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a. Henry L. Dawes
b. John Elk
c. Chief Joseph
d. Saum Song Bo
e. Jacob Riis
68. Which of the following statements accurately describes the response of many everyday Americans to the new social order of the
Gilded Age?
a. From the academic world to the public sphere, public discussion gave new attention to class differences and debates over the
implications of economic change.
b. Discussion of class became almost nonexistent because Americans were so wary of sparking conflict that might result in
another civil war.
c. Because the United States was moving away from an industrial economy, farmers became increasingly powerful in political
circles.
d. Employers and employees grew far more trusting of each other due to economic downturns that helped close the
economic gap between them.
e. Americans were predominantly complacent with poverty because their working conditions were so much better than those of
their European counterparts.
69. Which of the following statements accurately assesses the significance of wage labor in America during the Gilded Age?
a. More and more Americans viewed wage labor as a temporary stop on the path to economic independence.
b. The prevalence of servants in Gilded Age industries largely made traditional wage labor a thing of the past.
c. Freedom and equality became more closely connected than ever before in American history.
d. More and more Americans experienced wage labor as a permanent condition on the edge of poverty.
e. The introduction of freelancing and independent contract work made wage labor increasingly irrelevant.
70. What advice does Chief Joseph offer the white man in his 1879 speech in Washington, D.C.?
a. to leave the continent because the Indians are sure to fight immediately and hold their own
b. to treat all men, including Indians, the same way in order to live in peace
c. to make verbal promises to the Indians regarding property and peace
d. to ignore the Indians entirely as had been done for most of American history
e. to deny Indians the ability to travel and trade in exchange for much-needed supplies
71. “Liberal” reformers of the Gilded Age believed
a. wealth inequality was inevitable in modern society, and democracy was becoming a threat to individual liberty.
b. individual liberty and property rights were threatened, above all, by the business classes.
c. lower-class groups could strengthen democracy by using government to advance their interests.
d. an activist government should address social needs, much as liberals do in modern America.
e. wealth inequality could be corrected through workers’ hard work.
72. Which of the following ideas accurately summarizes Saum Song Bo’s response toward the construction of the Statue of Liberty
in American Missionary (October 1885)?
a. The Statue of Liberty is misleading as a symbol of freedom due to the discrimination that the Americans and the French have
shown the Chinese.
b. The Statue of Liberty represents the endless opportunities afforded to immigrants to the United States from all over the world.
c. The Statue of Liberty revolutionized construction techniques and should be celebrated for the way it impacted urban
centers across the United States.
d. The United States government spent far too much money on the Statue of Liberty and instead should have invested in public
education.
e. The construction of the Statue of Liberty underscored the equality with men that most women enjoyed in the United States
after the Civil War.
73. Which of the following statements about the theory of Social Darwinism is correct?
a. The theory was first proposed in On the Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin.
b. The theory argued that evolution in human society should be under the control of the government.
c. The theory argued that the giant industrial corporation was inept and would soon fall apart.
d. The theory argued that freedom required frank acceptance of inequality.
e. The theory argued that legislation was the only way to combat poverty.
74. What was the purpose and approach of the Dawes Act?
a. to imprison Native leaders by arguing that they had destroyed western soil and, thus, agriculture
b. to attack “tribalism” by dividing the land of nearly all tribes and distributing it to Indian families
c. to remove all Indians from the West and confiscate their property
d. to control and supervise tribal life by legally regulating their customs and habits
e. to redistribute the land of the different tribes by respecting their customs and habits
75. What prevented many Native Americans from becoming U.S. citizens in the nineteenth century?
a. Congress had agreed to keep the long-standing treaty system with Native Americans.
b. The Fourteenth Amendment specifically said they could not be citizens.
c. The Dawes Act did not allow for citizenship.
d. Most Indians were unwilling to cede their tribal setting and assimilate into American society.
e. Service in the Confederacy during the Civil War resulted in blocking citizenship after the war.
76. In 1884, the Supreme Court ruled against John Elk when he tried to claim American citizenship. What reason did the Supreme
Court give for rejecting his petition?
a. He was not paying taxes and had not done anything to assimilate into American society.
b. He was not born within the boundaries of the United States, and thus was not subject to its “jurisdiction.”
c. Whether he had achieved the degree of “civilization” required of American citizens was in question.
d. He did not follow the appropriate procedures and refused to give up his tribal affiliation.
e. Western courts had never denied Native Americans the rights afforded by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments.
