American YAWP Chapters 15-16

Gilded Age Immigration

Who: A massive wave of immigrants, especially "New Immigrants" from Southern and Eastern Europe (Italians, Poles, Russian Jews).

What: The movement of millions to the U.S., driven by "push" factors like poverty and persecution, and "pull" factors like industrial jobs.

When/Where: Late 1800s, concentrating in industrial cities like New York, Chicago, and Pittsburgh.

How: Made possible by affordable steamship travel and the high demand for cheap labor in American factories.

Political Machines

Who: Urban political organizations, like New York's Tammany Hall led by "Boss" Tweed.

What: Groups that controlled city politics by providing social services and jobs to immigrant communities in exchange for their votes.

When/Where: Major American cities during the Gilded Age.

How: They operated on a system of patronage, trading favors for political loyalty, which was effective but often highly corrupt.

Andrew Carnegie

Who: A Scottish immigrant who became a titan of the steel industry.

What: He built a massive steel empire and promoted the "Gospel of Wealth," the idea that the rich should use their fortunes for the public good.

When/Where: Gilded Age America.

How: He mastered "vertical integration," controlling every phase of steel production from raw materials to transportation.

Social Darwinism

Who: An idea promoted by thinkers like Herbert Spencer.

What: The theory that "survival of the fittest" applied to human society, justifying wealth inequality and arguing against government aid for the poor.

When/Where: A popular idea among the wealthy in late 19th-century America.

How: It provided a seemingly scientific reason for why industrial titans were rich and powerful while many others were poor.

Great Railroad Strike of 1877

Who: Railroad workers across the United States.

What: The nation's first major national strike, which erupted in violence after companies cut wages.

When/Where: Started in West Virginia and spread nationwide in 1877.

How: The strike was so disruptive that President Hayes sent in federal troops to crush it, showing the growing conflict between labor and capital.

Knights of Labor

Who: A large, inclusive union that welcomed skilled and unskilled workers, as well as women and African Americans.

What: A labor organization that aimed for broad reforms like the eight-hour workday and worker-owned factories.

When/Where: Reached its peak popularity in the mid-1880s across the U.S.

How: They grew powerful after successful strikes but were unfairly blamed for the Haymarket Affair, which led to their decline.

Haymarket Affair

Who: Labor protesters, anarchists, and police in Chicago.

What: A labor rally that ended in chaos when a bomb was thrown at police, leading to a deadly riot.

When/Where: Chicago's Haymarket Square in 1886.

How: The event created a national backlash against the labor movement, which became associated with radicalism and violence.

The People's Party (Populists)

Who: A political party formed by farmers, laborers, and reformers.

What: A third party that demanded government action against monopolies, calling for nationalized railroads and a graduated income tax.

When/Where: Gained significant influence in the South and West during the 1890s.

How: It emerged from the Farmers' Alliance to give a political voice to Americans who felt left behind by the industrial economy.

Omaha Platform

Who: Adopted by the People's Party (Populists) at their 1892 convention.

What: The Populist Party's official list of goals, like government-owned railroads, a fairer tax system, and direct election of senators.

When/Where: Created in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1892.

How: It was their detailed plan to give power back to farmers and workers and take it away from big corporations and corrupt politicians.

Colored Farmers' Alliance

Who: A union for Black farmers in the South.

What: A separate organization for Black farmers who were excluded from the white-only Southern Farmers' Alliance.

When/Where: Active in the South in the late 1880s and early 1890s.

How: It was crushed by white violence after organizing a strike, showing how difficult and dangerous it was for Black and white farmers to unite.

Panic of 1893

Who: Affected the entire American economy, from farmers to factory workers and business owners.

What: The worst economic depression the country had seen up to that time, causing massive unemployment and business failures.

When/Where: Started in 1893 and lasted for several years across the U.S.

How: It was caused by railroad bankruptcies and a run on the nation's gold supply. The crisis made the Populist Party's message even more popular.

William Jennings

Who: A charismatic Nebraska politician and three-time presidential candidate.

What: He became the nominee for both the Democratic and Populist parties in 1896 after his famous "Cross of Gold" speech.

When/Where: A leading figure in American politics at the turn of the 20th century.

How: He championed the cause of "free silver" to help indebted farmers and became the voice of the Populist movement.

Gold Standard Act

Who: Passed by the U.S. Congress and President William McKinley.

What: A law that officially made gold the only standard for U.S. currency, ending the "free silver" debate.

When/Where: Passed in 1900.

