APUSH Unit 6 Vocab

transcontinental railroads

railroad lines connecting the new frontier to the west and midwest

Great American Desert

name for the great plains before it was used to farming due to it’s lack of rain and harsh winters

barbed wire

invention made to replace fences in the great plains that helped pen in cattle, contributed to the downfall of the American bison because it restricted the free range

Homestead Act

federal program to promote farming in the West by granting 160 acres of land to anyone who farmedit for 5 years

National Granage Movement

group of farmers who gathered together to share knowledge, socialize, and promote economic equality for farmers

Granger Laws

federal laws that regulated railroad and grain elevator prices to protect the farmers who relied on the services

Munn v. Illinois

SCOTUS case that up help Granger laws and the ability of states to regulate public businesses

Frederick Jackson Turner

author of the Significance of the Frontier in American History

The Significance of the American Frontier

Thesis that talked about the role westward expansion played and how it provided an opportunity for people to “remake” themselves. Said that because migrants had settled out to the Pacific the US would loose the sense of expansion and a new place to go

Little Big Horn

Natives ambushed a US infantry, short lived win

Ghost Dance movement

religious resistance by Natives against the government, ended in 200 person massacure

Helen Hunt Jackson

author of A Century of Dishonor, a book sympathizing Indians and encouraging their assimilation to improve their situation

Dawes Act of 1887

divided native land into 160 acres parcels and gave it to families to divide them, were told that could earn citizenship after 25 years on the land

Indian Reorganization Act

part of the New Deal, reestablished tribal organization and culture

Santa Fe Trail

path that connected the Southwest with the East

Forest Reserve Act of 1891

authorizing the President to designate public lands in the West into what were then called “forest reserves

Forest Management Act, 1897

authorized establishment of National Forest Reserves to improve and protect the condition of forested areas of the United States

John Muir

founder of the Sierra Club a group of preservationists

Sierra Club

preservationists who wanted to preserve natural areas from human effects

New South

post reconstruction south with more manufacturing and economic reliance

George Washington Carver

black academic at Tuskegee promoted diversifying crops and breaking into peanuts, soybeans, and sweet potatoes

Tuskegee Institute

where George Washington Carver studies

White supremasists

people in the south who believed in the white race being better

Civil Rights Cases of 1883

court ruling that said that Congress could not regulate racial discrimination by private citizens and business

Plessy v. Ferguson

SCOTUS decision saying separate but equal was equal and legal

Jim Crow Laws

laws in the south that enforces racial segregation

literacy test

tests necessary used in the south the disenfranchise black voters

poll taxes

a fee required to vote in the south

grandfather clause

said that if your ancestors voted you automatically biassed voting regulations

Ida B. Wells

black female author who campaigned against Jim crow laws and lynchings

International Migration Society

formed by Bishop Henry Tucker to finance former slaves who wanted to return to Africa

Booker T. Washington

believed that black people had to slowly grow themselves into a white society and promoted industrial jobs, through progress would come slowly overtime if people stayed in their lanes

W.E.B. DuBois

civil rights leader who believed in the education of the top 10% of black people, demanded an immediate end to segregation

Atlanta Compromise

belief that black and white people both carried a responsibility to grow society, black people not challenging racial norms and white people supporting black education and rights

transatlantic cable

cable that linked the continents to communicate with Morse code

Alexander Graham Bell

inventor of the telephone

Henry Bessemer

created the technique used to create steel from iron ore

George Westinghouse

invented a transformer that allowed high voltage energy to be produced and allowed energy to be used to light houses and attach to electric trollies

mail order companies

companies that used a large catalog to sell product and then dropped it at customers doors

American Railroad Association

established 4 time zones in America to make railroads more standard

Cornelius Vanderbilt

earned his first fortune in steamboats and then bought a lot of railroad lines out of NYC

Jay Gould

NYC business man famous for watering gold and railroad stocks

JP Morgan

NYC banker, used panic of 1893 and the bankruptcy of railroad companies to take over the market, bailed out the government when they were low on gold

Andrew Carnegie

steel empire, rags to riches story, philanthropist who believed in self help, Gospel of Wealth, Homestead strike

John D. Rockefeller

took control of 90% of the US oil market, Standard Oil trust, bankrupt competitors, extorted rebates from railroad companies, cheap prices for customers

US Steel

controlled 60% of nations steel, combination of Carnegie and Morgan steel empires

