Industrialization: Trusts, Segregation, and Challenges of Labor Organization

1. INDUSTRIALIZATION .

2. The establishment of trusts in the post Civil War period is best explained as the result of The prevalence of intense competition between companies that produced goods and services. Trusts were established to reduce competition and bring order to a chaotic market.

3. In the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court Upheld a Louisiana segregation law requiring separate railroad cars for African Americans and whites. Homer Plessy was a man of mixed race but had been required to sit the “colored” section of the railroad car. This law was later overturned by Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.

4. Which industries did labor find most difficult to organize in the late 19th century? Those that employed large numbers of foreign-born workers. Immigrants were willing to work for low wages and thus, were easily replaced. This made it much harder to unionize workers during the Gilded Age. Also, language and ethnic differences or customs made it difficult to unionize foreign-born workers

5. Which did NOT contribute to the expansion of farm production from 1870-1890? • Establishment of land grant colleges like Texas A & M. • Transportation subsidies to railroads. • Liberal land policy. • Increase in population in the East (immigration) led to a greater need for farm production in the West. • All of the above are correct!

6. One reason for the lagging industrialization of the New South from the 1870s to the 1890s was? A large uneducated and unskilled work force

7. The massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890 was the what? It was the last armed resistance by Native Americans towards the U.S. government. This signaled the end of the Plains Indians Wars and the pacification of the Native American was now complete. Check out what happened at Wounded Knee in 1973

8. Civil service reform was accomplished under President Arthur with which of the following? The passage of the Pendleton Act of 1883 after President Garfield was shot by a disappointed office seeker. The Pendleton Act set up competitive exams for those wishing to work for the federal government. Who shot Garfield?

9. Who said that African Americans should concentrate their efforts “upon the everyday practical things of life, upon something that is needed to be done, and something which they will be permitted to do in the community in which they reside?” Booker T. Washington. W.E.B. DuBois, however, completely disagreed, arguing that African Americans should press for full equality in American life. See NAACP

10. The major strikes in the latter part of the 19th century show what? They show the federal government’s intervention usually benefited the employers, not the workers. The government viewed unions unfavorably and as conspiracies that disrupted business and trade

11. Which amendment contributed most to the growth of “big business” in the United States? The 14th Amendment. Why? Because the 14th Amendment stated that no one can be denied “due process” of the law and corporations used this clause – effectively – to argue that federal regulation denied them due process of law.

12. William Seward’s chief motivation in buying Alaska from Russia in 1867 was what? He wanted to fulfill America’s “manifest destiny” in North America. Alaska added another 25 % to the U.S. land holdings!

13. In 1896 a business entrepreneur engaged in the manufacture of steel would probably NOT share a banker’s view on which of the following? Interest rates. Low interest rates would encourage business people to buy steel with cheap borrowed money and also encourage factory expansion for the steel makers. Low rates would mean lower profits for the bankers while high interest rates would mean more money for a bank.

14. What was designed to have a deflationary effect on the American economy? The Gold Standard Act of 1890. Limiting the amount of money in circulation that could be exchanged for gold was deflationary. This meant that the value of money remained high and prices stayed low

15. The American Federation of Labor (AFL): was concerned more with concrete economic gains than with social or political reforms. They wanted “bread and butter unionism” which meant higher wages, shorter hours, and safer working conditions. The AFL was led by Samuel Gompers and it was a craft union.

16. The post Civil War Grange movement in American rural areas was well known for what? Creating a social and educational outlet for farmers in the West. The Grange provided a break from the loneliness and isolation of farm life.

17. Social Darwinism would most likely be supported by which of the following? Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection was adapted to the business world of the 19th century. Just as animals fought and competed in the natural world, so did businessmen in the corporate world. Only the best and strongest survived and thus, wealthy businessmen would be most likely to support Social Darwinism

18. What was a consequence of the shift to sharecropping and the crop lien system in the post Civil War South? A cycle of debt and depression for Southern tenant farmers

19. Helen Hunt Jackson’s A Century of Dishonor was significant because it aroused public awareness about what? The wrongs inflicted on Native Americans by the U.S. government. This book had a similar impact to Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1852, which exacerbated tensions between northerners and southerners over slavery

20. The popularity of the doctrine of anarchism in the late 19th century stemmed in part from what? The socialistic ideas and tensions between labor and management. Remember, government tended to side with management in labor disputes, hence anarchism appealed to those who saw government as evil.

21. Which of the following would most likely have been in favor of Jim Crow laws? Poor whites in the South. They could take solace in the fact that African Americans were lower on the economic and social ladder than they were.

22. CHANGE AND REFORM IN THE GILDED AGE

23. City governments between 1870 and 1890 often came under the control of political “machines” for what reason? Political “machines” provided urban dwellers in rapidly growing cities with services that previous city governments weren’t effectively providing. Tammany Hall in New York was perhaps the most famous – or infamous – of all the political machines in the United States. See Boss Tweed and Thomas Nast.

