History US Midterm Study Guide

Monopoly

A company or group of companies that has complete control over a particular field of business.

Pool

companies in an industry agree to fix prices and divide business

Trust

group of corporations (mainly have the same owner) and industry combine under one cooperation

Laissez-Faire

“Hands off,” some people thought that the government should not interfere with business

Vertical Integration

This is when one company combines two or more stages or production, normally operated by separate companies 

They are not buying out another company but expanding to control more stages to make more money.

Horizontal Integration

the act of merging a business operating in the same industry

Government rules or regulations of business

part of laissez-faire (hands off government) meant that the government had no rules/regulations on business

• No taxes

• No wage limits

• No hours limits

• No safety Precautions

• No workers comp. laws

• Captains of Industry/Robber Barons: John Rockefeller 

  •  Individual

  • Company

  • Attitudes towards labor/workers and wealth

Refined Oil 

Standard Oil company 

Predatory business, crushed unions

• Captains of Industry/Robber Barons: Andrew Carnegie

  •  Individual

  • Company

  • Attitudes towards labor/workers and wealth

Steel

Andrew steel corporation

Union bust, workers safety agreed at first then aggressive tactics, guards, cutting wages 

• Captains of Industry/Robber Barons: Cornelius Vanderbilt

  •  Individual

  • Company

  • Attitudes towards labor/workers and wealth

Railroads

Company name

Exploitation, anti-union, buying out other companies

• Captains of Industry/Robber Barons: John Pierce Morgan 

  •  Individual

  • Company

  • Attitudes towards labor/workers and wealth

Banker

J.P. Morgan and Co.

Buy out other companies, anti-union, profit over well-being, dangerous working conditions

• Captains of Industry/Robber Barons: Henry Ford  

  •  Individual

  • Company

  • Attitudes towards labor/workers and wealth

Automobile industry

Ford motor company

“5$ a day,” treated workers well, 8 hour days

How the new business structure (corporations) allowed for mass accumulation of individual wealth

(Monopolies, trusts, pools) grew individual wealth through ruthless tactics at the expenses of their workers. Tactics like (undercutting competitors, controlling supply, exploiting labor etc.) Use illegal practices like monopolies t make sure they were the only option. Because of laisee-faire the government could not control or regulate what these bossiness did (their ruthless tactics). 

Secret Ballot

system of secret voting in private booths, using government printed ballots to avoid corruption and intimidation

Direct Primary

Robert la follette, bypassed politicians, putting nominating process directly into citizens hands. Vote on who they want different parties candidates for elections.

Muckraker 

published pieces that would direct public attention to the social, economic, and political corruption. Committed to exposing the greed, corruption, and injustice.  

16th Amendment

National Income tax, by William Howard Taft

17th Amendment

Direct election of senators. Directly elected by the people of the state

18th Amendment

outlaws the sale, manufacturing, and transportation of alcohol. 1920-1933

19th Amendment 

Guaranteed voting rights to women and created increase in democracy 

Ballot Initiative

method by which voters could compel legislature to consider a bill

Referendum

allows citizens to vote directly on proposed laws printed on ballot

Recall

enabled voters to remove a corrupt individual from office by majority vote before officials terms is over

Women Suffrage 

the advocacy for womens rights to vote 

Sherman Antitrust act

prohibits anti-competitive businesses practices (price fixing, monopolies, trusts that restrain trade)

Clayton Antitrust Act

builds off of sherman, stops horizontal integration from turning into monopolies

Meat Inspection Act (1906)

Roosevelt encouraged, created federal standards for meatpacking, ensured sanitary conditions by stating government could inspect all meat products

Interstate commerace 

Hepburn act gave IC power to set maximum freight rates suggest bookkeeping methods, no free passes to individual companies, and RR companies cant carry their own goods

Pure food and drug act (1906)

required all processed food + drug must include ingredient labels

Forest reserve act

Allowed presidents to set aside land for parks, monuments, national forests (run by the national parks). Some land for conservation and some for preservation.