77. Which of the following court cases made it difficult for states to regulate railroads?
a. Lochner v. New York
b. Plessy v. Ferguson
c. Munn v. Illinois
d. United States v. E. C. Knight Co.
e. Wabash v. Illinois
78. Which of the following statements accurately compares the U.S. Supreme Court’s approach to organization in business and labor
during the Gilded Age?
a. Whereas the Court rejected the organization of big business on constitutional grounds, it supported workers’ right to organize.
b. The Court used the Sherman Antitrust Act liberally for the breakup of both business and labor organizations.
c. While the Court applied the Sherman Antitrust Act to break down unions, it proved unwilling to endorse the regulation of big
business.
d. Understanding the dynamics of the new industrial age, the Supreme Court allowed workers as well as businesses to organize
powerful and centralized institutions.
e. The Court refused to apply the Sherman Antitrust Act against unions or business on the grounds that the law itself was
unconstitutional.
79. What was the Ghost Dance movement?
a. It was a military technique federal troops developed and used against the Native Americans following the massacre at
Wounded Knee.
b. It was a traditional religious revival that brought solace to the Native Americans who participated in it but made the
government fear the possibility of an uprising.
c. It was a cultural phenomenon among European immigrants who traveled to the West and resulted in an anti-immigrant
backlash among white Americans in these areas.
d. It was an intercultural dance that served as an open invitation for whites to join Native American communities across much
of the United States.
e. It was a Native American cultural movement embraced by the government due to the belief that it would distract Native
Americans from conflicts with western settlers.
80. What was one result of the massacre at Wounded Knee?
a. An official government inquiry led to the lifelong imprisonment of many soldiers.
b. The government eventually awarded the soldiers the Medal of Honor.
c. Custer and all of his soldiers died, fueling anti–Native American sentiment.
d. Various Indian tribes rallied and mounted a military counteroffensive.
e. The press unanimously condemned the actions of the soldiers there.
81. Which of the following properly assesses the significance of the Great Railroad Strike of 1877?
a. The strike signaled the power of labor unions and the beginning of the socialist challenge to American democracy.
b. The event highlighted the need for Republicans to address southern economic inequality, not only racial discrimination.
c. The railroad strike signaled the nation’s shift from southern reconstruction to the question of labor and class tensions.
d. The strike underlined the rising expectations among industrial workers in times of economic growth and prosperity.
e. The strike marked the beginning of the end of the railroad industry and prompted the development of the automobile.
82. By 1880, the government used military troops regularly to do which of the following?
a. to protect African-American voters
b. to put down strikes
c. to protect laborers on strike
d. to stop Mexican immigrants from crossing the U.S. border
e. to guard the Canadian border
83. What was the aim of Carlisle, a boarding school for Indians?
a. to prepare them for reservation life
b. to train them in the professional skills necessary to return to the reservations as doctors and teachers
c. to convert them to Christianity so that they would become missionaries on the reservations
d. to civilize the Indians, making them “American,” as whites defined the term
e. to prepare them to enlist in the U.S. military
84. The Knights of Labor
a. was an inclusive group that called for an array of reforms including the eight-hour workday.
b. organized only skilled, white, native-born workers.
c. exclusively admitted men and supported the idea that women should not be allowed to work.
d. never had more than a few hundred members due to a downturn in labor organizing in the 1880s.
e. cooperated with big business because they sought to be as prosperous as business owners.
85. William Cody, popularly known as “Buffalo Bill,”
a. was a native leader whose lands were taken by the US government.
b. led one of the most devastating campaigns against Native American tribes.
c. popularized the image of the West as being both wild and romantic with his “Wild West” shows.
d. emphasized the struggles of farm families and labor conflict in mining centers in the West.
e. argued the West should not be inhabited by whites because there was too much violence.
86. The nineteenth-century labor movement argued that
a. concentrated capital was not the enemy but that corrupt politicians were.
b. extremes of wealth and poverty threatened democracy.
c. strikes and walkouts were exclusively a male preserve.
d. meaningful freedom could only exist in conditions of economic inequality.
e. capital should be concentrated entirely among the laborers.
