Goal 5.04: Describe the changing role of government in economic and political affairs.

I.Late 19th Century Philosophy

  1. Social Darwinism
  2. Based on Charles Darwin’s “survival of the fittest”
  3. Human society evolves and improves due to competition
  4. Emphasis on ______– no matter how humble your origins, you can rise as high as your talents and commitment will take you
  5. Capitalists used this idea to support their belief in ______economics (which allowed unrestricted competition)
  6. The ______
  7. Andrew Carnegie bought into the idea of Social Darwinism, but also believed that those who profit from society have a responsibility to improve society in return
  8. Endorsed philanthropy, gave millions of dollars to build schools, libraries, hospitals, orphanages, etc.
  9. The ______Age
  10. Period of 1877 – 1900
  11. Term coined by ______, who described the period as one with a thin layer of prosperity masking the poverty and corruption underneath

II.The Presidency of Ulysses S. ______(1869 – 1877)

  1. Administration was marred by dozens of scandals involving several members of his cabinet, mainly involving bribery
  2. The ______
  3. Scandal involving several members of Grant’s administration, including his personal secretary, where federal employees accepted bribes from whiskey distillers to help them avoid paying federal taxes on alcohol production
  4. The ______Scandal
  5. Several investors in the Union Pacific Railroad, including Congressman Oakes Ames, formed a construction company, then used their positions on the railroad’s board to hire their company to do construction work at exaggerated prices
  6. The Union Pacific received their funding from federal grants; when grant money ran out, Ames gave other members of Congress shares in the Union Pacific to bribe them into approving more federal grant money
  7. Political Machines
  8. Informal political group designed to gain and keep power
  9. Growth of cities had outpaced the ability of city governments to meet the needs of citizens
  10. Run by party “bosses”
  11. Party bosses helped ______find jobs, housing, food, heat and protection; in return they told immigrants who to vote for in elections
  12. ______: acquiring money through dishonest or questionable means
  13. William “Boss” Tweed (1823 – 1878)
  14. Ran ______(The Democratic Party’s political machine in NYC) from 1858 – 1871
  15. Arrested in 1871 and convicted of defrauding the city government of about $200 million
  16. Thomas Nast (1840 – 1902)
  17. Worked for ______as political cartoonist from 1859 to 1886
  18. Targeted Boss Tweed and political machines; was so effective that Tweed offered him a $500,000 bribe to go study art in Europe – Nast turned it down.
  19. Creator of modern images of ______, ______, and the ______& ______symbols for Democratic and Republican Parties

III.The Presidency of Rutherford B. ______(1877-1881)

  1. Political reformer who replaced federal officials who had been appointed by party bosses
  2. His reform policies split the Republican Party
  3. ______:Republicans who supported the political machines and spoils system
  4. ______:Republicans who supported civil service reform and an end to the political machines and spoils system

IV.The Presidency of James ______(1881)

  1. Elected despite being implicated in the Credit Mobilier Scandal
  2. A “Half-breed,” he was ______after only 200 days in office by a disgruntled office seeker who felt he had been cheated out of a good government job

V.The Presidency of Chester ______(1881-1885)

  1. A “Stalwart,” he was so affected by Garfield’s assassination that he switched to being a “Half-breed” and championed civil service reform
  2. Did not receive nomination in election of 1884 due to terminal kidney condition
  3. The ______Act of 1883
  4. Ended the spoils system by creating the US Civil Service Commission
  5. Federal employees would get jobs based on skills and merit, not political favoritism

VI.The FIRST Presidency of Grover ______(1885-1889)

  1. Fought for political reforms, but at the same time was willing to use military force to limit labor unions (Pullman Strike)
  2. ______
  3. Democrat Cleveland even won support from reform-minded Republicans
  4. These Republicans were called “mugwumps,” an Algonquin Indian word meaning “important person”
  5. The term “mugwump” would mean someone who switches political party for generations following
  6. ______v. ______(1886): Supreme Court ruled that states can not regulate railroad companies because railroads are engaged in interstate commerce which can only be regulated by the federal government
  7. ______- Act of 1887
  8. Reaction to Wabash v. Illinois decision
  9. Created the Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate railroads by restricting rates and ensuring that no discriminatory practices were used

VII.The Presidency of Benjamin ______(1889-1893)

  1. Had the first “billion dollar government”
  2. Ran on campaign of supporting high tariffs
  3. The ______Tariff of 1890
  4. Raised the tariff on imported goods to nearly 50%
  5. Passed Congress as part of a political deal: Republicans got the tariff, Democrats & Populists got the ______Act
  6. Tariff would severely hurt farmers, but greatly help industrialists
  7. The ______Act of 1890
  8. First federal law limiting trusts, monopolies, and cartels, but not really enforced until Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency
  9. Designed to protect competition among businesses and to protect consumers from the dangers of monopolies
  10. ______v. ______(1895)
  11. First test of the Sherman Antitrust Act
  12. EC Knight Co. was a sugar refinery that had a monopoly on sugar in US
  13. Court ruled that Sherman Antitrust Act could limit monopolies only in distribution (interstate commerce), not in manufacture of goods

VIII.The SECOND Presidency of Grover Cleveland (1893-1897)

  1. 1892: Cleveland was nominated by Democrats again and defeated both the Republican candidate Harrison and the new______Party’s candidate James B. Weaver
  2. Shortly after taking office, US experienced the ______(financial crisis)
  3. It was also during this term that Cleveland used US Army to end the ______

IX.The Presidency of William ______(1897-1901)

  1. Defeated William Jennings Bryan in 1896 election, and won re-election in 1900, but was assassinated in 1901 by an ______
  2. More important for his foreign policies than his domestic ones (See Goal 6)

X.Political Reforms of the Era

  1. ______: individual’s votes would be kept secret, not published
  2. ______: allows citizens to vote directly on important issues rather than leave the issues in the hands of elected officials
  3. ______: allows voters to remove an elected official from office before their term is up
  4. ______: allows voters to force elected officials to vote on a certain issue