Becoming an Industrial World Power: 1865–1900

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the transformation of the U.S. from late 19th-century westward expansion and industrialization to early 20th-century labor and social responses.

Key Concept 6.1

The rise of big business in the United States encouraged massive migrations and urbanization, sparked government and popular efforts to reshape the U.S. economy and environment, and renewed debates over U.S. national identity.

Comancheros

Prosperous New Mexicans who developed trading relationships with the Comanches, often involving people and stolen animals, which caused tension with the U.S. government.

Medicine Lodge Creek Treaty of 1867

An agreement that provided for a Comanche reservation while allowing them the right to hunt on open plains in Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma).

Quanah Parker

A fierce Comanche leader opposed to compromise who eventually became principal chief and led his people from warfare to ranching and farming.

Isa-Tai

A Comanche spiritual leader who urged his people to repudiate white ways and end trading relationships to return to a life based on buffalo.

Bosque Redondo

A failure of a reservation where the U.S. Army confined 400 Apaches and approximately 6000 Navajos on arid land that could not support the population.

Chief Joseph

The leader of the nonprogressive Nez Perce who led a tragic retreat toward Canada and delivered the famous surrender speech "I am tired of fighting…I will fight no more forever."

Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868)

An agreement where the Lakota Sioux promised to avoid war in exchange for the abandonment of three U.S. forts.

Battle of Little Bighorn

An 1876 conflict where General Armstrong Custer’s troops were surrounded and defeated by a large force of Sioux and Cheyenne led by Sitting Bull.

Ghost Dance

A 1890 movement that called for a rejection of white ways and a return to the lifestyle of the ancient ones, which whites perceived as a threat.

Wounded Knee Massacre

An 1890 event where the U.S. Army killed as many as 300 Indians at the Pine Ridge reservation, marking the end of organized armed Indian resistance in the West.

Homestead Act (1862)

Legislation that promised $160$ acres of land in the West to anyone who would live on the plot and farm it.

Buffalo Soldiers

Segregated African American U.S. Army units that served in the West fighting Indians after the Civil War.

Grant’s Peace Policy

An 1869 initiative seeking to end corruption in the Indian Bureau, treat Indians with dignity, and encourage assimilation through Christian missionaries managing reservations.

Dawes Act (1887)

A law that ended the reservation system by dividing Indian lands into $160$-acre tracts for individual families, aiming to destroy tribal identity through individual land ownership.

Carlisle Indian School

A boarding school in Pennsylvania that became the model for 25 institutions designed to assimilate Indian children by teaching them English and white American customs.

George Westinghouse

The inventor of air brakes which made trains safer and more efficient, and who later refined Thomas Edison's ideas with alternating current.

Gilded Age

A term coined by Mark Twain to describe an era of excess money and power where a few amassed immense fortunes while many lived in abject poverty.

Black Friday (1869)

An economic drag caused when Jim Fisk, Jay Gould, and Daniel Drew attempted to corner the nation's gold supply, foiled only when President Grant released gold from the U.S. Treasury.

Horizontal Integration

The strategy of gaining control over an entire industry by buying out competitors, as practiced by John D. Rockefeller with the Standard Oil Company.

Vertical Integration

The strategy of controlling all phases of production from raw materials to transport and manufacturing, as practiced by Andrew Carnegie in the steel industry.

Bessemer process

A technological innovation in steelmaking that Andrew Carnegie capitalized on to dominate the steel industry.

J.P. Morgan

A preeminent banker who rebuilt the American economy after the Panics of 1873 and 1893, and created U.S. Steel by combining Carnegie’s company with others.

Stalwarts

A faction of the Republican Party, led by Roscoe Conkling, that represented the heirs of its antislavery wing.

Mugwumps

Republicans who deserted their party to support Democrat Grover Cleveland due to James G. Blaine's link to scandals and political patronage.

Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)

The first U.S. law to bar an entire nationality from immigrating to the country.

Ellis Island

The main immigration center on the East Coast that replaced Castle Garden in 1892 and processed approximately twelve million people.

New South

A vision popularized by Henry Grady describing a Southern economy that moved beyond agriculture by building railroads and industry while maintaining local control over race relations.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

A landmark Supreme Court decision that ruled "separate but equal" accommodations did not violate the 14th Amendment.

Grandfather clauses

Legal mechanisms that exempted individuals from literacy tests and other voting restrictions if their grandfathers had voted, effectively excluding blacks while allowing poor whites to vote.

The Grange

Also known as the United Patrons of Husbandry, it began as a social organization for farmers but evolved into a cooperative venture to bypass the power of railroads and bankers.

Omaha Platform

A 1892 Populist document calling for reforms including the direct election of senators, a graduated income tax, currency reform, and government control of railroads.

Soft Money (Greenbacks)

Paper dollars backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. rather than gold, favored by Populists to increase inflation and ease loan repayments.

Knights of Labor

A powerful union headed by Terence V. Powderly that advocated for an eight-hour workday, equal pay for women, and ownership of railroads regardless of the race or gender of workers.

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

A craft-based union led by Samuel Gompers that sought limited reforms and excluded unskilled workers, blacks, and women.

Haymarket Square

The site of an 1886 protest in Chicago where a bomb killed seven police officers, leading to the conviction of socialist and anarchist leaders and becoming a pivotal point in labor history.

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (1911)

A deadly industrial catastrophe in New York City that led to new industrial regulations and worker safety codes after workers were trapped behind blocked exits.

Ludlow Massacre

A 14-month strike in Colorado ending in 1914 where women, children, and miners were killed, resulting in U.S. Army intervention and damage to the Rockefeller family's image.