The American Pageant: Chapter 23 Flashcards

Despite his status as a military hero, General Ulysses S. Grant proved to be a weak political leader because he

a. was personally dishonest and corrupt.
b. did not believe in the principles of the Republican party.
c. was unable to get others to follow his lead.
d. had no political experience and was a poor judge of character.
e. lacked political ambition

In the presidential election of 1868, Ulysses S. Grant

a. transformed his personal popularity into a large majority in the popular vote.
b. owed his victory to the votes of former slaves.
c. gained his victory by winning the votes of the majority of whites.
d. demonstrated his political skill.
e. All of these

In the aftermath of the Civil War

a. the population of the United States declined.
b. Americans retained a strong sense of idealistic sacrifice.
c. the North developed a strong sense of moral superiority.
d. concern for racial questions took precedence over economics.
e. waste, speculation, and corruption afflicted both business and government.

n the late nineteenth century, those political candidates who campaigned by "waving the bloody shirt" were reminding voters

a. of the gory memories of the Civil War and the Republican party's role in the Union's victory.
b. that the Civil War had been caused by the election of a Republican president.
c. that Republicans had reformed the corrupt radical regimes in the Reconstruction South.
d. that radical Republicans catered to freed slaves during Reconstruction.
e. of Ku Klux Klan violence against blacks.

Which one of the following is least related to the other four?

a. Jim Fisk
b. "Black Friday"
c. Jay Gould
d. "Ohio Idea"
e. Wall Street gold market

New York's notoriously corrupt Boss Tweed was finally jailed under the pressure of

a. New York Times exposés and the cartoons of Thomas Nast.
b. federal income tax evasion charges.
c. the RICO racketeering act.
d. New York City's ethics laws.
e. testimony by Tweed's partners in crime.

The Crédit Mobilier scandal involved

a. public utility company bribes.
b. Bureau of Indian Affairs payoffs.
c. railroad construction kickbacks.
d. evasion of excise taxes on distilled liquor.
e. manipulating the Wall Street stock market.

In an attempt to avoid prosecution for their corrupt dealings, the owners of the Crédit Mobilizer

a. left the country.
b. belatedly started to follow honest business practices.
c. used shady bookkeeping to conceal their insider financial deals.
d. tried to gain immunity by testifying before Congress.
e. bribed key congressmen by giving them shares of the company's valuable stock.

The Liberal Republican revolt from the regular Republican party in 1872 was motivated primarily by

a. dismay at the Republicans' weakness in upholding radical Reconstruction in the South.
b. nostalgia for leadership like that of the martyred Abraham Lincoln.
c. disgust at the corruption and scandals of the Grant administration.
d. a fervent passion for reforms on behalf of women and blacks.
e. a desire to strengthen the federal government's regulation of big business

President Ulysses S. Grant was reelected in 1872 because

a. the Democrats and Liberal Republicans could not decide on a single candidate.
b. he promised reforms in the political system.
c. he was the only candidate who enjoyed support in both the North and South.
d. the Democrats and Liberal Republicans chose the eccentric editor Horace Greeley as their candidate.
e. of the massive support of black voters in the Reconstruction South.

Match each politician below with the Republican political faction with which he was associated.

A. Roscoe Conkling 1. "Half-Breeds"

B. James Blaine 2. Stalwarts

C. Horace Greeley 3. Regular Republicans

D. Ulysses Grant 4. Liberal Republicans

a. A-2, B-3, C-4, D-1
b. A-3, B-1, C-2, D-4
c. A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4
d. A-2, B-1, C-4, D-3
e. A-4, B-3, C-1, D-2

A major cause of the panic that broke in 1873 was

a. the issuance of millions of dollars in greenbacks.
b. the expansion of more factories, railroads, and mines than existing markets would bear.
c. a credit crunch caused by extremely high interest rates.
d. Wall Street's fears about the power of the radical Greenback Labor party.
e. excessive speculation in mining stocks.

