U.S. History is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of most introductory courses. The text provides a balanced approach to U.S. history, considering the people, events, and ideas that have shaped the United States from both the top down (politics, economics, diplomacy) and bottom up (eyewitness accounts, lived experience). U.S. History covers key forces that form the American experience, with particular attention to issues of race, class, and gender.Senior Contributing AuthorsP. Scott Corbett, Ventura CollegeVolker Janssen, California State University, FullertonJohn M. Lund, Keene State CollegeTodd Pfannestiel, Clarion UniversityPaul Vickery, Oral Roberts UniversitySylvie Waskiewicz

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Explain the difference between the spoils system and civil service, and discuss the importance of this issue in the period from 1872 to 1896Recognize the ways in which the issue of tariffs impacted different sectors of the economy in late nineteenth-century AmericaExplain why Americans were split on the issue of a national gold standard versus free coinage of silverExplain why political patronage was a key issue for political parties in the late nineteenth century