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AP US History Guided Notes - Chapter 23

Ch. 23: Political Paralysis in the Gilded Age

The Gilded Age (1865-1898)
Big Ideas:
● Political and economic differences between the North & South continued long after the Civil War...often leading to
major political clashes in Congress and presidential elections.
● Political/economic scandals of the era showed just how corruption tainted politics, and the lengths Big Business
would go to assure and increase profits.
● The emergence of an industrial economy & society saw an increase in tensions among social classes and ethnicities.
● The Populist movement, which paved the way for the successful Progressive movement of the 1900s, confronted
economic tensions and the stranglehold Big Business had on the government.
● Despite attempts at political reform, Big Business still dominated political decisions.
Prediction Statement (50 words or less): What is one prediction you have about what you will learn based on
the big ideas above?

I think in this chapter we will learn about monopolies for the first time. I also believe we will learn about the
industrial revolution and the start of big factories and buisneses across America.

Key Questions:
The “Bloody Shirt” Elects Grant
Know: Ulysses S. Grant, Bloody Shirt
1. What is meant by “Waving the Bloody
Shirt”, AND what important group of voters
gave Grant his presidential victory in 1868?
The Era of ‘Good Stealings’ + A Carnival of
Corruption
Know: Jim Fisk & Jay Gould, Black Friday, Boss
Tweed, Graft, Thomas Nast
2. Briefly explain the following examples of
corruption that plagued post-war America in
the 1860s and 1870s:
A. Fisk & Gould Gold Scandal (1869)
B. Tweed Ring (1870)
C. Credit Mobilier (1872)
D. Whiskey Ring (1874)
The saying “Waving the Bloody Shirt” was the time during the
election process where supporters of Grant started to relive his
glory and heroism of the war, this helped bring lots of union
verterans onto Grant’s side as they believed he was a great leader.
While Grant won the electoral college pretty easily the popular vote
was very close. But, the group of people that helped Grant win the
election of 1868 was the freed slaves. Almost 500,000 votes for
Grant came from freed African American Slave.
After the Civil war ended the business in America was very corrupted. The
Fisk and Gould Gold Scandal (1869) first set the path for this corrupt
business. These two men worked together to raise the price of gold to a
very high price so they could later profit greatly from it. But this operation
was ended when the treasury released a great deal of golf at the price for it
dropped. The Tweed Ring (1870) was a scandal where a man by the name
of Burly Tweed paid of people to win certain elections and get almost 200
million dollars from the metropolis. Tweed was caught in 1871 and would
be thrown in jail and die behind bars. Then in 1872 the Credit Mobilier
scandal erupted when the Union Pacific Railroad created the Credit
Mobilier construction company and hired themselves at a rate of 348
percent. The company ended up bribing congressmen to ignore this issue
as well as possibly doing the same with the vice president. Lastly, in 1874
the Whiskey Ring took millions of dollars in tax money from the Treasury.
Grant said let no guilty man escape and he proved this when he exonerated
his personal assistant when he found out that he took place in the scandal.
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AP US History
Depression, Deflation, & Inflation
Know: Panic of 1873, Greenbacks, Soft-money
3. Briefly explain the following:
A. What caused the Panic of 1873?
B. As a result of such economic
downturn, what became a major
disagreement in America’s
economy?
Pallid Politics in the Gilded Age
Know: Grand Army of the Republic, Stalwarts
4. What groups did the Dem. Party rely on for
votes?
5. What groups did the Republican Party rely
on for votes?
6. Briefly explain the patronage(spoils system)
as it applied to Gilded Age politics.
The Hayes-Tilden Standoff + The
Compromise of 1877 & the End of
Reconstruction
Know: Compromise of 1877, Electoral Count Act
7. How did the “Compromise” of 1877
cause the effective end of Reconstruction?
The Birth of Jim Crow in the Post-
Reconstruction South
Know: Redeemers, sharecropping, Jim Crow laws,
Plessy v. Ferguson
8. Following the subsequent end of
Reconstruction in 1877, how did the South
enact political and economic restraints on the
Guided Notes - Chapter 23
The cause of the panic of 1873 was caused by things happening too
fast. Banks were giving out loans that would never be repaid and
businesses were making things like railroads that costed millions of
dollars. When all these problems combined the house of cards came
fluttering down. This crash was felt worldwide. This crash led to the
start of two groups, the “green backs” advocates and the “hard
money” advocates. The green backs wanted to bring make the green
back, cheaper money so that it was easier to repay debts and
hopefully would pull America out of this economic decline. However,
the hard backs didn’t want this they wanted Grant to veto the green
backs bill and print more paper money, this disagreement led to big
problems but eventually the hard backs movement won with the
passing of the Resumption act of 1875.
4: Lutherans and Roman Catholics were the main democratic voters. 
5. Republican voters tended to adhere to Puritanism, stressed strict codes of personal
morality, and believed that the government should play a large in role in both the economy
and society.  
6. The patronage system was disperrsing jobs by the bucketful in return for votes,
kickbacks, and party service among   
Democrats AND Republicans. (Embraced by Stalwart faction of Republicans)   
 
