CHAPTER 16 America’s Gilded Age, 1870–1890
TEST BANK
Learning Objectives
1. Describe the factors that combined to make the United States a mature industrial society after the Civil War.
2. Illustrate how the economic development of the Gilded Age affected American freedom.
3. Describe how reformers of the period approached the problems of an industrial society.
4. Discuss how the West was transformed economically and socially in this period.
5. Determine whether the Gilded Age political system was effective in meeting its goals.
Multiple Choice
1. Which of the following factors contributed to explosive economic growth during the Gilded Age?
a. lack of capital for investment.
b. a tight labor market.
c. abundant natural resources.
d. high tariffs.
e. bank loans to railroads.
2. By 1890, the majority of the American workforce
a. worked for wages.
b. was composed of women and children.
c. worked in rural areas.
d. owned small artisan shops.
e. was unionized.
3. What did the 1880 census show for the first time?
a. The majority of Americans owned land.
b. Two-thirds of Americans owned their houses.
c. A majority of Americans engaged in nonfarming jobs.
d. Immigration to the United States was nonexistent.
e. Out of all the regions in the United States, the South had the largest population.
4. What happened to the gross national product from 1870 to 1920?
a. It was cut in half, from $50 billion to $25 billion.
b. It increased roughly tenfold, to more than $90 billion.
c. It increased to $91.5 million.
d. It decreased to $50 million.
e. In 1920s dollars, the economy almost doubled.
5. The second industrial revolution was marked by
a. a return to handmade goods.
b. a more equalized distribution of wealth.
c. the rapid expansion of industry across the South.
d. increased activity in the mining and railroad industries.
e. a decline in the growth of cities.
6. How did the expansion of railroads accelerate the second industrial revolution in America?
a. Time zones let businesses communicate by telegraph for the first time.
b. Railroads created a true national market for U.S. goods.
c. Large banks were now able to locate in western railroad towns.
d. The adoption of a standard railroad gauge made private and federal land grants more available.
e. The expansion of trains increased the efficiency of small businesses.
7. What changes did railroads bring to American society during the Gilded Age?
a. The introduction of railroads lowered expectations in regard to when products would be available.
b. Because trains transported large numbers of people west, the population in the United States was rapidly
decreasing.
c. The introduction of railroads marked the end of what is sometimes called the “second industrial revolution.”
d. The introduction of railroads enabled a national market for goods and led to the creation of time zones.
e. Railroad lines only went west to east and east to west, so the northern economy suffered.
8. Economic and population growth translated into the rise of new products like Ivory Soap and Quaker Oats.
What did these two items have in common?
a. They represented the integration of the economy due to the expansion of the railroad network.
b. They were only found in big cities and were meant to modernize the habits of the urban population.
c. They were produced at home using shared recipes because national chains did not yet exist.
d. The factories that produced them had to close because the government lowered tariffs.
e. They were produced in factories fully operated by women.
9. Thomas Edison, the era’s greatest inventor,
a. beat Nikola Tesla by inventing the system of alternating current.
b. was elected governor of New York and transformed the organization of the city.
c. developed a system for generating and distributing electric power.
d. produced inventions that failed to impact daily life but were influential in the long run.
e. created and patented the telephone as we know it today.
10. One significant economic impact of the second industrial revolution was
a. a more stable economy.
b. frequent and prolonged economic depressions.
c. higher prices for agricultural products and foodstuffs.
d. a more equitable distribution of wealth.
e. the introduction of socialism.
11. Along with New York, which city during the Gilded Age financed industrialization and westward expansion
with its banks and stock exchange?
a. Boston
b. Chicago
c. Los Angeles
d. New Jersey
e. Philadelphia
12. Why did railroad companies and other businesses form “pools” during the American Gilded Age?
a. They wanted to cut each other out from the market.
b. They hoped to escape the chaos of market forces by fixing prices with their competitors.
c. They hoped to gather enough capital in a pool in order to buy out their largest and most dangerous
competitor.
d. They wanted to share their assets in order to maintain liquidity in times of financial panic.
e. They were sharing patents for new technologies in the railroad industry.
13. Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller
a. respected workers’ rights and promoted labor unions.
b. accumulated fortunes, grew powerful, and donated most of their money to charity.
c. started their companies by buying out the competition.
d. believed in democracy and ran their companies accordingly.
e. controlled the American textile industry.
14. Which of these wealthy men was an immigrant who helped spark the second industrial revolution?
a. Andrew Carnegie
b. J. P. Morgan
c. Thomas Edison
d. John D. Rockefeller
e. Henry Demarest Lloyd
15. How did John D. Rockefeller use horizontal expansion?
a. His company started drilling for oil.
b. He expanded into making steel.
c. He controlled the drilling, refining, storage, and distribution of oil.
d. His factories produced household items made of steel.
e. He bought out competing oil refining companies.
16. What criticism did Henry Demarest Lloyd leverage against Rockefeller’s Standard Oil in Wealth against
Commonwealth (1892)?
a. Rockefeller’s oil corporation was excessively competitive.
b. Standard Oil was overcharging end consumers of their products.
c. Standard Oil was employing more foreigners than Americans.
d. Rockefeller’s corporation was violating regulations at the New York Stock Exchange.
e. Standard Oil was undermining fair competition in the marketplace.
17. What was the difference between skilled and semiskilled workers during the Gilded Age?
a. Skilled workers were less common, possessed technical skills, and enjoyed better wages depending on the
industry.
b. Unskilled workers tended to have much more control over the production process than skilled workers did.
c. Skilled workers tended to live closer to the factories than semiskilled workers did and, thus, had worse
conditions.
d. The designation of semiskilled workers referred only to child laborers, whereas skilled workers were any
seasoned adults.
e. Skilled workers enjoyed rights, such as the eight-hour workday and paid vacations, that caused social
divisions to become less visible throughout the Gilded Age.
18. How were skilled workers able to secure new freedoms for themselves in rapidly expanding industries?
a. Their knowledge allowed them to control the production process and the training of apprentices.
b. They had the ability to advance to managerial positions and from there into the executive boardrooms of big
industry.
c. They were able to market their skills by training young apprentices in exchange for high fees.
d. Their ownership and control over their shops and tools made their trades unattractive for industrial
competition.
e. Skilled workers tended to be more radical and used strikes and violent uprisings to secure better wages.
19. Which of the following statements accurately describes the experiences of many semiskilled industrial workers
in American factories during the Gilded Age?
a. Working conditions were dangerous and unstable, and workers often lacked any type of protection.
b. By 1880 all semiskilled workers enjoyed the protection of labor unions and worked in organized and safe
environments.
c. Although semiskilled workers were paid low wages, their working environments were modern and clean.
d. In general, the working class lacked the riches of the higher classes but rarely experienced poverty.
e. Workers had better working conditions than their European counterparts and were only allowed to work 50
hours per week.
20. For a working-class family to survive, all family members needed to work and contribute to the household.
Where did the majority of working-class women work?
a. in factories
b. in domestic service
c. as artisans
d. in sweatshops
e. at banks
21. What did Social Darwinists believe?
a. They believed that human progress was a natural process and, therefore, the government should not
interfere with it.
b. They believed the government should take an active approach to alleviating poverty because it held the
most influence.
c. They believed all different social classes needed to help one another to achieve true social equality.
d. They believed all Native Americans born in U.S. territory were equal to whites and should be granted
citizenship.
e. They believed all Americans needed to fight for social justice and that the rise of the giant industrial
corporation was unnatural.
22. Why is the period between 1870 and 1890 known as the “Gilded Age”?
a. The United States experienced generalized economic growth, but Americans had become disinterested in
politics and uninfluenced by party.
b. The gold mining industry flourished and spread from the West across the rest of the country, leading other
industries to suffer and lose record numbers of workers.
c. Americans grew far more politically active, as the influence of corporations was still highly limited and
separate from politics.
d. All Americans enjoyed an improvement in their living standards, regardless of their race or social class.
e. While there was a generalized idea that America was doing well on the surface, it masked corruption,
oppression, and poverty.
