APUSH Unit 6 Key Terms

Transcontinental railroads

a continuous rail line constructed between Omaha, Nebraska and San Francisco Bay, California.

Native American Reservations

The system that allotted land with designated boundaries to Native American tribes in the West

Battle of Little BigHorn

the most decisive Native American victory and the worst U.S. Army defeat in the long Plains Indian War

Ghost Dance Movement

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

Massacre at Wounded Knee

a massacre in 1890 that started when Sioux left the reservation in protest because of the death of Sitting Bull.

Homestead Act

a federal law promoting westward expansion by allotting 160 acres of free public land to individual settlers.

Dawes Severalty Act

An act that broke up Indian reservations and distributed land to individual households.

Sharecropping

A system of agriculture where a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crop produced on land.

Jim Crow Laws

state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation

Plessy v. Ferguson

upheld the principle of racial segregation over the next half-century.

“New South”

A vision for a self-sufficient southern economy built on modern capitalist values, industrial growth, and improved transportation.

Laissez-Faire 

the government leaves the people alone regarding all economic activities.

Gilded Age

The age between the Civil War and WWI when the American economy grew rapidly and individuals were able to use monopolies to amass great wealth. Marked by political corruption and shady business deals.

Capitalism

A system of economic production based on the private ownership of property and the contractual exchange for profit of goods, labor, ad money.

Haymarket Square Riot

a protest against police violence at Chicago's Haymarket Square where someone threw a bomb killing one policeman and 7 others fatally wounded, policemen then fired into the crowd and killed an equal amount of people. American Federation of Labor.

Labor Unions

A union of skilled workers from one or more trades which focused on collective bargaining (negotiation between labor and management) to reach written agreements on wages hours and working conditions.

American Federation of Labor 

a national union that provided resources and support to trade and craft workers.

Pullman Strike

A strike by railroad workers upset by drastic wage cuts.

Bessemer Process

A process for converting iron into the much more durable and versatile steel; process consisted of blowing air through molten iron to burn out the impurities.

Sherman Antitrust Act

the first federal law that placed limits on concentrations of power deemed harmful to trade and competition.

Horizontal Integration

Controlling all competition in a particular industry.

Vertical Integration 

The control of multiple stages of production and distribution within a single company.

Trusts

a type of business organization that became popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Social Darwinism

The belief that only the fittest survive in human political and economic struggle. A belief held by many that stated that the rich were rich and the poor were poor due to natural selection in society.

Social Gospel

A reform movement led by Protestant ministers who used religious doctrine to demand better housing and living conditions for the urban poor.

Gospel of Wealth

Carnegie argued that extremely wealthy Americans like himself had a responsibility to spend their money in order to benefit the greater good.

Nativism

the belief that native-born Americans are superior to foreigners- movement based on hostility to immigrants, especially Irish & Catholic ones.

Chinese Exclusion Act

set of laws that barred Chinese immigration for 10 years and prevented Chinese already in the country from becoming citizens.

Jane Addams

a middle-class woman dedicated to uplifting the urban masses; college educated (one of first generation); established the Hull House in Chicago in 1889 (most prominent American settlement house, mostly for immigrants); condemned war and poverty; won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.

Settlement Houses

a house where immigrants came to live upon entering the U.S.

Boss Tweed

A disgraced American politician who was convicted for stealing millions of dollars from New York City taxpayers through political corruption

Pendleton Act

provided that federal government jobs be awarded on the basis of merit and that government employees be selected through competitive exams.

Political Machines

a party organization that recruits its members by the use of tangible incentives—money, political jobs—and that is characterized by a high degree of leadership control over member activity.

Tammany Hall

powerful New York political organization. It drew support from immigrants.

Greenback Party

organized in 1876 to campaign for expansion of the supply of paper money—"greenbacks"—first issued by the federal government in 1862 to help pay for the Civil War.

People’s Party

A US political party that sought to represent the interests of farmers and laborers in the 1890s, advocating increased currency issue, free coinage of gold and silver, public ownership of railroads, and a graduated federal income tax.

The Populist Party

left-wing movements of the late 19th century that wanted to curtail the power of the corporate and financial establishment.

William Jennings Bryan

A politician who was a dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. Did not support the Gold Standard, railroads, or banks. Supporter of populist Dem. Promoted Free Silver, anti-imperialism, and trust-busting.

Temperance

the moderation or abstention in the use of alcohol. The movement became a powerful political and social force.