Chapter 19 Objectives

1. The party system in the late-nineteenth-century was very stable. The electorate was
divided almost precisely evenly between the Republicans and Democrats. Loyalties
hardly fluctuated.

2.

3. In the election of 1884 Blaine ran against Cleveland. Cleveland had no more
distinguishing features than Blaine but had a reputation of being an enemy of corruption.
The Catholic Church spread news that Blaine had tolerated a slander on the Catholic
Church. Cleveland likely won due to a higher vote of Catholics.

4. The Sherman Anti-Trust Act was indifferently enforced and steadily weakened the
courts and had virtually no impact for nearly a decade after it was passed. The Interstate
Commerce Act banned discrimination of rates between small and long hauls, required
that railroads publish their rate schedules and file them with the government and declared
that all interstate rail rates must be “reasonable and just”. The Interstate commerce act
was not well enforced and was ineffective.

5. The Pendleton Act established the United States Civil Service Commission which
placed federal employees on the merit system and marked the end of the “Spoils
System”.

6. American farmers began to become discontented as the Urban-Industrial society began

to isolate them. Rural Americans were desperate for government assistance in dealing
with their problems. The result of their frustrations was the emergence of The Grangers,
The Farmers’ Alliance, and the Populist movement.

7. The Gold Standard Act established gold as the only standard for redeeming paper
money. Many Americans concluded that a conspiracy of big bankers had been
responsible for the “demonetization” of silver.

8. The election became a fight between supporters of “free silver” and the supporters of
the Gold standard. Many believed that silver would be the “people’s money” as opposed
to gold, the money of oppression.

9.