24. The Progressive movement of the early 20th century was LEAST successful in which of the following? • Getting child labor laws passed to protect children in the workplace. • Introducing election reforms. • Exposing the practices of “big business.” • Reforming corrupt city governments. • Calling attention to inner city slum conditions.

25. Which internal reform passed during the Wilson administration was most acceptable to “big business?” Federal Reserve Act 1913. Why?

26. Which tended to be the biggest stumbling block for the promotion of women’s rights? Common law, established through court decisions over centuries, consists of traditions and values that can be very hard to change. Males, of course, had written and interpreted these laws over time and women found these laws very hard to overturn.

27. What main, or socialist, idea was included in the platform of the Populist Party during the election of 1892? Nationalizing the railroads. Railroads were viewed by farmers/Populists as their mortal enemy.

28. In his novel The Jungle, Upton Sinclair strongly criticized what? The meatpacking industry. The book contributed to the passing of the Meat Inspection Act and The Pure Food and Drug Act. It was an example of muckraking.

29. Which act of Congress specifically targeted an ethnic group and restricted their immigration to the United States? The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. For how long were the Chinese excluded? 10 years

30. Most Progressives sought all of the following EXCEPT • More regulation in the food processing industry. • The expansion of child labor laws. • The reformation of child labor laws. • The democratization of the political process

31. Why did many labor leaders object to immigrants coming to the United States? Immigrants were willing to work for very low wages, which undercut the wages of the American worker

32. Activists for female suffrage in the late 1800s had their greatest successes in? Winning the vote in western states.Wyoming was the first state to give women the vote. Frontier life had a powerful leveling influence that encouraged democracy, and it required a partnership of men and women. Women could exert more influence in the West than in the already established political systems of the eastern states.

33. Which of the following is NOT associated with government land policy? • Railroad land grants • The Homestead Act of 1862 • The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 • The Interstate Commerce Act • The Compromise of 1850

34. When William Jennings Bryan said, “You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold!” in 1896 he was advocating what policy? He wanted free silver. This would help expand the money supply, which would be INFLATIONARY

35. Theodore Roosevelt showed his support for labor when he did what? He threatened to use Army troops to run coal mines during the strike of 1902. See Square Deal and New Nationalism.

36. What accounts for the passage of women’s suffrage in 1920? Suffragettes became better organized and more radical in pressing for their right to vote. They were inspired by their counterparts in Great Britain. WWI probably helped as well as women had supported the war effort in large numbers.

37. Progressives achieved their goal of direct election of Senators with which amendment? 17th Amendment

38. Which of the following does NOT describe the majority of immigrants who arrived in the United States between 1880 and 1890? • They were unskilled and undereducated when they arrived. • They were generally young. • They came to urban areas. • They were Protestant. • They were from Southern and Eastern Europe.

39. Which of the following politicians were considered to be Progressive in their day? Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson to name a few. See Robert La Follette and Eugene V. Debs as well.

40. The Populist (or People’s) Party was overwhelmingly supported by? Farmers.

41. The creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913 did which of the following? Made U.S. currency and credit more elastic. How did it do this?

42. The writers and journalists who criticized certain features of American society, particularly business, during the Progressive Era were called what? Muckrakers. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle would be one example of muckraking. Can you name another. Jacob Riis, for example? Ida Tarbell?

43. IMPERIALISM AND WORLD WAR I

44. Some Americans used Social Darwinism as a rationale for imperialism. How? It was suggested that some nations will always be dominant in the world just as some animals are dominant in the natural world. Many westerners, including Americans, believed that the white peoples, or Anglo-Saxons, had demonstrated their superiority over non-white peoples and therefore, empires in Africa and Asia were justified.

45. Which of the following best explains the role of the battleship Maine in American history? It exploded in Havana harbor and became a battle cry in the Spanish-American War.

46. What territories were added to the United States after the Spanish-American War? The Philippines and Guam in the Pacific and Puerto Rico in the Atlantic.

47. What group in the United States Senate would most likely NOT have supported the League of Nations? Republicans were the more isolationist part at the time. Who was Henry Cabot Lodge, Sr.?

48. The Versailles Treaty was never ratified by the United States Senate. Why? Republican leaders, including Henry Cabot Lodge, did not support American internationalism and were able to block the treaty. Also important was Wilson’s refusal to compromise on the treaty.

49. The Open Door policy came into being because? American was becoming a regional power in the Pacific and did not want China partitioned into European spheres of influence. The Open Door policy proclaimed that China should remain intact and that all nations (including the U.S.) should have equal access to trade there.

50. Which of the following is NOT a reason the U.S. sent troops into Mexico shortly before WWI? • Pancho Villa had raided an American town. • Socialists in the U.S. were sympathetic with the Zapatistas. • General Huerta had seized power from Madera. • Mexico was politically unstable and revolution was possible. • American investments in Mexico were large and needed protecting