Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
58 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
Who was the Republican nominee for the 1868 presidential election? |
General Ulysses S. Grant. Although he had no political experience, the idea was that his war-hero status would carry him to his victory. |
|
|
Who was the Democratic nominee for the 1868 presidential election? What was the Democratic party like? |
Horatio Seymour. The Democratic party was hopelessly disorganized. They agreed on their criticism of military reconstruction but couldn't agree on anything else. Seymour's popularity took a hit when he said he didn't support redeeming greenback money at full value. |
|
|
Who won the election of 1868? |
Grant won the election by a very narrow margin. His main technique was to "wave the bloody shirt" to remind voters of his military record and that he helped lead the North to victory. |
|
|
What did the close victory signal? |
1) Tightly run and hard-fighting political parties 2) Narrow election margins of victory |
|
|
How did corruption come in the post-Civil War era? |
Came via the railroads, meddling stock prices, and corrupt judges |
|
|
Who was Jim Fisk and Jay Gould and what did they do? |
They were partners who would scheme in 1869 to corner the gold market to themselves. They tried to get Grant and his brother-in-law to get involved. |
|
|
How did they corner the gold market? |
In early 1869, gold was still the official currency of international trade, but the United States had gone off the gold standard during the Civil War when Congress authorized $450 million in government-backed “greenbacks” to fund the Union march to war. Since there was only around $20 million in gold in circulation, Gould and Fisk decided that they could buy a lot of it until they had “cornered” the market. From there, they could drive up the price and sell for astronomical profits. Their plan could only work if the Treasury didn't release gold (to redeem greenbacks). When they did this, they determined the price of gold. Through manipulating Grant's brother-in-law, they got the Treasury to stop selling gold for a month. Ripples from “Black Friday” affected the U.S. economy for several years and blighted the rest of Ulysses S. Grant’s tenure as president. |
|
|
Who was Boss Tweed?
|
Boss Tweed ran Tammany Hall, a local political district. Boss Tweed used bribes, graft, and rigged election to milk New York City out millions of dollars to ensure continual power for himself and his friends. |
|
|
Who was Thomas Nast? |
Thomas Nast a cartoonist who relentlessly attacked Tweed's corruption. Tweed offered Nast $5 million for his complicity, but Nast declined. Because of his cartoon, Tweed was sent to jail. |
|
|
Who gained fame in prosecuting Tweed? |
Samuel J. Tilden, Democratic candidate for the U.S. Presidency in the disputed election of 1876 against Rutherford B. Hayes |
|
|
How was President Grant's administration covered with corruption? |
President Grant was an honest man but there was so much corruption underneath his administration. He either wasn't aware of it or failed to properly deal with it. Many in the Dent family, his in-laws got government jobs. |
|
|
What was one of the worst situations in the Grant administration? |
The Credit Mobilier scandal. The company was construction the trans-continental railroad and effectively sub-hired themselves to get paid double. The also gave stock to Congressman in order getting busted |
|
|
What was the Whiskey Ring scandal? |
Government officials stole whiskey tax revenue from the government. Grant let his secretary off the hook. |
|
|
Who was William Belknap? |
The Secretary of War, who was caught swindling $24,000 by selling trinkets to the Indians. |
|
|
What happened to the Republican party in the 1872 election? |
Reformers started the Liberal Republican Party to clean things up. |
|
|
Who did the Liberal Republicans elect? |
Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, as their candidate. |
|
|
What was strange about all the Democrats? Why didn't they nominate someone? |
Even though Greeley lambasted the Democrats through his paper, he was soft on allowing the South to return to the nation, which they liked. Therefore, they endorsed Greeley. |
|
|
Who won the election of 1872? |
Grant won his re-election.
|
|
|
What did the Liberal Republicans do? |
They scared the Republican party into reforming things themselves.
1) Amnesty act was passed- removed restrictions that had been placed on Southerners 2) Reduce the tariff rates 3) Clean up Grant administration |
|
|
What happened a year after the election of 1872? |
The Panic of 1873 |
|
|
What caused the panic of 1873? |
1) Over-speculation 2) Too-easy credit given by the banks 3) Over-spending with borrowed money. Growth was too fast than what the market could sustain 4) The panic started when banks and businesses went bankrupt. It snowballed from there |
|
|
How were people affected? |
Blacks were a hard hit. The Freedman's Savings and Trust Co. went bankrupt.
Debtors wanted greenbacks- soft money. Bankers wanted hard money |
|
|
What was the Resumption Act? |
Bill Grant passed to lower the number of greenbacks in circulation and redeem paper money at face value starting in 1879. |
|
|
Under Grant's administration, the nation entered into what period? |
Contraction- amount of money in circulation decreased. |
|
|
Did contraction help the depression? |
Not really, but it did raise the value of the dollar. |
|
|
What party was started in 1878 with the mission of cheap money policies? |
The Greenback Labor Party was started in 1878. |
|
|
What was the culture of the Republican party in 1878? |
They were of Puritan ancestry and were supported in the North and West. The G.A.R supported Republicans. |
|
|
What was the culture of the Democratic party in 1878? |
Democrats got most of their support from the South. Supported by Lutherans and Catholics. |
|
|
What was the split in the Republican party in the 1870's and 1880's?
