US History: Immigration, Urbanization, Industrialism, and the Gilded Age

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering terms, individuals, and concepts from US History lecture notes on Immigration, Urbanization, Industrialism, Inventions, and the Gilded Age.

Push Factors for Immigration

Reasons forcing individuals to leave their home country, including religious persecution, war, mandatory military service, economic hardship, and lack of jobs.

Pull Factors for Immigration

Attractions drawing individuals to a new country, including religious freedom, political freedom, affordable land, and factory jobs.

Ellis Island

An immigration processing station located in New York that served primarily European immigrants.

Angel Island

An immigration processing station located in San Francisco that served primarily Asian immigrants.

Old Immigrants

Earlier European immigrants to the US who were primarily Protestant.

New Immigrants

Later European immigrants who included Catholics, Jews, and Russian Jews escaping religious persecution and population explosion.

Chinese Exclusion Act

Act banning Chinese immigration for 10 years because they were seen as inferior; intended to last 10 years, it lasted ~50 years.

Gentlemen's Agreement

A 1907 agreement under Theodore Roosevelt that allowed Japanese children into white schools while Japan agreed to only send skilled workers.

Golden Door (Literal)

The shining path the sun left on the Atlantic Ocean as European immigrants traveled.

Golden Door (Metaphoric)

The riches of wealth available in the United States.

Bessemer Process Natural Resources

The three natural resources required for the Bessemer process: iron, coal, and limestone.

Laissez-faire

An economic policy of not interfering with businesses; also described as a modified theory of Darwin applied to society.

Capitalism

A system of privately owned businesses seeking profits.

Stock

Limited ownership rights for a company sold publicly to raise money.

Corporation

A company owned by stockholders who share profits but not debts.

Robber Barons

Industrial era figures exemplified by J.P. Morgan and J. D. Rockefeller.

Philanthropist

An industrial era figure best represented by Andrew Carnegie.

Samuel Gompers

Founder of the AFL (American Federation of Labor), an organization that fought for pay, hours, and collective bargaining.

Pullman Strike

An 1893 labor strike triggered by pay cuts without lowering the cost of living, leading to government involvement.

Wobblies

A labor group whose leader was Eugene V. Debs of the Socialist party.

Horizontal Monopoly

A type of monopoly created by owning all the companies in the same industry.

Vertical Monopoly

A type of monopoly created by owning all the businesses involved in a production process.

Union

Associations formed by laborers to work for better conditions and pay, with skilled workers being the first to form them.

Strike

A work stoppage organized by laborers to pressure owners.

Gilded Age

A term coined by Mark Twain and Charles Warner describing how external glitter of wealth concealed a corrupt political core and a growing gap between the rich and poor.

Progressive Movement

A movement aimed at restoring economic opportunities, with goals to protect social welfare, promote moral improvement, create economic reform, and foster efficiency.

Boss Tweed

A New York City politician associated with Tammany Hall who stole 30 to 200 million dollars from the NY economy through graft.

Social Darwinism

A theory holding that societies evolve from low to high forms through natural selection and that it is wrong to interfere with this process.

Sherman Anti-Trust Law

A law stating that monopolies were illegal, which broke John D. Rockefeller's company down into 34 companies.

Patronage / Spoils System

Terms used to describe government positions appointed as rewards for loyalty to a political party.

Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act (1883)

An 1883 law that created merit-based exams for most federal government jobs.

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

A tragedy on the 8th floor of a factory where locked doors resulted in 146 worker deaths, sparking protests for workers' compensation laws.