Schlavis APUSH Chapter 23 Review

Waving the bloody shirt

The use of Civil War imagery by political candidates and parties to draw votes to their side of the ticket.

Boss Tweed

Head of Tammany Hall, NYC's powerful democratic political machine in 1868. Between 1868 and 1869 he led the Tweed Reign, a group of corrupt politicians in defrauding the city. Example: Responsible for the construction of the NY court house; actual construction cost $3million. Project cost tax payers $13million.

"hard" money vs. "soft" money

Money backed by gold vs. paper money not backed by specie (gold and silver)

Gilded Age

A name for the late 1800s, coined by Mark Twain to describe the tremendous increase in wealth caused by the industrial age and the ostentatious lifestyles it allowed the very rich. The great industrial success of the U.S. and the fabulous lifestyles of the wealthy hid the many social problems of the time, including a high poverty rate, a high crime rate, and corruption in the government.

Ulysses S. Grant

An American general and the eighteenth President of the United States (1869-1877). He achieved international fame as the leading Union general in the American Civil War.

Credit Mobilier Scandal (1872)

This scandal occurred in the 1870s when a railroad construction company's stockholders used funds that were supposed to be used to build the Union Pacific Railroad for railroad construction for their own personal use by hiring themselves at inflated prices . To avoid being convicted, stockholders even used stock to bribe congressional members and the vice president. These congress members granted federal subsidies for the cost of railroad constructions without paying much to expenses.

Samuel J. Tilden

Hayes' opponent in the 1876 presidential race, he was the Democratic nominee who had gained fame for putting Boss Tweed behind bars.

William Belknap

Grant's secretary of war who was forced to resign after he was found to have accepted bribes from suppliers to the Indian reservations.

Liberal Republican Party

Short-lived third party of 1872 that attempted to curb Grant administration corruption, wanting to end military Reconstruction.

Horace Greeley

Liberal Republican presidential candidate 1872, said he would end military Reconstruction, clean out the corrupt government, lost to Grant's second election, supported by Democrats as well

General Amnesty Act of 1872

Allowed former Confederates, except those who held high rank, to hold public office. Passed to gain popularity.

Panic of 1873

Four year economic depression caused by overspeculation on railroads and western lands, and worsened by Grant's poor fiscal response (refusing to coin silver.

Resumption Act of 1875

Required the government to continue to withdraw greenbacks from circulation and to redeem all paper currency in gold at face value beginning in 1879.

Contraction

Represents a shrinking of the money supply as companies and consumers curtail borrowing and spending.

Silver vs. Gold debate

Farmers wanted the liberal use of silver coins as a way to increase available money (inflation), banks preferred for the country to use only gold to back its money supply.

Greenback Labor Party

Political party devoted to improving the lives of laborers and raising inflation, reaching its high point in 1878 when it polled over a million votes and elected fourteen members of Congress.

Grand Army of the Republic

This organization was founded by former Union soldiers after the Civil War. It lobbied Congress for aid and pensions for former Union soldiers. It was also a powerful lobbying influence within the Republican party.

Stalwarts

Led by New York Senator Roscoe Conkling, this anti-reform faction of the Republican party believed in the blatant pursuit of the spoils of office and patronage.

Half-breeds

Led by James G. Blaine of ME. Favored tariff reform and social reform, major issues from the Democratic and Republican parties. They did not seem to be dedicated members of either party.

Civil Rights Act of 1875

Banned discrimination in public facilities and transportation. Declared unconstitutional in 1883.

Rutherford B. Hayes

19th president of the united states, was famous for being part of the Hayes-Tilden election in which electoral votes were contested in 4 states, most corrupt election in US history.

Compromise of 1877

Ended Reconstruction. Republicans promise 1) Remove military from South, 2) Appoint Democrat to cabinet (David Key postmaster general), 3) Federal money for railroad construction and levees on Mississippi river

Constitutional Crisis of 1877

12th amendment merely specifies that the electoral returns from the states should be sent to Congress, and in the presence of both houses, they should be opened by the president of the Senate
Question was who should count them - the Constitution was silent at that point
President of the Senate was a Republican
President of the House was a Democrat
None could be counted on

Electoral Count Act

Set up an electoral commission consisting of 15 men selected from the Senate, the House, and the Supreme Court

Civil Rights Cases (1883)

Name attached to five cases brought under the Civil Rights Act of 1875. In 1883, the Supreme Court decided that discrimination in a variety of public accommodations, including theaters, hotels, and railroads, could not be prohibited by the act because such discrimination was private discrimination and not state discrimination.

