Princeton Quiz 2.3 PART 2

Gilded Age

period between reconstruction and 1900s, famous for corruption, greed, poverty. dubbed by Mark Twain because Gilded metals look gold on the surface but have cheap bases.

Civil service reforms

Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, Chester A. Arthur

Grover Cleveland

believed that the less the government “governed” the better

Benjamin Harrison

governed almost everything, passed Sherman Antitrust Act and Morrill Land-Grant College Act

Billion Dollar Congress

Budget for US government is set for 1 billion for the first time in US history

railroad regulations

state imposed due to corruption and price gouging

Munn vs. Illinois

ruled that Illinois could regulate railroads as long as it was within “public interest” even though they are interstate commerce and can only be regulated by the federal government

Wabash Case

states could not establish rates involving interstate commerce

Interstate Commerce Act

set up interstate commerce commission to supervise railroad activities (regulate unfair and unethical practices)

Susan B. Anthony

key figure for women’s suffrage movement, convinced congress to introduce a suffrage amendment for women (took a while to pass)

Inflation

production increases which lowers prices, hurting farmers. Farmers support generous money supply so debts decrease. involved silver coins (western miners supported)

silver vs gold debate

whether silver or gold should be the main currency in the US

Grange movement

allowed farmers to buy machinery and sell crops in groups to benefit from economies of scale

Farmer’s alliance

allowed women to participate politically, very successful, derived from inflation/silver or gold debate

People’s party

new political party derived from Farmer’s alliance, whos ideas are based off of the populist movement which called for government ownership of railroads and telegraphs, graduated income tax, and direct election of US senate.

Las Gorras Blancas

founded by new mexican farmers whose land was being taken by anglo-american settlers, ideas based on populist movement

Colored Farmer’s Alliance

invited black farmers to organize for collective interests, based on populist movement

1893

4 year financial crisis under cleveland 2nd term

Eugene V. Debs

led socialist movement

William Jennings Bryan

democratic candidate for election of 1896, argued for free silver, famous for “cross of gold” speech, saying that easy money supply, though inflammatory, would loosen the control northern banking interests had on the US

William McKinley

republican candidate for election of 1896, wins election