Chapter 7: The Progressive Era

Vocabulary flashcards covering the key terms, movements, legislation, people, and artistic trends of Chapter 7: The Progressive Era.

Interstate Commerce Act (1887)

A federal law passed in 1887 that prohibited railroads from charging more for short hauls than for long hauls over the same route and created the Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate unfair business practices.

Grange Movement

A movement founded in 1867 as a social club for farmers to help overcome rural isolation and spread new farming techniques, which later urged economic and political reforms.

Munn v. Illinois (1877)

A Supreme Court ruling in 1877 that upheld the right of a state to regulate businesses affecting the public interest within that state.

Populist Party

A national political party formed in 1891–1892 representing the "common man"—farmers, industrial workers, and miners—in the battle against banking and railroad interests.

Cross of Gold Speech

A famous speech delivered by William Jennings Bryan at the 1896 Democratic National Convention praising farmers, denouncing bankers, and advocating for the unlimited coinage of silver.

William Jennings Bryan

The presidential candidate for the Populist and Democratic parties in 1896 and 1900 who delivered the "Cross of Gold" speech advocating silver coinage.

Third Parties

Political parties that provide an outlet for minority grievances, generate new ideas, and often pressure major political parties to adopt their proposals.

Progressive Movement

A reform movement flourishing between 1900 and World War I, led mainly by educated middle-class city dwellers, that sought to correct political and economic injustices caused by industrialization.

Social Gospel Movement

A late 19th-century movement spearheaded by Protestant clergymen calling for social reforms such as the abolition of child labor and safer working conditions based on Christian duty.

Muckrakers

Investigative reporters, writers, and social scientists who exposed the abuses of industrial society and government corruption.

Upton Sinclair

A muckraker whose 1906 novel, The Jungle, described the unsanitary practices of the meat-packing industry.

Jacob Riis

A muckraker photographer and writer who documented the conditions of the urban poor in his book How The Other Half Lives.

Ida Tarbell

A muckraker who wrote History of the Standard Oil Company (1902), showing how John D. Rockefeller's rise was based on ruthless business practices.

Lincoln Steffens

A muckraker who exposed corruption in city and state governments in his 1904 book, The Shame of the Cities.

Frank Norris

A muckraker who wrote The Octopus, depicting the stranglehold of railroads over California farmers.

Jane Addams

A Progressive social reformer who founded Hull House, a settlement house in Chicago providing community services and assistance to urban immigrants.

Settlement House

An all-purpose community center in slum neighborhoods that provided child care, nursing services, and English lessons to immigrants.

Ida B. Wells

An African-American Progressive reformer and journalist who organized a national anti-lynching crusade.

W.E.B. DuBois

The first African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard, a founder of the NAACP, editor of The Crisis, and an advocate for immediate racial equality.

Pendleton Act (1883)

An 1883 federal law that created the Civil Service Commission to give competitive exams and select appointees to federal government jobs based on merit.

Initiative

A Progressive political reform allowing voters to directly introduce bills in the state legislature and vote on whether they want the bill passed.

Referendum

A Progressive political reform allowing voters to compel legislators to place a bill on the ballot for public approval.

Recall

A Progressive political reform allowing elected officials to be removed from office by voters in a special election.

Seventeenth Amendment

A constitutional amendment ratified in 1913 providing for the direct election of U.S. Senators by the people rather than by state legislatures.

Theodore Roosevelt

The Progressive U.S. President (1901–1909) who used anti-trust laws against bad trusts, advocated for conservation, and introduced the Square Deal.

Square Deal

Theodore Roosevelt's reform program that launched laws protecting consumer health, regulating transportation and communication, and conserving natural resources.

Meat Inspection Act (1906)

A 1906 law passed following the publication of The Jungle that provided for government inspection of meat.

Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)

A 1906 law that regulated the preparation of foods and the sale of medicines.

William Howard Taft

The Progressive U.S. President (1909–1912) who continued trust-busting policies but alienated Progressives over tariff and conservation decisions.

Bull Moose Party

A third political party formed by Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 after he failed to receive the Republican presidential nomination.

Woodrow Wilson

The Democratic U.S. President (1913–1921) who enacted the "New Freedom" program targeting tariffs, the banking system, and trusts.

Sixteenth Amendment

A constitutional amendment ratified in 1913 giving Congress the power to tax personal income.

Underwood Tariff (1913)

A 1913 law enacted under Woodrow Wilson that lowered tariffs by 25% and introduced the nation's first income tax.

Federal Reserve Act (1913)

A 1913 law reforming the banking industry by establishing 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks to regulate money in circulation and set interest rates.

Clayton Antitrust Act (1914)

A 1914 law increasing federal power to prevent unfair business practices and prohibiting courts from applying anti-trust laws to restrict labor unions.

National Park Service (1916)

A federal agency established in 1916 to conserve natural scenery, historic objects, and wildlife in national parks and monuments.

Susan B. Anthony

A prominent reformer who advocated for women's suffrage, attempted to vote in 1872, and co-founded the National American Woman Suffrage Association.

Nineteenth Amendment (1920)

A constitutional amendment ratified in 1920 establishing that no state could deny a citizen the right to vote on the basis of sex.

Realism

A leading literary and artistic style of the late 19th century defined as the "truthful treatment of material," depicting life and industrial conditions with detail.

Horatio Alger

An author who wrote popular "rags-to-riches" novels, such as Ragged Dick, praising hard work, discipline, and wealth as signs of divine favor.

Mark Twain

A realist author who wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, and The Gilded Age, using regional accents to depict American life.

Kate Chopin

A woman novelist whose 1899 book The Awakening depicted the internal conflict of a respected wife and mother and caused widespread scandal.

Thomas Eakins

A realist painter who created portraits of people in the arts, sciences, and medicine, notable for his surgical painting The Gross Clinic.