Studied by 10 peoplebonanza farm
vast, mechanized farm devoted to one crop, esp. west of the Mississippi; depended on machinery, hired hundres of workers and relied on efficent managers
agribuissness
Farming and related activities considered as commercial enterprises, especially large corporate agricultural ventures
frontier thesis
(1893) articulated by Frederick Jackson Taylor claimed that the availability of unsettled land throughout American history was the most important factor determining national development and character
Homestead Act
(1862) allowed individuals to stake out 160-acre claims for free if they lived on it for five years, or buy at a $1.25 an acre
Morrill Land Grant Act
gave public lands to states and territories to establish colleges that would specialize in agriculture and technical science
Indian Peace Commission
(1867) - concluded that to make peace on the Plains, all tribes had to be moved onto reservations away from the routes of white settlers and learn “white ways”; the federal government would make provision for their maintenance
Great Sioux War
(1876-77) - the government laid claim to gold-rich Black Hills (sacred Indian land) resulting in a series of battles, including General Custer’s defeat at Little Bighorn; the government eventually won, claimed the land, and forced the Sioux (and others) onto permanent reservations
Dawes Severalty Act
(1887) - an attempt to “Americanize” Native Americans, it gave each family 160 acres to farm, which the government held in trust for 25 years, after which the family would receive full title and citizenship; within 20 years, Indians lost 60% of their lands
ghost dance
a religon that tried to call the spirits of past warriors to inspire the young braves to fight last effort of Native Americans to resist US domination and drive whites from their ancestral lands came through a religious movement known as the Ghost Dance
Massacre at Wounded Knee
(1890) - the U.S led massacre ended the Indian wars on the Plains; 200 Indian men, women and children were killed; 20 soldiers died
New South
southern reformers used this term to call for a modernization of society and attitudes, to integrate more fully with the U.S, and reject the economy and traditions of the Old South
Henry W. Grady
editor of the Atlanta Constitution and advocate of the New South ideal
Civil Rights Cases
(1870-80s) - Supreme Court ruled in several cases that the civil rights protections of the 14th Amendment applied to states and not individuals
grandfather clause
in orer to vote, a person’s grandfather had to have been eligible to vote on January 1st 1867; virtually all blacks were excluded from voting
Jim Crow laws
state and local laws that segregated blacks and whites in housing and public accomodations
Plessy v. Ferguson
(1896) - Supreme Court upheld segregation laws and ruled that “seperate but equal” facilities did not violate the 14th amendment
W.E.B. Dubois
black scholar and activist who argued that quality education and political and civil rights must be guaranteed to black Americans immediately, without condition
Brooker T. Washington
black leader and founder of the Tuskegee intsitute; aruged that blacks should establish themselves economically first, and work for politcal and civil rights later; popular among whites and blacks
Ida B. Wells
black activist and journalist; vociferously criticized Jim Crow laws, disenfranchisement of blacks, lynching; help found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
Patrons of Husbandry (the Grange)
(1867) founded in response to farmers isolation; offered social and educational programs; later organized cooperatives; had political success in five states with passage of “Granger laws”; declined in late 1870s
Munn v. Illinois
(1877) - a victory for farmers, the supreme court upheld the power of the governemt to regualte private industries (i.e, railroads and grain elevators)
Wabash Railroad v. Illinois
(1886) - supreme court reversed its ruling in Munn and denied the state’s power to regulate railroad rates on interstate traffic
Interstate commerce Commission
created in 1887, the first independent federal regulatory commission; railroads were forbidden to grant rebates, discriminate, or fix rates by collusion
Farmers’ Alliances
(1875) organized social and educational programs had about 1,000 affiliated newspapers; one leader was Mary Elizabeth Lease who encouraged farmers to “raise less corn and more hell”
Populist Party (People’s Party)
(1892) - founded to promote a new vision of governmenr problems; wrote the Omaha Platform and nominated James B. Weaver for President in 1892
Omaha Platform of 1892
the People's, or Populist, Party crafted a platform that indicted the corruptions of the Gilded Age and promised government policies to aid “the people”
transcontinental railroads
first huge industry; developed a large-scale management bureaucracy; opened the West, connected raw materials to markets, helped create a national market
Cornelius Vanderbilt
shipping and railroad tycoon, a self made multi-millionaire; built a railroad empire
