Chapter 20- Whose Government? Politics, Populists, and Progressives

Question 1

A term of ridicule used in the 1880s and 1890s to refer to politicians-especially Republicans- who, according to critics, whipped up old animosities from the Civil War era that ought to be set aside.

Answer 1

“waving the bloody shirt”

Question 2

A term invented in the 1920s describing the late 19th century as a period of ostentatious displays of wealth, growing poverty, and government inaction in the face of income inequality. Commentators suggested that this era

Answer 2

Gilded Age

Question 3

An 1883 law establishing a nonpartisan Civil Service Commission to fill federal jobs by examination. The Pendleton Act dealt a major blow to the “Spoils System” and sought to ensure that government positions were filled by trained, professional employees.

Answer 3

Pendleton Act

Question 4

A late 19th century branch of reform-minded Republicans who left their part in 1884 to support Democratic presidential candidate Grover Cleveland. Many Mugwumps were classical liberals who denounced corruption and advocated a reduction in government powers and civil service reform.

Answer 4

Mugwumps

Question 5

Landmark 1890 act that forbade anticompetitive business activities, requiring the federal government to investigate trusts and any companies operating in violation of the act.

Answer 5

Sherman Antitrust Act

Question 6

Also known as the Federal Elections Bill of 1890, a bill proposing that whenever 100 citizens in any district appealed for intervention, a bipartisan federal board could investigate and seat the rightful winner. The defeat of the bill was a blow to those seeking to defend African American voting rights and to ensure full participation in politics.

Answer 6

Lodge Bill

Question 7

An 1892 statement by the Populists calling for stronger government to protect ordinary Americans.

Answer 7

Omaha Platform

Question 8

A policy of loosening the money supply by expanding federal coinage to include silver as well as gold. Advocates of the policy thought it would encourage borrowing and stimulate industry, but the defeat of Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan ended the “free silver” movement and gave Republicans power to regain the gold standard.

Answer 8

free silver

Question 9

An 1989 Supreme Court ruling that allowed states to impose poll taxes and literacy tests. By 1908, every southern state had adopted such measures.

Answer 9

Williams v Mississippi

Question 10

The post Reconstruction goal-achieved by the early 20th century- of almost complete electoral control of the South by the Democratic Party.

Answer 10

Solid South

Question 11

A 1905 Supreme Court ruling that New York State could not limit bakers’ workday to ten hours because that violated bakers’ rights to make contracts.

Answer 11

Lochner v. New York

Question 12

A 1902 law, supported by President Theodore Roosevelt, that allowed the federal government to sell public lands to raise money for irrigation projects that expanded agriculture on arid lands.

Answer 12

Newlands Reclamation Act

Question 13

A policy promoted by Republican governor Robert La Follette of Wisconsin for greater government intervention in the economy, with reliance on experts, particularly progressive economists, for policy recommendations.

Answer 13

Wisconsin Idea

Question 14

A pioneering progressive idea, enacted in Wisconsin, Oregon, California, and other states, that gave citizens the right to remove unpopular politicians from office through a vote.

Answer 14

recall

Question 15

The process of voting directly on a proposed policy measure rather than leaving it in the hands of elected legislators; a progressive reform.

Answer 15

referendum

Question 16

A reform organization that worked (unsuccessfully) to win a federal law banning child labor. The NCLC hired photographer Lewis Hine to record brutal conditions in mines and mills where thousandths of children worked.

Answer 16

National Child Labor Committee

Question 17

A 1908 Supreme Court case that upheld an Oregon law limiting women’s workday to ten hours, based on the need protect women’s health for motherhood. Muller complicated the earlier decision in Lochner v New York, laying out grounds on which states could intervene to protect workers. It divided women’s rights activists, however, because some saw its provisions as discriminatory.

Answer 17

Muller v. Oregon

Question 18

A term used by Harvard-educated sociologist W. E. B. Du Bois for the top 10 percent of educated African Americans, whom he called on to develop new strategies to advocate for civil rights.

Answer 18

talented tenth

Question 19

An organization founded in 1910 by leading African American reformers and white allies as a vehicle for advocating equal rights for African Americans, especially through the courts.

Answer 19

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

Question 20

An umbrella union and radical political group founded in 1905, dedicated to organizing unskilled workers to oppose capitalism. Nicknamed the Wobblies, it advocated direct action by workers, including sabotage and general strikes.

Answer 20

Industrial Workers of the World

Question 21

In a 1910 speech, Theodore Roosevelt called for a “New Nationalism” that promoted government intervention to enhance public welfare, including a federal child labor law, more recognition of labor rights, a national minimum wage for women, women’s suffrage, and curbs on the power of federal courts to stop reform.

Answer 21

New Nationalism

Question 22

The central bank system of the United States, created in 1913. The Federal Reserve helps set the money supply level, thus influencing the rate of growth of the U.S. economy, and seeks to ensure the stability of the U.S. monetary system.

Answer 22

Federal Reserve Act

Question 23

A 1914 law that strengthened federal definitions of “monopoly” and gave more power to the Justice Department to pursue antitrust cases, it also specified that labor unions could not generally be prosecuted for “restraint of trade,” ensuring that antitrust laws would apply to corporations rather than unions.

Answer 23

Clayton Antitrust Act