87. In the late nineteenth century, social thinkers such as Edward Bellamy, Henry George, and Laurence Gronlund offered numerous
plans for change, primarily because they were alarmed by a fear of
a. class warfare and the growing power of concentrated capital.
b. increasing power of the executive branch of government and lack of checks and balances.
c. the rapid migration of African-Americans from the South to the industrial North, and their increased voting power.
d. the increased numbers of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe who brought dangerous socialist ideas to the masses.
e. the momentum gained by women in their efforts to win suffrage and other rights in the public realm.
88. What did the books of Henry George, Laurence Gronlond, and Edward Bellamy all have in common?
a. They relied on the new narrative style of science fiction to forecast the decline of the United States.
b. They all sparkled with unique economic observations but lacked ideas for reform or change.
c. They all praised the liberty and freedom of the American market economy, yet were all written by immigrants.
d. They all offered decidedly optimistic remedies for the unequal distribution of wealth.
e. They all relied heavily on the latest trends in sociological research.
89. What did Ignatius Donnelly’s 1891 novel Caesar’s Column focus on?
a. ancient Rome
b. military tactics
c. conflict between labor and capital
d. the end of the Civil War
e. civil service reform
90. Henry George offered a(n) ________ as a solution for the problem of inequality in America.
a. low-income housing program
b. single tax
c. immigration restriction law
d. communist platform
e. forced Americanization program
91. Who wrote a novel that promoted socialist ideas under the term of nationalism?
a. Lawrence Gronlund
b. Thorstein Veblen
c. Mark Twain
d. Henry George
e. Edward Bellamy
92. Which of the following statements accurately describes elections during the Gilded Age?
a. Elections were entirely fraudulent due to widespread malfunctioning of voting machines.
b. Elections were closely contested affairs characterized by intense part loyalty.
c. Elections remained unnoticed affairs, as most people did not care about politics.
d. Elections were almost nonexistent because of the political turmoil that characterized the period.
e. Elections were flashy affairs, but the results were never close.
93. How did the American Catholic Church act during the Gilded Age?
a. American Catholics grew increasingly apart from their fellow believers in Europe.
b. The American Catholic Church saw a growing number of clergies advocate social justice and reform.
c. Afraid of a schism between wealthy and poor Catholics, the Church instead turned its attention to the defense of marriage and
parental control.
d. Overwhelmed by the radicals of largely Catholic southern European labor organizers, the Church distanced itself from its
traditional stand for social justice and equality.
e. Eager to ward off criticisms of “papal rule,” the American Catholic Church denounced the Vatican.
94. What religious idea did Walter Rauschenbusch promote?
a. The Catholic Church version of the Bible was superior to that used in Protestant churches.
b. Inequality of wealth contradicted the Christian ideal of brotherhood.
c. Missionary work on Indian reservations needed to increase.
d. The focus of missions should be on the diverse peoples of Asia.
e. The Bible should be included in public school curriculums.
95. After the Civil War, political parties were closely divided. What geographical area did the Democrats dominate?
a. the industrial North
b. the Midwest
c. the South
d. the agrarian West
e. the mining districts of California
96. Which of the following statements about the Haymarket Affair is correct?
a. The explosion of a bomb during the protest fueled employers’ efforts to paint the labor movement as dangerous and un-
American.
b. The Knights of Labor gained a reputation for peaceful protests that helped them achieve notoriety and evolve into a major
political party.
c. Several members of the president’s cabinet left in disgrace in response to the revelation that they had engaged in bribery.
d. The demonstration brought about laxer immigration laws and significantly improved the experiences of immigrants in the
United States.
e. Race riots in major cities resulted in Congress doing away with the last of the legislation left over from Reconstruction.
97. Which of the following statements is true about the Civil Service Act of 1883?
a. It gave politicians clear steps to follow to ensure the appointment of political allies as federal employees.
b. It was passed in response to the increasing number of strikes and riots led by factory workers.
c. It created the Interstate Commerce Commission and had a major impact on railroad practices.
d. It created a system intended to keep women from becoming federal employees after they won the right to vote.
e. It created a system to prevent the appointment of federal employees based on their political influence.
