APUSH PERIOD 6 AMSCO VOCAB

Transcontinental Railroads

Built (1869-1893) by immigrants and civil war veterans to connect the East coast with the Great Plains and California.

Great American Desert

The area between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Coast that was viewed as uninhabitable due to lack of trees and precipitation.

100th Meridian

The easternmost side of the Great American Desert

Buffalo

An animal central to Plains Indians’ way of life that was brought to the brink of extinction by white settlers.

Great Plains

Formerly though uninhabitable, this region was quickly settled by homesteaders, ranchers, and railroads after 1865.

Vaqueros

Mexican cowboys who rounded up small herds of cattle from those roaming the grasslands and had them graze.

Longhorn Cattle

A hardy breed of cattle borrowed from Mexicans and used in Texas.

Cattle Drives

A practice where cowboys brought profitable cattle up from Texas to railroad depots in Kansas, where they would be shipped to the East Coast.

Barbed Wire

The new fencing material homesteaders used, which decreased the available land for open grazing.

Homestead Act of 1862

Encouraged settlement on the Great Plains by offering 160 acres to any settler who farmed there for 5 years. (Most of the best land ended up with prospectors or railroads).

Joseph Glidden

Invented barbed wire in 1874

Sodbusters

A nickname for the first settlers on the Great Plains derived from their use of sod bricks.

Dry farming

A method of growing crops without irrigation by using stored soil moisture used by Great Plains settlers.

Cash crops

Farmers specialized in profitable crops such as corn and wheat.

Deflation

The slow growth of the money supply put this downward pressure on prices, causing bad profits for farmers.

Middlemen

Wholesalers and retailers that kept prices high on goods that farmers needed.

National Grange Movement

An organization formed by Oliver H. Kelley that educated farmers, established cooperatives, and lobbied for farmer-friendly legislation.

Cooperatives

Businesses owned and ran by farmers that cut out the Middlemen.

Granger laws

Laws supported by the National Grange Society that regulated railroads and cracked down on unfair pricing from railroads.

Munn v. Illinois

A SCOTUS case that upheld the right of a state to regulate businesses of a public nature (like railroads).

Ocala Platform

The outcome of a 1890 meeting of farmers. Called for graduates income tax, direct election of senators, lower tariffs, and silver coinage.

Frederick Jackson Turner

Published “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” in 1893, arguing that the frontier shaped American culture.

The Significance of the Frontier in American History

An essay written by Frederick Jackson Turner in 1893.

Little Big Horn

Sioux Forces led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse ambushed Colonel George Custer’s forces in 1876.

Ghost Dance Movement

A religious dance that united many tribes and called for return to Native prosperity. Freaked out the white soldiers.

Wounded Knee

A massacre in which US soldiers killed 200 Natives who were part of the Ghost Dance Movement, ending the Indian Wars.

Indian Appropriation Act of 1871

Ended negotiations and stopped recognizing tribes as independent nations.

Assimilationists

Those who believed that Natives could and should be integrated into White society through Christian conversion, learning English, and going to boarding schools.

Helen Hunt Jackson

Wrote “A Century of Dishonor” which created both sympathy for Natives and support for assimilation.

Dawes Act of 1887

Broke up tribal organizations by splitting reservations into 160-acre plots for families (whites and speculators got the best land) and offered citizenship to those who became “civilized” and worked the land for 25 years.

Indian Reorganization Act

A New Deal law that promoted the treat Alisha ent of tribal organization and culture.

Santa Fe Trail

Connected Santa Fe with Missouri and was vital for economic development.

Yosemite and Yellowstone

Two natural parks created to preserve Western land.

Forest Reserve Act of 1891

Withdrew federal forests from development.

Forest Management Act of 1897

Regulated the use of federal forests.

Conservationists

Those who believed in scientific management and regulated use of natural resources.

Preservationists

Those who wanted to preserve natural resources from human interference, such as John Muir.

John Muir

A preservationist who founded the Sierra Club.

“New South”

A misleading vision of the Gilded Age South built on capitalist values, industry, modern transportation, and improved race relations.

Henry Grady

The editor of the Atlanta Constitution who argued for laissez-faire capitalism and economic diversity.

Birmingham

The new Southern steel producer.

Memphis

The new Southern lumber producer.

Richmond

The new Southern capital of the tobacco industry.

Sharecroppers

By 1900, 50% of white farmers and 75% of the black farmers in the South were this.

George Washington Carver

A Black scientist at Tuskegee Institute who promoted diversification of crops and use of peanuts, sweet potatoes, and soybeans.

National Rail Network

Standardized railroads that used the same gauges and rails to form a National system.

