Gilded Age Politics, Industrialization, and Social Movements

Flashcards covering Gilded Age political scandals, economic policies, industrial consolidation, the labor movement, urbanization, immigration, and the agrarian revolt.

"Waving the Bloody Shirt"

A successful political strategy used by post-Civil War Republicans that involved reminding Northern voters that the Democratic Party was the party of secession and treason.

Credit Mobilier Scandal

A corporate scandal where Union Pacific Railroad insiders formed their own construction company, hired themselves at highly inflated prices to pocket taxpayer subsidies, and distributed stock to congressmen to prevent investigation.

The Whiskey Ring

A federal scandal where government officials, distillers, and politicians conspired to steal millions of dollars in federal liquor tax revenues, implicating President Grant’s private secretary.

The Belknap Scandal

A scandal involving Secretary of War William Belknap, who was caught pocketing bribes from merchants for exclusive licenses to operate trading posts on Native American reservations.

"Boss" Tweed

The leader of New York City’s Tammany Hall political machine who used graft and dishonest practices to fleece taxpayers, including overpaying by over $360,000$ for carpentry work.

"Honest Graft"

A term for insider trading in city planning used by political bosses, such as buying land secretly before the city announced a public park and selling it back at a massive markup.

Patronage (The Spoils System)

The traditional practice where winning politicians appointed loyal party supporters to government jobs regardless of their qualifications.

Stalwarts

A Republican faction led by Senator Roscoe Conkling that fiercely defended the traditional patronage system to keep their party machine well-funded.

Half-Breeds

A Republican faction led by James G. Blaine that favored civil service reform primarily to gain control over the distribution of federal jobs.

Garfield Assassination ($1881$)

The shooting of President James A. Garfield by Charles Guiteau, a mentally unstable Stalwart who was denied a federal appointment through patronage.

Pendleton Act of $1883$

A law that created the Civil Service Commission and established a merit-based system for federal jobs driven by competitive exams rather than political favors.

Hard Money

Currency strictly tied to Gold, favored by bankers and industrialists to prevent inflation and protect the value of loaned money.

Cheap / Soft Money

Paper Greenbacks and Silver currency demanded by debtors and farmers to increase the money supply and make it easier to repay bank loans.

Panic of $1873$

A brutal economic depression caused by corporate overexpansion, railroad speculation, and banks lending too much money without secure backing.

The "Crime of '$73$"

The official cessation of silver dollar coinage by Congress in $1873$, which debtors and miners viewed as a conspiracy to suppress the money supply.

Bland-Allison Act ($1878$)

A partial victory for soft-money forces that required the U.S. Treasury to buy and coin between $2$ million and $4$ million of silver each month.

Pacific Railway Act ($1862$)

A federal law that granted roughly $180$ million acres of land and millions in loans to corporations to build a transcontinental railroad line.

The Golden Spike

The event on May $10$, $1869$, at Promontory Point, Utah, where the Union Pacific and Central Pacific lines met to create a unified national market.

Pools

Secret agreements between competing railroad corporations to divide up business in specific regions, set high rates, and split profits to avoid competition.

Rebates

Secret refunds offered to powerful industrial shippers like Rockefeller in exchange for steady, large-volume business.

Wabash v. Illinois ($1887$)

A Supreme Court ruling that states could not regulate interstate commerce, meaning only the federal government could regulate railroads that crossed state lines.

Interstate Commerce Act ($1887$)

The first major federal regulation of business, which created the ICC and banned pools, rebates, and discriminatory rate practices.

Vertical Integration

A consolidation model used by Andrew Carnegie where a company controls every step of production, from raw material mines to transportation.

Horizontal Integration

A consolidation model used by John D. Rockefeller that involved controlling all competitors in a specific industry to build a total monopoly.

The Trust

A legal business arrangement where competing companies turned over their majority voting stock to a single, central board of directors to run as a single entity.

