Unit 3 and 4: Immigration and Progressive Movement

political machine

Organization that gives support and rewards of various kinds in exchange for political support. Historically, dominated by influential politicians, community leaders, and businessmen.

graft

Illegal use of political influence for personal gain

Boss Tweed

William Tweed, head of Tammany Hall, NYC's powerful democratic political machine in 1868. Between 1868 and 1869 he led the Tweed Reign, a group of corrupt politicians in defrauding the city. Example: Responsible for the construction of the NY court house; actual construction cost $3million. Project cost tax payers $13million.

Patronage

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

Pendleton Act

reform measure that established the principle of federal employment on the basis of merit

Ellis Island

An immigrant receiving station that opened in 1892, where immigrants were given a medical examination and only allowed in if they were healthy

Angel Island

The immigration station on the west coast where Asian immigrants, mostly Chinese gained admission to the U.S. at San Francisco Bay. Between 1910 and 1940 50k Chinese immigrants entered through Angel Island. Questioning and conditions at Angel Island were much harsher than Ellis Island in New York.

Nativism

favoring native-born Americans over immigrants; anti-immigrant sentiment

Immigration Restriction League

A Nativist group who wanted to restrict immigration into the U.S. to certain groups they deemed desirable. Because of them congress passed a bill in 1897 requiring a literacy test for immigrants.

Chinese Exclusion Act

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

Gentlemen's Agreement

1907 agreement between the United States and Japan that restricted Japanese immigration in exchange for better treatment of Japanese already living in America

Muckrakers

Journalists who attempted to find corruption or wrongdoing in industries and expose it to the public

Tenements

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

Jacob Riis

Early 1900's muckraker who exposed social and political evils in the U.S. with his novel "How The Other Half Lives"; exposed the poor conditions of the poor tenements in NYC and Hell's Kitchen

Redeemers

Southern Democratic politicians who sought to take back control from Republican regimes in the South after Reconstruction.

Sharecropping

A system used on southern farms after the Civil War in which farmers worked land owned by someone else in return for a small portion of the crops; kept in a cycle of debt

Convict Lease System

blacks who went to prison taken out and used for labor in slave-like conditions, enforced southern racial hierarchy

poll tax

A requirement that citizens pay a tax in order to register to vote; used to keep African Americans from voting

literacy test

a requirement that citizens show that they can read before registering to vote; used to keep African Americans from voting

Grandfather Clause

allowed people to vote if their father or grandfather had voted before Reconstruction even if they failed to meet other requirements; allowed poor whites to vote while preventing African Americans from doing so

Jim Crow Laws

Laws designed to enforce segregation of blacks from whites

Plessy v. Ferguson

"separate but equal" doctrine supreme court upheld the constitutionally of jim crow laws

Lynching

putting a person to death by mob action without due process of law; used to punish African Americans and intimidate them into lower positions in society

Booker T. Washington

Prominent black American, born into slavery, who believed that racism would end once blacks acquired useful labor skills and proved their economic value to society, was head of the Tuskegee Institute in 1881.

Ida B. Wells

African-American journalist who led the fight against lynching

W.E.B. DuBois

encouraged blacks to resist systems of segregation and discrimination, supported the idea of the Talented Tenth to uplift the race, helped create NAACP in 1910

Social Gospel Movement

A 19th century reform movement based on the belief that Christians have a responsibility to help improve working conditions and alleviate poverty

NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)

formed to fight for full equality for African Americans

Bully Pulpit

the ability to use the office of the presidency to promote a particular program and/or to influence Congress to accept legislative proposals

Square Deal

Theodore Roosevelt's promise of fair and equal treatment for all and supported Progressive reforms

New Freedom

Democrat Woodrow Wilson's political slogan in the presidential campaign of 1912; Wilson wanted to improve the banking system, lower tariffs, and, by breaking up monopolies, give small businesses freedom to compete.

Bull Moose Party

nickname for the new Progressive Party, which was formed to support Roosevelt in the election of 1912; platform supported laws protecting workers' rights, government reforms, and regulation of big business

conservation

Protecting and preserving natural resources and the environment

Clayton Antitrust Act

1914 act designed to strengthen the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890; certain activities previously committed by big businesses, such as not allowing unions in factories and not allowing strikes, were declared illegal.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

a federal agency empowered to prevent persons or corporations from using unfair methods of competition in commerce

Federal Reserve

the central banking system of the United States

National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)

Organization formed to fight for women's right to vote in America

Teddy Roosevelt

Twenty-sixth president of the United States; he focused his efforts on trust busting, environment conservation, and strong foreign policy.

Alice Paul

leader of the National Woman's party that fought for women's suffrage and then campaigned for an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution

Lewis Hine

muckraker who took pictures of child laborers to expose how bad child labor was

Upton Sinclair

muckraker who shocked the nation when he published The Jungle, a novel that revealed gruesome details about the meat packing industry in Chicago. The book was fiction but based on the things Sinclair had seen.

John Muir

(1838-1914) Naturalist who believed the wilderness should be preserved in its natural state. He was largely responsible for the creation of Yosemite National Park in California.

Gifford Pinchot

head of federal Division of Forestry, contributed to Roosevelt's natural conservation efforts

Jane Addams

the founder of Hull House, which provided English lessons for immigrants, daycares, and child care classes

Meat Inspection Act

1906 - Laid down binding rules for sanitary meat packing and government inspection of meat products crossing state lines.