History unit 2

1. Capitalism

An economic system where individuals privately own businesses and compete to make profits.

2. Bessemer Process

A method of making steel quickly and cheaply by removing impurities from iron.

3. Factors of Production

The resources used to make goods and services: land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship.

4. Corporations

Large businesses owned by shareholders who invest money in the company.

5. Monopoly

When one company controls an entire industry or market.

6. Trusts

Groups of companies that join together under one control to reduce competition.

7. Horizontal Integration

When a company buys out or combines with competing businesses in the same industry.

8. Vertical Integration

When a company controls every step of producing and distributing a product.

9. John D. Rockefeller

An industrialist who built the Standard Oil Company and controlled much of the oil industry.

10. Andrew Carnegie

A businessman who built a steel empire and became one of America's richest industrialists.

11. Laissez-faire

The belief that the government should have little involvement in businesses and the economy.

12. Social Darwinism

The belief that the strongest and wealthiest people succeed because they are naturally better suited to survive.

13. Sherman Antitrust Act

An 1890 law created to prevent monopolies and businesses from limiting competition.

14. Entrepreneurs

People who start and manage businesses while taking financial risks.

15. Philanthropist

A person who donates money or resources to help others.

Workers and Labor Unions

16. Working Class

People who earn money by working for wages, often in factories or other labor jobs.

17. Sweatshops

Workplaces with low wages, long hours, and unsafe working conditions.

18. Child Labor

The practice of children working, often in dangerous factories or mines instead of attending school.

19. Tenements

Crowded, poorly maintained apartment buildings where many poor families lived.

20. Labor Unions

Organizations formed by workers to fight for better pay, hours, and working conditions.

21. American Federation of Labor (AFL)

A labor union organization led by Samuel Gompers that fought for better wages, hours, and working conditions.

22. Socialism

An economic system that supports public or collective ownership of important industries and resources.

23. Collective Bargaining

When workers negotiate with employers as a group for better wages and working conditions.

24. Haymarket Affair

An 1886 labor protest in Chicago that turned violent after a bomb exploded and police responded.

25. Homestead Strike

An 1892 steelworkers' strike against Carnegie Steel that ended after a violent conflict between workers and guards.

26. Pullman Strike

An 1894 railroad workers' strike against wage cuts and high company housing costs that was stopped by federal troops.

27. Anarchists

People who believe society should exist without a government or centralized authority.

Immigration

28. Push Factors

Problems in a person's home country that encourage them to leave, such as poverty, war, or religious persecution.

29. Pull Factors

Opportunities in another country that attract immigrants, such as jobs, freedom, and a better life.

30. Pogroms

Organized violent attacks against Jewish communities, especially in Eastern Europe.

31. America Letters

Letters immigrants sent home describing opportunities in America and encouraging family members to immigrate.

32. Steerage

The cheapest and most crowded section of a ship where many poor immigrants traveled.

33. Ellis Island Immigration Station

An immigration center in New York Harbor where many European immigrants were inspected before entering the United States.

34. Deportation

The forced removal of an immigrant from a country.

35. Contract Laborers

Workers who agreed to work for an employer under a contract, sometimes to repay travel costs.

36. Settlement House

A community center that provided immigrants and poor families with education, childcare, and other services.

37. Americanization

The process of immigrants learning American customs, language, and culture.

38. Nativism

Favoring native-born Americans and opposing immigration.

39. Chinese Exclusion Act

An 1882 law that banned most Chinese laborers from immigrating to the United States.

40. Angel Island Immigration Station

An immigration center in San Francisco Bay where many Asian immigrants were processed and sometimes detained.

Political Reform and Progressivism

41. Tammany Hall

A powerful New York City political organization known for controlling elections and exchanging favors for votes.

42. Patronage

Giving government jobs or favors to people who support a political party or candidate.

43. Pendleton Act

An 1883 law that created a merit-based system for hiring some government employees.

44. Civil Service

Government jobs and departments that carry out the work of the government.

45. Temperance Movement

A movement that encouraged people to stop drinking alcohol or reduce alcohol consumption.

46. Hull House

A settlement house founded by Jane Addams in Chicago to help immigrants and poor families.

47. Progressives

Reformers who wanted to fix problems caused by industrialization, corruption, and inequality.

48. Social Gospel

A religious movement that believed Christians should help solve social problems like poverty and inequality.

49. National Child Labor Committee

An organization that worked to end child labor and improve working conditions for children.

50. Workers' Compensation

Money paid to employees who are injured while working.

51. Recall

A process that allows voters to remove an elected official before their term ends.

52. Initiative

A process that allows citizens to propose new laws through petitions and voting.

53. Referendum

A process that allows voters to approve or reject laws directly.

54. NAWSA

The National American Woman Suffrage Association, which fought for women's right to vote.

55. Tuskegee Institute

A school founded by Booker T. Washington to provide African Americans with education and job training.

56. NAACP

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, an organization that fights racial discrimination and inequality.

57. Political Bosses

Powerful political leaders who controlled votes, government jobs, and political decisions in cities.

58. Political Machines

Organizations that controlled local politics by exchanging jobs and services for votes.

59. Muckrakers

Journalists who exposed corruption, unsafe working conditions, and social problems to encourage reform.

60. Ida Tarbell

A muckraking journalist who exposed the unfair business practices of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company.

61. Lincoln Steffens

A journalist who exposed corruption in American city governments.

62. Urbanization

The growth of cities as more people move from rural areas to urban areas.

Progressive Presidents and Reforms

63. Square Deal

Theodore Roosevelt's program that aimed to protect consumers, control corporations, and conserve natural resources.

64. New Freedom

Woodrow Wilson's program that aimed to reduce monopolies and encourage economic competition.

65. Pure Food and Drug Act

A 1906 law that required food and medicine to be safer and properly labeled.

66. Arbitration

A way to settle disagreements by having a neutral third party make a decision.

67. Preservation

Protecting nature by keeping certain areas untouched by development.

68. Conservation

Protecting natural resources while allowing them to be used responsibly.

69. Federal Reserve System

The central banking system of the United States that manages the money supply and helps regulate banks.

70. Sixteenth Amendment

An amendment that gave the federal government the power to collect income taxes.

71. Graduated Income Tax

A tax system where people with higher incomes pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes.

72. Seventeenth Amendment

An amendment that allowed citizens to directly elect their U.S. senators.

73. Eighteenth Amendment

An amendment that banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages.

74. Nineteenth Amendment

An amendment that gave women the constitutional right to vote.

Additional Review Items

75. Western Expansion

The movement of Americans westward in search of land, resources, and opportunities.

76. Seeds of Change

A historical video about the major changes in American society, industry, and agriculture during this period.

77. Progressivism and Muckraking

The movement to improve society through reforms supported by journalists who exposed problems.

78. The Problems, the Progressives, and Their Solutions

A study of problems during industrialization and the reforms created to solve them.

79. The Jungle

A novel by Upton Sinclair that exposed dangerous working conditions and unsanitary practices in the meatpacking industry.

80. Extractive Industries

Industries that remove natural resources from the earth, such as mining, logging, and drilling.