#20: Gilded Age Politics
1. Presidents during the last quarter of the nineteenth century
A) were elected by landslides.
B) took strong stands on the issues.
C) were undistinguished leaders.
D) dominated both houses of Congress.
2. During the late 1800s, the government body known as a "rich man's club" was
A) the Populist Party.
B) Tammany Hall.
C) the Senate.
D) the House of Representatives.
3. During the late nineteenth century, the House of Representatives was
A) controlled by a few long-term members.
B) disorderly and inefficient.
C) admired for its statesmanship.
D) more deliberative than the Senate.
4. The distinction between Democrats and Republicans during the late nineteenth century arose from
differences
A) in religious affiliation, geographic location, and ethnic background.
B) on civil service reform, foreign policy, and protective legislation.
C) on civil rights for blacks, Indian policy, and women's rights.
D) on tariffs, internal improvements, and currency policy.
5. During the latter part of the nineteenth century, Republicans were particularly strong in the ________
states.
A) middle Atlantic
B) southern
C) far western
D) New England
6. National elections between 1856 and 1912 were characterized by
A) close elections mostly won by the Democrats.
B) close elections mostly won by the Republicans.
C) landslide results in which both major parties defeated the other.
D) close elections with an even balance of power.
7. The "bloody shirt" issue of the late 1800s refers to
A) lingering sectional tensions after the Civil War.
B) federal Indian policies.
C) conflicts between homesteaders and ranchers.
D) issues between workers and employers.
This material is intended solely for educational purpose in conjunction with The American Nation: A History of the United States by Mark C. Carnes and
John A. Garraty. It is for private use only and may not be disseminated, duplicated, sold, or marketed in any manner. Individuals are limited to one copy
to be used exclusively as a classroom academic device and which must be submitted to the course instructor within one week of printing. Any other use
is strictly prohibited. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
8. The mammoth organization of Union veterans that quickly became a powerful national political
pressure group was the
A) American Legion.
B) Union Party.
C) Stars and Bars.
D) Grand Army of the Republic.
9. Despite ________ being a major issue of the day, the major parties did not debate the topic themselves
and the National Greenback party was formed to confront the issue.
A) protective tariffs
B) currency reform
C) federal banking regulation
D) interstate commerce regulation
10. How did politicians respond to the demand for civil service reform?
A) Democrats supported and Republicans rejected it.
B) Republicans refused to include it in their party platforms.
C) Both Democrats and Republicans insisted it would destroy the political parties.
D) Republicans supported and Democrats rejected it.
11. Political campaigns during the late nineteenth century were characterized by
A) extensive debate on the major issues.
B) character assassination, bribery, and fraud.
C) honesty and integrity.
D) restraint of partisanship.
12. Presidents during the late nineteenth century
A) were often elected by landslides, but failed to carry out the voters' wishes.
B) took strong stands on the issues, giving the voters clear choices.
C) were lackluster leaders who showed little interest in important contemporary questions.
D) dominated both houses of the Congress by their patronage powers.
13. Rutherford B. Hayes was nominated for the presidency because of his reputation for
A) favoring an inflationary monetary policy.
B) getting bribes and offices for his supporters.
C) political glamour and charisma.
D) being honest and moderate.
14. In 1881 President ________ was assassinated by Charles Guiteau, an unbalanced office-seeker.
A) Rutherford B. Hayes
B) Grover Cleveland
C) Benjamin Harrison
D) James Garfield
15. The Pendleton Act of 1883 was a triumph for those Americans who sought ________ reform.
A) monetary
B) civil service
C) immigration
D) tariff
This material is intended solely for educational purpose in conjunction with The American Nation: A History of the United States by Mark C. Carnes and
John A. Garraty. It is for private use only and may not be disseminated, duplicated, sold, or marketed in any manner. Individuals are limited to one copy
to be used exclusively as a classroom academic device and which must be submitted to the course instructor within one week of printing. Any other use
is strictly prohibited. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
16. The New York Democrat who won the "dirty" presidential election of 1884 was
A) Grover Cleveland.
B) Chester Arthur.
C) James Blaine.
D) Benjamin Harrison.
17. President Benjamin Harrison was noted for his
A) strong advocacy of free trade.
B) hard work for civil service reform.
C) flamboyant waving of the "bloody shirt."
D) resistance to the demands for increased veterans' pensions.
18. Blacks in the South were not totally disfranchised or segregated until
A) President Cleveland gave his approval in 1887.
B) southern states enacted literacy tests and poll taxes in the 1890s.
C) Radical Reconstruction ended in 1877.
D) the Supreme Court struck down the Civil Rights Act of 1875.
19. "If one race be inferior to the other socially, the Constitution of the United States cannot put them
upon the same plane." The source of this quote is
A) Minor v. Happersett.
