Progressivism Terms

Jim Crow laws

Laws that kept blacks and whites segregated.

Poll Tax

A tax which voters were required to pay to vote.

Literacy Test

A test, given at the polls to see if a voter could read, used to disenfranchise black citizens.

Grandfather Clause

A law which allowed a person to vote only if his ancestors had voted prior to 1866, also used to disenfranchise black citizens.

Clayton Antitrust Act

Strengthened anti-trust laws by spelling out specific practices in which businesses could not engage

Federal Trade Commission

Group appointed by the President to monitor business practices that might lead to a monopoly.

Booker T. Washington

The most famous black leader during the late 19th century, he encouraged African Americans to build up their economic resources through hard work.

W.E.B. Du Bois

A black leader in the late 19th century who disagreed with Washington and argued that blacks should demand full and immediate equality.

Ida B. Wells

An African American teacher who bought a newspaper and embarked on a lifelong crusade against the practice of lynching.

Gold Standard

Using gold as the basis of the nation’s currency.

Progressivism

Movement that believed honest and efficient government could bring about social justice.

Muckrakers

Socially conscious journalists and writers who dramatized the need for reform.

Lincoln Steffens

Muckraking author of Shame of the Cities, exposed corruption in urban government

Jacob Riis

Muckraking photographer and author of How The Other Half Lives, exposed the condition of the urban poor.

Social Gospel

Belief that following Christian principles could bring about social justice.

Settlement House

Community center that provided services for the urban poor.

Jane Addams

Leader in the settlement house movement

Direct Primary

Allowed voters to select candidates rather than having them selected by party leaders.

Initiative

Gave citizens the power to propose laws

Referendum

Allowed citizens to reject or accept laws passed by their legislature.

Recall

Gave voters the power to remove legislators before their term is up.

National Consumer’s League (NCL)

Labeled and publicized “goods produced under fair, safe, and healthy working conditions”.

Temperance Movement

Campaign to end the production, sale, and use of alcohol.

Ida B. Wells

Helped to found the National Association of Colored Women

Suffrage

The right to vote.

Carrie Chapman Catt

President of the NAWSA, campaigned to pass women’s suffrage at both the state and national levels.

NAWSA

National American Woman Suffrage Association

Alice Paul

Social activist, led women to picket at the White House.

Nineteenth Amendment

1919, granted women the right to vote.

Americanization

Effort to replace immigrant customs with white, Protestant, middle-class practices and values

Niagara Movement

Opposed Booker T. Washington’s approach; favored education in history, literature, and philosophy, not just in the trades.

NAACP

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, viewed full legal rights as the only solution to racial discrimination.

Urban League

Organization to assist working class African Americans with relief, jobs, clothing, and schools.

Anti-Defamation League

Organization to defend Jews and others from false statements, and verbal or physical attacks.

Theodore Roosevelt

Energetic Progressive who became the youngest president in 1901.

Square Deal

Roosevelt’s program to keep the wealthy and powerful from taking advantage of small business owners and the poor.

Hepburn Act

Gave the Interstate Commerce Committee power to limit railroad company prices.

Meat Inspection Act

Gave federal agents power to inspect and monitor the meatpacking industry.

Pure Food and Drug Act

Gave the federal government responsibility for ensuring food and medicine are safe.

National Reclamation Act

Gave the federal government power to decide where and how water would be distributed in arid western states.

New Nationalism

Roosevelt’s 1912 plan to restore the government’s trustbusting power.

Progressive Party

Roosevelt’s party in the 1912 election.

Woodrow Wilson

Progressive Democrat elected President in 1912.

New Freedom

Wilson’s program to place strict government controls on corporations.

Sixteenth Amendment

Gave Congress the power to impose an income tax.

Federal Reserve Act

Placed the national banks under the control of a Federal Reserve Board.