AP US History
Chapter 23: Political Paralysis in the Gilded Age (1869-1896)
CHAPTER THEME
Theme: Politics in the Gilded Age was marked by fierce competition and battles
over spoils, even though few significant national issues divided Republicans and
Democrats. Politicians of both parties avoided confronting major problems of race
and class that simmered beneath the surface.
List of Resources:
Secondary Source:
American Pageant (pages 502-526)
Supreme Court Decisions:
Legal Tender Cases (1871)
Minor v. Happensett (1875)
Civil Rights Cases (1883)
US v. E.C. Knight Co. (1895)
In re Debs (1895)
The Slaughterhouse Case (1873)
Munn v. Illinois (1877)
Wabash v. Illinois (1886)
Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan & Trust Co. (1895)
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
Primary Sources
The American Spirit Volume II
Schurz Exposes the Spoilsmen
Greeley Praises Greeley
The Democrats Arraign Grant
Grant’s Farewell Apology
Hayes Believes Himself to be Defrauded
Chandler Assails the Solid South
Morton Praises the Spoils System
Harper’s Weekly Hails a New Era
Schurz Applauds Partial Gains
Cleveland Pleads for Tariff Reduction
Philadelphia Criticizes Cleveland
The New York Times Acclaims Courage
Discussion Questions
Thought Provokers:
1. How might one explain the fact that Grant was a success as a general but an
embarrassment as a president?
2. What might have been the consequences for whites and blacks in the south if
the election had gone to Tilden?
Presidency Charts
Ulysses S. Grant (1868-1876)
Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1880)
James A. Garfield (1881-1881)
Chester Arthur (1881-1884)
Grover Cleveland (1884-1888; 1892-1896)
Benjamin Harrison
Vocabulary
Ulysses S. Grant
Horatio Seymour
Jim Fisk
Jay Gould
Thomas Nast
Horace Greeley
Jay Cooke
Roscoe Conkling
James G. Blaine
Rutherford B. Hayes
Samuel Tilden
James A. Garfield
Chester A. Arthur
Winfield S. Hancock
Charles J. Guiteau
Grover Cleveland
Benjamin Harrison
Cheap money
Hard/sound money
contraction
resumption
Gilded Age
spoils system
“Ohio Idea”
the “bloody shirt”
Tweed Ring
Credit Mobilier
Whiskey Ring
Liberal Republicans
Resumption Act
“Crime of ‘73”
Bland-Allison Act
Greenback Labor Party
GAR
Stalwart
Half-Breed
Compromise of 1877
Pendleton Act
Mugwumps
Makers of America: The Chinese
Questions:
1. How was the Chinese immigrant experience similar to that of European
groups as the Irish (chapter 15) and how was it different? What effect did
racial distinctiveness of the Chinese have on their experience in America?
2. What were the greatest problems the Chinese-Americans experience? How
did they attempt to overcome them?