As a solution to the depression that followed the panic of 1873, debtors strongly advocated

a. a return to gold as the only form of American money.
b. establishment of a federally regulated system of savings and loan banks.
c. the appointment of farmers and workers to the Treasury Department.
d. rapid growth in federal expenditures on public works.
e. inflation through issuance of far more greenback paper currency.

Black Americans were hard hit by the gloom times of the depression years of the mid 1870s because

a. many had put their money in the Freedman's Savings and Trust, only to see it vanish due to bad investments.
b. companies tended to fire them first and hold on to white workers.
c. mobs of unemployed workers took out their frustrations through violence against blacks.
d. they lost what little land they owned to speculation schemes.
e. None of these

One result of Republican hard money policies in the mid-1870s was

a. the rise of the American dollar against foreign currencies.
b. damage to the country's credit rating.
c. the return to the silver "Dollar of Our Daddies" as the dominant form of U.S. money.
d. the defeat of a Democratic House of Representatives in 1874.
e. a political turn to the Democrats and new Greenback Labor party.

Those who enjoyed a successful political career in the post-Civil War decades were usually

a. reformers.
b. incorruptible.
c. party loyalists.
d. political independents.
e. wealthy and well educated

During the Gilded Age, the Democrats and the Republicans

a. had few significant policy differences.
b. agreed on currency policy but not the tariff.
c. disagreed primarily over the power of the federal government.
d. held similar views on all economic issues except for civil-service reform.
e. were divided over silver vs. gold currency

The presidential elections of the 1870s and 1880s

a. were all won by Republicans.
b. revolved primarily around the charismatic personalities running for the presidency.
c. were rarely close.
d. usually involved sharp partisan differences over issues like currency policy and civil-service reform.
e. aroused enormous turnouts among voters even though there were few significant issues.

In religious and cultural terms, the Republicans appealed especially to groups that derived their views from the

a. less orthodox traditions of Unitarianism and Quakerism.
b. Catholic and Lutheran traditions of creed, liturgy, and understanding of human weakness.
c. Baptist tradition that feared government intrusion on personal and religious freedom.
d. scientific tradition that saw religion as a fading force in American society.
e. Puritan tradition of strict moral codes and government regulation of morality and society.

Despite the lack of national political issues, Gilded Age elections often produced fierce local contests over culturally and religiously charged issues like

a. imperialism and foreign missions.
b. prohibition and education.
c. race relations and racial justice in the South.
d. sexual morality and women's rights.
e. the phrase "In God We Trust" on American currency.

One reason for the extremely high voter turnouts and partisan fervor of the Gilded Age was

a. the parties' differences over economic issues.
b. sharp ethnic and cultural differences in the membership of the two parties.
c. religious conflict between Catholics and Lutherans.
d. differences over the issue of the civil service.
e. sectional tensions among the Northeast, Midwest, and South.

During the Gilded Age, the lifeblood of both the Democratic and the Republican parties was

a. the Grand Army of the Republic.
b. the Roman Catholic Church.
c. ideological commitment.
d. big-city political machines.
e. political patronage.

The political base of the Democratic party in the late nineteenth century lay especially in

a. the small towns of the Northeast and the South.
b. big business and those involved in international trade.
c. Midwestern farmers.
d. the white South and big-city immigrant machines.
e. northern blacks and Asian immigrants.

Which of the following was not among the groups that formed the solid political base of the Republican party in the late nineteenth century?

a. Northern big cities
b. Union Civil War veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic
c. Southern black freedmen
d. The Midwest
e. The rural and small-town Northeast

The major problem in the 1876 presidential election centered on

a. who would be Speaker of the House.
b. the two sets of election returns submitted by Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana.
c. Samuel Tilden's association with corrupt politicians.
d. President Grant's campaign for a third term.
e. failure to use the secret Australian ballot in some places.

The Compromise of 1877 resulted in

a. a renewal of the Republican commitment to protect black civil rights in the South.
b. the withdrawal of federal troops and abandonment of black rights in the South.
c. the election of a Democrat to the presidency.
d. Republican support for an inflationary silver-money policy.
e. a plan to build the first transcontinental railroad.

