APUSH Anchor List IV

Sitting Bull

A Lakota Sioux holy man and leader who united the Sioux tribes in their struggle for survival on the North American Great Plains. He was killed by Indian agency police during an attempt to arrest him over fears of the Ghost Dance movement.

Booker T. Washington

An African American educator who founded the Tuskegee Institute. In his "Atlanta Compromise" speech, he argued that African Americans should focus on economic self-improvement and vocational training rather than demanding immediate social and political equality.

J. P. Morgan

A powerful banker and financier who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street. He arranged the merger that formed General Electric and bought Carnegie Steel to create U.S. Steel, the first billion-dollar corporation.

Andrew Carnegie

A Scottish-American industrialist who led the expansion of the American steel industry. He utilized vertical integration to dominate the market and later wrote the "Gospel of Wealth," advocating for philanthropy.

John D. Rockefeller

The founder of the Standard Oil Company, he became the richest man in modern history. He used horizontal integration and trusts to monopolize the oil industry, controlling 90% of oil refining in the U.S.

Eugene V. Debs

A labor leader who helped organize the American Railway Union and led the Pullman Strike. He later became a leading Socialist, running for president five times, including once from prison.

Jane Addams

A pioneer American settlement activist/reformer and leader in women's suffrage and world peace. She founded Hull House in Chicago to provide social services and education to working-class immigrants.

Jacob Riis

A muckraking journalist and social reformer who used photography to expose the terrible living conditions in New York City tenements. His book How the Other Half Lives shocked the public and led to housing reform.

Upton Sinclair

A muckraker who wrote the novel The Jungle, which exposed the appalling conditions in the meatpacking industry. His work led directly to the passage of the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act.

W.E.B. DuBois

An African American sociologist and civil rights activist who co-founded the NAACP. Unlike Booker T. Washington, he argued for immediate political and social equality and believed the "Talented Tenth" should lead the African American community.

Teddy Roosevelt

The 26th president, known for his "Square Deal" domestic policy. He was a "trust-buster," a conservationist who established many national parks, and an advocate for a strong foreign policy.

Susan B. Anthony

A social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement. She traveled the country giving speeches and was arrested for voting, paving the way for the 19th Amendment.

Homestead Act

A law passed in 1862 that gave 160 acres of land to citizens willing to live on and cultivate it for five years. It encouraged rapid westward settlement but often displaced Native Americans.

Dawes Act

A law intended to assimilate Native Americans into American society by breaking up tribal lands and distributing them to individual families. It resulted in a massive loss of Native American land and the erosion of tribal culture.

Ghost Dance

A spiritual movement among Native Americans that prophesied the return of the buffalo and the disappearance of white settlers. It caused fear among the U.S. government and led to the Wounded Knee Massacre.

Jim Crow Laws

State and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States. They mandated "separate but equal" status for African Americans but in practice led to inferior conditions and facilities.

“New South”

A slogan used to describe the South after Reconstruction, promoting a shift from a purely agrarian economy to one based on industrialization and modernization, though sharecropping remained prevalent.

Sharecropping

A system of agriculture where a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced. It often trapped freedmen and poor whites in a cycle of debt and poverty.

Gilded Age

A term coined by Mark Twain to describe the late 19th century. It refers to an era that looked "golden" on the outside due to great wealth and industrialization, but was "rotten" on the inside due to corruption and poverty.

Horizontal and Vertical Integration

Business strategies used to create monopolies. Vertical integration involves owning all steps of production (supply chain), while horizontal integration involves buying out competitors in the same industry.

Laissez-Faire Capitalism

An economic philosophy that opposes government intervention in business affairs. During the Gilded Age, this allowed businesses to grow without regulation, leading to monopolies and poor working conditions.

Captains of Industry/Robber Barons

Two terms used to describe the wealthy industrialists of the late 19th century. "Captains of Industry" suggests they benefited the economy, while "Robber Barons" implies they got rich through ruthless and unethical business practices.

Bread and Butter Issues

The basic goals of labor unions, such as higher wages, shorter hours, and better working conditions. The American Federation of Labor focused on these rather than broad social reform.

