STAAR US History

Gilded Age

1870s - 1890s; time period looked good on the outside, despite the corrupt politics and growing gap between the rich and poor

Technological (Second Industrial) Revolution

based on steel, railroads, electricity, oil-based products

Alexander Graham Bell

He was an American inventor who was responsible for developing the telephone.

Thomas Edison

American inventor best known for inventing the electric light bulb, acoustic recording on wax cylinders, and motion pictures.

Telephone

A device that converts sound into electrical signals that can be transmitted over distances. Invented by Alexander Graham Bell.

Free Enterprise System

An economic system in which people are free to operate their businesses as they see fit, with little government interference.

Laissez-Faire

No government intervention in business.

Corporation

A business that is owned by many investors.

Bessemer Process

A process for making steel more efficiently, patented in 1856.

Entrepreneurship

Accepting the risk of starting and running a business.

Monopoly

A market in which there are many buyers but only one seller.

Andrew Carnegie

A business man that increased his power through by gaining control of the many different businesses that make up all phases of steel production development.

John Rockefeller

Creator of the Standard Oil Company who made a fortune on it and joined with competing companies in trust agreements that in other words made an amazing monopoly.

Robber Baron

a negative term for business leaders that implied they built their fortunes by stealing from the public

Captain of Industry

business leader who has a positive impact

Philanthropy

Giving money to help the poor

Political Machines

Corrupt organized groups that controlled political parties in the cities. A boss leads the machine and attempts to grab more votes for his party.

Political Boss

representative for or head of the political machine; gained votes for their parties by doing favors for people.

Immigration

Coming to live permanently in a foreign country

Push and Pull Factors

The push factor involves a force which acts to drive people away from a place and the pull factor is what draws them to a new location.

Nativists

U.S. citizens who opposed immigration because they were suspicious of immigrants and feared losing jobs to them

Ethnic Ghettos

immigrants lived here due to cultural similarities, especially in big cities

Child Labor

Children were viewed as laborers throughout the 19th century. Many children worked on farms, small businesses, mills and factories.

Labor Union

An organization of workers that tries to improve working conditions, wages, and benefits for its members

Strikes

times when workers refuse to work until owners improve conditions

Knights of Labor

1st effort to create National union. Open to everyone but lawyers and bankers. Vague program, no clear goals, weak leadership and organization. Failed

Haymarket Massacre

Was when there was a peaceful protest at the the Haymarket square and a bomb was thrown at the police and the police started shooting at innocent people

AFL (American Federation of Labor)

A labor union created by Samuel Gompers that was the ONLY labor union that only accepted skilled workers

Samuel Gompers

He was the creator of the American Federation of Labor. He provided a stable and unified union for skilled workers

IWW (Industrial Workers of the World)

A labor organization for unskilled workers, formed by a group of radical unionists and socialists in 1905. Sometimes called Wobblies

Manifest Destiny

A notion held by a nineteenth-century Americans that the United States was destined to rule the continent, from the Atlantic the Pacific.

Westward Migration

the movement of people to the western and mid-western states to find new opportunities (ex. jobs, land, and gold).

Homestead Act

1862 - provided free land in the west as long as the person would settle there and make improvements in five years

Transcontinental Railroad

Completed in 1869 at Promontory, Utah, it linked the eastern railroad system with California's railroad system, revolutionizing transportation in the west

Great Plains

A mostly flat and grassy region of western North America

Frontier

a wilderness at the edge of a settled area of a country

Klondike Gold Rush

a frenzy of gold rush immigration to and for gold prospecting, along the Klondike River near Dawson City, Yukon, Canada after gold was discovered there in the late 19th century.

Indian Wars

1850 to 1890; series of conflicts between the US Army / settlers and different Native American tribes

Reservations

areas of federal land set aside for American Indians

Dawes Act

1887 law which gave all Native American males 160 acres to farm and also set up schools to make Native American children more like other Americans

New Immigration

Immigrants from Southern and Eastern European countries and Asia arriving in the late 1800s

Ellis Island

An immigrant receiving station that opened in 1892, where immigrants were given a medical examination and only allowed in if they were healthy

Boss Tweed of Tammany Hall

Leader of the Tammany Hall, New York political machine

Tenement

A building in which several families rent rooms or apartments, often with little sanitation or safety

Pendleton Civil Service Act

Made appointments to federal jobs through a merit system based off candidates performance on an exam

Chinese Exclusion Act

(1882) Denied any additional Chinese laborers to enter the country while allowing students and merchants to immigrate.

Progressive Era

time at the turn of the 20th century in which groups sought to reform America economically, socially, and politically

William Jennings Bryan

United States lawyer and politician (ran for President) who advocated free silver and prosecuted John Scopes (1925) for teaching evolution in a Tennessee high school

Populists

third party political movement to address farmers' plight

Farm Issues

Issues surrounding the production of agricultural products. The main issues were the high cost of transportation (caused railroad monopolies), low prices for farm products (caused by overproduction), and mortgaged farms in order to buy seed and supplies.

Social Gospel

A movement in the late 1800s / early 1900s which emphasized charity and social responsibility as a means of salvation.

Americanization

cause to acquire and conform to American characteristics. For Native Americans and Immigrants

Assimilation

A policy in which a nation forces or encourages a subject people to adopt its institutions and customs.

Jacob Riis

Early 1900's muckraker who exposed social and political evils in the U.S. with his novel "How The Other Half Lives" exposed the poor conditions of the poor tenements in NYC

Jane Addams

the founder of Hull House, which provided English lessons for immigrants, daycares, and child care classes

Frances Willard

Became leader of the WCTU. She worked to educate people about the evils of alcohol. She urged laws banning the sale of liquor.

