Quiz thing Flashcards
Railroad Subsidies/Credit Mobilier Scandal
1870 - Railroads, esp Union Pacific and Central Pacific, paid off government officials. Congressmen all wanted more land & stocks, so they voted to give the railroad more land.
- Owned in a checkerboard pattern
Whiskey Ring Scandal
1875 - Members of Treasury & Pres. Grants private secretary, Babcock, stole taxes on distilled whiskey in St. Louis. Babcock was given a Presidential pardon
- Grant should have gotten in trouble
Belknap Scandal
1876 - Sec. of War Belknap was selling “Indian trainer positions” to the highest bidder. These people would then steal money.
- Tied to the Plains Indians Wars
- Army hated the scandal since their men had to die for a dumb reason
Pendleton Act
1883 - Civil service act from when Chester Arthur was President. Ended the spoils system
- Result of Garfield’s assassination
Half-Breeds
Supported civil service reform and awarding jobs based on merit, opposed the spoils system and patronage
- Garfield was voted for as a compromise
Stalwarts
Supported the spoils system and patronage, opposed civil service reform.
- Supported Grant & his administration
- Decline began with the Pendleton Act
- Garfield was voted for as a compromise
Tariff Issue
One major economic issue. Consumers did not want higher tariffs, big business did.
- Democrats were against it
- Republicans were for it
Gold Standard vs. Greenback
One major economic issue. Gold Standard backed the paper US currency, Greenbacks were not backed by gold or silver.
- Gold Standard was supported by upper & middle classes
-Greenbacks were supported by poor workers & farmers
Garfield Assassination
1881, killed by a man who was upset he did not get the government job he wanted. Led to the Pendleton Act.
- Charles Guiteau wanted to “fix the Republican party”
First Democratic President since 1856
1884 - Grover Cleveland, won due to liberal Republicans
- Laissez-Faire presidency
- Supported gold standard
- Scandal about his paying child support
Interstate Commerce Act
1887 - Full time committee that looks for corruption in business
Sherman Antitrust Act
Stopped capitalists from starting huge business monopolies, attacked labor unions at first
Billion-Dollar Congress
Republican administration, first time Congress spent 1 billion in a year
- Also first time in peace-time debt
Andrew Carnegie
Used vertical consolidation in his Carnegie Steel business. “Gospel of Wealth” - gave away much of his money in support of libraries, peforming arts, etc.
John D. Rockefeller
Used horizontal consolidation in his Standard Oil business.
J.P. Morgan
Financial banking, he bought Carnegie Steel and created US Steel
Herbert Spencer
English philosopher who created Social Darwinism (concept of survival of the fittest in humans socially)
- Charles Darwin hated it
William Graham Sumner
Yale Professor who advocated for Laissez-Faire, hard work, and Liberalism
Horatio Alger
Example of Social Darwinism, wrote 119 “rags to riches” stories (individual opportunity)
Tammany Hall
Democratic political machine in NYC that relied on the patronage from immigrants
- Controlled by William Marcy Tweed
- Taken down by Thomas Nast and Samuel Tilden
Thomas Nast
Famous cartoonist who created the Republican Elephant & modern Santa Claus
Vertical consolidation
Gaining control of all steps of production
Liberals
Wanted to get rid of corruption in the government
Horizontal consolidation
Acquiring companies that sold the same products, allowing them to dominate industries and control prices
