AP U S History Document Based Question
The years after the American Civil War have been characterized by Mark Twain and others as
“The Gilded Age.” Generally, historians have emphasized the decline of human values, the low state of
public morality, greed, corruption and crass materialism. To what extent is this an accurate
characterization of the years 1865-1900?
Use the documents and your knowledge of U S History to answer the question.
Document A
“Our agricultural products have been abundant for the last few years. The crops of cotton, four-fifths of
which have been raised by the colored people since the close of the Rebellion, have been increasing annually in
quantity, till that of 1880 was the largest ever made. Our exports to Europe have taken an annually wide range. .
. . . So great have these exports been for the last few years that the balance of trade has been in our favor on an
average of 150,000,000 dollars a year. For many years the value of our exports has been many millions in
excess of our imports.”
Harper’s Weekly, 1881.
Document B
"AN ACT To regulate and improve the civil service of the United States.
First, for open, competitive examinations for testing the fitness of applicants for the public service now
classified or to be classified hereunder. Such examinations shall be practical in their character, and so far as
may be shall relate to those matters which will fairly test the relative capacity and fitness of the persons
examined to discharge the duties of the service into which they seek to be appointed."
Pendleton Act of 1883
Document C
“AN ACT To regulate commerce.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress
assembled, That the provisions of this act shall apply to any common carrier or carriers engaged in the
transportation of passengers or property wholly by railroad, or partly by railroad and partly by water when both
are used, under a common control, management, or arrangement, for a continuous carriage or shipment, from
one State or Territory of the United States, or the District of Columbia, to any other State or Territory of the
United States, or the District of Columbia, or from any place in the United States to an adjacent foreign
country, or from any place in the United States through a foreign country to any other place in the United
States, and also to the transportation in like manner of property shipped from any place in the United States to
a foreign country and carried from such place to a port of trans-shipment, or shipped from a foreign country to
any place in the United States and carried to such place from a port of entry either in the United States or an
adjacent foreign country: Provided, however. . . .”
Interstate Commerce Act of 1887
Document D
“It is remarkable that the center of the territory, of the United States and the center of its population are
both near the thirty-ninth degree of north latitude. The former is not far from Abilene, Kansas, and the latter, as
found by the census of 1880, is in Kentucky, about eight miles west by south of Cincinnati.”
U S Census, 1880.
Document E
“Congress. . . . .passed a revised tariff to take effect on July 1, 1883. The main features may be summed
up: in respect to imported articles of luxury and of great value the tariff was not diminished, but sometimes
increased; on many articles of general use it was reduced. In respect to internal revenue the tax was taken off
numerous classes of articles, but not much off tobacco, whiskey and other classes of spirituous liquors. This
revised tariff and schedule of diminished rates in the Internal revenue tax, went into effect; but after one year's
experiment, it was found that the income from imports was diminished only $23,000,000 instead of the forty
that had been estimated, and that of internal revenue $19,000,000 instead of thirty. The prosperity of the country
had been so great that the people were able to purchase more than usual of high-priced foreign articles, while
their industrial energy produced more than usual of home manufactures, the lower tariff on the cheaper grades
not having been changed enough to make any difference either in volume of importations or in home prices; in
consequence, the revenue from both sources was diminished only forty-two million instead of the seventy
anticipated.”
Harper’s Weekly, 1885.
Document F
". . . . . A due regard for the interests and prosperity of all the people demands that . . . our system of
revenue shall be so adjusted as to relieve she people of unnecessary taxation, . . . . .and preventing the
accumulation of a surplus in the Treasury to tempt extravagance and waste. . . . The people demand reform in
the administration of the Government, and the application of business principles to public affairs. As a means to
this end Civil Service reform should be in good faith enforced. . . . In the administration of a government
pledged to do equal and exact justice to all men, there should be no pretext for anxiety touching the protection
of the freedmen in their rights or their security in the enjoyment of their privileges under the Constitution and its
Amendments. . . . The fact that they are citizens entitles them to all the rights due to that relation, and charges
them with all its duties, obligations and responsibilities."
President Grover Cleveland, Inaugural Address 1885.
