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American history > Gilded Age > Flashcards

Gilded Age Flashcards

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1
Q

What was the problem with the Gilded Age?

A

-Lots of Corruption and Patronage (spoil system)
- Weak Presidents (sided with big business)
- Little differences between Party’s
- Big issues weren’t tackled

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2
Q

Who were the Presidents of the Gilded Age?

A
  • Rutherford B. Hayes (77-81)
  • James Garfield (1881)
  • Chester Arthur (81-84)
  • Grover Cleveland (84-88)
  • Benjamin Harrison
    -Grover Cleveland
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3
Q

How did Corruption, patronage and the spoil system effect the Gilded Age?

A
  • Government Jobs were given out on party loyalty and bribes
  • Party Leaders and President were forced to buy supporters
  • Congress was influence by where they came from instead of their Party
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4
Q

How did having a weak president effect the Gilded Age?

A
  • President was seen as a figurehead
  • Congress governed the country
  • President didnt get popular vote and instead the electoral College votes.
  • Presidency was damaged after Johnsons impeachment and Grants scandals
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5
Q

How did little difference between party’s effect the Gilded Age?

A
  • Most divisions were in the party’s
  • There was close margins in presidential elections
  • Only difference was tariffs in 1892 election (Republicans wanted them to be high)
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6
Q

How did big issues not being tackled effect the Gilded Age?

A
  • Only 5 major bills were made
  • Laissez Faire approach to business
  • Wanted Currency based off silver and not gold
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7
Q

Who was president after Grant?

A

Rutherford B Hayes

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8
Q

What is evidence of reform under Hayes?

A
  • Civil Service Reforms: Wished to award civil service jobs from merit
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9
Q

What were the Civil Service Reforms

A
  • Tried to outlaw ‘spoil system’
  • Award jobs on merit ( to eliminate incompetence)
  • Made by Hayes then continued by Garfield
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10
Q

Evidence of lack of reforms by Hayes?

A
  • Railroad strike 1977 - Hayes was prepared to use federal Military against striker.
  • This showed government supported big business.
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11
Q

Who was president after Hayes?

A

James Garfield

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12
Q

What evidence is there of reform under Garfield?

A
  • Continued Civil Service Reforms
  • Post offie Reforms - reduce corruption in the post office + stop the ‘star route’
  • His death led to the Pendleton Act
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13
Q

What evidence is there for a lack of reforms under Garfield?

A
  • Assassinated too early into Presidency (due to his reforms)
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14
Q

Who was the President after Garfield?

A

Chester Arthur

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15
Q

What evidence is there of reforms under Arthur?

A
  • Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act 1883 - competition for civil service jobs
  • Federal Immigration law
  • Attempted to low tariffs
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16
Q

When and what was the Pendleton Civil Service Act?

A
  • 1883
  • Awarded Civil Service jobs by competitive competition.
  • 14% of post office jobs on merit
  • Ensured consistency from President
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17
Q

What evidence is there for a lack of reforms under Arthur?

A
  • Tried to lower tariffs (so government won’t be embarrassed by annual surplus of revenue)
  • But it was later raised again by Congress
  • Was a ally with Conkling (earlier sacked for corruption)
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18
Q

Who was president after Arthur?

A

Grover Cleveland (1st)

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19
Q

What evidence is there of reforms under Cleveland?

A
  • Doubled the number of post office jobs for competitive exams.
  • Reduced number of federal employees
  • Interstate Commerce Act 1889 - fair rail road pricing
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20
Q

When and what was the Interstate Commerce Act?

A

-1889
- Gave fair railroad prices (reduce corruption)

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21
Q

What evidence is there for a lack of reforms under Cleveland?

A
  • Vetoed lots of bills - including one for pensions for people with disabilities not caused by the military. Texas seed bill which would provide funds for draught (laissez Faire) - were all brought by the republican dominated senate
  • Pullman Strike 1894 - used federal troops to help railroad companies
  • By end of his presidency 2/3 of office were democrats
  • Too close to J P Morgan
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22
Q

Who was president after Cleveland (1st)?

A

Benjamin Harrison

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23
Q

What evidence is of reforms under Harrison?

A
  • Sherman Anti-trust Act 1890 - combatted big business
  • Tariffs Act 1890 - highest protective tariff
  • Sherman Silver Purchase Act
24
Q

What and when was the Sherman Anti-Trust Act?

A

-1890
- Brought to stop monopolies and trusts
- Keep prices fair

25
Q

What evidence is there for a lack of reforms under Harrison?

A
  • Sherman Anti-Trust Act was weak and hard to enforce
26
Q

What other examples are there of corruption in the Gilded Age?

A
  • Local Party officials used patronage to maintain loyalty (gave jobs and benefits to supporters)
  • New York Customs Office Under Conkling - He favoured the spoil system
  • Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall (democrats
27
Q

What was a Robber Barron?

A

A captain of industry, that had direct political influence

28
Q

Who were the Robber Barron’s in the Gilded Age?

A
  • Rockefeller - Oil
  • Carnegie - Steel
  • Vanderbilt - Railroads
  • J P Morgan - Finance
29
Q

Who were the Vanderbilts?

A
  • Cornelius and William
  • Made fortune in 1860’s with steamboats then bought a considerable about of railroad in East.
  • Allowed them to cut operations costs.
  • Created a standard track gauge (for only their trains)
  • Swapped iron rails for light + more durable steel.
  • Brutal at handling strikes
30
Q

Who was Andrew Carnegie?