23. An example of what the economist and social historian Thorstein Veblen meant by “conspicuous
consumption” is
a. Mrs. Bradley Martin’s costume ball.
b. an immigrant’s purchase of bread.
c. the free services handed out by social reformers.
d. John D. Rockefeller’s purchase of a competing company.
e. the social welfare services of European nations like Germany.
24. Who wrote the book Sunshine and Shadow in New York, which contrasted rich and poor?
a. Jacob Riis
b. Thorstein Veblen
c. Frederick Jackson Turner
d. Henry Demarest Lloyd
e. Matthew Smith
25. In How the Other Half Lives, Jacob Riis
a. highlighted the benefits of the second industrial revolution.
b. discussed the lives of wealthy Americans.
c. focused on the wretched conditions of New York slums.
d. provided a fictional account of life in 1890.
e. wrote about captains of industry.
26. Part of the justification offered for the idea of the “liberty of contract” was that, as long as labor relations were
based on contracts freely written by the independent individuals, the government lacked the right to interfere.
Which of the following socioeconomic groups most tended to embrace this idea?
a. Social Gospel groups
b. labor unions
c. business and professional classes
d. semiskilled and skilled workers
e. women working as domestic servants
27. What did William G. Sumner think the poor classes were entitled to request from others?
a. benevolence from the church
b. high wages
c. assistance from the government
d. unemployment insurance
e. essentially nothing
28. By the 1880s, what role did the courts, including the Supreme Court, take in the debate over liberty of
contract?
a. The courts generally sided with business enterprises and ruled against labor regulations.
b. The courts tended to side with the workers because Americans’ safety was their priority.
c. The courts tended to focus purely on equality before the law for former slaves.
d. The courts tended to rule in favor of workers because they were intimidated by labor unions.
e. The courts ruled on a case-by-case basis, making a clear trend one way or the other nonexistent.
29. In Lochner v. New York (1905), the Supreme Court voided a state law that established the maximum hours
bakers could work in New York. What reasoning did the Court give for this ruling?
a. The Court believed the state of New York did not enjoy jurisdiction to pass labor laws.
b. The Court believed this law interfered with the right of contract and therefore infringed upon individual
freedom.
c. The Court believed that this law would discriminate against African-Americans and thus was illegal.
d. The Court believed this law was detrimental to workers’ health and that yellow-dog contracts were
unconstitutional.
e. The Court believed that baking was not as dangerous as other lines of work and did not require such
protections.
30. Which of the following did the Knights of Labor try to eliminate?
a. labor unions
b. liberty of contract
c. massive strikes
d. the Sherman Anti-Trust Act
e. Protestantism
31. Which of the following statements generally describes the view of middle-class reformers on social conditions
during the Gilded Age?
a. They were concerned with the stark economic and social differences between the rich and the poor.
b. They largely disavowed their past calls for equality as a result of the steady economic growth that had
vastly improved conditions for the lower classes.
c. They sided with Social Darwinists and promoted the idea that the government should not interfere in social
affairs.
d. Although they lamented social problems at meetings, they failed to propose any actual plans for change.
e. They sided with the working poor and formed a new Labor Party that came to seriously rival the two major
parties.
32. How did many Protestants, also known as “Christian lobbyists,” try to eradicate sin during the Gilded Age?
a. They focused on the new concept of stamping out “sinful” behavior using moral persuasion.
b. They formed national organizations and used politics to outlaw “sinful” behavior.
c. They promoted and celebrated the growth of cities, lamenting the “immorality” of rural areas in
comparison.
d. They focused on better working conditions as the only way to tackle “sinful” activities head–on.
e. They spread information about Darwinism and relied on scientific advances to make their points
33. Which of the following statements summarizes what moral reform groups stood for during the Gilded Age?
a. First and foremost, they wanted to alleviate the living circumstances of the poor and relied purely on “moral
suasion” to do so.
b. They wanted to spread Protestantism in other parts of the world and started a missionary campaign that
reached all classes.
c. Their main concern was to eradicate the “sinful” activities such as alcoholism, prostitution, and gambling
and to “Christianize the government.”
d. Above all else, they believed the pursuit of riches was immoral and focused on the sins of corporations over
the individual.
e. They exclusively represented the interests of former slaves and failed to gain any members in the white
South.