7.) With the Hayes-Tilden deal, the republican party abandoned their commitment to racial
equality Many republicans also began the question the worthiness of reconstruction and
didn’t want to send money to the south to bolster their southern state governments. The
congressional radical republicans also passed The Civil Rights act of 1875, which was “born
toothless” and stayed that way. Hays also removed troops that were propping up the
reconstruction governments, so they soon collapsed
8. To keep African Americans politically and economically restrained, the south developed
legal codes of segregation known as Jim Crow laws. They also enacted literacy
requirements, voter-registration laws and poll taxes. The south tolerated violent
intimidation of black voters. Many blacks were also forced into sharecropping and tenant
farming, where they remained perpetually in debt. The supreme court also validated Plessy
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AP US History
rights of African Americans in southern
lands?
Class Conflicts and Ethnic Clashes
Know: Great Railroad Strike of 1877, Chinese
Exclusion Act (1882)
9. Why do you think the government
supported the railroad owners more than the
railroad workers during the strike of 1877?
10. Why do you think Congress passed the
¨Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)¨?
Garfield and Arthur
Know: James A. Garfield, Charles J. Guiteau, Chester
A. Arthur, Pendleton Act of 1883
11. Although a tragedy, what positive change
resulted from President Garfield’s
assassination?
12. Without patronage dollars, where did
politicians turn for the ¨mothers milk¨ of their
campaigns?
“Old Grover” Takes Over
13. How did the following issues challenge
Guided Notes - Chapter 23
vs Fergusson, which allowed the separation of whites and blacks. The south also lynched
many African Americans who did not follow their racial code of conduct. 
The government supported the railroad owners more than the workers because the
railroad provided a base of the economy in the US because of the trade that the railroads
enabled. For the railroads to run the workers had to comply and work.
After all the railroads were laid and the gold was all mined the people who immigrated
from china had to find new work. The desperate people would work for next to nothing and
americans could not compete with the low wages. This caused a lot of problems like gangs,
violence and even murder that prompted congress to pass the Chinese exclusion act.
The spoils system would be reformed. In 1883 the Pendleton act which made campaign
contributions from federal employees illegal and the civil service commission to make
federal jobs more competitive.
Politicians went to big corporations to fund their campaigns.
Texas farmers wanted to be provided with seeds when they were in drought. Grover vetoed
the bill because “the government should not support the people”
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AP US History Guided Notes - Chapter 23

Grover Cleveland in his Presidency?:

A. Texas Farmers
B. Civil Service Reform Grover had to decide between democrats and mugwumps for civil service positions.
C. Military Pensions Eventually he fired 120,000 federal employees because there needed to be more room for
the “deserving” democrats that needed jobs.

Military pensions were given to people who should not get them like deserters, men who
never even served, and men who later on became disabled but not because of war. He had
to veto several hundred bills to ensure those who did not deserve military pensions did not
receive them.

Cleveland Battles for a Lower Tariff Cleveland appealed for lower tariffs to congress and it passed. Democrats were very upset,
Know: Tariffs, Election of 1888 people would now have to pay higher taxes, get lower wages and there would be more
14. Briefly analyze why Pres. Cleveland unemployment. Harrison ended up taking the election from Cleveland.
“doomed” himself in the coming
election...making him the first president to be
voted out in nearly 50 years?

The Drumbeat of Discontent The populist party demanded inflation through free coinage of silver at 16 ounces of silver
Know: Populists to 1 ounce of gold. Called for a graduated income tax, government ownership of railroads,
15. Briefly describe 4-5 platforms/goals of the telegraph and telephones. Direct election of us senators. One term presidency limit. Allow
Populist Party. citizens to shape legislation more directly. Shorter work days, immigration restriction.
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AP US History Guided Notes - Chapter 23

Summary Exit Ticket:

Periodization/Contextualization (Cartoon Analysis)
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AP US History Guided Notes - Chapter 23

#1) Briefly explain the cartoonist’s message in the cartoon above.

  The cartoonist is depicting the ‘boss’ a new kind of politician; one that could be manipulated and controlled by lobbyists and
big business leaders. The bosses in this situation are the men in the puzzle being played by the rich businessman 
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#2) Briefly explain, using an historical example, that led to the perspective expressed in the
cartoon.
James G. Blaine’s presidential campaign had letters known as the “Mulligan Letters” that enraged reform minded Republicans
who would support the anti-patronage, anti-corruption perspective found in this cartoon. The Mulligan Letters revealed a
shockingly corrupt deal between Blaine and a Boston businessman involving federal favors for a southern railroad.
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#3) Briefly explain, using an additional historical example, that led to the perspective expressed
in the cartoon.
The Pendleton Act of 1883 was known as the magna carta of civil service reform and represented Republican frustration with
patronage and corruption. The Act made campaign contributions from federal employees illegal, and made appointments for
federal jobs merit-based, rather than from “pull.”
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