AP USH CH20: COMMONWEALTH AND EMPIRE (IMPERIALISM)

Pendleton Act

1883 act, reform measure that established the principle of federal employment on the basis of open, competitive exams and created the Civil Service Commission

Mary Elizabeth Lease

A speaker for the Populist party and the Farmer's Alliance. One of the founders of the national Populist party. She believed that big business had made the people of America into "wage slaves," and challenged her fellow farmers to "raise less corn and more hell."

Populist Movement

Political movement begun by farmers and members of labor unions in the late 1800's seeking to limit the power of big businesses and get the government to regulate banks, railroads, and improve working conditions.

Homestead Strike

1892 steelworker strike near Pittsburgh against the Carnegie Steel Company. Ten workers were killed in a riot when "scab" labor was brought in to force an end to the strike.

Social Gospel

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

William Jennings Bryan

Democratic candidate for president in 1896 under the banner of "free silver coinage" which won him support of the Populist Party.

Election of 1896

Republican William McKinley defeated Democratic-Populist "Popocrat" William Jennings Bryan. 1st election in 24 years than Republicans won a majority of the popular vote. McKinley won promoting the gold standard, pluralism, and industrial growth.

Plessy v. Ferguson

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

Grandfather Clauses

This was a statute enacted by many American southern states in the wake of Reconstruction that allowed potential white voters to circumvent literacy tests, poll taxes, and other tactics designed to disfranchise southern blacks

Ida B Wells

African American journalist. published statistics about lynching, urged African Americans to protest by refusing to ride streetcards or shop in white owned stores

Muckrakers

Journalists who attempted to find corruption or wrongdoing in industries and expose it to the public

Tom Watson

Georgia's Best-Known Populist. He was the first native southern politician concerned about African American Farmers. Introduces Rural Free Delivery Bill. In 1905 he returned to the Democratic party and becomes a white-supremist

Good Neighbor Policy

emphasized cooperation and trade rather than military force to maintain stability in the hemisphere, Mckinley

Alfred Thayer Mahan

Navy officer whose ideas on naval warfare and the importance of sea-power changed how America viewed its navy; wrote "The influence of Sea Power upon History"

Yellow Journalism

Journalism that exploits, distorts, or exaggerates the news to create sensations and attract readers

President Mckinley

President during Spanish-American War, wanted Spanish to restore order in Cuba/expected it in a diplomatic way, peaceful

Spanish American War

In 1898, a conflict between the United States and Spain, in which the U.S. supported the Cubans' fight for independence