Document G
President Chester Arthur issued these rules [1881]: "First: No person in civil service shall use his office,
his official authority or influence, either to coerce the political action of any person or body to interfere with any
election. Second: No person in the public service shall for that reason be under any obligation to contribute to
any political fund or render any political service, and he will not be removed or otherwise prejudiced for
refusing to do so."
Document H
“. . . . .Many of the calamitous efforts of the tremendous revolution which has passed over the southern
States still remain. The immeasurable benefits which will surely follow, sooner or later, the hearty and generous
acceptance of the legitimate results of that revolution have not yet been realized. . . . . The people of those States
are still impoverished, and the inestimable blessing of wise, honest, and peaceful local self-government is not
fully enjoyed. But it must not be forgotten that only a local government which recognizes and maintains
inviolate the rights of all is a true self-government. . . . .With respect to the two distinct races whose peculiar
relations to each other have brought upon us the deplorable complications and perplexities which exist in those
States, it must be a government which guards the interests of both races carefully and equally. . . . .”
Rutherford B. Hayes, Inaugural Address, March 5, 1877.
Document I
“Under this Constitution the boundaries of freedom have been enlarged, the foundations of order and
peace have been strengthened, and the growth of our people in all the better elements of national life has
indicated the wisdom of the founders and given new hope to their descendants. . . . . The prosperity which now
prevails is without parallel in our history. Fruitful seasons have done much to secure it, but they have not done
all. The preservation of the public credit and the resumption of specie payments, so successfully attained by the
Administration of my predecessors, have enabled our people to secure the blessings which the seasons
brought.”
James A. Garfield, Inaugural Address, March 4, 1881.
Document J
Document K
“It is very gratifying to observe the general interest now being manifested in the reform of our election
laws. Those who have been for years calling attention to the pressing necessity of throwing about the ballot box
and about the elector further safeguards, in order that our elections might not only be free and pure, but might
clearly appear to be so, will welcome the accession of any who did not so soon discover the need of reform. The
National Congress has not as yet taken control of elections in that case over which the Constitution gives it
jurisdiction, but has accepted and adopted the election laws of the several States, provided penalties for their
violation and a method of supervision. . . . . Our pension laws should give more adequate and discriminating
relief to the Union soldiers and sailors and to their widows and orphans. Such occasions as this should remind
us that we owe everything to their valor and sacrifice.”
Benjamin Harrison, Inaugural Address, March 4, 1889.
Document L
“At length it was brought to the surface. All who were allowed to approach crowded forward to see it. It
was only when the cable was brought over the bow and on to the deck that men dared to breathe. Even then they
hardly believed their eyes. Some crept toward it to feel of it, to be sure it was there. Then we carried it along to
the electricians' room, to see if our long-sought-for treasure was alive or dead. Yet in the very height and fury of
the gale, as I sat in the electricians' room, a flash of light came up from the deep, which, having crossed to
Ireland, came back to me in mid-ocean, telling that those so dear to me, whom I had left on the bank of the
Hudson, were well and following us with their wishes and their prayers. This was like a whisper of God from
the sea, bidding me keep heart and hope. The Great Eastern bore herself proudly through the storm, as if she
knew that the vital cord, which was to join two hemispheres, hung at her stern; and so, on Saturday, September
7th, we brought our second cable safely to the shore.”
Cyrus W. Field, First Successful Atlantic Cable
Document M
"The multitudinous officials of the city were the Tweed Ring's slaves. At one time eight hundred
policemen stood guard to prevent a hostile majority in Tammany Hall itself from meeting. The thugs of the city,
nicknamed "Tweed's lambs," rendered invaluable services at caucus and convention. Two days before election
these venal cohorts would assemble in the 340 election districts, each man of them being listed and registered
under several assumed names and addresses. From Tweed's house in 1868 six registered, from Justice
Shandley's nine, from the Coroner's thirteen. A State Senator's house was put down as the home of thirty voters.