B) Plessy v. Ferguson.
C) The Gilded Age by Mark Twain.
D) the Civil Rights Act.
20. The black militant who founded the Afro-American League and called on blacks to use violence
when attacked by whites was
A) T. Thomas Fortune.
B) John Marshall Harlan.
C) W. E. B. Du Bois.
D) James Bryce.
21. The black leader who identified with the Atlanta Compromise was
A) Frederick Douglass.
B) W. E. B. Du Bois.
C) T. Thomas Fortune.
D) Booker T. Washington.
22. The doctrine of "separate but equal" facilities was handed down by the Supreme Court in
A) Hall v. De Cuir.
B) Plessy v. Ferguson.
C) the Civil Rights Cases.
D) Munn v. Illinois.
23. Big-city political bosses and their machines emerged in the late nineteenth century because
A) Catholic church leaders sought their protection.
B) most immigrants knew little about democracy.
C) Protestant churches sought to use them to clean up city governments.
D) factory owners encouraged them.
This material is intended solely for educational purpose in conjunction with The American Nation: A History of the United States by Mark C. Carnes and
John A. Garraty. It is for private use only and may not be disseminated, duplicated, sold, or marketed in any manner. Individuals are limited to one copy
to be used exclusively as a classroom academic device and which must be submitted to the course instructor within one week of printing. Any other use
is strictly prohibited. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
24. Big-city bosses inadvertently played a major part in
A) developing labor unions.
B) causing revolutionary activities among their followers.
C) creating slums.
D) Americanizing immigrants.
25. The most notorious of all city bosses was
A) "Hinky Dink" Kenna.
B) Abe Reuf.
C) William Marcy Tweed.
D) "Big Tim" Sullivan.
26. Many urban reformers resented the boss system because it
A) led to increased taxes for public services.
B) promoted civil service reform.
C) gave political power to poor immigrants.
D) encouraged gambling and prostitution.
27. The vacuity of American politics in the late nineteenth century may have stemmed from the
A) simmering class conflict which politicians could not face.
B) inability to deal with foreign threats.
C) prevailing sectional and political harmony.
D) complacency of the middle-class majority.
28. Throughout the mid-1880s farmers on the Plains experienced
A) excellent harvests, but abysmally low wheat prices.
B) disastrous crop destruction from grasshoppers and hail storms.
C) bountiful harvests and high wheat prices.
D) severe drought and dustbowl conditions.
29. In the late 1880s, the Farmers' Alliance
A) was simply a social, non-political organization.
B) tried but failed to establish marketing cooperatives for their crops because they could not raise the
necessary capital from banks.
C) focused on encouraging the latest techniques in scientific agriculture.
D) elected state legislators committed to regulating railroad rates and establishing rural free delivery of
the mail.
30. The earlier group from which the Populist movement emerged was the
A) Farmers Union.
B) Farm Bureau.
C) Knights of Labor.
D) Farmers' Alliance.
31. In 1892 the Populist nominee for President was former Union General
A) Ulysses S. Grant.
B) James B. Weaver.
C) Tom Watson.
D) William Tecumseh Sherman.
This material is intended solely for educational purpose in conjunction with The American Nation: A History of the United States by Mark C. Carnes and
John A. Garraty. It is for private use only and may not be disseminated, duplicated, sold, or marketed in any manner. Individuals are limited to one copy
to be used exclusively as a classroom academic device and which must be submitted to the course instructor within one week of printing. Any other use
is strictly prohibited. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
32. The platform of the Populist Party called for a(n)
A) guaranteed price for wheat.
B) high tariff on farm produce.
C) graduated income tax.
D) immediate social security plan.
33. Populist Party members saw themselves as a(n)
A) victimized majority betrayed by the establishment.
B) agrarian revolutionary movement.
C) persecuted minority.
D) ignored group of downtrodden workers.
34. National ownership of the railroads, unlimited coinage of silver, and the creation of a "subtreasury"
were all part of the platform of the
A) Populists in 1892.
B) Democrats in 1884.
C) Republicans in 1896.
D) Razorbacks in 1870.
35. The Populist from Minnesota who viewed himself as an expert on Shakespeare, economics, and
science was
A) Ignatius Donnelly.
B) "Sockless" Jerry Simpson.
C) Tom Watson.
D) William A. Peffer.
36. Southern black Populists often joined the
A) Grange.
B) Southern Alliance.
C) Farmers Union.
D) Colored Farmers' Alliance.
37. After the election of 1892, it became clear that ________ was of utmost interest to voters.
A) workers' rights to unionize
B) coinage of silver
C) civil service reform
D) black voting rights
38. The debate over coinage of silver in the late nineteenth century was
A) superficial because the key question was halting the inflationary spiral of the economy.
