to American democracy.
B) The event highlighted the need for Republicans to address southern economic inequality, not only racial discrimination.
C) The railroad strike signaled the nation's shift from southern reconstruction to the question of labor and class tensions.
D) The strike underlined the rising expectations among industrial workers in times of economic growth and prosperity.
E) The strike marked the beginning of the end of the railroad industry and prompted the development of the automobile.

Question 64

What was the aim of Carlisle, a boarding school for Indians?

A) to prepare them for reservation life
B) to train them in the professional skills necessary to return to the reservations as doctors and teachers
C) to convert them to Christianity so that they would become missionaries on the reservations
D) to civilize the Indians, making them "American," as whites defined the term
E) to prepare them to enlist in the U.S. military

Question 65

Which of the following leaders conducted an unsuccessful effort to escape to Canada and, years later, stood in front of an audience asking for freedom and equal rights for his people?

A) Henry L. Dawes
B) John Elk
C) Chief Joseph
D) Saum Song Bo
E) Jacob Riis

Question 66

What was the purpose and approach of the Dawes Act?

A) to imprison Native leaders by arguing that they had destroyed western soil and, thus, agriculture
B) to attack "tribalism" by dividing the land of nearly all tribes and distributing it to Indian families
C) to remove all Indians from the West and confiscate their property
D) to control and supervise tribal life by legally regulating their customs and habits
E) to redistribute the land of the different tribes by respecting their customs and habits

Question 67

Which of the following statements accurately describes the response of many everyday Americans to the new social order of the Gilded Age?

A) From the academic world to the public sphere, public discussion gave new attention to class differences and debates over the implications of economic change.
B) Discussion of class became almost nonexistent because Americans were so wary of sparking conflict that might result in another civil war.
C) Because the United States was moving away from an industrial economy, farmers became increasingly powerful in political circles.
D) Employers and employees grew far more trusting of each other due to economic downturns that helped close the economic gap between them.
E) Americans were predominantly complacent with poverty because their working conditions were so much better than those of their European counterparts.

Question 68

In the late nineteenth century, social thinkers such as Edward Bellamy, Henry George, and Laurence Gronlund offered numerous plans for change, primarily because they were alarmed by a fear of

A) class warfare and the growing power of concentrated capital.
B) increasing power of the executive branch of government and lack of checks and balances.
C) the rapid migration of African-Americans from the South to the industrial North, and their increased voting power.
D) the increased numbers of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe who brought dangerous socialist ideas to the masses.
E) the momentum gained by women in their efforts to win suffrage and other rights in the public realm.

Question 69

In 1884, the Supreme Court ruled against John Elk when he tried to claim American citizenship. What reason did the Supreme Court give for rejecting his petition?

A) He was not paying taxes and had not done anything to assimilate into American society.
B) He was not born within the boundaries of the United States, and thus was not subject to its "jurisdiction."
C) Whether he had achieved the degree of "civilization" required of American citizens was in question.
D) He did not follow the appropriate procedures and refused to give up his tribal affiliation.
E) Western courts had never denied Native Americans the rights afforded by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments.

Question 70

Which of the following ideas accurately summarizes Saum Song Bo's response toward the construction of the Statue of Liberty in American Missionary (October 1885)?

A) The Statue of Liberty is misleading as a symbol of freedom due to the discrimination that the Americans and the French have shown the Chinese.
B) The Statue of Liberty represents the endless opportunities afforded to immigrants to the United States from all over the world.
C) The Statue of Liberty revolutionized construction techniques and should be celebrated for the way it impacted urban centers across the United States.
D) The United States government spent far too much money on the Statue of Liberty and instead should have invested in public education.
E) The construction of the Statue of Liberty underscored the equality with men that most women enjoyed in the United States after the Civil War.

Question 71

By 1880, the government used military troops regularly to do which of the following?

A) to protect African-American voters
B) to put down strikes
C) to protect laborers on strike
D) to stop Mexican immigrants from crossing the U.S. border
E) to guard the Canadian border

Question 72

Which of the following statements accurately assesses the significance of wage labor in America during the Gilded Age?

