The Problems of the American Farmers and Protest Movements

Read pages 663-677 in the text book and explain why the answers given for each of the questions is wrong. Then find what the correct answer is and write that in. Do this on your own paper -

____23.Commodity prices during the Gilded Age declined in large part because of:

A. / rampant inflation
B. / low American tariff rates
C. / “free silver” policies
D. / lazy farmers
.

____24.Passage of the “Granger laws”:

A. / proved very effective in the short term
B. / split the Grange Alliance
C. / helped the urban workers of the Northeast
D. / helped the commodities industry in Chicago to take further advantage of farmers

____25.The Supreme Court decision Munn v. Illinois was significant to understanding the power of government to regulate industry because:

A. / it denied the right of state and local governments to regulate industry essential to the public welfare
B / it decided that all government regulatory power over industry rested with city and town governments
C. / it denied the federal government any power to regulate any industry
D. / it upheld the sweeping power of the federal government to regulate any industry in any fashion it saw fit

____26.The Independent National party:

A. / felt that the immigration of Catholics had ruined America
B. / won five states in the presidential election of 1888
C. / drew most of its support from nativists in New England
D. / appealed mainly to immigrant voters in the Northeast

____27.What distinguished the Farmers’ Alliances from the Granger movement?

A. / The Grangers focused solely on social and recreational activities, while the Alliances focused solely on political action.
B. / The Grangers supported “free silver” economic policies, while the Alliances supported the gold standard.
C. / The Grangers were predominantly a wing of the Democratic party, while the Alliances were predominantly a wing of the Republican party.
D. / The Grangers supported low tariffs, while the Alliances supported high tariffs.

___28.Mary Elizabeth Lease:

A. / founded the Patrons of Husbandry (the Grange)
B. / was the lone female leader in the Stalwart movement
C. / was the presidential candidate of the Greenback party in 1892
D. / wrote the 1892 Omaha platform for the People’s party

____29.All the following were included in the 1892 Omaha platform of the People’s party EXCEPT:

A. / the progressive income tax
B. / the unlimited coinage of silver
C. / federal control of the railroads
D. / implementation of the subtreasury plan

____30.In the presidential election of 1892, the Populist candidate:

A. / won
B. / came in second
C. / did best in the Northeast
D. / was also the candidate for the Democrats

____31.Why did the Populists endorse an eight-hour workday and immigration restrictions as part of their 1892 platform?

A. / Eight-hour workdays and immigration reform eased the burden on American farmers by shortening the workday and limiting the contributions of cheap foreign labor.
B. / Populist membership came predominantly from factory workers.
C. / The movement never lost sight of its origins as one based on the support of urban labor.
D. / They understood that America would soon be an urban-dominated nation and that they needed to adopt more urban-oriented policies.

____32.One cause of the 1893 depression was the failure of:

A. / President Cleveland to regulate the railroads
B. / the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad
C. / the commodity price index
D. / housing starts in 1891 and 1892

____33.In the depression of 1893, unemployment hovered around:

A. / manufacturing jobs, but not the service sector
B. / every industry, particularly construction
C. / 50 percent
D. / as high as 75 percent in New York

____34.In the 1896 campaign, William Jennings Bryan:

A. / ran what journalists called a “front-porch campaign”
B. / tried to deemphasize his platform’s demand for free silver
C. / promised to continue the policies of Grover Cleveland
D. / refused to mix politics and religion

____35.“You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold!” This statement was made by:

A. / William Henry Harrison
B. / William McKinley
C. / Grover Cleveland
D. / Thomas E. Watson

____36.In the presidential election of 1896, all of the following may be applied to William Jennings Bryan EXCEPT that he:

A. / was the candidate of the Populist party
B. / carried most of the states in the West and the South
C. / could not win the votes of urban workers in the Northeast
D. / advocated the expansion of federal powers