Gilded Age Textbook PEDLIGS

Great Plains

Great Plains

• semiarid territory in central North America

Transcontinental Railroad

• a railroad linking the East and West Coasts of North America

• completed in 1869, the transcontinental railroad facilitated the flow of migrants and the development of economic connection between East and West

Treaty of Fort Laramie

• 1851 treaty that sought to confine tribes on the northern plains to designated areas in an attempt to keep white settlers from encroaching on their land

• in 1868, the second Treaty of Fort Laramie gave northern tribes control over the “Great Reservation” in parts of present-day Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota

Treaty of Medicine Lodge

• 1867

• treaty that provided reservation lands for the Comanche, Kiowa Apache, and Southern Arapaho to settle

• despite this agreement, white hunters soon invaded this territory and decimated the buffalo herds

Sand Creek Massacre

• November 1864

• massacre of 270 Cheyenne and Arapho Indians by the Third Colorado Cavalry of the US army

• caused Native American wars throughout the central plains.

Battle of Little Bighorn

• 1876

• battle in the Montana Territory in which Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and his troops were massacred by the Lakota Sioux

Buffalo Soldiers

• African American cavalrymen who fought in the West against American Indians in the 1870s and 1880s

Land Rush

• 1889

• government-sanctioned race to acquire land in formerly American Indian territory in Oklahoma

Dawes Act

• 1887

• ended federal recognition of tribal sovereignty and divided American Indian land into 160-acre parcels to be distributed to American Indian heads of households

• the act dramatically reduced the amount of American Indian-controlled land and undermined American Indian social and cultural institutions

Ghost Dance

• religious ritual by the Paiute Indians in the late 19th century

• tollowing a vision he received in 1888, the prophet Wovoka believed that performing the Ghost Dance would cause white people to disappear and allow American Indians to regain control of their lands

Wounded Knee Massacre

• massacre committed by the US military in South Dakota

• December 29 1890

• the Plains Indians began the “Ghost Dance,” which they believed would protect them from bullets and restore their old way of life. Following one of the dances, a rifle held by an American Indian misfired

• in response, U.S. soldiers invaded the encampment, killing some 250 people

Comstock Lode

• massive silver deposit discovered in the Sierra Nevada in the late 1850s

Long Drive

• cattle drive from the grazing lands of Texas to rail depots in Kansas

• once in Kansas, the cattle were shipped eastward to a slaughterhouse in Chicago

Homestead Act

• 1862

• established procedures for distributing 160-acre lots to western settlers, on condition that they develop and farm their land, as an incentive for western migration

Deflation

• a fall in prices caused by supply exceeding demand

Mormons

• followers of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young who migrated to Utah to escape religious persecution

• also known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Californios

• Spanish and Mexican residents of California

• used to make up California’s economic and political elite

• their position deteriorated after the conclusion of the Mexican-American war in 1848

Chinese Exclusion Act

• 1882

• banned Chinese immigration into the United States and prohibited those Chinese already in the country from becoming naturalized Americans citizens

New South

• term popularized in the 1880s by newspaper editor Henry Grady

• a proponent of the modernization of the southern economy in order for a “New South” to emerge

Convict Lease

• the system used by southern governments to furnish mainly African American prison labor to plantation owners and industrialists and to raise revenue for the states

• in practice, convict labor replaced slavery as the means of providing a forced labor supply

Jim Crow

• late nineteenth-century statutes that established legally defined racial segregation in the South

• Jim Crow legislation helped ensure the social and economic disenfranchisement of southern black people

Plessy v. Ferguson

• 1896

• Supreme Court ruling that upheld the legality of Jim Crow legislation

• the Court ruled that as long as states provided “equal but separate” facilities for white and black people, Jim Crow laws did not violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment

Robber Barons

• negative term applied to late nineteenth-century industrialists and capitalists who became very rich by dominating large industries

Vertical integration

• the control of all elements in a supply chain by a single firm

Horizontal Integration

• focused on gaining greater control over the market by acquiring firms that sold the same products

Corporation

• a form of business ownership in which the liability of shareholders in a company is limited to their individual investments

• the formation of corporations in the late nineteenth century greatly stimulated investment in industry

Trust

• business monopolies formed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries through mergers and consolidation that inhabited competition and controlled the market

Holding Company

• obtaining stock in a number of other oil companies and holding them under control (such as Rockefeller)

Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company (1886)

• under the 14th Amendment, a corporation was considered a “person” (gave corporations the same right of due process that the framers of the amendment had meant to give the freedpeople)

• shielded corporations from prohibitive government regulation of the workplace (such as leading to reducing the # of hours in the workday)

Sherman Antitrust Act

• 1890

• outlaws monopolies that prevented free competition in interstate commerce

United States v. E. C. Knight Company (1895)

• Supreme Court rendered the Sherman Act virtually toothless by ruling that manufacturing was a local activity within a state and that, even if it was a monopoly, it was not subject to congressional regulation.

Scientific Management

• aka Taylorism

• a management style developed by Fredrick W. Taylor

• aimed to constantly improve the efficiency of employees by reducing manual labor to its simplest components–thus increasing productivity while decreasing cost

Depression of 1893

• happened after the Black Friday Gold Scandal hundreds of banks fell into bankruptcy. farmers were especially hurt.