The sequence of presidential terms of the "forgettable presidents" of the Gilded Age (including Cleveland's two nonconsecutive terms) was

a. Cleveland, Hayes, Harrison, Cleveland, Arthur, and Garfield.
b. Garfield, Hayes, Harrison, Cleveland, Arthur, and Cleveland.
c. Cleveland, Garfield, Arthur, Hayes, Harrison, and Cleveland.
d. Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, Harrison, and Cleveland.
e. Hayes, Garfield, Harrison, Cleveland, Arthur, and Cleveland.

All of the following are true statements about the Civil Rights Act of 1875 except

a. it marked a last gasp of the congressional radical Republicans.
b. it was supposed to guarantee equal rights in voting and access to education for blacks and whites.
c. its purpose was to ensure equal accommodations in public places.
d. it prohibited racial discrimination in jury selection.
e. much of its content was deemed unconstitutional in the Civil Rights cases of 1883.

In the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court ruled that

a. African Americans could be denied the right to vote.
b. segregation was unconstitutional.
c. "separate but equal" facilities were constitutional.
d. the Fourteenth Amendment did not apply to African Americans.
e. literacy tests for voting were constitutional.

At the end of Reconstruction, Southern whites disenfranchised African Americans using

a. literacy requirements.
b. poll taxes.
c. economic intimidation.
d. lynching
e. All of these

Blacks who violated the Jim Crow laws or other elements of the South's racial code were often subject to

a. prosecution in federal courts.
b. ostracizing by their own community.
c. criticism from both white and black churches.
d. losing their case in the Supreme Court.
e. lynching.

The legal codes that established the system of segregation were

a. found only in the North.
b. called Jim Crow laws.
c. overturned by Plessy v. Ferguson.
d. undermined by the crop lien system.
e. passed during Reconstruction.

Public executions and lynchings of black men in the Jim Crow South were

a. retaliation for violent crimes against whites.
b. designed to intimidate African Americans to accept second-class status.
c. done to scare blacks into moving out of the South.
d. a way to force blacks back into slave-like labor.
e. All of these

Which of these is NOT a true statement about the relationship between blacks and sharecropping in the years after Reconstruction?

a. As sharecroppers, blacks found themselves at the mercy of former masters who were now their landlords and creditors.
b. Some merchants manipulated the system so that farmers remained perpetually in debt to them.
c. Black sharecroppers often lived in conditions scarcely better than when they were slaves.
d. White southerners did not work as sharecroppers.
e. Sharecroppers barely scraped by economically.

The presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes began with

a. a national movement for civil service reform.
b. increased overseas expansion.
c. sharp class conflict and a national railroad strike.
d. public demands for positive immigration reform.
e. improved race relations in the South and the West.

The national railroad strike of 1877 started when

a. President Hayes refused to use troops to keep the trains running.
b. the four largest railroads cut salaries by 10 percent.
c. working hours were cut back by the railroad companies.
d. the railroad workers refused to cross the picket lines of cargo loaders.
e. the railroads tried to hire Chinese workers.

The fundamental attitude of Hayes and other Republican administrations toward labor agitation was

a. strong support for the railroads and other business in their efforts to crush labor organizing.
b. attempts to establish the federal government as a neutral arbiter between business and labor.
c. support for expanded immigration from China and Latin America.
d. to support reasonable regulation of business.
e. to try to enlist farmers as a political counterbalance to industrial laborers.

Labor unrest during the Hayes administration stemmed from

a. agitation by Communist sympathizers.
b. the establishment of the Socialist party.
c. the collapse of the steel industry.
d. competition among rival unions.
e. years of depression and deflation that undermined workers' living standards.

In the wake of anti-Chinese violence in California, the United States Congress

a. negotiated a restricted-immigration agreement with China.
b. did nothing, as it was California's problem.
c. banned the Kearneyites in San Francisco.
d. sent many Chinese back to their homeland.
e. passed a law prohibiting the immigration of Chinese laborers to America.