One Alderman's residence nominally housed twenty, another's twenty-five, an Assemblyman's fifteen. And so it
went. Bales of fictitious naturalization papers were secured. One year 105,000 blank applications and 69,000
certificates were ordered printed. The new citizens "put in" election day following their leaders from pollingplace to polling-place as needed. . . .”
Document N
“The inducements offered by the Act of 1862 were insufficient to attract to the Union Pacific individual
capitalists desirous to display industrial heroism and save the nation, but doubling the amount of the prizes by
the amendments of 1864 had the desired effect, and a beginning was made by the completion of eleven miles of
the Union Pacific by September 25, 1865, and of forty miles by the end of that year. On October 5, 1866, the
mileage had increased to two hundred forty-seven. By January 1, 1867, the road was finished and operated to a
point three hundred five miles west from Omaha. In 1867 two hundred forty miles were built. The year 1868
produced four hundred twenty-five miles; and the first four months of 1869 added the one hundred twenty-five
miles necessary to complete the road to its junction with the Central Pacific at Promontory Point. . . . . Work on
the Central Pacific had begun at Sacramento more than a year before it was begun on the Union Pacific at
Omaha; and by the time the first eleven miles of the latter had been completed, the former had attained a length
of fifty-six miles, increased by January 1, 1867, to ninety-four miles. In 1867 forty-six miles were built; in 1868
three hundred sixty-three miles were added; in 1869 the remaining one hundred eighty-six miles were covered,
and Promontory Point was reached.
John P. Davis, First Transcontinental Railroad
Document O
“The panic of 1873, so far as it resulted from contraction, had its main origin abroad, not in America, so
that its subordinate causes were generally looked upon as its sole occasion; yet these bye causes were important.
The shocking destruction of wealth by fires and by reckless speculation, of course, had a baneful effect. During
1872 the balance of trade was strongly against the United States. The circulation of depreciated paper money
had brought to many an apparent prosperity which was not real, leading to the free creation of debts by
individuals, corporations, towns, cities and States. An unprecedented mileage of railways had been constructed.
Thus the entire business of the country was on a basis of inflation, and when contraction came disaster was
inevitable. . . . .In the course of the summer solid values began to be hoarded and interest rates consequently to
rise. In August there was a partial corner in gold, broken by a government sale of $6,000,000. In September
panic came, with suspension of several large banking houses in New York. Jay Cooke & CO., who had invested
heavily in the construction of the Northern Pacific Railway, suspended on September 18th. When authoritative
news of this event was made known in the Stock Exchange a perfect stampede of the brokers ensued.
E. Benjamin Andrews, Panic Of 1873
Document P
“I am to speak to you of the birth and babyhood of the telephone, and something of the events which
preceded that important occasion. . . . . I realize now what a lucky boy I was, when at 13 years of age I had to
leave school and go to work for my living, although I didn't think so at
that time. . . . . for after trying several
vocations -- clerking, bookkeeping, carpentering, etc. -- and finding them all unattractive, I had at last found just
the job that suited me in the electrical workshop of Charles Williams. Better luck couldn't befall a boy than to
be brought so early in life under the influence of such a high-minded gentleman as Charles Williams. . . . .This
was the year of the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, and Bell decided to make an exhibit there, and one of
the jobs I did for Bell was to construct a telephone of each form that had been devised up to that time. . . . .”
Thomas A. Watson, Coming Of The Telephone
Document Q
The slender, fragile, tenuous thread of brittle carbon, glowing steadily and continuously with a soft light
agreeable to the eyes, was the tiny key that opened the door to a world revolutionized in its interior illumination.
It was a triumphant vindication of Edison's reasoning powers, his clear perceptions, his insight into possibilities,
and his inventive faculty, all of which had already been productive of so many startling, practical and epochmaking inventions.
Frank L. Martin, Edison's Electric Light Invention
Document R
“This, then, is held to be the duty of the man of wealth: first, to set an example of modest, unostentatious
living, shunning display or extravagance; to provide moderately for the legitimate wants of those dependent
upon him; and after doing so to consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which
he is called upon to administer, and strictly bound as a matter of duty to administer in the manner which, in his
judgment, is best calculated to produce the most beneficial results for the community--the man of wealth thus
becoming the mere agent and trustee for his poorer brethren, bringing to their service his superior wisdom,
experience, and ability to administer, doing for them better than they would or could do for themselves. . . .”