• this became a huge political issue and a huge flaw was seen with the federal government. the feds were forced to take back control and step up

The Gospel of Wealth

• essay written by Andrew Carnegie

• argues that the rich should act as a guardian of wealth and support the poor

• it was used as a way to help the American public as he would fund charities, and build houses and schools

Interstate Commerce Act

• established the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1887 to regulate railroads and bring down unreasonable rates

• at first big businesses managed to keep ICC almost entirely ineffective but over time railroad advocates stepped up and made progress

Subtreasury system

• since the farmers had a lot of debt that was increasing, they decided to pair up with the government and by taking cheaper loans from the government. the government would give them places to store their crops

• by keeping the goods in storage, the demand could properly increase and this would help keep the crop market stable

Sherman Silver Purchase Act

• 1890

• silver industry was struggling so the government agreed to buy silver for coins and bring it into circulation

• it was part of a broader debate over monetary policy in which some disagreed as this would lower the value of gold while others wanted silver to become just as popular as gold

Laissez faire

• French for “let things alone.”

• an economic idea that the government should just let things be and the “Invisible Hand” would guide things

• important because in the late 19th century many businessmen and conservatives used this ideology to argue for less restrictive laws on business

Social Darwinism

• created by Charles Darwin

• refined by Herbert Hoover, basically survival of the fittest

• helped Americans explain the rapid economic changes they were going through; clung to ideas of hope

Billion Dollar Congress

• 1890

• the Congress was almost all Republican and during this time period they spent tons of money to promote business

• they were most well known for passing the Sherman Antitrust Act which would lead to the highest tariff of all American history

• the group eventually blew through all of the federal budget surplus.

Grangers

• aka National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry

• created by Oliver H. Kelley as a union for farmers

• originally began as an individual improvement and then grew to a collective improvement. farmers are tied by railroads, banks, trusts

Farmers Alliances

• Milton George formed the Northwest Farmers Alliance, Dr. Charles W. Macune formed the Southern Farmers Alliance, and freedmen formed the Colored Farmers Alliance

• together these organizations worked in the interests of farmers around the country. They gave small farmers a voice.

Populists

• the People's Party

• 1892

• appealed to the working class, particularly the farmers and industrial workers

• Populists were a third party started by the National Farmers Union

• in 1892 their candidate James. B. Weaver won over 1 million popular votes and 22 electoral votes

• they also perform exceptionally well on the state level and would argue on behalf of blacks, whites, and women.

Williams v. Mississippi

• referred to the infringement of voting rights of African Americans particularly in the South

• restrictive measures such as literacy tests and poll taxes had been implemented

• when Henry Williams was convicted of murder by an all white jury he took to court. Although by not allowing African Americans in jury this was a clear violation of the 14th amendment, the court ruled that it wasn’t making this case a significant setback for the Civil Rights movement.

Unions

• groups of workers seeking rights and benefits from their employers through their collective efforts

Knights of Labor

• founded in 1869

• a labor federation that aimed to unite all workers in one national union and challenge the power of corporate capitalists

Haymarket Riot

• 1866

• rally in Haymarket Square that resulted in violence (someone set off a bomb)

• in its aftermath, the union movement in the United States went into temporary decline

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

• trade union founded in 1886

• led by its first President, Samuel Gompers, the AFL sought to organize skilled workers into trade-specific unions

Homestead Strike

• 1892

• lockout strike by steelworkers at Andrew Carnegie’s Homestead steel factory. the strike collapsed after a failed assassination attempt on Carnegie’s plant manager, Henry Clay Frick

Pinkertons

• a company of private investigators and security guards sometimes used by corporations to break up strikes and labor disputes

• most famously at the Homestead Strike of 1892

Pullman Strike

• 1894 strike by workers against the Pullman race car company

• when the strike disrupted rail service nationwide, threatening mail delivery, President Grover ordered federal troops to get the railroads moving again

Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)

• organization that grew out of the activities of the Western Federation of Miners in the 1890s

• formed by Eugene V. Debs and other prominent labor leaders

• known as Wobblies, the IWW attempted to unite all skilled workers in an effort to overthrow capitalism

Ghettos

• neighborhoods dominated by a single ethic, racial, or class group

Nativism

• the belief that foreigners pose a serious danger to the nation’s society and culture

• nativist sentiment rose in the United States as the size and diversity of the immigrant population grew

Melting Pot

• popular metaphor for immigrant assimilation into American society. according to this ideal, all immigrants underwent a process of Americanization that produced a homogenous society.

Frontier thesis

• Frederick Jackson Turner

• argued that in the 1890s, that the closing of the western frontier endangered the existence of democracy b/c it removed the opportunity for the pioneer spirit that built America to regenerate

Tenements

• multifamily apartment buildings that housed many poor urban dwellers at the turn of the 20th century

• were crowded, uncomfortable, and dangerous

Political Machine

• urban political organizations that dominated many late 19th century cities

• machines provided needed services to the urban poor, but they also fostered corruption, crime, and inefficiency

Political Boss

• the head of the local political machine

• worked to maintain authority by strengthening the machine and its loyalists

Tammany Hall

• NYC’s political machine during the 19th century

• it swindled the city out of a fortune while supervising the construction of a lavish three-story courthouse in lower Manhattan. the building remained unfinished in 1873

• Tweed was convicted on fraud charges and sent to jail

Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act

• 1883

• required federal jobs to be awarded on the basis of merit through competitive exams rather than through political connections.

Social Gospel

• religious movement that advocated the application of Christian teachings to social and economic problems

• the ideals of the movement inspired many progressive reformers

Gilded Age

• term created by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner to describe the late 19th century

• implies the golden appearance of the age was a shell covering corruption and materialism of the era’s superrich under the surface