34. The Social Gospel
a. was formed exclusively by aristocratic women who sought leadership roles within the church.
b. was a movement largely financed by the government to try to win political donations.
c. was an effort first led by the Catholic Church to gain power in the western United States.
d. focused primarily on supporting “liberty of contract” and tried to convince others to accept it.
e. was an effort to expand the appeal of the Protestant Church into poor neighborhoods.
35. The year 1886 marked the high point of the popularity of the Knights of Labor; however, it soon began to
wane. Why did the Knights of Labor lose force after that year?
a. New, similar political parties emerged and started to compete for constituents.
b. Its leader was Henry George, and he was involved in a case of corruption.
c. The Whig Party experienced a major resurgence.
d. The press and employers started to associate it with violence and radicalism.
e. It began to promote public and private police forces against strikes.
36. “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” lecture concluded what about the West?
a. The movement westward acted as a safety valve that counteracted the threat of social unrest.
b. The native peoples deserved the land more than the whites.
c. Immigrant labor needed to be recruited heavily.
d. The farmland was too arid, so most states and territories needed to focus on manufacturing.
e. The region was too large geographically, so not enough railroad track would ever be built to connect the
region.
37. Who was Frederick Jackson Turner?
a. an economist
b. a social reformer
c. a historian
d. a cattle ranching baron
e. a preacher
38. What did Native Americans have in common with the Zulu of South Africa and the aboriginal people in
Australia?
a. They belonged to some of the most ancient agricultural civilizations in the world.
b. They all looked to central governments for protection and assistance in their struggle against white
supremacist settlers.
c. They found themselves pushed aside by a centralizing government trying to control large interior regions.
d. They all saw themselves pulled into the vicious debt cycle that accompanied cotton sharecropping.
e. Both groups saw such little chance at advancing in civil rights that they resorted to emigration.
39. Which of the following descriptions accurately characterized the West during the Gilded Age?
a. land the federal government was highly reluctant to give out to individuals and corporations
b. a region where slavery legally persisted because it was so unsettled
c. an area that saw little federal intervention in interactions with Native Americans
d. a variety of regions such as plains, mountains, and desert
e. a haven that remained untouched by the interests of business
40. The impact of the second industrial revolution on the trans-Mississippi West was
a. dramatic in agriculture.
b. insignificant.
c. concentrated in the cities.
d. beneficial to Indians.
e. significant only for native-born whites.
41. Which of the following statements describes settlement and development of the American West most
accurately?
a. The federal government played little to no role in helping to settle and develop the West because those
powers rested solely with the states.
b. Territories in the West were admitted as states after relatively short periods of time, compared with the East.
c. Mormons and Latinos often accounted for a majority of western territories’ populations at the time they
attained statehood.
d. The West became known as a place that depended heavily on federal assistance and lacked individualism.
e. The federal government actively acquired Indian territories, distributed land to companies, and helped to
open large areas to commercial farming.
42. Why did western territories take longer than eastern territories to achieve statehood?
a. Easterners were wary of granting statehood until white, non-Mormon settlers counterbalanced the large
Latino and Mormon populations.
b. Local leaders were hostile to federal involvement in territorial affairs and resisted calls for statehood.
c. Long-term warfare with native peoples made the establishment of stable communities difficult for white
settlers.
d. The Mormon and Latino populations in these areas did not grow rapidly enough to reach the numbers
necessary and sufficient for statehood.
e. Settlers experienced more difficulty than easterners had moving native peoples off the territory.
43. What was one result of the increased emphasis on farming on the Middle Border?
a. Cotton became the dominant cash crop, and slavery persisted as the main form of labor.
b. The population significantly increased over four decades and included a diverse group of farmers.
c. Settlers received a large amount of help from Native Americans, who had farmed the region first.
d. Women’s household chores became easier because growing crops was seen as strictly a male task.
e. Farmers from other countries were prohibited from moving to the area as part of the Homestead Act.
