STAAR US History Questions: Gilded Age (Updated)

This legislation affected how federal employees were hired. The law now required government jobs to be?

• Based on the political party affiliation of the applicant

• Determined by a merit system based on civil service examinations

• Based on the approval of lawmakers

• Set aside for business executives of large corporations

These demands most reflected the concerns of?

• Small farmers in need of affordable credit

• Robber barons pursuing higher profits

• Prominent bankers who controlled the money supply

• Immigrant workers seeking economic justice

The Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor developed in response to the?

• Increased need to protect worker interests.

• Decreased power of political machines.

• Increased demand for skilled workers.

• Decreased profitability of the agricultural sector.

In this excerpt above, Justice Harlan is warning against —

• A civil service based on patronage rather than merit.

• Allowing powerful monopolies to dominate interstate commerce.

• A lack of federal funding for essential transportation systems.

• Allowing labor unions to interfere with production goals.

Why did the Populist Party want free coinage of silver?

• To increase the amount of money in circulation.

• To reduce economic inflation.

• To raise campaign contribution limits.

• To decrease the bargaining power of labor unions.

What was the main reason given for the creation of these restrictions?

• Preventing the depletion of natural resources.

• Discouraging anti-American activism.

• Reducing competition for U.S. jobs.

• Addressing a lack of urban housing.

During the late nineteenth century, many Irish immigrants were discriminated against for being?

• Opposed to machine politics.

• Loyal to the United Kingdom.

• Conscientious objectors.

• Roman Catholics .

These immigrants were relieved when they saw the type of land they were expecting because they?

• Hoped to establish farms.

• Wanted to build factories.

• Planned to mine for gold.

• Wanted to work for the railroad.

A high school teacher wrote these bullet points on the whiteboard. What was the most likely topic of discussion?

• Goals of U.S. assimilation policies.

• Objectives of the Grange movement.

• Reasons for immigration to the United States.

• Principles of social Darwinism.

What were photographs such as this one taken by Lewis Hine primarily intended to accomplish?

• Encourage leaders to make segregation in schools illegal.

• Document labor conditions during an economic crisis.

• Depict the evils of capitalism in communist propaganda.

• Focus attention on the need for child labor reforms.