How: It represented a major victory for conservative, pro-business Republicans over the Populists after the election of 1896.

New South

Who: Promoted by Southern editors and boosters like Henry Grady.

What: The idea that the South should modernize by embracing industrialization and moving beyond its agriculture-based economy.

When/Where: An ideology in the South after Reconstruction.

How: While some industry grew, the vision largely failed to materialize as the region remained poor and trapped by the legacy of slavery and racism.

Jim Crow Laws

Who: Enacted by white-dominated state and local governments.

What: A system of laws that mandated racial segregation in all public facilities under a "separate but equal" doctrine.

When/Where: Prevailed across the American South from the late 1800s to the 1960s.

How: These laws legally enforced white supremacy after the protections of Reconstruction were removed.

Ida B. Wells

Who: A pioneering African American journalist and anti-lynching crusader.

What: She used investigative journalism to expose that lynching was a tool of racial and economic control, not a punishment for crime.

When/Where: Began her activism in Memphis in the 1890s.

How: She was driven to action after the lynching of her friends, launching a lifelong campaign to document and condemn this form of racial terror.

Freedpeople's Conventions

Who: Assemblies of Black delegates from across the South.

What: Political meetings where freedpeople defined freedom on their own terms, demanding suffrage, education, and legal equality.

When/Where: Held in southern states in 1865 and 1866.

How: It was a crucial form of Black political self-organization that articulated a vision of full citizenship immediately after the Civil War.

Black Churches

Who: Founded and controlled by formerly enslaved African Americans.

What: The first and most important autonomous institution for the Black community, serving as a center for worship, education, and political organizing.

When/Where: Established throughout the South following emancipation.

How: By pooling their resources, freedpeople created spaces free from white control that became the foundation of community life and leadership.

American Equal Rights Association (AERA)

Who: An alliance of abolitionists and women's rights activists, including Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony.

What: An organization dedicated to securing voting rights for all citizens, regardless of race or gender.

When/Where: Formed in 1866.

How: The group split apart over the 15th Amendment, which granted suffrage to Black men but continued to exclude all women.

The Lost Cause

Who: An ideology created and promoted by white Southerners.

What: A revisionist history that portrayed the Confederacy as a heroic cause and downplayed the central role of slavery in the Civil War.

When/Where: Became a dominant cultural narrative in the South after Reconstruction.

How: It served as a way for white Southerners to justify the war and the re-establishment of white supremacy.

Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

Who: A secret organization that served as the paramilitary arm of the Democratic Party in the South.

What: A white supremacist group that used terrorism, violence, and murder to intimidate Black voters and their Republican allies.

When/Where: Active across the South during the Reconstruction era.

How: Its goal was to overthrow Republican governments and restore white supremacy by suppressing Black civil and political rights.

Enforcement Acts

Who: A series of laws passed by the Republican-led Congress.

What: Also known as the Ku Klux Klan Acts, these laws made it a federal crime to use violence to interfere with a citizen's voting rights.

When/Where: Passed between 1870-1871 to combat terrorism in the South.

How: They gave the president the authority to use federal troops to suppress the Klan, showing a federal commitment to protecting Black rights.

Sharecropping

Who: A system involving landless farmers (often freedpeople) and landowners.

What: An agricultural system where farmers worked a plot of land in return for a share of the crop, but were often trapped in a cycle of debt.

When/Where: The dominant labor system in the rural South after the Civil War.

How: Through high-interest loans for tools and supplies from a "furnishing merchant," landowners kept sharecroppers economically dependent and unable to leave.

Redeemers

Who: A coalition of conservative white Southern Democrats.

What: The political group that sought to "redeem" the South by ousting Republican governments and ending Reconstruction.

When/Where: Gained control of all Southern state governments by 1877.

How: They used political pressure and violent intimidation from groups like the KKK to suppress the Black vote and restore white supremacy.

Compromise of 1877

Who: A backroom deal between Republican and Democratic party leaders.

What: An agreement that settled the disputed 1876 presidential election: Republican Rutherford B. Hayes won the presidency.

When/Where: Negotiated in Washington D.C. in 1877.

How: In exchange for the presidency, Hayes agreed to withdraw the last federal troops from the South, marking the official end of Reconstruction.

Eugene Debs

Who: A famous American labor organizer and leader of the American Railway Union.

What: The most well-known socialist in the U.S., who ran for president five times for the Socialist Party.

When/Where: Active from the late 1800s through the early 1900s.