B) a smokescreen created by Wall Street bankers to distract the public from their financial manipulations.
C) superficial because the key question was halting the deflationary spiral of the economy.
D) the key issue to understanding the floundering of the economy in these years.
39. The Coinage Act of 1873, which demonetized silver, came to be known as the
A) "Crime of '73."
B) "Corrupt Bargain."
C) "Miners' Lament."
D) "Gold Ring."
This material is intended solely for educational purpose in conjunction with The American Nation: A History of the United States by Mark C. Carnes and
John A. Garraty. It is for private use only and may not be disseminated, duplicated, sold, or marketed in any manner. Individuals are limited to one copy
to be used exclusively as a classroom academic device and which must be submitted to the course instructor within one week of printing. Any other use
is strictly prohibited. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
40. During 1894 and 1895, at the beginning of Grover Cleveland's presidency, the economy
A) floundered in one of the worst depressions in American history.
B) was devastated by double-digit inflation.
C) surged forward, bringing unrivaled prosperity to all sectors of the economy.
D) finally stabilized after a decade of turbulence.
41. The small-town businessman who led an "army" of the unemployed on a march to Washington, DC
in 1894 was
A) Jacob Coxey.
B) Eugene Debs.
C) Terence Powderly.
D) George Pullman.
42. In early 1895, when the Treasury's gold reserves reached a desperately low point,
A) President Cleveland devalued the dollar.
B) President Cleveland ordered $20 million worth of silver dollars coined even though this caused
significant inflation.
C) President Cleveland took the country off the gold standard.
D) a banking syndicate headed by J. P. Morgan underwrote a new bond issue and saved the government
from bankruptcy.
43. The dramatic "Cross of Gold" speech won the 1896 Democratic presidential nomination for
A) Thomas Watson.
B) Grover Cleveland.
C) Ignatius Donnelly.
D) William Jennings Bryan.
44. The main issue propounded by candidate William Jennings Bryan in the election of 1896 was
A) the proposal to coin both silver and gold.
B) his desire to have the government print more greenbacks.
C) changing policy so that the Treasury only coined gold.
D) the removal of all trade barriers and protective tariffs.
45. William Jennings Bryan discarded tradition in 1896 by
A) conducting a "front porch" campaign for visiting delegations.
B) traveling throughout the country giving hundreds of speeches.
C) spending millions of dollars on advertising.
D) selecting a third-party candidate as his running mate.
46. In the election of 1896, William McKinley's campaign manager, who raised an enormous campaign
fund from business, was
A) James Blaine.
B) Marcus Hanna.
C) Arthur Sewall.
D) Andrew Carnegie.
This material is intended solely for educational purpose in conjunction with The American Nation: A History of the United States by Mark C. Carnes and
John A. Garraty. It is for private use only and may not be disseminated, duplicated, sold, or marketed in any manner. Individuals are limited to one copy
to be used exclusively as a classroom academic device and which must be submitted to the course instructor within one week of printing. Any other use
is strictly prohibited. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
47. McKinley's campaign manager, Marcus Hanna,
A) rejected party organization.
B) allowed McKinley to run his own campaign.
C) relied almost exclusively on small donations from individuals.
D) blanketed the country with campaign literature.
48. Ultimately, the battle between gold and silver
A) proved Bryan right and the country began to coin both.
B) remained a politically significant issue for the next century.
C) was won by silver after the discovery of silver in Alaska led to an expansion of the money supply
based on silver bullion.
D) was insignificant because within two decades the country abandoned basing the volume of currency on
bullion.
49. Comparing and contrasting McKinley and Bryan in the election of 1896,
A) Bryan was pragmatic, while McKinley was an uncompromising idealist.
B) McKinley looked toward an idealized rural past, but Bryan welcomed revolutionary forces of the next
century.
C) Bryan's approach was parochial, whereas McKinley's was national.
D) McKinley was considerably better qualified and more nationally known than was Bryan.
50. The intent of the cartoon above was to show that
A) the Populist Party was comprised of several random splinter groups from other political parties.
B) civil service reform measures, such as the Pendleton Act, were necessary to solve the widespread
corruption and inefficiency of the federal government.
C) the Grant administration was wrought with corruption.
D) the Gilded Age was characterized by a string of average Presidents.
This material is intended solely for educational purpose in conjunction with The American Nation: A History of the United States by Mark C. Carnes and
John A. Garraty. It is for private use only and may not be disseminated, duplicated, sold, or marketed in any manner. Individuals are limited to one copy
to be used exclusively as a classroom academic device and which must be submitted to the course instructor within one week of printing. Any other use
is strictly prohibited. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.