Which of the following internal developments in China resulted in Chinese immigration to the United States?

a. The disintegration of the Chinese Empire
b. The seizure of farmland by landlords
c. The intrusion of European powers
d. Internal political turmoil
e. All of these

One of the main reasons that the Chinese came to the United States was to

a. dig for gold.
b. work on the East Coast.
c. replace the newly freed slaves in the South.
d. buy their own farms.
e. All of these

The absence of children in largely all-male Chinese immigrant communities meant that

a. the economic benefits of child labor were largely absent.
b. the cultural and language assimilation fostered by children were harder to attain.
c. many Chinese organizations sought to bring in adopted children from China.
d. white social work agencies were slower to become involved with Chinese communities.
e. education was seldom a priority in Chinese communities.

During the mid to late nineteenth century, Chinese women

a. did not emigrate to the United States at all.
b. settled mostly on the east coast,
c. were a large percentage of the immigrants to the U.S.
d. were few in number, and most became prostitutes.
e. competed with Irish women for jobs in domestic service.

The Chinese word tong means

a. criminal organization.
b. meeting hall.
c. labor union.
d. family.
e. cooking utensil.

President James A. Garfield was assassinated

a. by an ex-Confederate bitter at Garfield's Union army service.
b. because he was a Stalwart Republican.
c. by a jealous former lover.
d. by a deranged, disappointed office seeker.
e. by a political anarchist.

The Pendleton Act required people applying for many federal government jobs to

a. take a competitive examination.
b. present a written recommendation from a congressman or senator.
c. agree to make financial contributions to their political party.
d. submit a resume listing their experience and providing references.
e. have a college degree.

With the Pendleton Act prohibiting political contributions from many federal workers, politicians increasingly sought money from

a. new immigrants.
b. contractors doing business with the federal government.
c. factory workers and farmers.
d. foreign contributors.
e. big corporations.

The 1884 election contest between James G. Blaine and Grover Cleveland was noted for

a. its emphasis on issues.
b. low voter turnout.
c. its viciously personal attacks between the two candidates.
d. a landslide victory for the reform-minded Republicans.
e. its virtual tie in the electoral college.

Which one of the following Gilded Age presidents had a different party affiliation from the other four?

a. Ulysses S. Grant
b. Rutherford Hayes
c. Grover Cleveland
d. Benjamin Harrison
e. Chester Arthur

When he was president, Grover Cleveland's strong belief in a laissez-faire approach to government gained the support of

a. former Confederates in the South.
b. veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic.
c. farmers.
d. workers.
e. businesspeople.

Grover Cleveland stirred political opposition by

a. supporting free and unlimited coinage of silver.
b. advocating federal aid to farmers.
c. vetoing many veterans' pension bills.
d. spending the federal budget surplus on public works.
e. bringing his mistress and illegitimate child to live in the White House.

The major campaign issue of the 1888 presidential election was

a. civil-service reform.
b. the big trust question.
c. the currency question.
d. foreign policy.
e. tariff policy.

Grover Cleveland proposed to address the problem of the large federal budget surplus by

a. spending on roads, dams, and other public works.
b. providing higher pensions for all Civil War veterans both North and South.
c. cutting federal income taxes.
d. lowering the tariff.
e. distributing the surplus to the states.

Benjamin Harrison's victory over Grover Cleveland in the election of 1888 was unusual in that

a. it was an overwhelming landslide for Harrison.
b. Indiana and Ohio were not key states in determining the election outcome.
c. the Republican party raised less money than the Democrats.
d. there was almost none of the usual voter fraud and corruption.
e. Harrison lost the popular vote to Cleveland but won in the electoral college.

The Billion-Dollar Congress quickly disposed of rising government surpluses by

a. providing subsidies to wheat, corn, and cotton farmers.
b. building an expensive new steel navy.
c. expanding pensions for Civil War veterans.
d. cutting tariffs and other taxes.
e. increasing spending on railroads and other transportation projects.

