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What is a boomtown?
A place with quick population and economic growth
What is a ghost town?
A deserted town with few or no remaining inhabitants
What is the transcontinental railroad?
A railroad connecting the East and the West
What were the effects of the transcontinental railroad?
Easier transportation, industrial development, and improved lives of settlers
What is the Homestead Act?
A government act offering 160 acres to anyone willing to live on the land for 5 years, dig a well, and build a road
What were the challenges of life on the plains?
Windstorms, blizzards, drought, and plagues of locusts
What killed many animals and harvests during the 1880s and 1890s?
A series of blizzards and drought
What did miners do in areas without judges or law enforcement?
Set up rules of conduct and procedures for settling disputes
What were self-appointed judges and law enforcement in mining towns called?
Vigilantes
What did towns do as they developed?
Hired marshalls and sheriffs
What happened to boomtowns when gold and silver ran out?
They turned into ghost towns
What did the transcontinental railroad move easier?
Products and people
What did the transcontinental railroad bring to eastern consumers?
Western meat and farm products
What did the Homestead Act accelerate?
Settlement of the U.S. Western territory
What did the Homestead Act require of settlers?
Live on the land for 5 years, dig a well, and build a road
Who was Ulysses S. Grant?
Former civil war general and disappointing President.
What was the spoils system?
A system where important jobs were given to friends who were trying to make a lot of money.
What was the Gilded Age?
The years between the Civil War and the turn of the 20th century where America became more prosperous and saw unprecedented growth in industry and technology.
What was the sinister side of the Gilded Age?
It was a period where greedy, corrupt industrialists, bankers, and politicians enjoyed extraordinary wealth at the expense of the working class.
What are Political Machines?
A political party's organization that wins voter loyalty and guarantees power to a small group of leaders who often abuses it for their own gain. (often ran by big bosses)
How did Political Machines gain and maintain power/control?
By making promises, delivering on those promises, and gaining the loyalty of large immigrant groups who returned the favor by voting at the polls.
What are Political Cartoons?
Pictures with a point that express concern.
What is the importance of Political Cartoons in history?
They inform illiterate citizens and convey a point of view on a political issue.
What is the spoils system?
A corrupt system of giving government jobs to political supporters.
What was the call for civil service reform?
A demand for a system that would hire government workers based on expertise.
What is the executive branch of government?
The branch that deals with the President, Vice President, Cabinet, and federal agencies.
What did the Pendleton Civil Service Act establish?
A Civil Service Commission that wrote a civil service exam.
What is the Panic of 1837?
A financial crisis that caused a major depression in the US.
What is monetary policy?
What the Federal Reserve does to influence the amount of money and credit in the US economy.
Why did farmers favor keeping silver?
To create inflation, which would increase the prices of their crops.
What is Free Silver Advocated?
Individuals who wanted silver to be counted as money.
What were the issues that farmers faced?
Declining farm prices, rising costs, and becoming tenant farmers. They blamed rail roads and banks
What was the first organization that farmers formed?
Patrons of Husbandry or Grange.
What were the goals of the Grange?
To provide education on new farming techniques and regulate railroad and grain elevate rates. They established Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to oversee interstate transportation.
What did some states do to regulate rates?
Enacted laws that set maximum rates for shopping and grain storage.
What did the Supreme Court do with the Grange laws?
Upheld some decisions and overturned others.
What did the Farmers' Alliance want the Government to regulate?
Interest that banks could charge for loans and force railroads to lower freight prices.
What did all farmers have in common?
Debt.
What did farmers want to create?
Inflation.
How did inflation help debtors?
It increased income.
What did the Farmers' Alliance connect?
Farmers not only in the South but in the West too.
Who banded together for common causes?
Farmers of all races and ethnicities.
What is the People's Party?
A political party representing farmers.
What did the Populists call for to fight low prices?
Coinage of silver or 'free silver'.
Who did the Populist Party nominate as a presidential candidate?
James B. Weaver.
What was the Populist Party's platform?
Strengthen farmers and weaken monopolistic power.
How did Populists impact the government?
They won seats in the Senate, Congress, and governorships.
What was the impact of Populist ideas?
They spread throughout the country and forced other parties to consider their platform.
When did the depression of 1893 begin?
1893
Which political parties failed to respond to the depression?
Republicans and Democrats
What party began to champion Populist policies?
Democratic Party
Who was the Democratic candidate in the 1896 presidential election?
William Jennings Bryan
What was the People's Party?
A political party that merged with the Democratic Party
What was the 'Cross of Gold' speech?
A famous speech by William Jennings Bryan demanding free coinage of silver
Why did laborers fear the free silver idea?
It could hurt wage-earning factory workers
Who was William McKinley?
The Republican competitor in the 1896 presidential election
Who supported William McKinley?
Moneyed eastern establishment
Who was Marc Hanna?
A wealthy Cleveland industrialist who supported William McKinley
Why did Hanna cast Bryan and the Populist Party as a potential dictator?
He believed that the free coinage of silver would bring financial ruin to America
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Flashcard (30)