WorksheetsUS History - Week 7 Quiz - Politics and Labor in the Gilded Age
Total questions: 25
Worksheet time: 19mins
Match the following Week 7 Vocabulary words to their correct definitions:
Industrial Capitalism
The growing economic system where the country changed from having mostly small farmers to having more people working for wages in factories, mines, and mills. This system was typically unregulated by the government.
Labor Unions
Organizations formed by workers who join together as a group to bargain with business owners for goals like better working conditions, shorter hours, and higher wages.
Strike
A powerful action where workers refuse to work, aiming to stop production and cost the business time and money until the owners agree to their demands.
Populists (The People's Party)
A major political party that started in the 1890s, mostly made up of struggling farmers in the Midwest and South, whose platform sought to reduce the power of large corporations and railroads.
Hard Money/Gold Standard
A financial policy, supported by the Republican Party, that tied the value of the dollar only to gold. This policy benefited banks and wealthy business owners but made it difficult for debtors, especially farmers, to pay off their loans.
Fill in the blank: ________ are single large companies that gain complete control over an entire industry. Since the government offered little regulation, these companies could eliminate competition and set their prices very high.
Monopolies
Partnerships
Franchises
Cooperatives
Fill in the blank: ________ are short-term or replacement workers hired by business owners during a strike. They are brought in to keep the business running and break the striking union.
Strikebreakers
Union leaders
Negotiators
Supervisors
Fill in the blank: An ________ is a formal legal order issued by a court that commands striking workers or a union to stop their activities. Union leaders who refused to follow the court order could be imprisoned.
Injunction
Subpoena
Affidavit
Mandate
Why did the Gilded Age gain a reputation for widespread corruption in politics?
Many politicians focused on enriching themselves from public money and running corrupt local political machines.
The President was required to take bribes from banks.
Voter turnout was too high, causing chaos at the polls.
There were too many effective laws limiting big business power.
Which two policies did the Republican Party generally support because they benefited banks and American industries?
Low tariffs and free coinage of silver.
High protective tariffs and the gold standard (hard money).
Labor union recognition and railroad regulation.
Civil rights reform and an eight-hour workday.
What economic solution did the Populist Party propose to help farmers and other debtors pay off their loans more easily?
Eliminating all banks in the United States.
Decreasing the amount of money in circulation.
Demanding the free coinage of silver to increase the money supply and cause inflation.
Allowing the railroads to set their own shipping rates.
Political organizations like Tammany Hall provided essential services, such as food and housing, to whom, in exchange for guaranteed political support?
Wealthy business owners and factory managers.
Republican Congressmen and military generals.
Small farmers in the Midwest.
Immigrants and poor people in major cities.
How was the Knights of Labor (KoL) considered an exceptionally progressive labor union for its time?
It only accepted highly skilled white men.
It welcomed all types of workers, including the unskilled, women, and African Americans.
It strictly limited its goals to only requesting higher wages.
It had no interest in strikes or boycotts.
The American Federation of Labor (AFL) found success by concentrating primarily on which goals for its members?
Establishing a cooperative society where workers owned the factories.
Overthrowing the government and ending capitalism.
Basic economic issues like higher wages and achieving the eight-hour workday.
Running candidates for President and Congress.
What major incident caused the public perception of the Knights of Labor (KoL) to collapse after 1886?
Its leaders were arrested for stealing from a railroad company.
The organization was unfairly blamed for the violence that erupted during the Haymarket Square Riot.
The union was defeated during the successful eight-hour workday strike.
It lost a national election to the Populist Party.
During the Homestead Strike of 1892, who was ultimately responsible for defeating the steelworkers' union and reopening the plant for the owners?
Armed strikebreakers known as Pinkerton detectives.
The US Supreme Court.
The American Railway Union.
The state government of Pennsylvania, which sent 6,000 militiamen.
What action did President Grover Cleveland take during the Pullman Strike that decisively sided the federal government with the railroad owners against the American Railway Union?
He threatened to seize control of the railroads for the workers.
He granted the union higher wages and shorter hours.
He personally arrested George Pullman.
He dispatched federal troops and used a court injunction against the union leaders.
Based on the outcomes of the Homestead Strike and the Pullman Strike, whose side did the state and federal governments generally choose in major conflicts between management and labor during the Gilded Age?
They were neutral and always supported whichever side had the most workers.
They decisively sided with the employers, corporations, and big business.
They usually supported the unions but rarely had the legal authority to enforce it.
They always sided with the Populist Party.
Which of the following best describes the main goal of political machines during the Gilded Age?
To promote civil service reform and end patronage.
To maintain power by exchanging favors and services for votes, especially among immigrants and the poor.
To provide honest government and reduce taxes for all citizens.
To support only rural communities and farmers.
What was a common tactic used by large corporations to eliminate competition during the Gilded Age?
Forming trusts and engaging in price-fixing agreements.
Donating profits to charity.
Hiring only unionized workers.
Reducing production to avoid oversupply.
Which group was most likely to benefit from the patronage system used by political machines during the Gilded Age?
Wealthy industrialists and bankers.
Immigrants and loyal party supporters seeking government jobs.
Independent farmers in rural areas.
Federal judges and Supreme Court justices.
Which of the following was a key reason why many workers joined labor unions during the Gilded Age?
To receive free land from the government.
To demand better wages, safer working conditions, and shorter hours.
To support monopolies and trusts.
To promote the gold standard in national policy.
Fill in the blank: The practice of awarding government jobs to political supporters and friends, rather than based on merit, was known as the ________ system.
Seniority
Merit
Apprenticeship
Patronage
(a) pushed for safer working conditions, (b) wages, and (c) hours.
Rail workers were facing cut wages, longer hours and prices to live in the company town remained the same. They refused to work, shutting down the railroads across the nation. (a)
Steelworkers went on strike over poor pay and working conditions. Troops and militia were called in to end the strike. Many people died and the laborers were forced back to work. (a)
What does this image say about the need for labor unions?
labor unions were desirable because the workers were being crushed by difficult living conditions and poor pay.
Labor unions decreased nativism
Labor unions helped big business keep control of the workers
Labor unions helped reduce the length of the work day
Was the Gilded Age a golden age of American politics or a low point? Why?