Standard Oil

monopoly owned by Rockefeller that controlled 90% of market

trust

board that manages companies assets, used by business people to “legally” have monopolies

horizontal integration

buying up all the companies who do the same things to control one part of the market, Standard Oil

vertical integration

used by businesses to take over all parts of the manufacturing and distributing process to not lose money, US Steel

holding company

company created to control a diverse set of companies

laissez-faire

“let it be”economy with very little government involvement

social darwinism

belief that the Charles Darwin’s beliefs on survival of the fittest should be applied to the economy

protestant work ethic

god rewarded those who were hardworking with success

collective bargaining

employees negotiating conditions in a group against the employer

railroad strike of 1877

wages cut, 11 states on strike, 2/3rds of railroads shut down, 500,000 workers striking, disrupted by Hayes with military force, 100 dead

National Labor Union

union with 640,000 members, wanted better pay and 8-hour days, broader platform, lost support after unsuccessful strikes

Knights of Labor

started as a secret society, membership open to all, loosely organized, lost popularity after Haymarket Bombing

Haymarket Bombing

80,000 Knights of labor on strike in chicago, anarchists hijacked strike and threw bombs at police officers

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

union with set narrow economic goals for members, skilled workers only, wanted better wages and conditions, 1 million members

Samuel Gompers

founder of the AFL, led AFL until 1924

Homestead Strike

strike on Carnegie steel plant after cut wages, used scabs and lockouts to break union

Pullman Strike

strike at Pullman Palace Car Co after CEO cut wages but not rent of food prices, fired union leaders who bargained, used government mail system to keep cars running and used government forces to end strike

Eugene v. Debs

American Railroad Union leader who helped with Pullman Strike by telling railroad workers to not handle any Pullman cars

“old immigrants”

immigrants who confirmed to American society with ease, from north and west Europe, protestant, English speaking, edcated

“new” immigrants

immigrants from southern and eastern Europe, not English speaking, Catholic/orthodox, poor, unskilled, illiterate

Chinese Exclusion Act

law passed by Congress in 1882 saying no Chinese immigrants were allowed in America until 1943

tenements

crowded apartments where working class people lived

Ellis Island

where immigrants from Europe came through in NYC

political machines

politicians who aided poor immigrants in exchange for a vote and future support, overcharged workers and profited from taxpayers

Tammany Hall

political machine in NYC

Jane Addams

first social worker, founded Hull House in Chicago to support poor immigrants with education, food, childcare

settlement houses

spaces made for people in poverty to receive help

white collar workers

middle class people with non laborious jobs

Gospel of Wealth

book written by Andrew Carnegie about how philanthropy was important to giving people to resources to help themselves

Clarence Darrow

lawyer arguing that people commit crime people of the environment they are in

Joseph Pulitzer

owner of the New York World, the first newspaper with one million papers in circulation

William Randolph Hearst

publisher of scandal and society in New York

Salvation Army

religion from England, gave to the poor and preached about God

Social Gospel

the idea that Christian principles should be applied to social problems of public health and homelessness

Susan B. Anthony

feminist and founder of the NAWSA, arrested for illegally voting as a woman

NWASA, National American Woman Suffrage Association

organization founded to help women gain the right to vote

WCTU, Women’s Christian Temperance Union

advocated to the total absence from alcohol

Anti Saloon League

powerful political force for the shutting down of all bars and saloons

Carrie Nation

Kansas woman who rode into saloons and smashed barrels of beer so people could not drink

Mark Twain

first realist author

Frank Lloyd Wright

famous for organic architecture that harmonizes with the natural surroundings

landscape arcitecture

using nature to create anew thing

federal land grants

land given to big railroad businesses to incentivise building more tracks

Credit Mobilier

company who bribed US government to give them more land grants

Interstate Commerce Act of 1887

first law that regulated railroad companies, not effective

Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890

attempted to stop the formation of trusts and monopolies, to vague and worked around by big business

US vs.E. C.Knight Co.

SCOTUS ruling that the Sherman Antitrust Act only applied to commerce and not manufacturing, giving it even less power

Pendleton Act of 1881

put ineffective because of the assassination of Garfield, said that applicants for federal jobs must be given the position because they are qualified based on an exam

Civil Service Commision

created by the Pendleton Act, provides oversight to the people that are hired based on merit

“soft money”

greenbacks,silver coinage, wanted by farmers and debtors who wanted inflation

“hard” money

gold standard, makes the dollar more valuable as the population grows

Bland-Allison Act

limited coinage of silver at a 16:1 ounce ratio, 2M every month

“solid south”

stringley democratic states that were former Confederate states

Farmers Alliance

group that provided the foundation for the populist party by electing various state officials