1870's

Question 1

Brooklyn Bridge

Answer 1

Completed in 1883, designed by John Roebling. Culturally significant to New York City, and architecturally significant for its usage of steel.

Question 2

Vertical integration

Answer 2

Practice where a single entity controls the entire process of a product, from the raw materials to distribution. Used by Andrew Carnegie in steel production.

Question 3

Hiram Rhodes Revels

Answer 3

Black senator from Mississippi (1870-1871), first person of color in the Congress.

Question 4

Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition

Answer 4

An 1870 expedition into the Yellowstone region which occurred during Grant’s presidency.

Question 5

The 15th Amendment

Answer 5

1870- Granted African-American men the right to vote.

Question 6

Enforcement Act of 1871 (third act)

Answer 6

An act signed by Grant to counteract the Ku Klux Klan, he was successful in doing this during his presidency.

Question 7

William Henry Jackson

Answer 7

An American photographer famous for his images of the Wild West.

Question 8

Whaling Disaster of 1871

Answer 8

Several whaling ships got stuck off the coast of Alaska, dealing a serious blow to the whaling industry.

Question 9

The Polaris expedition

Answer 9

An 1871 American expedition to reach the North Pole, led by Charles Francis Hall, although they did reach coordinates more northerly than any other explorer, the ship crashed and sank.

Question 10

William “Boss” Tweed

Answer 10

A corrupt politician who embezzled millions of taxpayer dollars from New Yorkers.

Question 11

Tammany Hall

Answer 11

A political organization within the Democratic Party in New York city (late 1800’s and early 1900’s) seeking political control by corruption and bossism. Lead by Boss Tweed.

Question 12

Victoria Woodhull

Answer 12

Radical feminist propagandist whose eloquent attacks on conventional social morality and advocacy for free love shocked many Americans in the 1870s

Question 13

United States presidential election, 1872

Answer 13

Incumbent Ulysses S. Grant defeated Horace Greeley nominated by the defected Liberal Republicans and Democrats. Greeley died during the electoral process, so the liberal republican electors split their votes among various other groups. Main issues included Grant’s use of cronyism during his first term, and the ongoing armed occupation of the South. The Lib/Dem platform supported bimetallism, tariff reduction, and patronage reduction. The Equal Rights Party nominated Victoria Woodhull and Frederick Douglass.

Question 14

Modoc War

Answer 14

An armed conflict lasting from 1872-73 between the United States Military and Modocs living in Southern Oregon and Northern California.

Question 15

Comstock laws

Answer 15

1873 censorship laws which prohibited the sending of obscene books and materials through the mail.

Question 16

Barbed wire

Answer 16

An American invention debuted in 1873.

Question 17

Levi Strauss

Answer 17

Inventor of blue jeans, a popular commodity in the West.

Question 18

Panic of 1873

Answer 18

Post-war inflation and railroad speculation lead to this economic downturn during Grant’s presidency.

Question 19

The Long Depression

Answer 19

An economic depression lasting from 1873-1879 as a result of the end of the Civil War.

Question 20

Woman’s Christian Temperance Union

Answer 20

First mass organization among women dedicated to social reform, formed in 1873.

Question 21

Greenback Party

Answer 21

A party formed by farmers who were hurt by the Long Depression in 1874. They were against a return to a gold-backed economy. They eventually would become the People’s Party.

Question 22

Civil Rights Act of 1875

Answer 22

Signed by Grant, it assured African-Americans equal accommodation in public facilities and jury duty. During the 1880s, it was dismantled as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Question 23

Tong Wars

Answer 23

Any of several feuds carried on in San Francisco between gangs of Chinese immigrants. These gang wars spanned a 70-year period beginning in the 1850s and continuing until the 1920s. The Tongs held a tight grip on San Francisco until a 1906 earthquake destroyed their brothels, casinos, and opium dens.

Question 24

Alexander Graham Bell

Answer 24

Inventor of the telephone

Question 25

Buffalo Calf Road Woman

Answer 25

A Northern Cheyanne woman credited with striking the blow that knocked Custer off his horse at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876.