Goal of the Progressive Movement 

Time period of significant social, economic, and political reforms designed to address corruption/injustice directly from the gilded age 

• Muckrakers

  • Who were they and their purpose

    • Specific example of one and how they fit into the progressive era

Who they were/purpose: journalists through their pieces fueled economic, social, and political reforms. Social reformers who attacked the ills + effects of industrialization, immigration, and urbanization.

Specific example of one: Jacob Riis, poor working + living conditions of working class in NYC. Takes photos + interviews. Fits into era because shows that harsh urbanization + low wages.

Roosevelt
▪ Square deal, Trust Busting, Acts and Reforms

Square deal: callings for enforcement of existing and trust law + stricter control on businesses

Trust busting: directed justice department to investigate Northern securities company. First successfully use sherman trust act, filling more than 40 suits during term.

Taft
▪ 16th and 17th Amendments

16 + 17th: led the force for two amendments. National income tax (16) and direct election of senators (17). 

Wilson
▪ FTC
▪ Federal Reserve
▪ Greater freedom to consumers
▪ 18th and 19th Amendments

FTC: committed to restoring competition through greater government regulation of the economy

…So he created the federal trade commission which worked to enforce the ineffective Clayton Antitrust Act

Federal Reserve: gave government greater control over national finances

Greater freedom to consumers: More options and more choices

18th and 19th: 18th (prohibition), 19th (women’s suffrage)

• Women in the Progressive Era

  • Goals

Women in the progressive era were on of the largest driving factors of the passage of women + child labor laws 

After WWI Starts
• US initial response to the War starting in Europe

Wilson in 1914 called for citizens to remain impartial, “impartial in thought as well as deed”

Hope that we would be a middlemen, to help settle conflict

Follow after George Washingtons idealism of staying neutral

Average citizen disagreed with this stance and sided with Britain

Sinking of the Lusitania

1915 German U-boat sank British ocean liner without warning 

Led to the deaths of 128 Americans 

Considered unprovoked attack on citizens 

Due to the bad publicity Germany stopped tactic to avoid war with America

Zimmerman Telegram

1917 British intercepted telegram from foreign minister of Germany to Mexico

Outlined plan to keep us out of the war

Germans believe if they keep us occupied w/ war in America (keep them out of fighting in Europe it will be a win)

Telegram stated if Mexico would declare war on US, Germany would help them regain land lost in Mexican-American war

Unrestricted Submarine Warfare

Germans would sink any ship they deemed a threat w/o warning

Basically used submarines to control the Atlantic ocean

strike one before the US gets involved in the war

leads to countries stop sending supplies because they do not want to get their ships sunk

How the US helped shift the war

both armies were decimated and exhausted by the time US entered the war 

Just few weeks after US joined the war the balance shifted in favor of the allies 

fleet of American destroyers aided British navy in attacking U-boats and planting anti-submarine mines in the north sea

Selective Service Act

national draft was the only way to provide men needed for war

Wilson won passage of act in 1917 even amid protests

draft brought 3 million men to the army, and another 2 million joined various matches

when you turn 18 you are required to register for SSA

Wilson’s 14 points-purpose

once US joined war Germany was quickly ready to negotiate peace treaty

14 points promoted world peace

Called for: free trade through lower taxes and freedom of the seas, reduction of arms supplies on both sides, promotion of self-determination in Europe +overseas and end colonialism

League of Nations-purpose

called for creation mechanism for world cooperation/understanding 

trying to maintain world peace, countries would join and delegates from each country would meet to speak about issues (prevent war)

Treaty of Versailles-All parts/impact on Germany

European allies wanted peace treaty to punish Germany and they got it

Germany didn’t surrender, they signed armistice to agree to stop fighting, signed paper thinking league of nations by signed treaty

Under treaty: cede Germany territories, disarm (were strongest military before so it was a big deal), pay large reparations, admit total fault of starting war

Article X

largest portion of debate, many people believed it impaired Americas ability to act independently in foreign affairs

• overextended ourselves in affairs of europe- potentially leading to wars, further economic ruin, etc. (cause more harm than good)