Andrew Carnegie, Gospel of Wealth.
Document S
“Civil Rights—Negroes—Separate Traveling Accommodations.
1. An act requiring white and colored persons to be furnished with separate accommodations on railway trains
does not violate Const. Amend. 13, abolishing slavery and involuntary servitude. 11 South. 948, affirmed.
2. A state statute requiring railway companies to provide separate accommodations for white and colored
persons, and making a passenger insisting on occupying a coach or compartment other than the one set apart
for his race liable to fine or imprisonment, does not violate Const. Amend. 14, by abridging the privileges or
immunities of United States citizens, or depriving persons of liberty or property without due process by law, or
by denying them the equal protection of the laws. 11 South. 948, affirmed.”
Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896
Document T
“AN ACT To protect trade and commerce against unlawful restraints and monopolies.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress
assembled,
Sec. 1. Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or
commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is hereby declared to be illegal. Every person who
shall make any such contract or engage in any such combination or conspiracy, shall be deemed guilty of a
misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, or by
imprisonment not exceeding one year, or by both said punishments, in the discretion of the court.
Sec. 2. Every person who shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other
person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign
nations, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by fine not
exceeding five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or by both said punishments, in
the discretion of the court.
Sec. 3. Every contract, combination in form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or
commerce in any Territory of the United States or of the District of Columbia, or in restraint of trade or
commerce between any such Territory and another, or between any such Territory or Territories and any State
or States or the District of Columbia, or with foreign nations, or between the District of Columbia and any
State or States or foreign nations, is hereby declared illegal.” Approved, July 2, 1890.
Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890
Document U
“We meet in the midst of a nation brought to the verge of moral, political and material ruin. Corruption
dominates the ballot box, the Legislatures, the Congress, and touches even the ermine of the bench. The people
are demoralized; most of the States have been compelled to isolate the voters at the polling places to prevent
universal intimidation or bribery. The newspapers are largely subsidized or muzzled, public opinion silenced,
business prostrated, our homes covered with mortgages, labor impoverished, and the land concentrating in the
hands of the capitalists. The urban workmen are denied the right of organization for self-protection; imported
pauperized labor beats down their wages; a hireling standing army, unrecognized by our laws, is established
to shoot them down, and they are rapidly degenerating into European conditions.. . . . From the same prolific
womb of governmental injustice we breed the two great classes, tramps and millionaires. . . . . A vast conspiracy
against mankind has been organized on two continents, and it is rapidly taking possession of the world.”
The People's Party Platform, 1892.
Document V
“The wisest among my race understand that the agitation of questions of social equality is the extremest
folly, and that progress in the enjoyment of all the privileges that will come to us must be the result of severe
and constant struggle rather than of artificial forcing. No race that has anything to contribute to the markets of
the world is long in any degree ostracized. It is important and right that all privileges of the law be ours, but it is
vastly more important that we be prepared for the exercises of these privileges. The opportunity to earn a dollar
in a factory just now is worth infinitely more than the opportunity to spend a dollar in an opera house. . . .
In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential
to mutual progress.”
Booker T. Washington's Atlanta Exposition Speech, 1895.
Document W
Document X
The Gospel according to Carnegie
Document Y
Immigration to the United States
Bureau of Census
1865
1866
1867
1868
1869
1870
1871
1872
1873
1874
1875
1876
1877
1878
1879
1880
1881
248,120
318,568
315,722
138,640
352,768
387,203
321,500
404,806
459,803
313,339
227,498
169,966
141,857
138,469
177,826
457,257
669,431
1882
1883
1884
1885
1886
1887
1888
1889
1890
1891
1892
1893
1894
1895
1896
1897
1898
788,992
603,322
518,592
395,346
334,203
490,109
546,889
444,427
455,302
560,319
579,663
439,730
285,631
258,536
343,267
230,832
229,299
Rubric For The Gilded Age
Thesis statement:
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Conclusions: