Studied by 111 people“Iron law of wages”
a theory developed by David Ricardo that argues that raising wages would only increase the working population, and the availability of more workers would in turn cause wages to fall (endless cycle)
Collective Bargaining
the ability of workers to negotiate as a group with an employer over wages and working conditions
Railroad Strike of 1877
A strike on the Baltimore and Ohio RR that spread across 11 states and shut down ⅔ of the country’s rail lines; 500,000 workers from other industries joined and Pres Hayes used fed troops to shut down the strike; >100 ppl were killed; kinda worked→ SOME improved wages and working conditions were granted
Labor Unions (NLU, KoL, AFL)
attempts to organize all workers in all states--- skilled and unskilled, agricultural and industrial; promoted higher wages, the eight-hour day, equal rights for women and AA, monetary reform, worker cooperatives, child labor, etc.; some were public and some were secretive
Haymarket Bombing
a bombing supposedly targeted towards police trying to break up a public labor meeting in Haymarket square; anarchists (ppl trying to rid all gov) were accused and the Knights of Labor lost popularity and membership bc of this incident
Homestead Strike
the manager (Frick) of Carnegie’s homestead steel plant near Pittsburgh caused a strike for cutting 20% of the wages; he used different strikebreaking starts to defeat the workers’ walkout and this failure set the movement back
Pullman Strike
a railroad car company announced a general cut in wages and fired the leaders of the workers’ delegation who came to bargain with the manager; workers went to the American RR Union (ARU) and leader, Eugene V. Debs, ordered workers not to handle trains the company’s train cars → fed court came in and ordered the abandonment of the strike → union leaders said no and were arrested, ending the strike
Old & New immigrants
two groups of people that mostly came from Europe; the first group were mainly English-speaking protestants (easy blend) and the second group were Europeans that came from southern/western Europe that was relatively poor and largely catholic, greek/Russian orthodox, or Jewish; the second group faced a lot more discrimination
Chinese Exclusion Act
banned all Chinese immigration into the US; was not lifted fully until 1965
Dumbbell tenements
buildings constructed with open ventilation shafts in the center to provide windows for each room to abide by the new law in NYC; IMMIGRANTS WERE POOR --> here
Ethnic Neighborhoods
groups of people of the same ethnicity collectively living in the same area, in which each group could maintain its own language, culture, church, and/or social club
Ellis/Angel Island
immigration centers that had immigrants run through extensive medical examinations and had them pay a tax to enter the US
Political Machines (Tammany Hall)
tightly organized groups of politicians; each had a “boss” at the top and they gave out jobs and ranking to loyal supporters (cronies)
Settlement Houses (Hull House)
places where middle-class women and men would move into to learn about the problems of immigrant families firsthand; they hoped to relieve the effects of poverty by providing social services for people in the neighborhood
White vs. Blue-collar Workers
salaried employees whose jobs generally do not involve manual labor vs. jobs that involve manual labor
“Gospel of Wealth”
the philosophy that the wealthy had a moral responsibility to carry out projects of civic philanthropy to help other members of society to better themselves and in turn improve society; argued by Andrew Carnegie
Growth of leisure time
caused by the expansion of the middle class; because people were working less, they were able to take enjoyment in different activities; became a big business in the late 19th century
Salvation Army
a group that provided the basic necessities to the homeless and the poor while preaching the Christian gospel
Social Gospel
the importance of applying Christian principles to social problems by improving housing, raising wages, and supporting public health measures
NAWSA
created by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony; goal to secure equal voting (and general) rights for women
WCTU
a social group that advocated for total abstinence from alcohol; under the leadership of Frances E. Willard
Anti-saloon League
a group that became a powerful political force that persuaded 21 states to close down all saloons and bars
New Art Styles (realism, naturalism, impressionism)
artwork that depicted the everyday experience of human life and the emotions and trials that come with that
Federal Land Grants
Federally-owned acreage that the gov granted to RRs and other businesses to promote the progress of the econ
Credit Mobilier
to bribe government officials and pocket huge profits
Interstate Commerce Act of 1887
tried to regulate the railroad industry; required RR to be “reasonable and just.”; also established the Interstate Commerce Commission which had the power to investigate pools, rebates, and other discriminatory practices and prosecute companies participating in them
Antitrust movement
the scrutiny of trusts because of their unchecked concentration of power (fear of the middle class), and their increasing influence (fear of the urban elites)
Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890
prohibited any “contract, combination, in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy in restraint of trade/commerce”
Assassination of President Garfield (Pendleton Act of 1881)
was killed by a deranged office seeker; caused congress to pass acts and commissions to create a system by which applicants for classified fed jobs would be selected on the basis of their scores on competitive examination; lead to politicians to focus more on the rich to fund their campaigns rather than a large number of party workers
Soft vs. Hard Money
one group campaigned first for more paper money and the unlimited minting of silver coins (supported by debtors farmers and start-up businesses) and the other campaigned for a currency backed by gold stored in government vaults (supported by bankers, creditors, investors, and established businesses)
Panic of 1873
many Americans blamed the gold standard for restricting the money supply and causing this event; boo depression
Bloody Shirt
a reminder of the millions of veterans of the Union army that their wounds had been caused by (southern) Democrats and that Lincoln had been murdered by a democrat; was used by republican politicians to keep the memories of the Civil War alive during the Gilded Age
Solid South
the former states of the Confederacy
Omaha Platform
the populist party’s views concentrated on politically: direct popular election of US senators, using initiatives that allowed citizens to vote directly on proposed laws, and economically: having unlimited coinage of silver to increase the money supply, having a graduated income tax, government ownership of RRs and telegraph/telephone systems, have loans/federal warehouses for farmers, and an 8-hour day for industrial workers; WORKERS RIGHTS
Panic of 1893
the stock market crashed bc of over-speculation, and dozens of RRs went into bankruptcy as a result of overbuilding; farms foreclosed, ad the unemployment rate reached 20%; Pres Cleveland dealt with the crises by championing the gold standard and otherwise adopting a hands-off policy toward the economy
Coxey’s Army
a group of poorer people that marched to Washington led by Populist Jacob S. Coxey that demanded that the fed gov spend $500 mil on public works programs to create jobs; got sent home
“Cross of Gold” Speech
during a national convention for the pro-silver Democrats, a speech delivered by William Jenning Bryan captured the hearts of delegates and instantly made him the Democratic nominee for president; “You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.”
Gold Standard
any issued money must be backed by actual gold held in storage
Andrew Carnegie
STEEL COMPANY (made him $$$); VERTICAL INTEGRATION; GOSPEL OF WEALTH (give back to the poor)
John D. Rockefeller
STANDARD OIL TRUST; his company became a monopoly (no competition from other competitors); HORIZONTAL INTEGRATION
Adam Smith
an economist that argued in the Wealth of Nations that mercantilism (including the regulation of trade by gov) was less efficient than allowing businesses to be guided by the impersonal economic force (invisible hand) of the law of supply and demand
Horatio Alger
a novelist that portrayed the hope of self-made men with “honesty, hard work, and a little luck”
Samuel Gompers
leader of the American Federation of Labor (concentrated on higher wages and improved working conditions); led local unions to walk out until they negotiated a newer, fairer (?) contract
Eugene V. Debs
the ARU’s (American Railroad Union) leader; directed railroad workers to not handle any trains with Pullman Cars (Pullman strike); became jailed for his actions in the strike
Jane Addams
most famous settlement house creator (the Hull House; reformer that taught English to immigrants, pioneered early-childhood edu, taught industrial arts, and established neighborhood theaters and music schools
Clarence Darrow
a famous lawyer that argued that criminal behavior could be caused by a person’s environment of poverty, neglect, and abuse; changed ppls views on criminals
Joseph Pulitzer
creator of the first newspaper to exceed a million in circulation (New York’s World); filled paper with stories of crimes and disasters and articles about political and econ corruption
Scott Joplin
a black composer and performer that sold nearly a million copies of sheet music of his “Maple Leaf Rag”; helped expand the audience of jazz
Grover Cleveland
24th POTUS; left the white house after his first term and returned 4 years later; pro-business
William Jennings Bryan
delivered the powerful “Cross of Gold” speech that made him the democratic nominee for pres in 1896; “you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold”
William McKinley
First modern imperial president; a republican nominee for pres in 1896; best known for his support of a high protective tariff but is also considered a friend of labor
Mark Twain
pen name for Samuel L. Clemens; the first great realist author; The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (revealed the greed, violence, and racism in American Society
Jack London
a young California writer and adventurer, portrayed the conflict between nature and civilization in his novels; The Call of the Wild; worshiped by Chris McCandless
Louis Sullivan
rejected historical styles in his quest for TALL, STEEL-FRAMED office buildings
Frankl Lloyd Wright
developed an “organic” style of architecture that was in harmony with its natural surroundings; long, horizontal lines of his prairie-style houses
Frederick Law Olmsted
the originator of Landscape Architecture; specialized in the planning of city parks and scenic boulevards; like Central Park and the grounds of the US Capital
Cardinal James Gibbons
A catholic leader that inspired the devoted support of old and new immigrants by defending the Knights of Labor and the cause of organized labor
Walter Rauschenbusch
a baptist minister that lead the Social Gospel movement; worked in poverty-stricken neighborhood of NYC called Hell’s Kitchen and wrote several books urging organized religions to take up the causes of social justice
Susan B. Anthony
a suffragist that helped found the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) to secure the vote for women
Frances Willard
the leader of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Movement; advocated total abstinence from alcohol
Carry Nation
an impatient temperance supporter that created a sensation by raiding salons and smashing barrels of beer with a hatchet
Cardinal James Gibbons
A catholic leader that inspired the devoted support of old and new immigrants by defending the Knights of Labor and the cause of organized labor
Walter Rauschenbusch
a baptist minister that lead the Social Gospel movement; worked in poverty-stricken neighborhood of NYC called Hell’s Kitchen and wrote several books urging organized religions to take up the causes of social justice
Susan B. Anthony
a suffragist that helped found the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) to secure the vote for women
Frances Willard
the leader of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Movement; advocated total abstinence from alcohol
Carry Nation
an impatient temperance supporter that created a sensation by raiding salons and smashing barrels of beer with a hatchet
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