AP US History

Chapter

23

Study
Guide

Name______________________________________

Period_________

Political Paralysis in the Gilded Age

1869-1896

Terms and Names: Define each term with complete sentences, using your own words

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.

Fisk and Gould

Boss Tweed
Credit Mobilier scandal
Whiskey Ring
George Washington Plunkett
Patronage
Roscoe Conkling/Stalwarts
Blaine/Half-Breeds

I.
J.
K.
L.
M.
N.
O.
P.

Civil Rights Act of 1875

Crop-lien system
Jim Crow laws
Kearneyites
Mugwumps
McKinley Tariff Act of 1890
Grandfather clause
Homestead Strike of 1892

Short Answer: Carefully answer each question in paragraph form using

information from the text.

1. Describe the presidential election of 1868, including the candidates, the party platforms,
the electoral outcome, and the phrase, waving the bloody shirt.

2. What was Grants role in Fisk and Goulds plot that culminated in Black Friday?
3. What prompted the founding of the Liberal Republican party? Describe the ensuing
election of 1872 and the candidates, platforms and outcome.

4. What did the agitation caused by the Liberal Republican Party prompt the regular
Republican Party to do? Support with specific examples.

5. Outline the causes and effects of the Panic of 1873.

6. Describe the two sides (Cheap money/inflation vs. hard money) of the monetary
question.

7. Describe the general state of politics in the Gilded Age, including the issues, voter
turnout, reasons for extreme party loyalty, and regional party patterns. (page 509-10)

8. What happened in the election of 1876 and how was it solved. Outline the terms of the
Compromise of 1877. Why did it spell the end of Reconstruction?

9. How did individual southern states and the Supreme Court disfranchise and segregate
blacks in the 1890s?

10. Describe the class conflict in 1877. Why did it occur? What was the outcome? What did
this reveal?

11. What were the terms of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882? Why did Congress pass
such a measure?

12. What was the ironic outcome of Garfields assassination? (Hint: Ironic because Arthur
was a stalwart.)

13. What were the outcomes (intentional and unintentional) of the Pendleton Civil Service
Act of 1883?

14. Explain the significance of the following taunts used in the 1884 presidential campaign:
Burn, burn, burn this letter. & Ma, ma, wheres my pa?

15. What issues faced Cleveland and had did he handle each of them? (i.e. Civil service
reform, military pensions, the tariff issue, etc)

16. What was THE ISSUE of the 1888 election? The outcome?
17. Why did the Populists form? What did they demand in their Omaha platform?
Candidate? Outcome? Where (and why) did they fail to gain support?

18. What were the causes and effects of the Panic of 1893? List some details of its impact
on the nation?

19. What cause did William Jennings Bryan champion?

20. How did J. P. Morgan help the president and the nation?
21. Why were the Gilded Age presidents known as the forgettable presidents?