Sherman Anti-Trust Act ($1890$)

A law designed to protect the public by forbidding corporate combinations in restraint of trade, though it was initially used against labor unions.

Social Darwinism

A theory argued by Herbert Spencer and William Graham Sumner that human society operates under the law of natural selection, where wealth is proof of biological fitness.

Gospel of Wealth

Andrew Carnegie’s theory that the rich had a moral obligation to act as trustees for the community by investing in public libraries, universities, and concert halls.

Yellow-Dog Contracts

Mandatory employment agreements used by corporations to force workers to swear they would never join a labor union.

Blacklists

Secret lists of union organizers circulated among industrial employers to permanently bar them from finding future work.

Knights of Labor ($1869$)

An inclusive labor union open to all workers, led by Terence Powderly, that pursued broad social reforms before being ruined by the Haymarket Square Riot.

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

A strict alliance of skilled craft workers only, led by Samuel Gompers, that focused on practical goals like collective bargaining and $8$-hour days.

"Dumbbell tenements"

Overcrowded urban apartment complexes featuring tiny air shafts that often acted as fire hazards and garbage chutes while spreading disease.

Jacob Riis

A muckraking photojournalist whose book, How the Other Half Lives, exposed the squalid conditions inside New York City's slums and tenements.

New Immigration ($1880$–$1910$)

A massive wave of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe who were often Catholic, Jewish, or Eastern Orthodox and settled in urban ethnic neighborhoods.

Nativism

The anti-immigrant backlash sparked by fears that native-born Americans would be outvoted by immigrants or that Anglo-Saxon blood would be diluted.

Chinese Exclusion Act of $1882$

The first federal law to ban an entire group of immigrants solely based on race, halting Chinese immigration due to pressure from Western workers.

Settlement House Movement

A movement where college-educated women, such as Jane Addams at Hull House, established community centers in immigrant slums to provide direct relief and social services.

Atlanta Compromise Speech ($1895$)

A speech by Booker T. Washington advocating for Black Americans to accept segregation temporarily and focus on vocational education and economic independence.

The "Talented Tenth"

A concept championed by W.E.B. DuBois that the top $1000$ percent of Black Americans should receive a liberal arts education to serve as intellectual leaders against racial injustice.

A Century of Dishonor ($1881$)

A book by Helen Hunt Jackson chronicling the federal government’s history of broken treaties, corruption, and mistreatment of Native Americans.

Battle / Massacre of Wounded Knee ($1890$)

The symbolic end of Native American military resistance where federal soldiers killed between $150$ and $300$ Sioux while attempting to suppress the Ghost Dance.

Dawes Severalty Act ($1887$)

A forced assimilation policy that broke up reservation lands into individual private family farms and resulted in Native Americans losing over half of their land.

Carlisle Indian School

A boarding school for Native children operating under the motto "To kill the Indian and save the man," forbidding native languages and traditional clothing.

Frontier Thesis ($1893$)

Frederick Jackson Turner's argument that the frontier experience forged the unique American character defined by individualism, democracy, and social mobility.

The Grange Movement ($1860$s/$70$s)

A farmers' organization that established cooperatives and lobbied for "Granger Laws" to regulate railroad and warehouse shipping rates.

Populist (People's) Party

A political party formed in $1892$ representing agrarian interests, demanding free silver at a $16$-to-$1$ ratio and the nationalization of railroads.

Omaha Platform

The Populist program demanding a graduated income tax, direct election of senators, an $8$-hour workday, and the initiative and referendum.

Coxey's Army ($1894$)

A march of $500$ unemployed workers onto Washington, D.C., demanding the government print $500$ million in greenbacks to fund public works programs.

Pullman Strike ($1894$)

A strike triggered by a $25$ percent wage cut while company rents remained fixed, which was crushed by federal troops on the pretext of delivering U.S. mail.

Cross of Gold Speech

A legendary oration by William Jennings Bryan attacking the gold standard and supporting the free and unlimited coinage of silver.