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Transcontinental Railroad

Transcontinental Railroad

Completed in 1869 at Promontory, Utah, it linked the eastern railroad system with California's railroad system, revolutionizing transportation in the west

J.P. Morgan

An influential banker and businessman who bought and reorganized companies. His US Steel company would buy Carnegie steel and become the largest business in the world in 1901.

Andrew Carnegie

A Scottish-born American industrialist and philanthropist who founded his steel company in 1892 and dominated the American steel industry within 10 years

John D. Rockefeller

An American industrialist and first billionaire who revolutionized the oil industry and defined the structure of modern philanthropy. Most likely the wealthiest American ever.

Sherman Antitrust Act

1890 law banning any trust that restrained interstate trade or commerce; wrongly used against unions

Laissez-faire

Idea that government should play as small a role as possible in economic affairs; "hands off"

Social Darwinism

The application of "survival of the fittest" to human societies - particularly as a justification for imperialism and the wealth gap

Trusts/Monopolies

Firms or corporations that combine for the purpose of reducing competition and controlling prices.

Gospel of Wealth

A book written by Carnegie that described the responsibility of the rich to be philanthropists. This softened the harshness of Social Darwinism as well as promoted the idea of philanthropy.

Great Railroad Strike of 1877

A large number of railroad workers went on strike because of wage cuts. After a month of strikes, President Hayes sent troops to stop the strike

Knights of Labor

Labor union that sought to organize all workers regardless of skill level and focused on broad social reforms

Haymarket Bombing

May 4, 1886, conflict in which both workers and policemen were killed or wounded during a labor demonstration in Chicago. The violence began when someone threw a bomb into the ranks of police at the gathering. The incident created a backlash against labor activism.

American Federation of Labor

A federation of North American labor unions that organized skilled workers and merged with the Congress of Industrial Organizations in 1955

Homestead Strike

Strike at Andrew Carnegie's steel plant in which Pinkerton detectives clashed with steel workers

Pullman Strike

1894 - nonviolent strike originating in Chicago over low wages and high rent - it was shut down because it interfered with mail delivery

Eugene Debs

Head of the American Railway Union and director of the Pullman strike; he was imprisoned along with his associates for ignoring a federal court injunction to stop striking. While in prison, he read Socialist literature and emerged as a Socialist leader in America.

Boom Town

A town undergoing rapid growth due to sudden prosperity such as the gold and silver strikes in the west

Chinese Exclusion Act

1882 law that barred Chinese laborers from entering the United States; first immigration act targeting a single nationality

Turner's Frontier Thesis

Argued that the American character was shaped by the existence of the frontier; he felt that the frontier encouraged individualism and democracy

Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse

Chiefs of the Sioux tribes who defeated Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

Battle of Little Bighorn

1876 Sioux victory over army troops led by Gen. George Custer

Wounded Knee

1890 confrontation between U.S. cavalry and Sioux that marked the end of Indian resistance and resulted in the deaths of almost 300 people

A Century of Dishonor

Book by Helen Hunt Jackson condemning US policy towards Natives

Dawes Act of 1887

Law designed to civilize Indians and make them more settled by giving them land to farm and refusing to recognize tribal authority, instead it harmed their native culture

Plessy v. Ferguson

A 1896 Supreme Court decision which legalized state ordered segregation so long as the facilities for blacks and whites were equal

Ida B. Wells

African-American reformer who led a crusade to end lynching

Booker T. Washington

Prominent American, born into slavery, who believed that racism would end once blacks acquired useful labor skills and proved their economic value to society; was head of the Tuskegee Institute; wrote "Up from Slavery."

W.E.B. DuBois

Co-founded the NAACP to help secure legal equality for minority citizens.

Interstate Commerce Act

1887 law passed to regulate railroad and other interstate businesses; first federal regulatory agency

New Immigrants

Immigrants who came to the United States during and after the 1880s; most were from southern and eastern Europe and had a more difficult time assimilating

Old Immigrants

Immigrants who had come to the US before the 1880s from Northern and Western Europe

Tammany Hall

Most notorious political machine of the Gilded Age; NY city; headed by Boss Tweed

Boss Tweed

A political boss who carried corruption to new extremes, and cheated New York City out of more than $100 million as head of Tammany Hall

Hull House

Settlement house founded by Progressive reformer Jane Addams in Chicago in 1889

Jane Addams

Leader of the Settlement House Movement and founder of Hull House. First American Woman to earn the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.

National American Woman Suffrage Association

A group formed by leading suffragists in the late 1800s to organize the women's suffrage movement on a state-by-state basis

Gilded Age

A name for the late 1800s, coined by Mark Twain to describe the tremendous increase in wealth caused by the industrial age and the ostentatious lifestyles it allowed the very rich. The great industrial success of the U.S. and the fabulous lifestyles of the wealthy hid the many social problems of the time, including a high poverty rate, a high crime rate, and corruption in the government.

Pendleton Act

1883 law that created a Civil Service Commission and stated that federal employees could not be required to contribute to campaign funds nor be fired for political reasons

Populist Party

U.S. political party representing mainly farmers and laborers, favoring free coinage of silver and government control of railroads and other monopolies

"Cross of Gold" speech

An impassioned address by William Jennings Bryan at the 1896 Democratic Convention, in which he attacked the "gold bugs" who insisted that U.S. currency be backed only with gold.

William Jennings Bryan

Democratic and Populist candidate for president in 1896 under the banner of free coinage of silver

Ghost Dance Movement

The last effort of Native Americans to resist US domination and drive whites from their ancestral lands, came through as a religious movement.

Jim Crow Laws

State laws in the South that legalized segregation.

Assimilation

The social process of absorbing one cultural group into another.

Political Machine

A strong party organization, usually in a city, that can control political appointments and deliver votes by providing social services and often using corrupt practices.

Social Gospel

A movement in the late 1800s / early 1900s which emphasized charity and social responsibility as a means of salvation.

Patronage

Granting favors, giving contracts or making appointments to office in return for political support