44. Which of the following statements accurately describes farming in the Great Plains?
a. Women were required to stay off the farm and instead do housework.
b. Farming was relatively easy, as the climate remained steady throughout the year.
c. Husbands and sons tended to cash crops, while women tended to animals and grew crops for food.
d. Farm families enjoyed an active social life with the many families on nearby farms.
e. Farmers were a homogenous group mainly comprising easterners.
45. Bonanza farms
a. were small, self-sufficient farms.
b. were the sharecropping farms found in the South.
c. typically had thousands of acres of land or more.
d. were free homesteads in California.
e. were settled along the railroad lines of the Union Pacific.
46. How did expanding agricultural production in places like Argentina and the American West lead to the
migration of rural populations to cities?
a. Increasing output in the countryside created a new prosperity that allowed rural populations to travel.
b. As the growing agricultural output attracted ever-larger numbers of immigrants to the countryside, the older
generations of rural settlers left for the cities.
c. Increasing output worldwide pushed down the prices of farm products, making it more difficult for farmers
to make ends meet.
d. New production methods that were at the heart of growing farm productivity alienated many rural folks
familiar with traditional farming practices.
e. Peasants made such tidy profits in agriculture that they could afford to move to cities.
47. How did the displacement of native peoples in Australia differ from the experience of Indians in the American
West?
a. Aboriginals were gathered together into centralized areas set aside by the government.
b. White diseases decimated Aboriginals.
c. Government policy orchestrated the removal of Aboriginal children from their homes for official adoption
by whites.
d. Aboriginals were subject to cultural reconstruction.
e. Aboriginals were well compensated for their land.
48. Why was the Hollywood version of the western “cowboy” based more on fantasy than reality?
a. Railroad expansion before the Civil War had eliminated the need for “cattle drives” from Texas.
b. Most cowboys were low-paid workers, some of whom even went on strike for higher wages.
c. By the time of the Civil War, most open-range longhorns had been killed by disease and harsh winters.
d. Clothing such as wide-brimmed hats and boots were twentieth-century inventions of writers and movie
producers.
e. Many worked as cowboys for a short time before moving on to other employment.
49. In Southern California, what became a dominant crop in the late nineteenth century?
a. corn
b. squash
c. cotton
d. oranges
e. potatoes
50. Which of the following statements is accurate about the West?
a. Cowboys led a far more romantic life than that depicted in Hollywood movies.
b. By 1900, Native Americans still outnumbered white settlers.
c. By 1890, the West had a higher percentage of people living in cities than other regions.
d. Immigrants avoided the West because of limited opportunity.
e. Most Chinese settled in the interior of the West as opposed to the coastal states.
51. Why was William Tweed so popular with New York’s immigrant poor?
a. He was willing to speak truth to power and challenged labor unions.
b. He fought hard for more liberal immigration laws.
c. He had provided food, fuel, and patronage to them in exchange for their votes.
d. He uncovered much of the corruption in the city and introduced crucial political reforms.
e. He himself was a recent immigrant with roots in German proto-socialist movements.
52. Crédit Mobilier and the Whiskey Ring
a. were international corporations.
b. were the largest labor unions in the country.
c. introduced the gold standard.
d. focused on providing relief for the poor.
e. illustrated corruption under President Grant.
53. What happened in both the 1876 and 1888 presidential elections?
a. Democratic candidates won close elections.
b. Republicans won the presidency after landslide victories.
c. Third-party candidates placed second.
d. The losers of the popular vote won the electoral college.
e. Former Confederate generals won the presidency.
54. Which of the following describes the impact of corporations on the American West?
a. Chinese immigration to the western United States slowed due to the decline of agricultural industries.
b. Lumber companies protected coastal forests and began the first conservation movement.
c. Urban populations in California declined as people moved to the centers of agricultural production.
d. Communal landholdings in New Mexico were taken over by commercial farmers and ranchers.
e. Average farmers were at the heart of corporate investments.