|
The Stalwarts were led by Roscoe Conkling and the Half-Breeds were led by James G. Blaine. |
|
|
Who did the Republicans nominate for the 1876 election? |
Rutherford B. Hayes. He was neutral in the Conkling vs Blaine wars. He came from Ohio- a crucial state. |
|
|
Who did the Democrats nominate for the 1876 election? |
Samuel Tilden |
|
|
What was the whole standoff about? |
Tilden got 184 electorates and needed 185 to win. 20 votes were hanging in the balance, so both sides sent people to the questionable states (LA, SC, FL) and both men claimed victories there. The question became- which branch of Congress would count the votes? Depending on who counted- the D House or the R Senate, that president would win. |
|
|
What was the Compromise of 1877 and what did it mark? Why? |
The Comp of 1877 marked the end of reconstruction. Here's why: 1. Congress passed Electorate Count Act- but there was a Republican majority in the commission. Democrats were mad. 2. Comp was made--> a) North got Hayes elected b) South got the promise that Hayes would remove military reconstruction in the South. Also, money for the Texas and Pacific Railroad. Therefore, it ended reconstruction. |
|
|
Why was the end of military reconstruction bad for blacks? |
Southern blacks have no more protection. Southerners reclaimed power. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was supposed to help, but it didn't. Fraud and intimidation were the tools. |
|
|
What was the system of sharecropping? |
Blacks farmed land they didn't own and paid fees to the landlord come harvest time. The system worked so that they'd be stuck working (probably for the same man before the Civil War) since they could never get out of debt. |
|
|
How did segregation become institutionalized? |
Jim Crow Laws were passed Plessy vs. Ferguson(1896)- "separate but equal" |
|
|
As well as ending Reconstruction, how was 1877 a year of other conflicts? |
4 largest railroads got together and cut wages by 10%. Workers went on strike. The railroad shutdown crippled the nation and Hayes called in federal troops to stop the unrest amongst the striking workers. |
|
|
What did the railroad strike of 1877 show about the labor force? |
That the labor movement was really weak at the time. |
|
|
Ethnic clashes were also common in 1877. How did they come about? |
Chinese were competing for low-paying jobs with the Irish. Most Chinese were poor men who emigrated to California. After the railroad boom, many returned to China, and many stayed. Irishman Denis Kearney fired up in San Fransisco. The argument was that a rice eater could afford for working lower-paying jobs than the beef eater. |
|
|
How did Congress attempt to solve these clashes? |
By passing the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, forbidding Chinese immigration to America. First immigration restriction in America ever passed. |
|
|
Who was up in the 1880 election? |
Republican: James Garfield and VP Chester Arthur Democrat: General Winfield Scott, Civil War hero. |
|
|
Who won the 1880 election? |
Garfield won. However, he was assassinated by Charles Guiteau. |
|
|
Who became president after Garfield's assassination? |
VP Chester Arthur |
|
|
What did Arthur do during his presidency? |
Arthur was reform-minded. He was against his Stalwart buddies trying to get power. He passed the Pendleton Act- which established that positions within the federal government should be awarded on the basis of merit instead of political affiliation. The act provided the selection of government employees by competitive exams, rather than ties to politicians or political affiliation. This was the height of political reform. The Civil Service Commission would award jobs based off performance. |
|
|
Who was up in the 1884 election? |
Republicans: James G. Blaine Democrats: Grover Cleveland. Mugwumps were Republicans who liked Cleveland. |
|
|
Who won the 1884 election? |
Grover Cleveland, despite all the mudslinging. |
|
|
What was important about Cleveland? |
He was the first Democrat in a string of Republicans. He has a laissez-faire capitalism mindset, which made business folks really happy. He helped bridge the North-South gap by naming two former Confederates to his cabinet. He tried to follow the merit system but didn't succeed with this approach. Cleveland fired 80000 of 120000 employees, 40000 of them Republicans to be replaced by Democrats. |
|
|
Why did Cleveland veto all the military pension bills? |
Because he wasn't a war veteran, so he didn't want to halt them, but he still did because most of them were money-grabbing pensions from the GAR. |
|
|
What was Cleveland's unusual problem? |
A budget surplus. He could either cut taxes or increase spending. He decided to cut taxes. Many people wanted it lowered. Businesses wanted higher for protection. The issue came in the election of 1888. |
|
|
Who was up in the election of 1888? |
Benjamin Harrison- Republican Cleveland- Democrat |
|
|
Who won the election of 1888? |
Harrison won. Cleveland was the 2nd president to be voted out of office. |
|
|
How did Republicans assert their power again after being out for only one term? |
Elected Thomas Czar Reed who ran the House of Representatives like a dictator. Quorum situation happened. |
|
|
What did Thomas Reed do? |
Passed the "Billion Dollar Congress" bill. This gave pensions more liberally to veterans. More silver was purchased. McKinely tariff- 48%- farmers hated and businesses loved it |
|
|
By 1892, what new political party emerged? |
The Populist Party out of the Farmer's Alliance. They were for cheap money and coining silver. They also wanted a graduated income tax, gov regulation of railroads, direct election of US senators, initiative and referendum, shorter work day and immigration restrictions. South didn't vote for Populists because of race reasons. They did well in the election. As a result, literacy and poll tests, and grandfather clauses were used to prevent blacks from voting. |
|
|
Who won his reelection in 1892? |
Grover Cleveland, after 4 years off. |
|
|
What started a year after his election? How was this ironic? |
In contrast to the crisis he faced before with the budget surplus, he now faced a budget deficit. This started the Depression of 1893. 8,000 businesses went out in 6 months. The nation's gold supply was getting really low. |
|
|
What was the Sherman Silver Purchase Act? |
A cycle where the government would buy silver and print paper money to pay for it and turn the money into gold. They overspent and gold reserves dipped below $100 million, the safe minimum. Congress debated repealing the Act. William Jennings Bryan became a spokesman for cheap money and silver. Despite the arguing, it was still repealed. Cleveland turned to J.P. Morgan to help him. He lent the government $65 million. |
|
|
What was the Wilson-Gorman Tariff? |
It slightly reduced the United States tariff rates from the numbers set in the 1890 McKinley tariff and imposed a 2% income tax. Republicans began to benefit. |