98. Which of the following was true of Republicans during the Gilded Age?
a. They aimed to reintroduce greenbacks.
b. They sought to increase federal spending.
c. They prioritized the needs of southern and western farmers.
d. They supported a high tariff to protect American industry.
e. They refused to pay the national debt.
99. Who was a surprise third-party candidate in the race for New York City mayor in 1886?
a. Theodore Roosevelt
b. J. P. Morgan
c. Henry George
d. William Tweed
e. Lawrence Gronlund
100. The Haymarket Affair led to the decline of which group?
a. the Christian Lobby
b. Knights of Labor
c. Women’s Christian Temperance Union
d. Ku Klux Klan
e. Reform Bureau
101. What advice does Chief Joseph offer the white man in his 1879 speech in Washington, D.C.?
a. to leave the continent because the Indians are sure to fight immediately and hold their own
b. to treat all men, including Indians, the same way in order to live in peace
c. to make verbal promises to the Indians regarding property and peace
d. to ignore the Indians entirely as had been done for most of American history
e. to deny Indians the ability to travel and trade in exchange for much-needed supplies
Matching
TEST 1
___ 1. Thomas Edison
___ 2. Nicola Tesla
___ 3. Andrew Carnegie
___ 4. John D. Rockefeller
___ 5. William G. Sumner
___ 6. Terence Powderly
___ 7. Edward Bellamy
___ 8. Walter Rauschenbusch
___ 9. Chief Joseph
___ 10. Sitting Bull
___ 11. Jacob Riis
___ 12. Henry George
a. a figure of the Social Gospel movement
b. a steel industry giant
c. the author of Progress and Poverty
d. the head of the Knights of Labor
e. the inventor of the electric motor
f. the author of How the Other Half Lives
g. winner at the Battle of Little Bighorn
h. a utopian novelist
i. a Social Darwinist
j. an oil industry giant
k. a member of the Nez Percé
l. inventor who opened the first electric generating system in Manhattan
TEST 2
___ 1. trusts
___ 2. vertical integration
___ 3. horizontal integration
___ 4. social gospel
___ 5. Dawes Act
___ 6. conspicuous consumption
___ 7. Civil Service Act
___ 8. gilded
___ 9. Social Darwinism
___ 10. Tweed Ring
___ 11. Elk v. Wilkins
___ 12. bonanza farm
a. was a merit system for federal employees
b. believed that equality of wealth was required for freedom
c. was a corrupt political machine
d. functioned as a combination of corporations to establish a monopoly
e. established that Indians were not American citizens
f. buying out one’s competitors
g. controlling every phase of a business
h. broke up tribal lands into small parcels to be distributed to Indian families
i. spending money simply to show off wealth
j. espoused the idea of “survival of the fittest”
k. meant “covered in gold”
l. represented commercialized agriculture and was large in size
True/False
1. The idea for the Statue of Liberty originated as a response to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
2. According to the Census Bureau, by the turn of the twentieth century, most Americans worked for wages.
3. By 1880, a majority of Americans worked in nonfarm activities.
4. The spread of electricity was essential to industrial and urban growth.
5. The economy surged between 1870 and 1890, bringing prosperity and growth with only minor disruptions.
6. Both Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller amassed huge fortunes because they managed their companies under entirely
democratic principles.
7. American workers received lower pay than their European counterparts, but their working conditions were far better.
8. The Second Industrial Revolution erased the stark economic differences and disparities in living conditions that existed between
social classes.
9. William G. Sumner, a Social Darwinist, believed the government existed to protect the property of men and the honor of women.
10. The Morrill Land-Grant Act, passed during the Civil War, prohibited mining and railroad companies from continued use of public
lands.
11. Male farmers experienced the most hardship on the Great Plains, because farm women did not experience long days in the fields.
12. John Wesley Powell warned that the western region’s arid land would require large-scale irrigation projects and cooperative,
communal farming to prosper.
13. Prior to 1870, Chinese immigrants in the American West came with their families.
14. Republican economic policies strongly favored the interests of northern industrialists.
15. The coming of the railroad to the Far West had little to do with the rapid expansion of corporate timber production.
16. The Dawes Act was an extension of the treaty system practiced by the American government since the Revolutionary War.
17. Most nineteenth-century Indians were willing to assimilate and give up their tribal identity for citizenship.
18. Elk v. Wilkins (1884) agreed with lower court rulings that the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments did not apply to Indians.
