The Progressive Era Lecture Notes

Vocabulary flashcards covering the major figures, events, and legislation of the American Progressive Era ($$1890$$-$$1920$$).

Progressive Era

A period from $1890$-$1920$ marked by reform movements to correct injustices in American life caused by urbanization and industrialization.

Plessy vs. Ferguson

An $1896$ Supreme Court case that established the "separate but equal" doctrine following an incident on June $7$, $1892$, involving Homer Plessy.

Jim Crow Laws

Laws such as the $1890$ Louisiana Law requiring separate sections of trains for different races.

Homer Plessy

A man who was $1/8$ African American who sat in the white section of a train, leading to a landmark court case.

William McKinley

The $25th$ president who was re-elected in the Election of $1900$ and died after being shot by Leon Czolgosz on Sept. $6$, $1901$.

Leon Czolgosz

The individual who shot President William McKinley on Sept. $6$, $1901$.

Muckrakers

Journalists who wrote about the corrupt side of business and public life during the Progressive Era.

The Jungle

A book written by Muckraker Upton Sinclair that exposed conditions in the business world.

National Child Labor Committee

An organization created in $1904$ that worked to limit the workday to $10$ hours and advocated for workers’ compensation.

Theodore Roosevelt

The $26th$ president who took over after McKinley; known as a "Trust buster" and for the motto "Speak softly and carry a big stick."

Rough Riders

The group Theodore Roosevelt led as a war leader during the Spanish-American War.

Orville and Wilbur Wright

Brothers who achieved the first successful flight on December $17$, $1903$, in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, traveling $120$ feet in $12$ seconds.

Panama Canal

A canal built between $1904$ and $1914$ after the U.S. helped Panama gain freedom from Colombia; construction was originally started by France in $1881$.

Meat Inspection Act

A $1906$ law that established strict cleanliness requirements for meatpackers.

Pure Food and Drug Act

A $1906$ law that halted the sale of contaminated foods and medicines and required labels to list contents.

Yellowstone

The first national park, established in $1872$ as part of outdoor improvement efforts.

William Howard Taft

The Republican candidate who became the $27th$ president after winning the Election of $1908$.

NAACP

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, founded in $1909$, at a time when most progressives focused on middle-class whites.

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory

The site of a Manhattan fire on March $25$, $1911$, where $146$ garment workers died because exit doors were locked.

Bull Moose Party

The name for the Progressive Party during the Election of $1912$ when Theodore Roosevelt ran against Taft and Wilson.

Woodrow Wilson

The $28th$ president and former New Jersey governor who won the Election of $1912$ and focused on banking reform and antitrust legislation.

16th Amendment

A $1913$ amendment that legalized the income tax.

17th Amendment

A $1913$ amendment that established the direct election of senators.

18th Amendment

A $1919$ amendment that established prohibition.

19th Amendment

The $1920$ amendment through which women, including activists like Alice Paul, gained the right to vote.