AP®︎ US History: Topic 6.13 Flashcards
Master key terms and definitions for Topic 6.13 of AP US History – Politics in the Gilded Age to help you prep for quizzes and the AP exam.
Gilded Age
Late-19th-century era of surface prosperity but underlying inequality, corruption, economic crises, and intense party competition
Late-19th-century era of surface prosperity but underlying inequality, corruption, economic crises, and intense party competition
Northern, Union-veteran, business, and Protestant coalition favoring protective tariffs, sound money, pensions, moral reform, and stronger national authority
Coalition of the white South, urban immigrants, and workers generally favoring lower tariffs, states’ rights, limited government, and less moral regulation
Former Confederate states dominated by white Democrats after Reconstruction through disfranchisement, violence, and appeals to home rule and white supremacy
Republican campaign tactic invoking Civil War memories and associating Democrats with secession and the Confederacy
Conservative Democrats, including Grover Cleveland, who favored the gold standard, fiscal restraint, and limited government
Practice of awarding government jobs to loyal party supporters, strengthening party organizations but encouraging favoritism and corruption
Republican faction associated with Roscoe Conkling that defended the traditional patronage system
Republican rivals of the Stalwarts, associated with James G. Blaine, who gave qualified support to civil service reform
Reform Republicans who rejected James G. Blaine as corrupt and supported Democrat Grover Cleveland in 1884
Garfield was shot in 1881 by disappointed office seeker Charles Guiteau, dramatizing the abuses of patronage and encouraging civil service reform
1883 law creating merit-based examinations for some federal jobs and barring required political contributions from covered employees
Hierarchical party organizations that traded jobs, aid, and services for votes while often practicing graft, fraud, and favoritism
New York City Democratic political machine that mobilized immigrants and distributed services while engaging in extensive corruption
Harper’s Weekly cartoonist whose attacks on Boss Tweed portrayed Tammany Hall as corrupt and helped bring down the Tweed Ring
Tax on imports intended to protect American producers; Republicans favored high rates, while Democrats argued they raised consumer prices
1890 Republican law that raised import duties to historically high levels, provoking consumer opposition and Democratic electoral gains
Civil War paper money not immediately redeemable in specie whose continued circulation was favored by advocates of an expanded money supply
1870s third party of farmers and some workers that sought continued paper currency and an expanded money supply
Inflation makes fixed debts easier to repay but reduces purchasing power; deflation makes dollars and debts more valuable, benefiting creditors
Currency system limiting money to gold-backed value, favored by creditors, conservative Democrats, and Republicans as a source of stability
Monetary system in which both gold and silver support the currency, expanding the money supply beyond gold alone
Demand for unlimited silver coinage, usually at 16 ounces of silver to 1 of gold, to expand currency and ease debt
Law ending standard silver-dollar coinage, later condemned by silver advocates as the “Crime of ’73.”
1878 law requiring limited monthly federal silver purchases, expanding coinage but falling short of free silver
1890 law increasing federal silver purchases; pressure on gold reserves led Cleveland to secure its repeal during the Panic of 1893
1887 law creating the Interstate Commerce Commission, the first sustained federal attempt to regulate railroads, though initially weak
1890 law outlawing combinations restraining interstate trade, initially weakened by narrow enforcement and sometimes used against unions
Farm organization promoting cooperation, education, and political action against railroad costs and other agricultural grievances
Agrarian organizations advocating cooperation, railroad regulation, currency expansion, and the subtreasury plan
Proposal for federal crop storage and low-interest loans so farmers could delay sales instead of accepting low market prices
Agrarian third party seeking stronger government regulation, currency expansion, political democratization, and relief for farmers and workers
Populists’ 1892 program calling for free silver, an income tax, railroad control, a subtreasury, direct democracy, and other reforms
Populist presidential candidate who won over one million popular votes and 22 electoral votes in 1892
Severe depression marked by railroad and bank failures, business collapse, unemployment, and intensified demands for federal action
Conservative Democratic president who promoted tariff reduction and civil service reform while defending fiscal restraint, limited government, and the gold standard and rejecting large-scale federal relief
Democratic presidential nominee in 1896 who championed free silver and appealed to farmers and debtors against creditor interests
Bryan’s 1896 speech condemning the gold standard and demanding that ordinary producers not be sacrificed to creditor interests
Republican victor in 1896 who supported the gold standard, protective tariffs, and economic stability
McKinley’s campaign manager who raised large business contributions and built an extensive, carefully organized Republican campaign in 1896
Populists endorsed Democrat William Jennings Bryan in 1896 to unite the silver vote while naming their own vice-presidential candidate
McKinley defeated Bryan, preserving the gold standard and weakening Populism as an independent party while leaving its reform agenda alive
Effort to replace patronage appointments with merit-based government hiring and professional administration
Republican who defeated Cleveland in 1888 despite losing the popular vote and supported protective tariffs as president
Half-Breed Republican leader and 1884 presidential nominee rejected as corrupt by the Mugwumps
New York senator and Stalwart leader who defended patronage and built power through control of federal appointments
Tammany Hall boss who used control of New York City offices and inflated public contracts to obtain kickbacks; convicted in 1873
Boss Tweed and his associates, who stole city funds through inflated bills and kickbacks on public projects
Reformer who led unemployed marchers to Washington in 1894 and proposed paper-money-funded federal road construction
Unemployed marchers who went to Washington in 1894 seeking a federally funded road-building jobs program; Congress refused