Transatlantic Cable

Cyrus W. Field’s invention that allowed communication between Europe and the Americas in minutes.

White Supremacists

A group that supported segregation and often worked with redeemers. A prominent example was the KKK.

Civil Rights Cases of 1883

SCOTUS ruling that Congress could not ban racial discrimination by private citizens and businesses, even if their services were used by the public.

Plessy v. Ferguson

An 1896 case that upheld “separate but equal accommodations”.

Jim Crow Laws

A wave of legislation caused by Plessy v. Ferguson that segregated bathrooms, benches, drinking fountains, etc.

Literacy Tests

A way poll workers stopped largely illiterate Blacks from voting.

Poll Taxes

A way poll workers stopped largely impoverished Blacks from voting.

Grandfather Clauses

Voter suppression laws in the South that only allowed those whose grandfather could vote vote.

Lynch Mobs

Violent groups that terrorized and killed thousands of Black men in the south.

Economic discrimination

Stopping Black men from getting jobs in factories and skilled trades.

Ida B. Wells

A newspaper editor who spoke out against lynching and Jim Crow Laws. Death threats forced her to move to the North.

International Migration Society

An organization meant to help Blacks emigrate to Africa.

Booker T. Washington

A man who established the Tuskegee Institute and promoted earning money and influence over fighting politically.

W E B DuBois

Demanded an end to segregation and the granting of civil rights to all Blacks in 1900.

Atlanta Compromise

The idea that southern Blacks and Whites should put aside their differences and focus on making the South economically prosperous.

Alexander Graham Bell

Invented the telephone in 1876

Henry Bessemer

Discovered that blowing air through molten iron made steel

Menlo Park

The location of Edison’s New Jersey research laboratory.

George Westinghouse

A notable inventor who made air brakes, transformers, and pioneered alternating current electricity.

Thomas Edison

Inventor who made the phonograph, direct electric current, incandescent lightbulbs, and a motion picture camera.

Subways, trolleys

City transportation shifted from horse-drawn carriages and cable cars to ______ and _______

Otis Elevator

Skyscrapers were made feasible by this invention and central heating systems

R. H. Macy

Made a large department store in New York City

Sears

Used mail-order methods to send out products to urban consumers.

Gustavus Swift

Invented refrigerated railroad cars.

Consumer Economy

This developed due to advertising and new marketing techniques.

American Railroad Association

Split America into 4 standardized time zones.

Cornelius Vanderbilt

Made millions from steamboats and New York railroads.

Jay Gould

A railroad speculator who watered stock (inflating the stock’s value, then selling it)

Rebates

Railroads gave these discounts to large companies to keep them interested.

Pools

Illegal method where railroad companies secretly fixed rates.

JP Morgan

Took advantage of the 1893 panic by consolidating many bankrupt railroads. Became very rich.

Interlocking directorates

The same directors running different companies to make a sneaky monopoly.

Andrew Carnegie

A Scottish immigrant who made millions through railroads, steel, and vertical integration. He then donated millions using the Gospel of Wealth.

Vertical Integration

Controlling all stages of production

John D. Rockefeller

A very rich oil baron who owned the Standard Oil Trust.

Trust

An organization that manages the assets of many companies.

Horizontal Integration

One company taking control of all competitors in its industry.

Holding Company

A company that owns and controls various other diverse companies

Laissez-Faire

The prevailing belief in a hands-off approach to government regulation of business.

Adam Smith

The economist that argued against mercantilism and for laissez-faire policy. He argued the “invisible hand” would naturally balance supply and demand and optimize the economy.

Social Darwinism

Applied survival of the fittest to the marketplace and society. Championed by Herbert Spencer and William Graham Sumner.

Protestant Work Ethic

The belief that hard work was rewarded with monetary success by God.

Horatio Alger

A novelist who portrayed the American Dream through rags-to-riches stories.

Iron Law of Wages

A theory proposed by David Ricardo that if wages would be raised, there would be more workers, and then wages would fall really badly.

Lockout

Closing a factory to prevent the organization of a labor movement

Blacklist

A circulating list of union members and sympathizers that prevented them from finding work.

Yellow-Dog Contract

A contract that prohibited workers from joining workers

Pinkertons

A private police force used to break strikes and intimidate unions

Court Injunction

A court order stopping or preventing a strike.

Collective bargaining

Workers negotiating contracts as a group to get better terms.

Great Railroad Strike of 1877

A railroad workers’ strike that spread nationally and across other industries. President Hayes broke the strike with federal troops.

Craft unions

Unions for a specific type of work.

National Labor Union

Open to all workers across the US, championed the 8-hour workday, equal rights for all, and monetary reform. It lost support after the panic of 1873.