U.S. history test 10/20

The Gilded Age

A term created by Mark Twain that represented a society that looked glittering on the outside but on the inside was really ¨cheap¨ and corrupt

Laissez-Faire Capitalism

A philosophy that the government should keep its hands off businesses and ¨let it be¨

Social Darwinism

Survival of the fittest (the rich are the fittest (evolutionary success and superiority) and and the poor are considered unfit (lazy and inferior)

Vertical Integration

Buying up all of the products needed to help your business

Horizontal Integration

Buying out all of the other businesses in your industry

Trust / Holding Company

A holding company is created to buy up all of the stock of another company and a trust is a small board of people that force other companies to sign away their legal rights to the company to them

Graft

Using political influence/your influence illegally to gain yourself more money

Political Machine

An unofficial government group who was very powerful and controlled the city's government and obtained power through offering immigrants necessities they couldn't get in trade for a vote for them, which led to corrupting the system

Spoils System (Patronage)

The winning political party gives government jobs (police officers, tax collectors, building inspectors) to their supporters and friends as a reward instead of people who have better qualifications

Tenements

Overcrowded, falling apart buildings

Nativism

When people of a certain country are very stand offish and hate immigrants coming into their country

Paper Sons / Paper Daughters

Chinese immigrants who worked around the Chinese exclusion act after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake destroyed many birth certificates, so Chinese immigrants made fake birth certificates saying they were born in the U.S. so they weren't deported

Andrew Carnegie

Steel industry, robber baron, treated workers poorly, used vertical integration, 1892 Homestead strike (His manager Frick was tasked with shutting down the steel workers on strike after their wages were cut and brought in federal forces to do so), established many library and universities

John D. Rockefeller

Oil industry, robber baron, treated workers poorly, created horizontal integration and predatory pricing (pricing things really low) to eliminate all competitors, had 90% of all oil companies and created standard oil which fell apart in 1911 after the supreme court dismantled it, used money to fund medical research and educational institutions

J. Pierpont (J.P.) Morgan

Bank industry, robber baron, treated workers poorly, used ¨Morganization¨ where he used his massive banking wealth to buy up struggling, competing companies and he would fire workers to cut wages and then turn them into big monopolies, bought out Carnegie Steel in creating the world's first billion dollar corporation and a total monopoly

Jay Gould

Railroad industry, considered most ruthless robber baron, treated workers poorly, caused the Black Friday Panic of 1869, manipulated stock prices to get rich, crushed the Great Southwest Railroad Strike of 1886 by hiring private armed guards, bribed politicians to get what he wanted

Cornelius Vanderbilt

Railroad/steamship industry, robber baron, treated workers poorly, started in steamships and then shifted to railroads, built massive transportation empire, used predatory pricing and cutting off other companies access to ports to eliminate them

William M. "Boss" Tweed

Corrupt leader of New York's Tammany Hall political machine in late 1860s - early 1870s who defrauded New York tax payers tens of millions of dollars through inflated construction bills and corporate kickbacks (business pays government officials for a contract or special favors)

Thomas Nast

Drew political cartoons voicing his opinion on certain matters, exposed Tweed and Tammany hall especially for immigrants who could not read English his political cartoons helped them, cartoons helped get Tweed arrested since officers recognized him from cartoons

Knights of Labor

Formed as a secret society, turned into an all-inclusive labor union with anyone with any skill set and any race (except for Chinese) could join under Terrance V. Powderly, they wanted fair pay for both genders and 8 hour workdays and end of child labor since kids were job competition

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

Founded by Samuel Gompers in 1886, not all-inclusive and only wanted skilled people who were white and men (skilled white men), wanted higher wages and shorter hours and better working conditions

Industrial Workers of the World (IWW / "Wobbly")

A radical, revolutionary group founded in 1905, anyone could join, led by Eugene Debs, wanted an international unit and to get rid of capitalism all together and just have socialism

Eugene V. Debs

He was a labor organizer and leader of the American Railway Union, put together the 1894 Pullman Strike (wages got cut by 25% with 16 hour work day and people who worked for Pullman had to live in his town so the workers went on strike and refused to attach Pullman cars to trains, so troops were sent to stop the strike and an injunction was issued against Debs (workers lose again), ran for U.S. president 5 times

Naturalization Act of 1790

First congressional laws applying rules to U.S. citizenship, restricting naturalized citizenship to ¨free white persons¨ of good character, leaving out enslaved people, free black people, and Native Americans. (Basically saying if you were white you could get citizenship after living in the U.S. for a few years but if you aren't white tough luck)

Page Act

First restrictive immigration law, it specifically targeted and banned Chinese women from entering the country, which intentionally prevented Chinese immigrants from starting families and planting roots in America

Chinese Exclusion Act

Prohibited all Chinese immigration for 10 years and existing Chinese immigrants could not get citizenship, started in 1882 and was renewed until 1943, so Chinese laborers could no longer come in to the U.S.

United States v. Wong Kim Ark

A landmark supreme court decision that regarded the 14th amendment. Wong Kim Ark was born in the U.S. and had 2 Chinese parents, he went to travel abroad and was denied access back into the country because of the Chinese Exclusion Act, the court ruled in his favor saying all people born on U.S. soil have birthright citizenship no matter what your heritage is

Gentlemen's Agreement

An agreement between Roosevelt and the Empire of Japan saying, that if Japan stopped issuing passports to people emigrating to the U.S. they would desegregate schools in the U.S. and integrate Japanese children back into local schools

Robber Barons vs. Captains of Industry

Robber barons - Built aggressive monopolies using predatory pricing , used strategies like Horizontal and Vertical integration to crush small, independent companies, enforced terrible working conditions, slashed wages, and used violence to break unions

Captains of Industry - Revolutionized American Industry and expanded vital national infrastructure (railroads, steel mills), Mass production lowering the price of goods, Practiced philanthropy, like donating millions to build thousands of public libraries, universities, and medical research centers

The Contradiction of Gilded Age Economic Policy

Did the government really keep Laissez-Faire as their practice? No, they refused to pass labor and welfare laws and ultimately helped the major businesses by crushing worker strikes with forces, issuing high tariffs, and giving land grants to these big business owners to help them start railroad, this was all in opposition of the workers and was only harming them not helping them, while it may look like they were very hands off from the workers side since they received no help they were always coming in to help the major businesses

"Old" vs. "New" Immigration

Pre civil war - Northern and Western Europe, Main Countries - Ireland, Great Britain, Germany, High literacy rates, skilled workers/farmers, Most moved into farms

Post civil war - Southern and Eastern Europe (plus Asia), Main Countries - Italy, Poland, Russia, Greece, China, Japan, More illiterate people, unskilled labors, Lived in tenements

Ellis Island vs. Angel Island

Ellis Island - In New York and by NYC, Processed European immigrants, Screenings quick (focused on health and their ability to make money/work)

Angel Island - In San Francisco, Processed Asian immigrants, Designed to force exclusion acts, Immigrants would experience harsh, prison like detentions that would last from weeks to years

Urban Political Machines & Tammany Hall

Corrupt - Stole tens of millions of public tax dollars through graft and fake construction bills, paid people to vote for them multiple times and used physical intimidation to make sure they won, accepted illegal kickbacks from companies in exchange for contracts Good - Machine workers met immigrants at Ellis Island and provided them with necessities, They helped immigrants navigate life in the U.S.