IB History of the Americas Unit 6 Facts and Terms

Long Drives

A cattle drive in which Texas ranchers drove herds of cattle north to be sold in northern markets

Trust

a combination of firms or corporations formed by a legal agreement, especially to reduce competition

Standard Oil Company

Founded by John D. Rockefeller. Largest unit in the American oil industry in 1881. Known as A.D. Trust, it was outlawed by the Supreme Court of Ohio in 1899. Replaced by the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey.

Vertical Integration

the combination in one company of two or more stages of production normally operated by separate companies.

Assembly Line

In a factory, an arrangement where a product is moved from worker to worker, with each person performing a single task in the making of the product.

Cross of Gold Speech

1896

*Address given by William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic presidential nominee, during the national convention of the Democratic Party

*The speech criticized the gold standard and supported the coinage of silver

*Bryan's beliefs were popular with debt-ridden farmers

*The last words of his speech, and the most famous, were "You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold"

Mugwumps

A group of renegade Republicans who supported 1884 Democratic presidential nominee Grover Cleveland instead of their party's nominee, James G. Blaine.

Sherman Anti-trust 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

Coxey's Army

a protest march by unemployed workers from the United States, led by the populist Jacob Coxey. They marched on Washington D.C. in 1894, the second year of a four-year economic depression that was the worst in United States history to that time

Mary E. Lease

A political activist in the populist party that said "raise less corn and raise more hell".

Interstate Commerce Act

1887

*Established the Interstate Commerce Commission in part to monitor discrimination within railroad industry

*Prohibited rebates and pools and required railroads to publish their rates

*Also prohibited unfair discrimination against shippers and outlawed the practice of charging more for short hauls than long hauls

*In general, the Act opened competition, the goal of which was to preserve equality and spur innovation

Gospel of Wealth

This was a book written by Carnegie that described the responsibility of the rich to be philanthropists. This softened the harshness of Social Darwinism as well as promoted the idea of philanthropy.

Looking Backward

written in 1888 by Edward Bellamy, tells the story of a young man who wakes in 2000

Urban Machine

one of americas most distincitve political insitutions. it was the product of potential voting power of large immigrant communities. It provided aid and support to a large immigrant group so it could gain their votes and push bosses into political office

New Immigrants

Immigrants who came to the United States during and after the 1880s; most were from southern and eastern Europe.

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.

Haymarket Square Riot

May 4, 1886

*Large rally in Haymarket Square in Chicago shortly after striking began at McCormick Harvesting Machine Co.

*Police were attempting to disperse the crowd then a bomb exploded

*Eleven were killed and over 100 were injured

*Eight anarchists were put on trial and four were executed

*Incident was used to discredit the Knights of Labor

Pullman Strike

1894 - nonviolent strike (brought down the railway system in most of the West) at the Pullman Palace Car Co. over wages - Prez. Cleveland shut it down because it was interfering with mail delivery

Half-breeds

During the presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes, 1877-81, a moderate Republican party faction led by Senator James G. Blaine that favored some reforms of the civil service system and a restrained policy toward the defeated South.

William Tweed

political boss of New York who used corruption to cheat the city out of over 100 million

Chief Joseph

Leader of Nez Perce. Fled with his tribe to Canada instead of reservations. However, US troops came and fought and brought them back down to reservations

National Pastime

music, theater/vaudeville, and baseball

White Collar

a description characterizing lower-level professional and management workers and some highly skilled laborers in technical jobs

Social Darwinism

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

Chinese Exclusion Act

1882 law that prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers

Monopoly

the exclusive possession or control of the supply or trade in a commodity or service.

Taylorism

A set of ideas, also referred to as "scientific management," developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor, involving simple, coordinated operations in industry.

Andrew Carnegie

A Scottish-born American industrialist and philanthropist who founded the Carnegie Steel Company in 1892. By 1901, his company dominated the American steel industry.

Pendleton Act

1883 law that created a Civil Service Commission and stated that federal employees could not be required to contribute to campaign funds nor be fired for political reasons

Omaha Platform

the 1892 platform of the Populist party repudiating laissez-faire and demanding economic and political reform

Bimetallism

a system allowing the unrestricted currency of two metals (e.g., gold and silver) as legal tender at a fixed ratio to each other.

William Jennings Bryan

United States lawyer and politician who advocated free silver and prosecuted John Scopes (1925) for teaching evolution in a Tennessee high school (1860-1925)

Panic of 1893

A serious economic depression triggered over-speculation in the railroad industry and a run on the gold supply.

Historical Significance:

Led to Coxey's Army and a wave of strikes including he Pullman Strike.

Populism

support for the concerns of ordinary people

How the Other Half Lives

1890 work by Jacob A. Riis dealing with the conditions of the New York slums. It shocked the middle class, and deeply influenced Theodore Roosevelt in his formative years.

Patronage

Granting favors or giving contracts or making appointments to office in return for political support

Tenements

Urban apartment buildings that served as housing for poor factory workers. Often poorly constructed and overcrowded.

AFL

American Federation of Labor. A union of skilled workers from one or more trades which focused on collective bargaining (negotiation between labor and management) to reach written agreements on wages hours and working conditions. The AFL used strikes as a major tactic to win higher wages and shorter work weeks.

Knights of Labor

labor union that sought to organize all workers and focused on broad social reforms

Dawes Act

1887 law which gave all Native American males 160 acres to farm and also set up schools to make Native American children more like other Americans

Charles Darwin

English natural scientist who formulated a theory of evolution by natural selection (1809-1882)

Wounded Knee

1890 confrontation between U.S. cavalry and Sioux that marked the end of Indian resistance

Battle of Little Bighorn

In 1876, Indian leaders Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse defeated Custer's troops who tried to force them back on to the reservation, Custer and all his men died

Bureau of Indian Affairs

A government agency created in the 1800s to oversee federal policy toward Native Americans

Chivington Massacre

1864 massacre, where Colonel John Chivington and his militia slaughtered more than 200 cheyenne men, women, and children, who were trying to surrender

Concentration vs. Assimilation

Separated and or isolated a group of people, scattered them for profit of land vs. a group or people changing their ways based on the place they are inhibiting.