Chapter 21 Vocab

“waving the bloody shirt”

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

Crédit Mobilier Scandal

A construction company was formed by owners of the Union Pacific Railroad for the purpose of receiving government contracts to build the railroad at highly inflated prices—and profits. In 1872 a scandal erupted when journalists discovered that the company had bribed congressmen and even the vice president to allow the ruse to continue.

Panic of 1873

A worldwide depression that began in the United States when one of the nation’s largest banks abruptly declared bankruptcy, leading to the collapse of thousands of banks and businesses. The crisis intensified debtors’ calls for inflationary measures such as the printing of more paper money and the unlimited coinage of silver. Conflicts over monetary policy greatly influenced politics in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

Gilded Age

A term given to the period 1865–1896 by Mark Twain, indicating both the fabulous wealth and the widespread corruption of the era.

Patronage

A system, prevalent during the Gilded Age, in which political parties granted jobs and favors to party regulars who delivered votes on election day. Patronage was both an essential wellspring of support for both parties and a source of conflict within the Republican party.

Compromise of 1877

The agreement that finally resolved the 1876 election and officially ended Reconstruction. In exchange for the Republican candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes, winning the presidency, Hayes agreed to withdraw the last of the federal troops from the former Confederate states. This deal effectively completed the Southern return to white-only, Democratic-dominated electoral politics.

Civil Rights Act of 1875

The last piece of federal civil rights legislation until the 1950s, the law promised Black people equal access to public accommodations and banned racism in jury selection, but it provided no means of enforcement and was therefore ineffective. In 1883, the Supreme Court declared most of the act unconstitutional.

Sharecropping

An agricultural system that emerged after the Civil War in which Black and white farmers rented land and residences from a plantation owner in exchange for giving him a certain “share” of each year’s crop. Sharecropping was the dominant form of agriculture after the Civil War, and landowners manipulated this system to keep tenants in perpetual debt and unable to leave their plantations.

Jim Crow

System of racial segregation in the American South from the end of Reconstruction until the mid- twentieth century. Based on the concept of “separate but equal” facilities for Black and white people, the system sought to prevent racial mixing in public, including restaurants, movie theaters, and public transportation. An informal system, it was generally perpetuated by custom, violence, and intimidation.

Plessy v. Ferguson

A Supreme Court case that upheld the constitutionality of segregation laws, saying that as long as Black people were provided with “separate but equal” facilities, these laws did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment. This decision provided legal justification for the Jim Crow system until the 1950s.

Great Strike of 1877

Wage cuts by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company triggered a forty-five-day strike that engulfed Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Missouri. One hundred people died in the unrest.

Chinese Exclusion Act

Federal legislation that prohibited most further Chinese immigration to the United States. This was the first major legal restriction on immigration in U.S. history.

Pendleton Act

Congressional legislation that established the Civil Service Commission, which granted federal government jobs on the basis of examinations instead of political patronage, thus reining in the spoils system.

Gould

Powerful railroad executive and financier known for corruption, stock manipulation, and exploiting railroad monopolies. Symbolized Gilded Age corporate greed and helped cause the 1869 Black Friday gold scandal.

Greeley

Newspaper editor of the New York Tribune, reform advocate, and 1872 Liberal Republican/Democratic presidential candidate against Grant. Known for supporting abolition, labor reform, and Western settlement.

Hayes

19th U.S. president (1877–1881) whose election ended Reconstruction through the Compromise of 1877. His administration pushed civil service reform and attempted to reduce corruption.

Garfield

20th U.S. president elected in 1880; supported merit-based civil service reform. Assassinated in 1881 by a disgruntled office seeker, which helped spark the Pendleton Civil Service Act.

Arthur

21st U.S. president who unexpectedly turned into a reformer after Garfield’s assassination. Signed the Pendleton Act (1883), creating the modern civil service system and reducing patronage.

Cleveland

22nd and 24th U.S. president (the only one to serve nonconsecutive terms). Supported limited government, civil service reform, and lower tariffs. Opposed veteran pension fraud and large federal spending.