AMH2020 1st Exam

Abraham Lincoln

16th U.S. President (1861–1865). Led the Union during the Civil War, issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and proposed the 10% Plan (1863) for Reconstruction. Significance: His assassination in 1865 shifted Reconstruction to Andrew Johnson.

Andrew Johnson

17th U.S. President (1865–1869). Led Presidential Reconstruction (1865–1867), opposed Radical Republicans, vetoed civil rights legislation. Significance: His lenient policies led Congress to impose Radical Reconstruction.

Thaddeus Stevens

Radical Republican congressman (1792–1868). Leader during Congressional Reconstruction (1867 onward). Significance: Championed civil rights and the Reconstruction Acts of 1867.

Frederick Jackson Turner

Historian who published the Frontier Thesis in 1893. Significance: Argued the closing of the frontier shaped American democracy.

George A. Custer

U.S. Army officer killed at the Battle of Little Bighorn (1876). Significance: His defeat intensified U.S. wars against Native Americans.

Thomas Edison

Inventor active during the Second Industrial Revolution; invented the practical light bulb (1879). Significance: Revolutionized technology and industry.

Andrew Carnegie

Steel industrialist (1835–1919). Published Gospel of Wealth (1889). Significance: Symbol of Gilded Age industry and philanthropy.

John D. Rockefeller

Founder of Standard Oil (1870). Significance: Perfected horizontal integration and trusts.

Henry Grady

Journalist promoting the 'New South' in the 1880s. Significance: Encouraged Southern industrialization.

Terence Powderly

Leader of Knights of Labor (1879–1893). Significance: Expanded national labor organizing.

Samuel Gompers

Founded the American Federation of Labor (1886). Significance: Focused on skilled workers and practical workplace gains.

Eugene V. Debs

Led the Pullman Strike (1894); later Socialist leader. Significance: Major labor reform advocate.

William Jennings Bryan

Populist/Democratic politician; Cross of Gold speech (1896). Significance: Championed free silver.

Rudyard Kipling

Published 'The White Man's Burden' (1899). Significance: Justified imperialism.

Queen Liliuokalani

Last Queen of Hawaii, overthrown in 1893. Significance: Led to U.S. annexation of Hawaii (1898).

José Martí

Cuban nationalist killed in 1895. Significance: Inspired Cuban independence.

William Randolph Hearst & Joseph Pulitzer

Publishers who popularized yellow journalism in the 1890s. Significance: Helped build support for the Spanish-American War (1898).

Emilio Aguinaldo

Leader of Philippine independence movement (1898–1902). Significance: Fought Spain then the United States.

=== TERMS / EVENTS / PLACES ===

Know definition, dates, and significance.

10% Plan

1863. Lincoln's Reconstruction plan allowing readmission when 10% of voters swore loyalty. everyone pardoned, based on 1860 election

13th Amendment

Ratified 1865. Abolished slavery.

Presidential Reconstruction

1865–1867. Andrew Johnson's lenient Reconstruction program.

Black Codes

1865–1866. Southern laws restricting freedpeople's rights.

Sharecropping

Began after 1865. Farming system that trapped many tenants in debt.

Freedmen's Bureau

1860–1872. Federal agency aiding formerly enslaved people . southerns sought the gov was making lazy blacks get aid

Radical/Congressional Reconstruction

1867–1877. Congressional control of Reconstruction.

14th Amendment

Ratified 1868. Citizenship and equal protection.

Reconstruction Acts of 1867

1867. Divided South into military districts.

15th Amendment

Ratified 1870. Prohibited denying voting rights based on race.

Ku Klux Klan

Founded 1866. White supremacist terrorist organization.

Mississippi Plan

1875. Violence and intimidation to suppress Black voting.

1876. he Mississippi Plan 

• First time a state tried to end reconstruction 

• Mississippi had a state election in 1875 

• What? Democratic plan to win the election 

• Step 1 was to “persuade” white republican southerners to not vote or switch and vote democrat 

• Step 2 was to intimidate black voters and suppress the black vote 

• A lot of prominent republicans ended up dead 

• The plan actually worked as republicans had almost no voters 

• Important because it became a model for other southern states to do the same thing 

Compromise of 1877

1877. Ended Reconstruction by removing federal troops.

Transcontinental Railroad

Completed 1869. Linked East and West.

The Long Drive

1866–1880s. Cattle drives from Texas to Kansas railheads. Beginning in the late 1860s, dead by the 1890s 

• 1500-mile trail cowboys moved cattle from Texas to Oklahoma and then to Kansas 

• Then the cattle were shipped east to be eaten or used in other ways 

• Demonstrates how individual groups could not operate any longer 

• Small ranches began to get pushed out as railroads became more developed and corporations began to take over 

Homestead Act

1862. Granted 160 acres to settlers.

Battle of Little Bighorn

1876. Native victory over Custer.

Dawes Act

1887. Broke tribal lands into individual allotments.

Ghost Dance

1889–1890. Native religious movement.

