Period 6 Essential Vocab

Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890)

First federal law that committed the American government to opposing monopolies. Unintentionally used against labor unions. Generally ineffective and later replaced by Clayton Antitrust Act.

Knights of Labor

Formed in 1869 and grew to become the largest labor organization in the U.S. Brought together both skilled and unskilled workers. Called for equal pay for women and African-Americans. Fought for an 8-hour workday. Declined in popularity after Haymarket Square.

American Federation of Labor

Began in 1886; Led by Samuel Gompers it became the new dominant labor union. Worked for shorter work days, better pay, and safer working conditions but tried to avoid unpopular strikes. They also only organized skilled labor leaving out unskilled workers, women, racial minorities and immigrants.

Tenement Housing

Poorly built, overcrowded housing where many new immigrants lived.

Gilded Age

Mark Twain coined this phrase. America looks amazing and everyone is rich but it is not (poverty, inequities, etc.).

Thomas Nast

The political cartoonist of the 1860s and 1870s who used this visual art form to expose graft and corruption. Specifically targeted the corruption of the Tweed Ring.

William Tweed

'Boss' Tweed, was head of Tammany Hall, NYC's powerful democratic political machine. He led a group of corrupt politicians in defrauding the city. Held control over political patronage in New York City through Tammany, and his ability to ensure the loyalty of voters through jobs he could create and dispense on city-related projects. Example: Responsible for the construction of the NY courthouse; actual construction cost $3 million. Project cost taxpayers $13 million.

Whiskey Ring

The Whiskey Ring was a scandal, exposed in 1875, involving diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, politicians, whiskey distillers, and distributors. Uncovered in Grant's Administration.

Credit Mobilier Scandal

Union Pacific Railroad insiders formed the Credit Mobilier construction company and then hired themselves at inflated prices to build the railroad line, earning high dividends. When it was found out that government officials were paid to stay quiet about the illicit business, some officials were censured.

Charles Guiteau

Disgruntled job seeker shot and killed president James Garfield in 1881. VP Chester Arthur became president and reformed the spoils system. Garfield's assassination led to the Pendleton Civil Service Reform of 1883.

Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act

Reform passed by Congress that restricted the spoils system; passed in part in reaction to assassination of President Garfield by a disappointed office seeker in 1881, it established a merit system for hiring in government jobs.

Grange/Farmers Alliance

Grange formed in 1867 to support struggling western farmers.

Farmers Alliance

An organization that replaced the Grange as a support group for the nation's farmers during the 1880s, politically active in the Midwest and South, and central to the founding of the Populist Party.

Women's Christian Temperance Union

A women's organization founded by reformer Frances Willard and others to oppose alcohol consumption.

National Women's Suffrage Association

Founded by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1869, it worked to secure women's enfranchisement through constitutional amendment.

19th Amendment

Ratified in 1920, it secured voting rights for all women.

Populist Party

Formed in 1892 by members of the Farmer's Alliance and low wage workers, favoring a larger role of government in American society, a progressive income tax, and more direct methods of democracy.

William Jennings Bryan

Supported by both Populists and Democrats in the 1896 presidential election for his stand against the U.S. remaining on the gold standard and called for unlimited coinage of silver in his 'Cross of Gold' speech.

Plessy v. Ferguson

A Supreme Court case in 1896 about segregated railroad cars in Louisiana, where the Court decided that it was constitutional to have 'separate but equal' facilities for blacks and whites.

Jim Crow Laws

Laws that enforced segregation in the South.

Homestead Act

Provided free land (160 acres) in the West to anyone willing to settle there and develop it, encouraging westward migration and agriculture.

Morrill Land Grant Act

Legislation that allocated proceeds from the sale of public lands to states to fund the establishment of universities of agriculture and mechanics, known as land grant colleges.

Reservation System

A federal government policy that assigned Plains tribes large tracts of land with defined boundaries, leading to conflicts as many tribes refused to settle.

Chief Joseph

Leader of the Nez Perce during hostilities with the U.S. Army, known for his speech 'I Will Fight No More Forever' mourning the young Indian men killed in fighting.

A Century of Dishonor

A book by Helen Hunt Jackson published in 1881 that chronicled the experiences of Native Americans in the United States, focusing on injustices.

Dawes Severalty Act

An act from 1887 that divided Indian tribal land into 160-acre plots for individual Indians to live and farm, granting U.S. citizenship to those who accepted allotments and lived separately from the tribe.

US Citizenship for Native Americans

Those who accepted allotments and lived separately from the tribe would be granted US citizenship.

Assimilation of Native Americans

Advocated formal education, job training, and conversion to Christianity.

Boarding Schools

Set up to segregate American Indian children from their people to teach them white culture and farming and industrial skills.

Dawes Act

Associated with the assimilation of Native Americans.

Ghost Dance Movement

A new religious movement incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems aimed at reuniting the living with the spirits of the dead.

Wounded Knee Massacre (1890)

The U.S. army gunned down over 200 American Indian men, women, and children, marking the end of the Indian Wars.

Transcontinental Railroad (1869)

Connected San Francisco with the East, constructed by many Chinese workers from the West and African-American and Irish-American workers from the East.

Chinese Exclusion Act

Passed in 1882, it provided an absolute 10-year moratorium on Chinese immigration.

Frederick Jackson Turner

Turner's Frontier Thesis stated that the frontier had provided a place for the homeless and solved social problems, responsible for the growth of American democracy.

Monopolies

Exclusive control of a commodity or service in a particular market, allowing manipulation of prices and blocking new competition.

John D. Rockefeller

American business magnate and philanthropist, founder of the Standard Oil Company, which controlled 90 percent of oil refining in the U.S. by 1879.

Standard Oil Trust

Dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust.

Andrew Carnegie

Steel king who pioneered vertical integration to control every phase of his steel-making operation.

Gospel of Wealth

Essay written by Andrew Carnegie stating that great wealth brought responsibility.

Social Darwinism

Defense of the wealthy, arguing that the poor are poor because they are not as fit to survive.

Interstate Commerce Act (1887)

First federal government regulatory agency aimed at forbidding price discrimination and other monopolistic practices of the railroads.