Vocab 4/19

Push Factor

A condition that drives people from their homeland

Pull Factor

A condition that attracts people to move to a new area

Acculturation

The process of holding on to old traditions while adapting to a new culture

Immigrant

A person who enters another country in order to settle there

Muckraker

A journalist who exposed corruption and bad business practices in the late 1800s and early 1900s

Monopoly

A company or group having control of all or nearly all of the business of an industry

Progressive

An early 20th-century reform movement seeking to return control of the government to the people, restore economic opportunities, and correct injustices in American life

Chinese Exclusion Act

1882 law that barred Chinese laborers from entering the U.S.

Nativist

An American who sought to limit immigration and preserve the country for native-born, white Protestants

Tenement

A small apartment in a city slum building

Strike

The refusal by workers to do their jobs until their demands are met

Trade Union

An association of workers in a specific trade or line of work formed to gain higher wages and better working conditions

Triangle Fire

Fire in 1911 at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in NYC that killed nearly 150 workers

Sweatshop

A workplace where people labor long hours in poor conditions for low pay

Capitalism

An economic system based on private ownership of property, a market economy, and the goal of making a profit

Scarcity

A shortage, lack, or insufficient supply

Moving Assembly Line

Method of production in which workers stay in one place as products pass along a track or moving belt

Urbanization

The movement of population from farms to cities

Federal Reserve Act

1913 law that set up the Federal Reserve System to regulate the nation's financial sector

Referendum

A process by which people vote directly on a bill

Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

A government agency created in 1914 to ensure fair competition

NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)

An organization founded in 1909 to work toward equal rights for African Americans

Vaudeville

A type of variety show popular in the late 1800s that included comedians, song and dance routines, and acrobats

Yellow Journalism

A type of news reporting, often biased or untrue, that relies on sensational stories and headlines

Realist

A writer or artist who aims to show life as it really is

Suffrage

The right to vote

Conservation

The protection of natural resources

Inflation

A rise in prices and a decrease in the value of money

Vigilante

A self-appointed enforcer of the law

Transcontinental Railroad

A railroad that stretches across a continent from coast to coast

Exploit

Make full use of and derive benefit from a resource

Social Reform

An organized attempt to improve what is unjust or imperfect in society

Trust

A group of corporations run by a single board of directors