Wounded Knee

1890. Massacre ending major Native resistance.

Laissez-Faire Capitalism

Late 1800s. Limited government intervention in business.

Social Darwinism

1870s–1890s. Applied 'survival of the fittest' to society/business.

Gospel of Wealth

1889. Carnegie argued the wealthy should use fortunes for public good.

Plessy v. Ferguson

1896. Established 'separate but equal.'

Great Railroad Strike

1877. First nationwide railroad strike.

Knights of Labor

Founded 1869. Inclusive labor union.

Haymarket Affair

1886. Chicago labor rally bombing.

American Federation of Labor

Founded 1886. Skilled workers' union.

Homestead Strike

1892. Violent steel strike.

Pullman Strike

1894. Nationwide railroad strike.

Farmer's Alliance

1870s–1880s. Organized farmers for reform.

Populist Party

Founded 1892. Political party for farmers/workers.

Omaha Platform

1892. Populist reform platform. Want the government to get more involved in economics 

• Abolish national banks 

• Get rid of absentee land ownership 

• They wanted the direct election of senators 

• Wanted the government to own railroads 

• More fair tax system 

Old Immigrants

Before 1880. Mostly Northern and Western Europe.

New Immigrants

After 1880. Mostly Southern and Eastern Europe.

Nativism

Late 1800s. Opposition to immigration.

Chinese Exclusion Act

1882. Banned Chinese immigration.

Political Machines

Late 1800s. Urban party organizations exchanging services for votes.

White Man's Burden

1899. Poem supporting imperialism.

Yellow Journalism

1890s. Sensationalized reporting.

U.S.S. Maine

Exploded in Havana Harbor in 1898; helped trigger Spanish-American War.

Anti-Imperialist League

Founded 1898. Opposed U.S. overseas empire.

=== PROFESSOR-STYLE IDENTIFICATIONS ===

Practice writing 2–3 sentence identification responses.

Freedmen's Bureau

The Freedmen's Bureau was a federal agency created in 1865 at the end of the Civil War to help formerly enslaved people in the South with food, education, labor contracts, and medical care. It operated mainly in the former Confederate states until 1872. The reason the Freedmen's Bureau is historically significant is that it represented the federal government's first large-scale effort to assist formerly enslaved Americans during Reconstruction.

Sharecropping

Sharecropping was an agricultural labor system that spread across the South after 1865 in which tenant farmers worked land owned by others in exchange for a share of the crop. It became common during Reconstruction and the late 1800s. The reason sharecropping is historically significant is that it trapped many Black and poor white farmers in cycles of debt while replacing slavery as the dominant Southern labor system.

Compromise of 1877

The Compromise of 1877 was an informal political agreement that resolved the disputed presidential election of 1876 by making Rutherford B. Hayes president in exchange for removing federal troops from the South in 1877. It occurred in Washington, D.C. The reason the Compromise of 1877 is historically significant is that it ended Reconstruction and allowed Southern states to impose Jim Crow laws.

Plessy v. Ferguson

Plessy v. Ferguson was a U.S. Supreme Court decision decided in 1896 involving segregated railroad cars in Louisiana. The Court ruled that 'separate but equal' facilities were constitutional. The reason Plessy v. Ferguson is historically significant is that it legalized racial segregation for decades.

Social Darwinism

Social Darwinism was a social theory popular during the 1870s–1890s that applied Charles Darwin's ideas of natural selection to business and society. It was widely used in the United States during the Gilded Age. The reason Social Darwinism is historically significant is that it justified monopolies, inequality, and limited government regulation.

Populist Party

The Populist Party was founded in 1892 by farmers and laborers seeking economic and political reforms across the United States. Its platform included free silver, direct election of senators, and government regulation of railroads. The reason the Populist Party is historically significant is that many of its reforms were later adopted during the Progressive Era.

Chinese Exclusion Act

The Chinese Exclusion Act was passed by Congress in 1882 and prohibited most Chinese immigration to the United States. It was the first major federal law restricting immigration based on nationality. The reason the Chinese Exclusion Act is historically significant is that it reflected growing nativism and discrimination in the late nineteenth century.

Pullman Strike

The Pullman Strike was a nationwide railroad strike led by Eugene V. Debs in 1894 after wage cuts at the Pullman Company near Chicago. Federal troops ended the strike. The reason the Pullman Strike is historically significant is that it showed the federal government often sided with business during major labor conflicts.