Unit 2 Study Guide: Civil War to Immigration and Urbanization

Vocabulary flashcards covering topics from the Civil War to Immigration and Urbanization, based on the provided study guide notes.

Civil War

A war fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865 between the Union (Northern states) and the Confederacy (Southern states), primarily over the issues of slavery and states' rights.

Reconstruction

The period from 1865 to 1877 following the Civil War during which the United States government attempted to rebuild the South and integrate newly freed slaves into society.

14th Amendment

Grants citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, including former slaves, and guarantees all citizens 'equal protection of the laws'.

Abraham Lincoln

The 16th U.S. President who led the Union during the Civil War and worked to abolish slavery.

Union

The Northern states during the Civil War that remained loyal to the federal government.

Confederacy

The Confederate States of America, formed by eleven Southern states that seceded from the Union prior to the Civil War.

Jim Crow Laws

State and local laws enacted in the Southern and some border states from the late 19th to the mid-20th centuries, designed to disenfranchise and oppress African Americans and enforce racial segregation.

Plessy vs. Ferguson

A landmark 1896 Supreme Court case that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the 'separate but equal' doctrine.

Homer Plessy

An African American man who was the plaintiff in the Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court case, challenging segregation on railroad cars.

John Ferguson

The judge against whom Homer Plessy's lawsuit was directed in the Plessy v. Ferguson case, presiding over the criminal district court in New Orleans.

Segregation

The enforced separation of different racial groups in a country, community, or establishment.

Urbanization

The process by which cities grow and a country's population moves from rural to urban areas.

Americanization Movement

A nationwide organized effort in the 1910s to bring recent immigrants into the American mainstream culture and civic life.

Muckrakers

Journalists who exposed corruption and problems in society during the Progressive Era.

Tenements/Row Houses

Multi-family urban dwellings, often overcrowded and unsanitary, typically inhabited by immigrants or the poor.

Settlement Houses

Community centers that provided services to the poor, particularly immigrants, in urban areas.

Upton Sinclair

A muckraker author known for his 1906 novel 'The Jungle', which exposed the appalling conditions of the meatpacking industry.

Social Darwinism

A belief in the late 19th century that applied Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection to human society, arguing that competition allows the 'fittest' individuals and businesses to succeed.

Angel Island

An immigration station in San Francisco Bay, California, which processed mostly Asian immigrants entering the United States.

Ellis Island

An immigration station in New York Harbor, New York, which processed millions of European immigrants entering the United States.

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

A federal law that prohibited all immigration of Chinese laborers into the United States for ten years.

Gentleman's Agreement

An informal agreement between the United States and Japan in 1907-1908 whereby Japan agreed to limit emigration of its citizens to the U.S. and the U.S. agreed to not implement a formal exclusion law.

Melting Pot

A metaphor for a society where diverse cultures blend together and form a new, composite culture.

Nativism

The policy of protecting the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against those of immigrants.