55. By 1880, Chinese immigrants to the West
a. concentrated in California, where they made up over half of the farmworkers.
b. were seasonal workers moving back and forth between the two coasts.
c. worked exclusively in the western gold fields.
d. tended to purposefully cut all ties with their families in China.
e. faced little discrimination because the area had had a large Chinese presence for almost a century.
56. Which of the following statements about nineteenth-century Chinese immigrants to the United States is
accurate?
a. Unlike Europeans, Chinese immigrants tended not to keep in touch with relatives in China due to greater
levels of assimilation.
b. After the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, most Chinese immigrants were unable to find
additional work and returned to China.
c. Chinese immigrants rarely worked in western mines after the Civil War, thanks to Anglo resentment and the
lack of demand for cheap labor.
d. By 1880, the majority of Chinese immigrants lived in California, where many worked on farms, but they
also lived elsewhere and performed other jobs.
e. Most Chinese women migrated east via the transcontinental railroad to work as domestics and helped
transform the region.
57. Why did President James Buchanan replace Utah’s territorial governor Brigham Young with a non-Mormon
appointee in 1857?
a. Brigham Young had advocated for slavery in the trans-Mississippi West.
b. Mormons had slaughtered more than 100 settlers in the Mountain Meadows massacre.
c. Brigham Young was a known polygamist.
d. It became known that the work of federal judges in Utah was being obstructed.
e. Under Young, Utah had granted Native Americans equal citizenship.
58. Which of the following most accurately describes the relationship between the government and the economy in
the Gilded Age?
a. State and local governments diminished in scope and purpose, as the federal government extended its
control over business and banking regulation.
b. The rise of the Republican Party in national politics signaled new growth in the national government and a
new commitment to breaking up monopolies.
c. Politicians of both major parties favored business and banks and supported a reduction in the money supply
and a return to the gold standard.
d. Western state governments lobbied to block new tariffs that would raise the price of manufactured goods
and bankrupt farmers.
e. State and local government increased in scale while the federal government decreased.
59. In order to enter the Union as a state, Utah banned what in its constitution?
a. slavery
b. immigration
c. polygamy
d. prostitution
e. public schools
60. Which of the following describes the interactions between white settlers and Indian tribes in the West most
accurately?
a. Before 1850, migrants on the Oregon and California Trails often encountered hostility from Indians.
b. President Grant issued a “peace policy” that curbed Indian warfare.
c. Settlers aimed to boost Indian economies because this would improve trade for everyone.
d. When settlers encroached on Indian lands, Indians rarely retaliated violently.
e. Army campaigns sought to destroy Indian economies by killing many buffalo.
61. The Interstate Commerce Commission was established in 1887 to
a. distribute land allocations to railroad companies.
b. standardize the transportation of animal feed between states.
c. oversee state taxes.
d. regulate railroad gauge size.
e. ensure that railroads charged farmers and merchants reasonable and fair rates.
62. Which of the following properly assesses the significance of the passage of the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890?
a. The passage of the law was a Republican triumph in an era of Democratic dominance.
b. The law triggered an avalanche of frivolous lawsuits that would tarnish the reputation of anti–monopolists
for years.
c. The law was so finely grained and complicated that few prosecutors in the country dared to apply it.
d. The law established a precedent that the national government could regulate the economy in the interest of
the public good.
e. The law had the unintended consequence of empowering unions and socialist organizations.
63. As the West grew increasingly integrated with the national economy, the lives of Plains Indians permanently
changed. How did the government respond to the conflict that arose from Indians who resisted these changes?
a. The government signed a treaty promising to respect what remained of the Indian tribes and their culture.
b. The government sent troops to destroy the Indian economy such as by attacking their horses and buffalo.
c. The government left all Indian tribes alone since it wanted to maintain good trade relations.
d. The government kindly invited tribes to move to unsettled land in Canada.
e. The government initiated an official campaign to move all Indian tribes to Mexico.
64. The Grange was an organization that
a. focused its efforts on child labor laws.
b. sought to raise railroad rates.
c. opposed government regulation of shipping charges.
d. pushed for railroads to acquire more land in the West.
e. established cooperatives for storing and marketing farm output.