APUSH- Gilded Age Vocab

Great American Desert

Term used by early Americans to describe the Great Plains as dry and unsuitable for farming.

Buffalo Herds

Massive bison populations on the Plains that sustained Native American life until near-extinction in the late 1800s.

Cattle Drives

Long-distance movement of cattle from Texas to railheads like Abilene to reach eastern markets.

Dawes Act of 1887

Law that broke up tribal lands into individual farms to force Native American assimilation.

Indian Reorganization Act

Reversed Dawes Act policies by restoring tribal self-government and communal lands.

National Grange Movement

Farmers’ organization that pushed for regulation of railroads and cooperatives.

Ocala Platform 1890

Farmer demands for railroad regulation, silver coinage, and a graduated income tax.

Omaha Platform (1892)

Political platform of the Populist Party calling for free silver, direct elections, and government control of railroads.

Populist Party

Third party formed by farmers to challenge corporate and political elites in the 1890s.

Soft vs. Hard Money

Soft Money: supported silver and inflation

Hard Money: supported gold and strict currency

Bland Allison Act

Required limited government purchase of silver to increase money supply.

Frederick Jackson Turner

Historian who argued the frontier shaped American democracy (frontier thesis)

Willam Jennings Bryan

Populist/Democratic leader who supported free silver and farmers causes

”Cross of Gold” speech

Bryan’s Speech attacking the gold standard as harmful to working people

Election of 1896 (McKinley)

Marked Republican victory, gold standard dominance, decline of populism

Alexander Bell

invented the telephone, revolutionizing communication

henry bessemer

developed a process to mass produce steel chealply

thomas edison

inventor that helped popularize electric power and lighting

otis elevator

made skyscrapers practical by improving elevator safety

mail-order catalogs (sears)

allowed rural americans to buy mass produced goods

Cornelius Vanderbilt

built a powerful railroad empire through consolidation

rebate

railroad discount given to big businesses, disadvantaging small farmers

pools

agreements among companies to fix prices and limit competition

JP Morgan

banking, financier who consolidated industries and stabilized markets

interlocking directorates

when business leaders sat on multiple corporate boards to control industries

andrew carnegie

created a steel empire using vertical intergration

rockefeller

built an oil monopoly using horizontal integration and trusts

trust

legal arrangement allowing companies to control other firms and reduce competition

horizontal intergration

controlling one stage of production by buying competitors

vertical intergration

controlling all stages of production from raw materials to sales

laissez-faire

belief that government should not interfere in business

social darwinism

applied “survival of the fittest” to justify wealth inequality

Knights of Labor (powederly)

early labor union open to skilled and unskilled workers

american federation of labor (gompers)

union focused on skilled workers and better wages/ hours

Haymarket Strike

1886 labor protest that turned violent and hurt the labor movement

homestead strike

violent steelworkers’ strike crushed by carnegie’s company

pullman strike

rainroad strike broken by federal troops

old immigrants

immigrants from northern and western europe

new immigrants

immigrants from southern and eastern europe

chinese exclusion act

first law banning immigration based on ethnicity

political machines/ tammany hall

corrupt urban political organizations trading services for votes

jane addams/ hull house

social reformer who founded settlement houses to help immigrants

melting pot vs. salad bowl

assimilation vs. cultural diversity models of immigration

interstate commerce act

first federal law regulating railroads

sherman antitrust act

law intended to break up monopolies

US v. EC Knight Co.

Limited federal power to regulate monopolies

Civil Service Reform

Effort to reduce patronage and corruption in government jobs

Pendleton Act

1883, established merit-based federal employment