HIST 2112 - Chapter 18 Flashcards

Progressivism

broad-based reform movement, 1900-1917, that sought governmental action in solving problems in many areas of American life, including education, public health, the economy, the environment, labor, transportation, and politics.

muckraking

writing that exposed corruption and abuses in politics, business, meat-packing, child labor, and more, primarily in the first decade of the twentieth century; included popular books and magazine articles that spurred public interest in reform.

Ellis Island

reception center in New York Harbor through which most European immigrants to America were processed from 1892 and 1954.

Fordism

early twentieth-century term describing the economic system pioneered by Ford Motor Company based on high wages and mass consumption

“American standard of living”

the Progressive-era idea that American workers were entitled to a wage high enough to allow them full participation in the nation’s mass consumption economy.

scientific management

management campaign to improve worker efficiency using measurements like “time and motion” studies to achieve greater productivity; introduced by Frederick Winslow Taylor in 1911.

Socialist Party

political party demanding public ownership of major economic enterprises in the United States as well as reforms like recognition of labor unions and women’s suffrage; reached peak influence in 1912 when presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs received over 900,000 votes.

collective bargaining

the process of negotiations between an employer and a group of employees to regulate working conditions.

Industrial Workers of the World

radical union organized in Chicago in 1905 and nicknamed the Wobblies; its opposition to World War I led to its destruction by the federal government under the Espionage Act.

birth-control movement

an offshoot of the early-twentieth-century feminist movement that saw access to birth control and “voluntary motherhood” as essential to women’s freedom. The birth-control movement was led by Margaret Sanger.

Society of American Indians

organization founded in 1911 that brought together Native Americans intellectuals of many tribal backgrounds to promote discussion of the plight of Indigenous peoples.

initiative

a Progressive-era reform that allowed citizens to propose and vote on laws, bypassing state legislatures.

referendum

a Progressive-era reform that allowed public policies to be submitted to popular vote.

recall

a Progressive-era reform that allowed the removal of public officials by popular vote.

Seventeenth Amendment

progressive reform passed in 1913 that required U.S. senators to be elected directly by voters; previously, senators were chosen by state legislatures.

settlement house

late-nineteenth-century movement to offer a broad array of social services in urban immigrant neighborhoods; Chicago’s Hull House was one of hundreds of settlement houses that operated by the early twentieth century.

maternalist reforms

progressive-era reforms that sought to encourage women’s childbearing and childrearing abilities and to promote their economic independence.

Muller v. Oregon

1908 Supreme Court decision that held that state interest in protecting women could override liberty of contract. Louis D. Brandeis, with help from his sister-in-law Josephine Goldmark of the National Consumers League, filed a brief in Muller that used statistics about women’s health to argue for their protection.

Pure Food and Drug Act

passed in 1906, the first law to regulate manufacturing of food and medicines; prohibited dangerous additives and inaccurate labeling.

conservation movement

a progressive reform movement that focused on the preservation and sustainable management of the nation’s natural resources.

Sixteenth Amendment

constitutional amendment passed in 1913 that legalized the federal income tax.

Progressive Party

political party created when former president Theodore Roosevelt broke away from the Republican Party to run for president again in 1912. The party supported progressive reforms similar to those of the Democrats but stopped short of seeking to eliminate trusts; also the name of the party backing Robert La Follette for president in 1924.

New Freedom

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

New Nationalism

platform of the Progressive Party and slogan of former president Theodore Roosevelt in the presidential campaign of 1912; stressed government activism, including regulation of trusts, conservation, and recall of state court decisions that had nullified progressive programs.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

independent agency created by the Wilson administration that replaced the Bureau of Corporations as an even more powerful tool to combat unfair trade practices and monopolies.