DC US History II
Cornell Notes
Directions:
For each chapter, fill out the chart below. Be sure to update the chapter # and Title as indicated
at the top of the chart in red, then enter your study questions and main ideas or supporting
details. Once you have completed reading the chapter complete the summary portion at the
bottom of the chart.
Chapter 20: Politics in the Gilded Age, 1870-1900
Study/Cue Questions:
3 – 5 Main Ideas and Supporting Details, like facts, definitions,
quotes and anything else that helps to explain your main points.
Use your own words. Do NOT copy from the textbook.
Question 1 What is the
spoils system and the
civil service and what
were their effects?
1. The spoils system is where the president uses political
appointments to return favors.
2. Because many presidents won election via favors from
others they spent most if not all of their term repaying
those favors.
3. The civil service was those who wanted to reform the
spoils system.
4. Civil service reforms formed the Liberal Republican Party,
and while losing the election set up others to make
change.
Question 2 Why did
farmers begin to
organize at what was
their effect?
1. Farmers had many opportunities to fall into debt and did
so often. Because if this, they tried to make more money
by producing more crops.
2. By producing more crops, the farmers lowered the price
of their crops, with the tariffs farmers were not able to
make money, and with the current currency farmers were
unable to increase the price of their crops.
3. Angry with their condition’s farmers united learning from
labor unions.
4. The Farmers’ Alliance formed after failure, but they
managed to have around 2.5 million members some
farmers and some were from other alliances.
5. Eventually these large organizations changed into a
political party called the Populist Party.
Question 3 How did the
Depression of 1893 come
to be and what were its
effects.
1. Lower class citizens such as farmers and factory workers
were already having difficulty surviving at the time of the
depression.
2. Large business began to come down as railroad
companies began to collapse because of protective tariffs
and the return of funds was less than what they put out.
3. Overall unemployment rates went up from 3% to 19% in
a single year.
4. As people were having more and more difficulty surviving
several strikes and violent outbreaks arose.
5. In 1895 35% of people were unemployed in New York and
43% in Michigan.
Summary: America government during the time was incredibly corrupt. Mostly functioning
on machine politics. This corruption led many presidents owing favors and thus the spoils
system has heavily used leading to the rise of more civil service reformers. While during the
time they were not very successful, civil reforms paved the way for change. As high tariffs
and high fees for the use of railroads continued, farmers became more desperate for ways
to pull themselves out of dept and began forming unions. At first these unions failed, but
trying again the farmers were able to form large unions and from those the populist party
began to form. Falling into depression due to overinvestment in railroads America, the
populist party gained some strength in the election during the time, but ultimately lost and
also lost considerable momentum.
Chapter 21: Leading the Way: The Progressive Movement, 18901920
Study/Cue Questions:
Question 1 What were
muckrakers, what did
they do, and what was
3 – 5 Main Ideas and Supporting Details, like facts, definitions,
quotes and anything else that helps to explain your main points.
Use your own words. Do NOT copy from the textbook.
1. Muckrakers were men and women who sought to bring
attention to problems within America.
2. Muckrakers brought attention to many problems such as
there effect.
child labor, bad labor conditions, homelessness, and much
more through journalism.
3. By bringing attention to many prevalent problems of
America, muckrakers were able to promote people to
help make a change.
Question 2 What actions
did the women’s
movement and the civil
rights movement take?
1. The women’s movement (via NAWSA) organized many
chapters to promote the passing of a federal amendment
to guarantee women the right to vote.
2. NAWSA also used celebrity endorsement to convince
younger women to join the movement.
3. Some members of NAWSA broke off from the
organization to make change more boldly with protests
and hungers strikes.
4. Schools like Tuskegee Normal worked to teach African
Americans “practical skills” in order to break the idea that
African Americans were not productive members of
society outside of slavery.
Question 3 What
changes did Theodore
Roosevelt make during
his presidency?
1. He created the Department of Commerce and Labor
which investigated trusts.
2. He told the Department of Justice to begin prosecution
under the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 again.
3. He was able to win over two-dozen ant-trust suits.
4. He worked as a mediator between employs and company
after a strike at an anthracite coal strike.
5. He created the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 and the Pure
Food and Drug Act of 1906.
6. He also sustained the U.S. Forestry Service, created the
Elkins Act of 1903, and the Hepburn Act of 1906.
7. He declined a third term.
Summary: