Ch. 26

Question 1

combine

Answer 1

(combined reaper-thresher), invented in the 1880s, drawn by twenty to forty horses, both reaped and bagged the grain, dramatically increasing the speed and volume of wheat harvesting.

Question 2

mechanization of agriculture

Answer 2

The development of engine-driven machines, like the combine, which helped to dramatically increase the productivity of land in the 1870s and 1880s. This process contributed to the consolidation of agricultural business that drove many family farms out of existence.

Question 3

bonanza farms

Answer 3

wheat farms in the Minnesota–North Dakota area were larger than fifteen thousand acres, with communication by telephone from one part to another. These “factories in the fields” foreshadowed the gigantic agribusinesses of the next century.

Question 4

Henry George

Question 5

What were the effects of the mechanization of farm labor

Answer 5

Agricultural modernization drove many marginal farmers off the land.

By 1890, at least a half-dozen wheat farms were larger than fifteen thousand acres.

Farmers were persuaded to focus on growing single “cash” crops.

As the rural population steadily decreased, those farmers who remained achieved miracles of production, making America the world’s breadbasket and butcher shop

Question 6

What were the deepest economic problems faced by most western farmers in the late nineteenth century?

Answer 6

Deflation and lower prices for their products

Question 7

What did the least organized—and therefore most exploited—sector of the late nineteenth century economy consist of?

Answer 7

Farmers

Question 8

the Grange

Answer 8

Organized by Oliver H. Kelley, this organization initially served as a place for farmers to socialize, but quickly became a political force.

Question 9

Oliver H. Kelley

Answer 9

ran the Grange, a farmer and Mason, his first objective was to enhance the lives of isolated farmers through social, educational, and fraternal activities.

Question 10

Granger Laws

Answer 10

ment regulate railway rates and the storage fees charged by railroads and by the operators of warehouses and grain elevators, but were badly drawn, and they were bitterly fought through the high courts by the well-paid lawyers of the “interests.”

Question 11

Greenback Labor party

Answer 11

combined the inflationary appeal of the earlier Greenbackers with a program for improving the lot of long-suffering labor.

Question 12

James B. Weaver

Answer 12

Greenback candidate in 1880, an old Granger, The Populist party became one of the few third parties in U.S. history to win electoral votes in the 1892 presidential election after running this candidate.

Question 13

Farmers’ Alliance

Answer 13

The most consequential manifestation of rural discontent , came together to socialize, but more importantly to break the strangling grip of the railroads and manufacturers through cooperative buying and selling

Question 14

Populists

Answer 14

Officially known as the People’s party, the Populists represented Westerners and Southerners who believed that U.S. economic policy inappropriately favored Eastern businessmen instead of the nation’s farmers. Their proposals included nationalization of the railroads, a graduated income tax, and, most significantly, the unlimited coinage of silver.

Question 15

William Hope Harvey

Answer 15

populist who wrote Coin’s financial school

Question 16

Mary Elizabeth Lease

Answer 16

queen of populists, known as the “Kansas Pythoness”, demanded that Kansans should raise “less corn and more hell.”

Question 17

Homestead strike

Answer 17

A strike at a Carnegie steel plant in Homestead, Pennsylvania, that ended in an armed battle between the strikers, three hundred armed Pinkerton detectives hired by Carnegie, and federal troops, which killed ten people and wounded more than sixty. The strike was part of a nationwide wave of labor unrest in the summer of 1892 that helped the Populists gain some support from industrial workers.

Question 18

Tom Watson

Answer 18

Populist, declared: “There is no reason why the black man should not understand that the law that hurts me, as a farmer, hurts him, as a farmer.”

Question 19

grandfather clause

Answer 19

A regulation established in many southern states in the 1890s that exempted from voting requirements (such as literacy tests and poll taxes) anyone who could prove that his ancestors (“grandfathers”) had been able to vote in 1860. Because slaves could not vote before the Civil War, these clauses guaranteed the right to vote to many whites while denying it to blacks.

Question 20

depression of 1893

Answer 20

Lasting nearly four years, it was the most punishing economic downturn of the nineteenth century. The splurge of overbuilding and speculation, increasingly disruptive labor disorders, tight-money policies, and the deepening agricultural depression created a near-perfect storm of economic distress.

Question 21

“endless-chain” operation

Answer 21

The Treasury was required to issue legal tender notes for the silver bullion that it bought. Owners of the paper currency would then present it for gold, and by law the notes had to be reissued. New holders would repeat the process, thus draining away precious gold

Question 22

Wilson-Gorman Tariff

Answer 22

1894, contained a 2 percent tax on incomes over $4000

Question 23

What did the Populist Party advocate for, among other things, in its first years?

Answer 23

A graduated income tax and government ownership of the railroads, telegraph, and telephone

Question 24

Name the contributors to the economic depression that began in 1893

Answer 24

An agricultural depression
Labor disorders
Free-silver agitation
Overbuilding and overspeculation

Question 25

“General” Jacob S. Coxey

Answer 25

This wealthy Ohio quarry owner marched on Washington in 1894 demanding that the government relieve unemployment with an inflationary public works program.

Question 26

William McKinley

Answer 26

from Ohio, sponsor of the ill-starred tariff bill of 1890, He had established a creditable Civil War record, could point to long years of honorable service in Congress,

Question 27

William Jennings Bryan

Answer 27

Nebraska, known as “the Boy Orator of the Platte,”

Question 28

Gold Bugs

Answer 28

Democrats who pushed the gold standard

Question 29

“Demo-Pop” party

Answer 29

Populists who endorsed both “fusion” with the Democrats and Bryan for president, sacrificing their identity in the mix.

Question 30

fourth party system

Answer 30

A term scholars have used to describe national politics from 1896 to 1932, when Republicans had a tight grip on the White House and issues such as industrial regulation and labor concerns became paramount, replacing older concerns such as civil-service reform and monetary policy.

Question 31

Gold Standard Act

Answer 31

An act that guaranteed that paper currency would be redeemed freely in gold, putting an end to the already dying “free-silver” campaign.

Question 32

the election of 1896

Answer 32

Democrats adopted a Populist platform.
Republicans nominated a former congressman and Civil War veteran.
Democrats called for the unlimited coinage of silver.
Republicans supported the gold standard and protective tariff.

Question 33

What was the 1894 Pullman strike ended by?

Answer 33

Sending in federal troops to crush it

Question 34

What term do scholars use to describe national politics from 1896 to 1932?

Answer 34

Fourth party system

Question 35

Which of the following describes the policies and positions of the Republican Party in the election of 1896?

Answer 35

It endorsed the gold standard and asserted that government’s function is to aid business.

Question 36

The losing party’s strategy in 1896 marked a watershed in American politics, signaling the last serious effort to win the presidential election by

Answer 36

Carrying agrarian voters alone