A
  • Used the ‘Bessemer Converter’ to quickly and cheaply produce steel
  • This was used for railroads and then in industrialisation
  • He monopolised the steel industry through vertical integration.
  • Exploited his workers with low wages and high working hours
  • Believed in philanthropy and giving donations to help people in need ( hospitals etc)
31
Q

What is vertical integration?

A
  • Companies buying all parts for production line e.g own suppliers and distributors
32
Q

Who was John B. Rockefeller?

A
  • He wanted to re-organise the American oil system
  • Began to buy oil refineries in 1862
  • Set up Standard Oil Company
  • By 1880’s controlled 85% of all American Oil
  • Did give a lot of money to charities (medicine, churches etc)
  • Prevented competition
33
Q

How much was it estimated that Rockefeller gave to charities?

A

$550 million

34
Q

Who was J P. Morgan?

A
  • in 1871 he set up his own private banking firm (after being a major force behind the creation of large companies)
  • Became the leading financial firm.
  • Created Monopolies that made it hard for other businesses to survive
35
Q

What are two examples of technological advancement in the Gilded Age?

A
  • Light Bulb - Thomas Edison
  • Telephone - Alexandra Bell
36
Q

What was the order of the 3 major unions in the Gilded Age?

A
  • National Labour Union 1866
  • The Knights of Labour 1869
  • American Federation of Labour 1885
37
Q

When was the National Labour union form and did it do?

A

-1866
- Wanted to protect 8 hr day
- Union failed after the 1873 Depression when workers became unemployed

38
Q

What happened in the 1877 Railroad strike

A

-Railroad company announced pay cutes
- Workers from multiple different railroads walked out
- Began to burn trains + tear up tracks etc
- Eventually Military was sent in to stop it

39
Q

What did the 1877 Railroad strike cause?

A
  • $10 mil in damages
  • Unions realised they needed to be organised
  • Shocked Americans
  • Companies needed to suppress labour association
40
Q

What and when was the Knights of Labour

A

-1869
- Grew rapidly after railroad strike
- Wanted to: protect 8 hr day, child labour restrictions, referendums and better labour-management relations

41
Q

What shows the growth in the Knights of Labour?

A
  • 1885 membership = 100,000
  • Gained support from Wabash strike - where they successfully made the boss negotiate with workers.
  • Within a year membership grew to 750,000
42
Q

Why did the Knights of Labour decline?

A
  • Few were willing to walk out of jobs.
  • Many strikes turned violent - so union was condemned and people left
43
Q

What was the Haymarket Bomb Outrage?

A
  • May 1886
  • A strike became violent with the police = police began to shoot at crowd
  • A later peaceful meeting ended with a bomb being chucked into group - Killed a police man
  • This caused the police to shoot into the crowd.
44
Q

What was the American Federation of Labour?

A
  • Only admitted skilled white men.
  • Didn’t want to make same mistakes as past unions.
  • Was able to secure agreements with employees
45
Q

From 1861 to 1890, how many people immigrated to the US?

A

10 million
- 80% of population of New York and Chicago = European
- 41% population growth in 1880’s

46
Q

What were push factors for immigration?

A
  • Agricultural Depressions
  • Religious persecution - Jews from Russia, Anti-Catholic in Germany
  • Political Persecution
47
Q

What were the pull factors for immigration?

A
  • Economic prosperity + employment
  • Religious tolerance
  • Democratic
  • Adverts from Atlantic Steamship companies
  • Adverts from Rail companies + available land in west
48
Q

How did immigration help economic growth?

A
  • Most settled in industrial Cities
  • Plentiful supply of cheap labour - 1890, 56% of industrial workforce
  • Chinease labours built transcontinental railroads
  • Increased number of consumer - increased markets
49
Q

What was the reaction to Immigration?

A
  • Unions complained that it took jobs and lowered wages
  • Contract Labour Law 1885 - business could not pre-organise workers before they entered US.
  • Chinese Exclusion Act 1882
  • Irish were seen as drunk and violent
  • Jews faced prejudice
  • Negative effects of increased urbanisation
50
Q

What and when was the chinease exlusion act?

A
  • 1882
  • Banned further Chinese immigration
51
Q

What was nativism?

A
  • USA was being split into 2 countries (Existing inhabitants and immigrants)
  • Existing inhabitants didn’t want to change (weathly, WASP’s, unions)
  • Unions joined social reforms that were against immigrants.
52
Q

What and when was the Turner Essay?

A
  • 1893
  • Talked about the detrimental effects of the end of the frontier
53
Q

What and when was the battle of Wounded Knee?

A
  • 1890
  • Between US army and 200 Native Americans
54
Q

What was the Dawes Act?

A
  • 1887
  • Broke reservations (for natives) to small units held by individual families
55
Q

Reasons for America to expand in the Gilded Age?

A
  • Economic Pressures - needed more imports and exports
  • Land of the Free
  • Industrial Growth
  • Geography (Canada, Latin America etc)
  • Manifest Destiny
  • End of the frontier
56
Q

Reasons for USA to keep to isolationism?

A
  • Monroe Doctrine
  • Land of the free - didn’t need influence from other countries
  • Anti-imperialism
  • Still recovering from Civil War
57
Q

What are some early examples of expansionism?

A
  • Grant wanted to colonises Dominican Republic (rejected)
  • Alaskan Purchase in 1867
  • Captain Alfred Thayer wrote about the importance of having a navy

American history (4 decks)

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