Gilded Age Flashcards
Name 3 corruption scandals that happened under Grant
Credit Mobilier Scandal
Salary Grab 1873
Gold Scandal 1869
What was the Credit Mobilier Scandal?
Union Pacific railroad stockholders were syphoning off profits for themselves and members of Congress like Vice President Colfax were covering it up
What was the Gold Scandal of 1869?
Friends of President Grant spread rumours that the price of gold had risen so then due to that the price did rise and they sold theirs at a higher price
What was the Salary Grab of 1873?
Congress voted for a 50% salary increase which was retroactive for 2 years - was eventually cancelled due to unpopularity
What were the 3 factions of republicans during the Gilded Age?
Stalwarts
Half Breeds
Mugwumps
Which faction of the Republicans supported the spoils system?
The Stalwarts
Which 2 factions of the Republicans supported Civil Reform
Half Breeds
Mugwumps
Which groups voted for the Republicans?
Middle class whites, former slaves, pensioners, Protestants and businessmen
Which groups voted for the Democrats?
Catholics, The South and immigrants
List all 6 forgettable presidents of the Gilded Age
Hayes Garfield Arthur Cleveland Harrison Cleveland
Which trade union opposed immigration and why?
The AFL (American Federation of Labour) because immigrants provided competition for ‘Natives’ and brought wages down by making Labour more dispensable
Give an anti immigration act
1882 Chinese Exclusion Act stopped them entering the country
How did the press fuel anti immigration sentiments with an example paper?
The New York Herald Tribune said “English must change their ways” to fit with American life
What is Nativism and who supports it?
Nativism is the view that Americans should come first and that immigration is the source of problems like crime and cultural divisions. WASPs supported it.
Give a social reason for westward expansion
Religious persecution of the Mormons due to the Anti Polygamy Law of 1862 led to them being the biggest group to move West
Define manifest destiny
The belief that Americans were chosen by God to populate the continent
Who and when was manifest destiny first used?
It used by John L Sullivan in terms of the Annexation of Texas which he described as proof that America was “the great nation of the future”
When and where was the first gold rush?
1848 in Nevada and California led to the movement of the Forty Niners
When and where was the Second Gold Rush
The 1870s in Dakota which led to the creation of the town of Deadwood which thousands of settlers moved to
Give a key piece of 1862 Lincoln legislation
The Homestead Act which gave land to farmers for free as long as they farmed it for 5 years
Define bonanza farm
Very large farms that there were over 1000 of by 1880
Give another piece of land legislation
Timber and Culture Act 1873 - an 160 acres were given to settlers if they promised to play trees on at least 40 acres
How many people had settled on the plains by 1865?
20,000
What was the Pacific Railroad Act 1863?
It let two companies build the Transcontinental Railroad and got workers through ‘but now, pay later’ schemes
How many passengers did the Transcontinental Railroad have by 1882?
1 million
By 1900 how much railroad was Transcontinental?
Half of all national railroads
What led to inflation and lower living standards in the North?
Population increase and migration
What was a negative consequence of the railroads on the North?
Led to social tensions with trade unions and the Great Railroad Strike 1877
What race divisions were there in the south?
Reconstruction and the abolition of slavery had challenged the white southern elites who responded with violence and lynchings as the KKK rose to power
What class divisions were there in the south?
Different classes of African Americans disagreed on how moderate or radical the actions could be for example some viewed Booker T Washington’s Washington Address as too lenient
What was the Granger Movement in the Wild West?
Settler farmers who felt they were not represented politically - this led to the Populist movement later on