Jim Crow laws

Laws designed to enforce segregation of blacks from whites.

Plessy v. Ferguson

A 1896 Supreme Court decision which legalized state ordered segregation so long as the facilities for blacks and whites were "equal"

Denis Kearney

Irish-born leader of the anti-Chinese movement in California.

Chinese Exlusion Act of 1882

Prohibited all immigration from China until 1943.

US v. Wong Kim Ark

Supreme Court Case which supported a native born American's right to citizenship regardless of a parent's nationality

James A. Garfield

A Half-Breed, the 20th President of the US; he died two months after being shot and six months after his inauguration.

Winfield Scott Hancock

The democratic candidate for president in 1880 and civil war hero. He nearly took the national election, as Garfield failed to get a majority, but lost overwhelmingly in the Electoral College

Charles Guiteau

Assassinated President James to make civil service reform a reality. He shot Garfield because he believed that the Republican Party had not fulfilled its promise to give him a government job.

Chester A. Arthur

21st President, a Stalwart, but worked to reform the spoils system, prosecuting several fraud cases.

Pendleton Act

1883 law that created a Civil Service Commission and stated that federal employees could not be required to contribute to campaign funds nor be fired for political reasons. Brought candidates closer to big business.

Mugwumps

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

Mulligan letters

The 1884 Republican presidential nominee, James Blaine, was accused of writing these letters that linked him to a corrupt deal involving federal favors to a southern railroad

Grover Cleveland

22nd and 24th president, Democrat, Honest and hardworking, fought corruption, vetoed hundreds of wasteful bills, achieved the Interstate Commerce Commission and civil service reform, violent suppression of strikes. "Government should not support the people."

McKinley Tariff

1890 tariff that raised protective tariff levels by nearly 50%, making them the highest tariffs on imports in the United States history.

Benjamin Harrison

23rd President; Republican, poor leader, introduced the McKinley Tariff and increased federal spending to a billion dollars, blew away the previous treasury surplus

Thomas B. Reed

Republican Speaker of the House in 1888, he gained a reputation for an iron grip over Congress and kept Democrats in line.

Sherman Silver Purchase Act

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

William McKinley

25th president responsible for Spanish-American War, Philippine-American War, and the Annexation of Hawaii, imperialism. Assassinated by an anarchist

Populism

The political doctrine that supports the rights and powers of the common people in their struggle with the privileged elite

Grandfather clauses

Law that excused a voter from literacy test if his grandfather had been eligible to vote on Jan. 1 1867.

Homestead Strike

1892 steelworker strike near Pittsburgh against the Carnegie Steel Company. Ten workers were killed in a riot when "scab" labor was brought in to force an end to the strike.

Depression of 1893

Lasted 4 years. Profits dwindled, businesses went bankrupt and slid into debt. Caused loss of business confidence. 20% of the workforce unemployed. J.P. Morgan bails out the government.

James B. Weaver

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

Wilson-Gorman Tariff

Democrats had pledged for lower tariffs, but their tariff had been loaded w/ special-interest (fluctuated depending on the product) protection that basically did nothing- tariffs just as high
Cleveland grudgingly allowed the bill without his signature, which also contained a 2% tax on incomes over $4k.

William Jennings Bryan

United States lawyer and politician who advocated for free silver (unlimited coinage) but failed.ja

James G. Blaine

a U.S. Representative, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, U.S. Senator from Maine, two-time United States Secretary of State, and champion of the Half-Breeds. He was a dominant Republican leader of the post Civil War period, obtaining the 1884 Republican nomination, but lost to Democrat Grover Cleveland

Election of 1876

One of the most disputed presidential elections in US history. Tilden (D) outpolled Ohio's Rutherford B. Hayes (R) in the popular vote, and had 184 electoral votes to Hayes' 165, with 20 votes uncounted due to problems in three states (Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina). The 20 disputed electoral votes were ultimately awarded to Hayes after a bitter legal and political battle, giving him the victory on the condition that Hayes would remove remaining federal troops from the South, marking the end of Reconstruction and the beginning of Jim Crow segregation.

Farmers' Alliance

network of farmers' organizations that worked for political and economic reforms in the late 1800s. 9 members elected to Congress.