Senate vote-what happened

Denied proposition to join 

According to congress president had power to negotiate treaties w foreign nations, but treaters must be approved by senate 

Wilsons stubbornness + inability to make changes known as Lodge Reservations Reforms 

Democrats + irreconcilables joined forces to deny treaty 

Result of American foreign policy

following US not joining league they went into period of isolation to avoid war

wanted less interaction w/ Europe not more which league would have required

Rise of technology to include

• Radio, cinema, Ford’s model T

• Rise of telephones- increased communication

• By 1908, there were nearly 10,00 movie theaters across the nation 

• Hollywood became the center of movie production 

• The industry ground out cowboy Westerns

• Charlie Chaplin

• Ford’s reliable Model T came out in 1908 at a price of $850. 

  • By 1924, it would sell for $290

• Automobiles replaced the railroad as the preferred transportation, consequently freeing Americans to travel where they wished, when they wished

Mass Media

• Radio programs are not centralized to a state or area 

• Thus, new forms of mass media, such as radio and cinema, continued to the spread of national culture as well as greater awareness of regional cultures 

Consumerism

• Increase of buying on credit and installment plans

• More people than ever could buy items not just because of need but for convenience and pleasure

• Middle class families purchased electric refrigerators, washing machines, and vacuum cleaners

• Stores sold consumer goods on credit more than ever 

• Now, a housewife could put a small down payment on a new stove, take it home and pay a small amount each month on an installment plan    

• The idea was that if people purchased more goods, factories could produce more, earn more, and employ more workers 

Changes of women

•  Flapper characteristics- Physical

They discarded 

• Corset 

• Layers of petticoats and long dark dresses worn by their Victorian grandmothers 

In favor of

• Waistless dresses worn above the knee 

• flesh -colored silk stockings 

• Strings of long beads 

• Wrist full of bracelets 

• Ruby-red lips 

  • Gender norms being pushed 

Changes of women

•  Flapper characteristics- Actual 

• Many flappers risk ruining their reputation by smoking cigarettes and drinking in public (despite prohibition) and the dancing tango, the lindy, and the shimmy 

• The flapper lifestyle had a particular impact on lower-middle-class and working-class single women, who were filling new jobs in industry and the service sector 

• At night, such women flocked to clubs and dance halls in search of excitement and companionship 

Purpose of Great Migration

• The most significant development in African American life during the early 20th century was the Great Migration northward 

  • Mainly for job opportunities, and factory work 

• With the migration a slow but steady growth in black political influence set in 

• With the migration, they bring their culture and heritage with them 

Purpose of Harlem Renaissance

literary and artistic movement

• Other emergent writers included Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Countee Cullen, and a James Weldon Johnson 

• Another major black cultural development was the popularization of jazz.

• Because jazz featured improvisation and free-spiritedness, it came to be seen as emblematic of the era (which is how the decade came to be known as the jazz age)

Nativism

• What it was

• Sacco and Vanzetti

What it was: In the years immediately following WW1 when immigration began to be associated with radicalism, popular sentiment on behalf of restriction grew rapidly (they were against immigration) 

…Clan came because to renew nativism (if you were born in America you are better than if you came to America)

Sacco and Vanzetti: two Italian immigrant anarchists, Saco and Vanzatti, were arrested on charges of murder- without proper investigation

Lassiez Faire Politics lead to Great Depression

allowing for a lack of financial regulation, which fueled stock market speculation (things like margin spending), poor banking practices, and widespread credit overextension (spending more money than they have)

Causes of Great Depression

1. Weak International economy 

2. Depressed agricultural sector 

3. Underconsumption 

4. Laissez-Faire regulation 

Underconsumption

• In the 1920s, the availability of easy credit and installment plans encouraged people to spend money beyond their means 

• Finally, government laxity in regulating large businesses had led to the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of very few businesses (monopolies came back due to Laisse-Faire)

• When their businesses failed, many people were thrown out of work

• Too many people spent money they did not have, then they stoped buying things when the great depression began which led to many products

Short Answers

Practice