A) More and more Americans viewed wage labor as a temporary stop on the path to economic independence.
B) The prevalence of servants in Gilded Age industries largely made traditional wage labor a thing of the past.
C) Freedom and equality became more closely connected than ever before in American history.
D) More and more Americans experienced wage labor as a permanent condition on the edge of poverty.
E) The introduction of freelancing and independent contract work made wage labor increasingly irrelevant.

Question 73

What was the Ghost Dance movement?

A) It was a military technique federal troops developed and used against the Native Americans following the massacre at Wounded Knee.
B) It was a traditional religious revival that brought solace to the Native Americans who participated in it but made the government fear the possibility of an uprising.
C) It was a cultural phenomenon among European immigrants who traveled to the West and resulted in an anti-immigrant backlash among white Americans in these areas.
D) It was an intercultural dance that served as an open invitation for whites to join Native American communities across much of the United States.
E) It was a Native American cultural movement embraced by the government due to the belief that it would distract Native Americans from conflicts with western settlers.

Question 74

Which of the following statements about the theory of Social Darwinism is correct?

A) The theory was first proposed in On the Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin.
B) The theory argued that evolution in human society should be under the control of the government.
C) The theory argued that the giant industrial corporation was inept and would soon fall apart.
D) The theory argued that freedom required frank acceptance of inequality.
E) The theory argued that legislation was the only way to combat poverty.

Question 75

What prevented many Native Americans from becoming U.S. citizens in the nineteenth century?

A) Congress had agreed to keep the long-standing treaty system with Native Americans.
B) The Fourteenth Amendment specifically said they could not be citizens.
C) The Dawes Act did not allow for citizenship.
D) Most Indians were unwilling to cede their tribal setting and assimilate into American society.
E) Service in the Confederacy during the Civil War resulted in blocking citizenship after the war.

Question 76

What was one result of the massacre at Wounded Knee?

A) An official government inquiry led to the lifelong imprisonment of many soldiers.
B) The government eventually awarded the soldiers the Medal of Honor.
C) Custer and all of his soldiers died, fueling anti-Native American sentiment.
D) Various Indian tribes rallied and mounted a military counteroffensive.
E) The press unanimously condemned the actions of the soldiers there.

Question 77

The nineteenth-century labor movement argued that

A) concentrated capital was not the enemy but that corrupt politicians were.
B) extremes of wealth and poverty threatened democracy.
C) strikes and walkouts were exclusively a male preserve.
D) meaningful freedom could only exist in conditions of economic inequality.
E) capital should be concentrated entirely among the laborers.

Question 78

Which of the following statements accurately compares the U.S. Supreme Court's approach to organization in business and labor during the Gilded Age?

A) Whereas the Court rejected the organization of big business on constitutional grounds, it supported workers' right to organize.
B) The Court used the Sherman Antitrust Act liberally for the breakup of both business and labor organizations.
C) While the Court applied the Sherman Antitrust Act to break down unions, it proved unwilling to endorse the regulation of big business.
D) Understanding the dynamics of the new industrial age, the Supreme Court allowed workers as well as businesses to organize powerful and centralized institutions.
E) The Court refused to apply the Sherman Antitrust Act against unions or business on the grounds that the law itself was unconstitutional.

Question 79

"Liberal" reformers of the Gilded Age believed

A) wealth inequality was inevitable in modern society, and democracy was becoming a threat to individual liberty.
B) individual liberty and property rights were threatened, above all, by the business classes.
C) lower-class groups could strengthen democracy by using government to advance their interests.
D) an activist government should address social needs, much as liberals do in modern America.
E) wealth inequality could be corrected through workers' hard work.

Question 80

William Cody, popularly known as "Buffalo Bill,"

A) was a native leader whose lands were taken by the US government.
B) led one of the most devastating campaigns against Native American tribes.
C) popularized the image of the West as being both wild and romantic with his "Wild West" shows.
D) emphasized the struggles of farm families and labor conflict in mining centers in the West.
E) argued the West should not be inhabited by whites because there was too much violence.