Andrew Carnegie
steel tycoon who implemented innovative production and management processes that resulted in an enourmas expansion of the industry - and the economy as a whole
John D. Rockefeller
oil tycoon; founded Standard Oil Company; practiced horizontal integration in the industry; by 1898, controlled 845 of the nations oil
Thomas Edison
invented the phonograph, motion picture camera, and long-lasting, practical electric light bulb (1879); his company became General Electric
Alexander Graham Bell
invented the telephone, pateneted in 1876; formed company that would become American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T)
J. Pierpont Morgan
financier and investment banker; owned largest private banking firm; promoted the stock market as an investment
boom and bust cycle
a process of econonomic expansion and contraction that occure repeatedly; during a boom that economy grows, jobs are plentiful and the market brings high returns to investors; in a bust the economy shrinks, people lose their job and investors lose money
new immigrants
term immigrants from eastern and southern Eurpoe who came in the ate 19th and early 20th centuries
nativism
a set of beliefs favoring the interests of established inhabitants against those of immigrants
Railroad Stike of 1877
first major nationwide strike after a call for a cut in wage; over 100 people died and property was destroyed; federal military intervention ened the stike
National Labor Union
supported legislation banning prison labor, land reform laws to keep public holdings out of the hands of speculators, and national currency reform to raise farm prices. It brought together skilled and unskilled workers, as well as farmers.
Knights of Labor
The Knights pressed for the eight-hour work day for laborers, and embraced a vision of a society in which workers, not capitalists, would own the industries in which they labored. The Knights also sought to end child labor and convict labor
Homestead Strike
(1892) - occurred at the Carnegie Steel Company's Homestead Steel Works in 1892. The strike culminated in a gun battle between unionized steelworkers and a group of men hired by the company to break the strike. The steelworkers ultimately lost the strike
Pullman Strike
(1894) a nationwide railway strike that caused the disruption of rail traffic throughout the nation, riots and property damage in and around the city of Chicago, the arrest of strike leaders, and 30 deaths
Haymarket Square Riot
(1886) - a demonstration in Chicago's Haymarket Square to protest the slayings of two workers during a strike turned into a violent riot after a bomb explosion killed seven policemen
American Federation of Labor (AFL)
A national federation of trade unions that included only skilled workers, founded in 1886. Led by Samuel Gompers for nearly 4 decades, the AFL sought to negotiate with employers for a better kind of capitalism that rewarded workers fairly with better wages, hours, and conditions
Social Darwinism
the application of the evolutionary concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest to human society; justified laissez-faire capitalism
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
(1890)A federal law that committed the American government to opposing monopolies, it prohibits contracts, combinations and conspiracies in restraint of trade
Williams Jennings Bryan
A politician who was a dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. Did not support the Gold Standard, railroads, or banks. Supporter of populist Dem. Promoted Free Silver, anti-imperialism, and trust-busting
Political machine
organization run by a “boss” who used rewards to keep his loyal followers in office, often corrupt but also beneficial to city dwellers; dominated many cities in the late 19th century
Tammany Hall
long standing political machine in New York
streetcar suburbs
middle class communities built along streetcar lines close to the city
settlement house
provided various social services to the poor and immigrants in urban working-class neighborhoods
Jane Addams
established Hull House in Chicago, one of the most influential settlment houses
William Graham Sumner
head of political and social science at Yale; promoted social darwinism argued that social conditions were traditons or customs that the government should not interfere with
Social Gospel
Protestant response to chaning society; operated on the principal “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself; asked “What would Jesus do?”; Washington Gladden was prominent advocate
Reform darwinism
a movement that applied the ideas of biological science to social science. The proponents of reform darwinism argued that societal institutions needed to change because society was changing as a result of the industrial revolution
tenement
run down and overcrowded apartment house, especially in a poor section of a large city
Jacob Riis
muckraker journalist and photographer who exposed the slum conditions in his book “How the Other Half Lives”
Note
Flashcard