Haymarket Square Riot

A labor protest in Chicago in 1886 that turned violent when a bomb was thrown at police. The incident turned public opinion against the labor movement and led to the decline of the Knights of Labor.

Homestead Strike

A violent labor dispute between the Carnegie Steel Company and many of its workers in 1892. The strike was crushed by private security agents (Pinkertons) and the state militia, setting back the union movement in the steel industry.

Pullman Strike

A nationwide railroad strike in 1894 led by Eugene V. Debs. It shut down much of the nation's freight and passenger traffic west of Detroit and was eventually ended by federal troops sent by President Cleveland.

Knights of Labor

One of the first major labor organizations in the US, open to both skilled and unskilled workers, as well as women and African Americans. They declined after being unfairly associated with the violence at Haymarket Square.

American Federation of Labor

A labor union founded by Samuel Gompers that catered only to skilled workers. They focused on practical "bread and butter" goals through collective bargaining and strikes.

Ellis Island

The primary immigration inspection station in New York Harbor. Millions of immigrants, mostly from Southern and Eastern Europe, passed through here to enter the United States.

Nativism/ Social Darwinism

Nativism is the policy of protecting the interests of native-born inhabitants against those of immigrants. Social Darwinism applied the theory of "survival of the fittest" to society, justifying the gap between rich and poor.

Chinese Exclusion Act

A federal law signed in 1882 prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers. It was the first law implemented to prevent a specific ethnic group from immigrating to the United States.

Gospel of Wealth

An article written by Andrew Carnegie that describes the responsibility of philanthropy by the new upper class of self-made rich. He argued the wealthy should redistribute their surplus means in a responsible and thoughtful manner.

Social Gospel Movement

A religious movement that arose during the second half of the nineteenth century. Ministers argued that people must emulate the life of Jesus by helping the poor, leading to the creation of organizations like the Salvation Army and YMCA.

Populist Party

A political party formed by farmers to represent the interests of the common people against the banking and railroad interests. They advocated for the direct election of senators, a graduated income tax, and the unlimited coinage of silver.

Bi-mentalism (Bimetallism)

A monetary system in which the government would give citizens either gold or silver in exchange for paper currency or checks. Farmers supported this because they believed more money in circulation would raise crop prices.

The Grange

Originally a social organization for farmers, it developed into a political movement. They fought against the monopolistic practices of railroads and grain elevators.

The “Cross of Gold” speech

A famous speech delivered by William Jennings Bryan at the 1896 Democratic National Convention. He supported bimetallism and decried the gold standard, saying "you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold."

Tammany Hall

A powerful political machine in New York City famously led by "Boss" Tweed. It was known for corruption and graft, but also for helping immigrants find jobs and housing in exchange for their votes.

Progressivism

A reform movement that sought to return control of the government to the people, restore economic opportunities, and correct injustices in American life caused by industrialization.

17th Amendment

An amendment to the U.S. Constitution that allowed for the direct election of U.S. Senators by the people, rather than by state legislatures.

18th Amendment

This amendment established the prohibition of alcohol in the United States, making it illegal to produce, transport, or sell intoxicating liquors.

19th Amendment

This amendment granted women the right to vote, the culmination of decades of work by the women's suffrage movement.

The Square Deal

President Theodore Roosevelt's domestic program formed upon three basic ideas: conservation of natural resources, control of corporations, and consumer protection.

Sherman Anti-Trust Act

A law passed in 1890 that made it illegal to form a trust that interfered with free trade between states or with other countries. It was the first federal action against monopolies.

Socialism

An economic and political system based on government control of business and property and equal distribution of wealth. Eugene V. Debs was a prominent American socialist leader.

Wounded Knee Massacre

Occurring in 1890, this was the slaughter of approximately 150-300 Lakota Sioux by the U.S. Army. It is widely considered the end of the Indian Wars.

Plessy vs. Ferguson

A 1896 Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities as long as the segregated facilities were equal in quality ("separate but equal").

The Gilded Age

A period in U.S. history roughly from the 1870s to 1900, characterized by rapid industrial growth, significant immigration, and a stark contrast between extreme wealth and severe poverty.