Alfred T. Mahan

Author who argued in 1890 that the economic future of the United States rested on new overseas markets protected by a larger navy. Wrote "The Influence of Sea Power Upon History"

Sanford B. Dole

1894 wealthy, plantation owner and politician who was named President of New Republic of Hawaii. He asked US to annex Hawaii.

Henry Cabot Lodge

Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he was a leader in the fight against participation in the League of Nations

Theodore Roosevelt

26th President of the United States, 26th president, known for: conservationism, trust-busting, Hepburn Act, safe food regulations, "Square Deal," Panama Canal

Yellow Journalism

Journalism that exploits, distorts, or exaggerates the news to create sensations and attract readers

1898

Spanish-American War

Causes of Spanish American War

Yellow journalism, imperialism, Spain brutality to the Cubans, explosion of the USS Maine.

Spanish American War

In 1898, a conflict between the United States and Spain, in which the U.S. supported the Cubans' fight for independence

Result of Spanish American War

Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam became territories of the US. US became a World Power

Open Door Policy

A policy proposed by the US in 1899, under which ALL nations would have equal opportunities to trade in China.

Imperialism

A policy in which a strong nation seeks to dominate other countries politically, socially, and economically.

Panama Canal

a ship canal 40 miles long across the Isthmus of Panama built by the United States (1904-1914)

Dollar Diplomacy

Foreign Policy idea by Taft to make countries dependant on the U.S. by heavily investing in their economies

Sherman Anti-Trust Act

First United States law to limit trusts and big business. Said that any trust that was purposefully restraining interstate trade was illegal.

Interstate Commerce Act

law passed to regulate (by the government) railroad and other interstate businesses.

Progressive Party

Also known as the "Bull Moose Party," this political party was formed by Theodore Roosevelt in an attempt to advance progressive ideas and unseat President William Howard Taft in the election of 1912.

Initiative, Referendum, Recall

Initiative: people have the right to propose a new law. Referendum: a law passed by the legislature can be reference to the people for approval/veto. Recall: the people can petition and vote to have an elected official removed from office. These all made elected officials more responsible and sensitive to the needs of the people, and part of the movement to make government more efficient and scientific.

Upton Sinclair

muckraker who shocked the nation when he published The Jungle, a novel that revealed gruesome details about the meat packing industry in Chicago. The book was fiction but based on the things Sinclair had seen.

National Forest Service

Government agency created by Theodore Roosevelt to preserve land and protect local animal species.

Pure Food and Drug Act

the act that prohibited the manufacture, sale, or shipment of impure of falsely labeled food and drugs

Federal Reserve Act

a 1913 law that set up a system of federal banks and gave government the power to control the money supply

16th Amendment

Amendment to the United States Constitution (1913) gave Congress the power to tax income.

17th Amendment

Passed in 1913, this amendment to the Constitution calls for the direct election of senators by the voters instead of their election by state legislatures.

18th Amendment

Prohibited the manufacture, sale, and distribution of alcoholic beverages

19th Amendment

Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1920) extended the right to vote to women in federal or state elections.

Susan B. Anthony

Key leader of woman suffrage movement, social reformer who campaigned for womens rights, the temperance, and was an abolitionist, helped form the National Woman Suffrage Assosiation

Plessy vs. Ferguson

Supreme court case that ruled that separate-but-equal facilities for blacks and whites did not violate the constitution.

W.E.B Du Bois

believed that African Americans should strive for full rights immediatly; founded the NAACP

Ida B.Wells

African American journalist. published statistics about lynching, urged African Americans to protest by refusing to ride streetcards or shop in white owned stores

Causes of WWI

1. A system of alliances divide Europe into two parts 2. Nationalism was very prevalent in the countries of Europe 3. Militarism or reliance on military strength 4. Imperialism and the conquering of countries in Asia, South America, and Africa 5. The assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand by the Black Hand

1914-1918

Date: WWI

US Entry in WWI

-1915: Lusitania sunk by Germans (killed 125 Americans) -President Wilson sent ultimatum to Germans (you don't change your ways with subs, we're your enemies) -Germans did change, but reverted back to their ways in 1917 -Zimmerman telegram (created by Germans to provoke a war between Mexico and US to distract them) in 1917 was the trigger, then US declared war on Germany

Selective Service Act

Law passed by Congress in 1917 that required all men from ages 21 to 30 to register for the military draft

Trench Warfare

Fighting with trenches, mines, and barbed wire. Horrible living conditions, great slaughter, no gains, stalemate, used in WWI.

General John J. Pershing

General of the American Expeditionary Force in WWI

Battle of Argonne Forest

1 million American soldiers fought in the final Allied offensive. Heavy German fire killed more than 100,000 Americans, but in the end, the Allies were victorious.

Alvin York

killed 25 machine-gunners and captured 132 German soldiers when his soldiers took cover; won Congressional Medal of Freedom

WWI Technology

airplanes, poisonous gas, tanks, machine guns, zeppelins, flamethrowers, barbed wire, submarines

Fourteen Points

A series of proposals in which U.S. president Woodrow Wilson outlined a plan for achieving a lasting peace after World War I.

Treaty of Versailles

the treaty imposed on Germany by the Allied powers in 1920 after the end of World War I which demanded exorbitant reparations from the Germans

League of Nations

A world organization established in 1920 to promote international cooperation and peace. It was first proposed in 1918 by President Woodrow Wilson, although the United States never joined the League. Essentially powerless, it was officially dissolved in 1946.

Great Migration

movement of over 300,000 African American from the rural south into Northern cities between 1914 and 1920

Propaganda

Ideas spread to influence public opinion for or against a cause.

Sedition Act

1918 law that made it illegal to criticize the government