1877-1900
1A,4A,4C
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Jim Crow Laws
Poll tax
Literacy tests
Grandfather clause
Booker T. Washington
W.E.B. DuBois
Ida B. Wells
Las Gorras Blancas
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Southern governments enacted laws to
segregate blacks and whites
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15th amendment was SUPPOSED to grant all
men the rights to vote
BUT
◦ Poll tax: tax to vote, poor people could not pay so
they could not vote
◦ Literacy test: reading comprehension tests
◦ Grandfather Clause: if your grandfather could vote
then you could
 Allowed poor whites the ability to still vote
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As a result, black voter registration in the
south plummeted
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Jim Crow Laws
Plessy vs Ferguson
(1896)
◦ Upheld constitutionality
of Jim Crow Laws
◦ “Separate but Equal”
doesn’t violate 14th
amendment
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Accommodate to
segregation
Called for “gradual
progress”
Atlanta Compromise
speech
Tuskegee Institute
Booker T. Washington
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Criticized Washington
Demanded IMMEDIATE
equality
Niagara Movement
NAACP 1909
W.E.B. DuBois
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African America
teacher that spoke out
against lynching
Used newspaper
articles
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Perceived threat that Chinese were taking
jobs
Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act
◦ Prohibited Chinese laborers from entering the
country
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Chinese used the court system to sue for
their rights
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Many lost land they had been granted at the
end of the Mexican American War
◦ They couldn’t prove that it was actually theirs
◦ Had no federal representation in Congress
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Fighting Back
◦ Los Gorras Blancas
 Targeted land of big ranchers
 Cut holes in barbed wire
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Improved education
Organized activists
groups
◦ Women’s Christian
Temperance Union
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Didn’t get a
Constitutional
Amendment
guaranteeing women
the right to vote
 Pushed Prohibition
◦ National Women’s
Suffrage Association
 Susan B. Anthony
 Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Gains
Set Backs
1b, 6bc
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Spoils system
Civil service
Pendleton Civil Service Act
Gold Standard
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Party loyalties were equally divided
◦ No group gained control
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Presidents of Gilded Age are seen as WEAK
◦ Won by small margins
◦ Lacked integrity
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Most Noteworthy President of the Period
◦ Grover Cleveland
 Known for his integrity
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Lots of political corruption during the time
◦ Dishonest politicians
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Political Cartoonists raise an alarm to the
corruption
Thomas Nast: one the most famous
cartoonists of the time
◦ Disliked Boss Tweed
 Party Boss of the Political Machine, Tammany Hall
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Politicians awarded government jobs to loyal
party workers-not based on their merit
◦ Kept the parties powerful
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President Garfield is assassinated as a result
of not giving in to patronage
◦ Chester Arthur steps up as President and passes….
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Pendleton Civil Service Act
◦ Must take an exam to prove merit for government
job
◦ Slowed down patronage
◦ A tax on imported goods
◦ Makes locally made
goods cheaper
◦ Republicans
 High tariff: promote
industry and jobs
◦ Democrats
 Low tariff: increased costs
of goods to consumers
and American farmers
can’t sell their goods
abroad
Tariff
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Gold Standard vs
Bimetallism
Gold: money is backed
by the gold we have
Minting Silver: would
cause inflation
◦ Too much money in
circulation
◦ Causes a rise in prices
Monetary Policy
5a, 5b
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Falling Prices & Rising Debt
◦ Crop prices plummeted
 Cost more to produce than they could sell them for
◦ Cost of doing business rose
 Went in debt to pay for machinery, seed, livestock, etc
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Big Business Practices
◦ Blame was on
 Railroads: charging too much for freight
 Banks: charging too high interest rates
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The Grange
◦ Oliver H. Kelley
◦ Goals
 Providing education on new farming techniques
 Regulation of railroad rates
 Regulation of grain elevator rates
◦ Some states pass “Grange Laws”
 Set maximum freight charges and elevator storage
 Prompted Congress to establish the ICC
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Farmer’s Alliance
◦ Formed cooperatives to
sell crops
◦ Called for “subtreasuries”
 Low interest banks
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AKA The People’s Party
◦ New political party from the grass roots up
◦ Farmers
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Goals
◦ End political corruption
◦ Increase the money supply
 Free coinage of silver
◦ Government ownership of railroads
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1893 Depression
◦ Worsened conditions for farmers
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1896 Election
◦ William Jennings Bryan runs as the Democrat
 Ran with the Populist Goals
 “Cross of Gold” speech
◦ William McKinley ran as Republican
 Cast Bryan as a potential dictator
 Supported the Gold Standard
 Won the election
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Populism declined but the Progressives’
pushed many Populist goals
◦ Graduated income tax
◦ Regulation of the railroads
◦ More flexible monetary system