Question 26

Crazy Horse

Answer 26

A chief of the Sioux who resisted the invasion of the Black Hills and joined Sitting Bull in the defeat of General Custer at Little Bighorn in 1876.

Question 27

Mark Twain

Answer 27

An American humorist and novelist most well-known for his novels about slow Missouri life.

Question 28

Crédit Mobilier of America scandal

Answer 28

1872- A railroad company bribed high government officials during Grant’s presidency.

Question 29

United States presidential election, 1876

Answer 29

Democrat Samuel J. Tilden earned a higher percentage of the popular vote than Rutherford B. Hayes, but Hayes won one more electoral vote than Tilden. The corruption of the Republican party was a major issue of the campaign.

Question 30

Compromise of 1877

Answer 30

An informal deal in which 20 electoral votes and the presidency were given to Hayes in exchange for the withdrawal of troops from the South and the end of Reconstruction. Had catastrophic effects for black people.

Question 31

The Molly Maguires

Answer 31

A secret Irish organization of coal miners in regions of western Pennsylvania and West Virgina in the mid to late 1800’s. The miners worked together to achieve better working conditions, and when demands weren’t met, they protested by destroying mining equipment and other activities. They were eventually brought down by a Pinkerton detective, and some alleged members had trials and were hanged.

Question 32

Farmers’ Alliance

Answer 32

A Farmers’ organization founded in late 1870s; worked for lower railroad freight rates, lower interest rates, and a change in the government’s tight money policy. Eventually became the People’s (Populist) Party.

Question 33

phonograph

Answer 33

A record player invented by Thomas Edison in 1877.

Question 34

Great Railroad Strike of 1877

Answer 34

A large number of railroad workers went on strike because of wage cuts. After a month of strikes, President Hayes sent troops to stop the rioting.

Question 35

Billy the Kid

Answer 35

The quintessential cowboy, Billy the Kid became notoriously associated with the recklessness of the Wild West, he also was an active participant in the Lincoln County War.

Question 36

Lincoln County War

Answer 36

War that broke between rival cowboy factions of the Old West, between old timers and newcomers, to start a monopoly of dry food trade in Lincoln County. 1878.

Question 37

Black Bart

Answer 37

Stagecoach robber and gentleman bandit, he left poems at the scenes of his crimes, active in the late 1870s.

Question 38

Bike boom

Answer 38

1860s and 1890s, bicycles were extremely popular in America due to French and British innovations.

Question 39

Portuguese immigration to Hawaii

Answer 39

1878-1913, Portuguese immigrants traveled to Hawaii to work in the sugarcane plantations.

Question 40

Frank Winfield Woolworth

Answer 40

The founder of five and ten cent stores in the late 1870s-1880s, he pioneered the practice of buying merchandise direct from manufacturer, instead of haggling.

Question 41

Cornelius Vanderbilt

Answer 41

A railroad owner who built a railway connecting Chicago and New York. He popularized the use of steel rails in his railroad, which made railroads safer and more economical. A philanthropist, he became one of the richest men in the world from a mediocre upbringing.

Question 42

Doc Holliday

Answer 42

An American gambler, gunfighter and dentist of the American Old West, who is usually remembered for his friendship with Wyatt Earp and his involvement in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. 1870s-1880s.

Question 43

Meeker Massacre

Answer 43

The Utes of Colorado killed Nathan Meeker and his company due to the terrible messages he was spreading about them. As a result, Congress moved the Utes into smaller reservations.

Question 44

Incandescent light bulb

Answer 44

Invented by Edison in 1879.

Question 45

Mary Baker Eddy

Answer 45

Founded the Church of Christian Scientists in 1879 and set forth the basic doctrine of Christian Science.

Question 46

“Progress and Poverty”

Answer 46

Henry George’s best-selling 1879 book that criticized entrepreneurs and advocated social reform through the imposition of a “single tax” on land. A very popular book, said to spark the Progressive movement.

Question 47

The Whiskey Ring

Answer 47

A scandal, exposed in 1875, involving diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, politicians, whiskey distillers, and distributors. Seen as a sign of the corruption of the Republicans post-Civil War.