19. By 1900, many Indians had become American citizens by accepting land allotments under the Dawes Act.
20. Lochner v. New York voided a state law establishing ten hours per day, or sixty per week, as the maximum hours of work for
bakers, claiming that it infringed on individual freedom.
21. The Knights of Labor raised the question of whether meaningful freedom could exist in a situation of extreme economic
inequality.
22. Looking Backward was the first book to popularize socialist ideas for an American audience.
23. Racial and ethnic groups added their own elements to the western myth, including celebrating the Mexican-American outlaw
Gregorio Cortez.
24. Voter participation during the Gilded Age was over 50 percent.
25. Every Republican candidate for president from 1860 to 1900, except James Blaine, had fought in the Civil War.
26. The Social Gospel movement focused on attacking individual sins such as drinking and Sabbath-breaking.
27. After the Haymarket Affair, employers took the opportunity to paint the labor movement as a dangerous and un-American force
prone to violence and controlled by foreign-born radicals.
28. The events of 1886 suggested that labor might be on the verge of establishing itself as a permanent political force.
Short Answer
1. Identify and give the historical significance of each of the following terms, events, and people in a paragraph or two.
1. single tax
2. Great Railroad Strike
3. Haymarket Affair
4. Wounded Knee massacre
5. Ghost Dance
6. gold standard
7. Interstate Commerce Commission
8. Sherman Antitrust Act
9. bonanza farms
10. the Gilded Age
11. horizontal expansion
2. On what grounds did the Supreme Court rule against John Elk when he applied for citizenship? Provide a brief description of the
Elk v. Wilkins (1884) ruling. Please include Elk’s argument and the Court’s decision.
3. By the late nineteenth century, Indians had the right to become American citizens if they wished. Briefly describe under which
circumstances this was possible.
Essay
1. What role did the government play in defining, protecting, and/or limiting the liberty of American workers during the Gilded Age?
2. Henry Demarest Lloyd wrote in Wealth against Commonwealth (1864), “Liberty and monopoly cannot live together.” Based on
your knowledge of the Gilded Age and the industrial revolution, assess the validity of this statement.
3. Describe how the industrial revolution created new forms of freedom for some workers while restricting some freedoms for oth-
ers. How did industrialization affect all workers? Be careful not to generalize.
4. Sitting Bull stated, “The life my people want is a life of freedom.” Likewise, Chief Joseph simply asked the government for equal
rights enshrined by the laws. Describe what freedom meant to the Indians and how that conflicted with the interests and values of
most white Americans. Also, explain why white Americans did not allow Indians the opportunity to have American citizenship.
5. Union leader John Mitchell explained that the court system was guaranteeing liberties that the workers did not want and denying
them the liberty that was of real value to them. Explain what he meant by this statement. How were the courts defining liberty and
freedom?
6. How did the labor movement launch a sustained assault on the understanding of freedom grounded in Social Darwinism and in the
liberty of contract?
7. The West experienced tremendous growth after the Civil War; nowhere was this more apparent than in California. Write an essay
on the consequences of population growth on the western landscape, looking at farming, livelihoods, the impact of the railroad,
the growth of Indian reservations, and the subjugation of Indian peoples.
8. Compare the motives and methods of the various social reformers active in the Gilded Age. How did the efforts of thinkers such as
Henry George, Laurence Gronlund, and Edward Bellamy differ from those of the Protestant and Social Gospel reformers of the peri-
od? Were any of these approaches more successful than others? Why, or why not?
9. How did the second industrial revolution transform the economy of the American West? Discuss the specific ways corporations
affected economic development in the region, as well as the nature of the work itself and its impact on western workers.
10. What might account for the emergence of a mythic “Wild” West during the Gilded Age? Given the rapid post–Civil War expansion
of industry beyond the Mississippi River, why would perceptions of a West, at once a lawless but timeless romantic frontier dominat-
ed by cowboys and Indians, permeate American popular culture in the late nineteenth century? (In composing your answer, consider
the impact of the second industrial revolution.)
11. By the turn of the twentieth century, reformers from different social classes were arguing for increased government intervention
into the economy. Explain why this was the case and how expectations varied among the social classes.