The tariff bill, sponsored by the talented Congressman William McKinley of Ohio, provided for

a. higher tariffs on agricultural imports and lower tariffs for imported farm machinery.
b. higher tariffs on raw materials than on finished goods.
c. sky-high tariff rates that stirred rural discontent.
d. reciprocal free trade agreements between the United States and Latin American countries.
e. lower tariffs on goods from other democratic countries.

Which of the following was not among the platform planks adopted by the Populist party in their convention of 1892?

a. Government ownership of the railroads, telephone, and telegraph
b. Free and unlimited coinage of silver in the ratio of 16 to 1
c. A one-term limit on the presidency
d. Government guarantees of parity prices for farmers
e. Immigration restrictions

An epidemic of violent strikes and labor conflict in 1892 led to the prospect of

a. a switch of urban workers from the Democratic to the Republican party.
b. Populist support for immigration restrictions.
c. Populist support for a revolutionary overthrow of reactionary state governments.
d. the Populists adding industrial workers to their base of support among farmers.
e. Grover Cleveland's switch to a pro-labor and pro-farmer campaign platform.

The four states completely carried by the Populists in the election of 1892 were

a. Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
b. Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois.
c. Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Kansas.
d. Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
e. Kansas, Colorado, Idaho, and Nevada.

The conservative white Bourbon Democrats of the South largely succeeded in crushing the Populist revolt by
a. demonstrating that Populist economic policies would harm Southern cotton interests.
b. charging that the Populist were de facto allies of the hated Republicans.
c. bribing the Populist leadership to betray the rank and file.
d. persuading black farmers that the Populists really did not have their interests at heart.
e. appealing to poor white farmers' antiblack racial feelings against their economic interests.

The early Populist campaign to create a coalition of white and black farmers ended in

a. a racist backlash that eliminated black voting in the South.
b. the transformation of Tom Watson into a fervent civil rights leader.
c. an alignment of wealthy Bourbon whites with moderate blacks.
d. the breakdown of segregation in areas outside southern cities.
e. the emergence of Republican political power in the South.

The political developments of the l890s were largely shaped by

a. the widespread prosperity and federal budget surpluses.
b. America's growing involvement in overseas conflicts.
c. the most severe and extended economic depression up to that time.
d. the growing black rebellion against segregation and racial oppression.
e. the deadlock among Republicans, Democrats, and Populists in Congress.

Economic unrest and the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act led to the rise of the pro-silver leader

a. Tom Watson.
b. William Jennings Bryan.
c. William McKinley.
d. J. Pierpont Morgan.
e. Adlai E. Stevenson.

President Cleveland's hostility to silver and silver-backed currency was driven primarily by his fear that

a. the growing drain of gold from the U.S. Treasury would force the United States off the gold standard.
b. the unlimited supplies of silver within the United States would create runaway inflation.
c. supporting silver would play into the hands of radical Democrats like William Jennings Bryan.
d. soon gold and silver would both be replaced by strictly paper currency.
e. the U.S. Treasury did not have sufficient capacity to store silver bullion at Fort Knox.

President Grover Cleveland aroused widespread public anger by his action of

a. vetoing the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act.
b. using federal troops to suppress Populist demonstrations.
c. taking the United States off the gold standard.
d. borrowing $65 million in gold from J.P. Morgan's banking syndicate.
e. wasting the federal surplus on pork-barrel spending.

President Cleveland's response to the depression of the 1890s demonstrated that he

a. was able to work effectively with J.P. Morgan to address the problems of unemployment.
b. understood the problems of urban workers better than those of farmers.
c. had a weak grasp of the economic theory that lay behind the demand for free silver.
d. was unable to deal effectively with such a massive economic crisis.
e. was able to skillfully incorporate some Populist proposals into the Democratic party.

Match each politician below with the Republican political faction with which he was associated.

A. Roscoe Conkling
B. James Blaine
C. Horace Greeley
D. Ulysses Grant

1. "Half-Breeds"
2. Stalwarts
3. Regular Republicans
4. Liberal Republicans

More MCQ's :)