APUSH Period 6 Vocabulary

Vocabulary that focuses on industrialisation, urbanisation, political corruption, western expansion, & the new South

Horizontal/Vertical Integration

horizontal: buying the competition & vertical: eliminating the middle man

Social Darwinism

The belief that only the fittest survive in human political and economic struggle.

Sherman Antitrust Act

First federal action against monopolies, it was signed into law by Harrison and was extensively used by Theodore Roosevelt for trust-busting. However, it was initially misused against labor unions

Interstate Commerce Commission

an agency that sets the laws for all the companies that do business across state lines

Pullman Strike

in Chicago, Pullman cut wages but refused to lower rents in the "company town", Eugene Debs had American Railway Union refuse to use Pullman cars, Debs thrown in jail after being sued, strike achieved nothing

Haymarket Riot

1886 labor-related protest in Chicago which ended in deadly violence

Great Strike of 1877

large number of railroad workers went on strike because of wage cuts. After a month of strikes, President Hayes sent troops to stop the rioting. The worst railroad violence was in Pittsburgh, with over 40 people killed by militia men

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.

Eugene Debs

Leader of the American Railway Union, he voted to aid workers in the Pullman strike. He was jailed for six months for disobeying a court order after the strike was over.

Credit Mobilier Scandal

This scandal occurred in the 1870s when a railroad construction company's stockholders used funds that were supposed to be used to build the Union Pacific Railroad for railroad construction for their own personal use. To avoid being convicted, stockholders even used stock to bribe congressional members and the vice president.

Tammany Hall/Boss Tweed

Tammany Hall was the most powerful urban political machine, located in New York. Boss Tweed controlled the New York State Democratic Party and Tammany Hall but he was not an elected official.

Pendleton Civil Service Act

Passed in 1883, an Act that created a federal civil service so that hiring and promotion would be based on merit rather than patronage.

Political Machines

Corrupt organized groups that controlled political parties in the cities. A boss leads the machine and attempts to grab more votes for his party.

Chinese Exclusion Act

(1882) Denied any additional Chinese laborers to enter the country while allowing students and merchants to immigrate.

Social Gospel Movement

preached salvation through service to the poor

Jacob Riis- How the Other Half Lives

Early 1900's muckraking writer/photographer who exposed social and political evils in the U.S. He was dedicated to using his photographic talents to help the less fortunate in New York. His photography helped capture the hardships faced by the poor. His most popular work, How the Other Half Lives, became a pivotal work that precipitated much needed reforms in the slums of New York. Jacob Riis's photography, taken up to help him document the plight of the poor, made him an important figure in the history of documentary photography.

Plessy v. Ferguson

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

Transcontinental Railroad

Railroad connecting the west and east coasts of the continental US

The Battle of the Wounded Knee

US soldiers massacred 300 unarmed Native American in 1890. This ended the Indian Wars.

A Century of Dishonor

written by Helen Hunt Jackson in 1881 to expose the atrocities the United States committed against Native Americans in the 19th century

Dawes Act

1887 law that distributed reservation land to individual Native American owners

Frederick Jackson Turner

American historian who said that humanity would continue to progress as long as there was new land to move into. The frontier provided a place for homeless and solved social problems.

Populists/The Omaha Platform

Condemned political corruption and called for unlimited coinage of silver and federal ownership of railroads.

Cross of Gold Speech/William Jennings Bryan

In the address, the author supported bimetallism, or "free silver," which he believed would bring the nation prosperity