How: He was radicalized after being jailed for his role in the Pullman Strike and concluded that the entire capitalist system needed to be replaced.

Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)

Who: A radical labor union, whose members were called "Wobblies," founded by socialists like "Big Bill" Haywood.

What: A union that wanted to unite all workers into "One Big Union" to overthrow capitalism. It welcomed everyone, regardless of race or gender.

When/Where: Founded in Chicago in 1905.

How: They were more confrontational than other unions, using tactics like general strikes, which made them a target of the government.

Plessy VS Ferguson

Who: A landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision.
What: A court case that ruled racial segregation was constitutional, establishing the legal doctrine of "separate but equal."
When/Where: Decided in 1896, concerning a Louisiana law.
How: It provided the legal justification for Jim Crow laws, allowing for widespread segregation in schools, transportation, and all public spaces for over half a century.

"Cross of Gold" Speech

Who: A famous speech delivered by William Jennings Bryan.
What: A powerful address that passionately attacked the gold standard and defended the cause of "free silver" to help the common farmer and worker.
When/Where: Given at the 1896 Democratic National Convention.
How: The speech was so electrifying that it secured the presidential nomination for Bryan and cemented his status as the leader of the Populist cause.

Samuel Gompers

Who: The leader of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) for almost 40 years.
What: A union leader who focused on practical goals for skilled workers, like better wages and shorter hours, rather than radical social change.
When/Where: Led the AFL from its founding in 1886.
How: His "bread-and-butter" approach to unionism was less radical than the Knights of Labor and helped the AFL become the nation's largest union.

Terence Powderly

Who: The most famous leader of the Knights of Labor union.
What: He grew the Knights into the biggest union in America by welcoming all workers and pushing for big social changes, not just better pay.
When/Where: Led the union during its most powerful period in the 1880s.
How: He preferred peaceful negotiation over strikes, but the union's rapid growth and diversity made it hard to control.

John Rockefeller

Who: The founder of the Standard Oil Company and America's first billionaire.
What: He created a massive monopoly (a trust) that controlled almost all of the oil industry in the U.S.
When/Where: Dominated the oil industry during the Gilded Age.
How: He used ruthless tactics, like secret deals with railroads and driving competitors out of business, to build his empire.

Ulysses Grant

Who: The top Union general in the Civil War and the 18th U.S. President.
What: As president, he tried to protect Black rights and used the army to fight the Ku Klux Klan.
When/Where: President from 1869 to 1877, during the peak of Reconstruction.
How: He used the Enforcement Acts to crush the KKK in the South, showing a strong commitment to enforcing federal laws against terrorism.

Freedmen's Bureau

Who: A U.S. government agency created by Congress.
What: An organization designed to help newly freed African Americans by providing food, clothing, medical care, education, and legal support.
When/Where: Operated across the South from 1865 to 1872.
How: It was the government's first major social welfare program, but it was underfunded and faced constant opposition from white Southerners.

Abraham Lincoln

Who: The 16th President of the United States, who led the country through the Civil War.
What: He issued the Emancipation Proclamation and created the first plan for Reconstruction (the Ten Percent Plan) to bring the South back into the Union.
When/Where: President from 1861 until his assassination in 1865.
How: He wanted a lenient and quick reunion, but his death meant he couldn't see his plans through, leading to a bigger fight over how to rebuild the nation.

Reintegration

Who: The U.S. Federal Government (Presidents Lincoln and Johnson, and Congress) and the former Confederate states.
What: The political process of bringing the defeated Southern states back into the Union and restoring their representation in Congress.
When/Where: Occurred in the South following the Civil War, as part of the broader Reconstruction era (1865-1877).
How: It was highly contested, with lenient presidential plans clashing with stricter congressional plans that required Southern states to grant rights to freedmen before they could fully rejoin the nation.

15th Amendment

Who: Passed by the Radical Republican-led Congress.
What: A constitutional amendment that declared the right to vote could not be denied based on "race, color, or previous condition of servitude."
When/Where: Ratified in 1870.
How: It was designed to protect the voting rights of Black men, but it excluded women and Southern states later used poll taxes and literacy tests to get around it.

Fourteenth Amendment

Who: Passed by the Radical Republican-led Congress.
What: A constitutional amendment that granted citizenship to all persons born in the U.S. (including former slaves) and guaranteed all citizens "equal protection of the laws."
When/Where: Ratified in 1868.
How: It was a direct response to the Black Codes and became the constitutional foundation for the future civil rights movement.