Studied by 85 people
Homestead Act of 1862
Gave 160 acres of land to American settlers if they would farm it. Supported westward expansion
Transcontinental Railroad (finished in 1869)
A railroad that connected the Pacific Coast to the East Coast and facilitated trade. Crops were taken to the East and manufactured goods to the West.
Bessemer Process (steel)
Allowed for the mass production of steel which led to an industrial revolution. A cheap process that allowed steel to be produced faster.
Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919)
The founder of Carnegie Steel Company. He supplied steel which allowed for rapid increase of railroad use. He was also a well known philanthropist.
Vertical Integration
A strategy used by Carnegie. It meant to acquire other companies to have control over all aspects of manufacturing and producing a product.
Horizontal Integration
A strategy used by Rockefeller. It meant to acquire other companies in its business line and drive competitors out of business.
John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937)
The founder of Standard Oil Company, which was known for buying out its competitors. The company controlled oil production in the US.
Panic of 1893
A financial crisis in which railroads ran into economic ruin which caused the industry of steel to suffer.
Laissez-faire
An economic system that meant the government would not interfere as much with its people's lives. This allowed Rockefeller and Carnegie to mistreat their workers without government interference.
Social Darwinism
Natural selection but with humans. The stronger humans dominate the weaker ones, and this is just because of nature. The business owner was "stronger" than the people who worked for them.
Gospel of Wealth (1889)
An essay written by Andrew Carnegie that said the rich have a moral obligation to use their wealth to benefit society and promote the common good.
Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890
Restricted trusts and monopolies. It was not a successful or effective act.
White Collared Work
Offices jobs
Blue Collared Work
Factory or more labor intensive work
Labor Unions
Groups of workers who advocated for better working conditions and higher pay. They would go on strike.
Why did labor unions begin forming?
Bad working conditions and underpayment. If they tried to complain, the manager could fire them and find someone else. So they would unite to make it harder to deal with 100-200 instead of just one unhappy worker.
Great Railroad Strike of 1877
Railroad workers who were tired of pay cuts gained control of train stations and refused to allow trains to move until they got a higher pay. It got violent in some states and their pay didnt grow but it showed that workers could rebel.
Knights of Labor (1869)
A labor union that included all types of workers. Advocated for an eight hour work day and market regulations.
Haymarket Affair 1886
A riot that turned violent when a bomb went off and people thought it was the Knights of Labor throwing a bomb at the police.
American Federation of Labor
A federation with many labor unions combined that focused on gaining an eight hour work day and higher pay.
Rise of the Middle Class
The industrialization in this period made new jobs in industries, commerce, and professions that did not exist before which let people have a life above the working but below the elite. Women worked as teachers and in electrical jobs.
Fredrick Jackson Turner's Frontier Thesis
This basically described the American destiny to move westward and the unsettled land available belonged to Americans.
Reservation System
Defined regions that Native Americans could live on. This limited their freedom. This system was put in place to allow Americans to take Natives' previously owned land.
Battle of Wounded Knee (1890)
The Plains Indians were resisting the reservation lifestyle and the US repressed their resistance by massacring over 150 Natives.
Ghost Dance movement
An effort by the natives to regain their native traditions and eliminate white traditions from their lives. The US gov tried to repress this movement.
Dawes Act of 1887
Sought to "Americanize" Native Americans by making schools to strip away their culture. Gave natives land and citizenship if they correctly assimilated.
National Grange Movement
A collective effort attempting to improve conditions for farmers - assisted farmers with railroad shipping costs, advocated for government regulation of railroad shipping costs, etc.
Who opposed immigrants arriving?
Nativists - people who were against people from other countries.
How did labor unions feel about immigrants arriving?
Labor unions were scared with the amount of immigrants entering the US. This was because immigrants needed work and agreed to be paid for very cheap wages. So if a union decided to strike, a company could just fire all the union workers and hire underpaid immigrants.
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
Prohibited Chinese immigrants from entering the US for one decade.
Pendleton Act of 1883
Mandated that federal government jobs must be given based on skill level and not because of what party they support, how much power they have, etc.
Suburbanization
A shift in people living in urban cities to people living in the suburbs. This was commonly associated with the "white flight", in which white people left cities to get away from the people of color who tended to live in the cities. The cities were often overcrowded and contained poverty and disease.
Political Machine
What is an example? Political machines provided jobs for immigrants in exchange for their votes. These machines were not honest and were very corrupt. The most famous example was Tammany Hall in New York City which was led by Boss Tweed.
Settlement Houses
Women would set up these houses to help immigrants adjust to American society. They would teach immigrants English.
Jane Addams
A prominent social worker. She co-founded the Hull House, a settlement house in Chicago, Illinois.
Social Gospel
A movement which strived to improve the lives of the poor as they felt they had an obligation as Christians.
New South
The South attempted to try an industrial economy to recover from the Civil War.
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
A Supreme Court case that ruled that separate facilities were allowed to separate black people from white as long as the facilities were of equal quality. It was later overturned by Brown v Board several years later.
Jim Crow laws
Found in the South, these laws segregated blacks and whites in public spaces (bathrooms, public transportation, etc).
Ida B. Wells
Editor of a newspaper in the South and is best known for her courageous anti-lynching crusade and her advocacy for civil rights and women's suffrage. A mob destroyed her newspaper office, forcing her to leave the South and relocate to Chicago.
Populist Party
What did they support/What was their agenda? This party represented the ideas of workers, farmers etc. They wanted a graduated income tax and more regulation of railroads and businesses.
