Westward Expansion and Gilded Age Review

Vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts, people, events, laws, and organizations from the Westward Expansion and Gilded Age lectures.

Transcontinental Railway (1869)

Connected the eastern and western U.S. by rail, spurring economic growth, westward migration, and Native American displacement.

Kansas Exodus (1879)

A large migration of African Americans to Kansas to escape racism, violence, and poverty in the South after Reconstruction.

Wounded Knee (1890)

Massacre of over 250 Lakota Sioux by U.S. troops, marking the end of large-scale Native American armed resistance.

Dawes Act (1887)

Divided Native tribal lands into individual family plots to promote assimilation, leading to the loss of millions of acres and weaker traditional culture.

Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)

The first U.S. law to ban immigration based on race, targeting Chinese laborers and setting a precedent for future restrictions.

Manifest Destiny

The belief that the U.S. was destined by God to expand across the continent, justifying territorial expansion and Native displacement.

Forced cultural assimilation (Americanization)

Policies like Indian boarding schools that forced Native children to abandon their languages, religions, and traditions.

Native American exclusion from citizenship

For most of the 19th century, Native Americans were not recognized as U.S. citizens unless they gave up tribal ties, denying them rights until 1924.

Near-extermination of the bison

Slaughter of tens of millions of bison by settlers and the U.S. military, destroying a vital resource for Plains tribes and forcing them onto reservations.

William McKinley

Republican president (elected 1896), pro-business and pro-tariff, whose victory over Bryan symbolized the triumph of industrial and corporate interests.

Andrew Carnegie

Built Carnegie Steel into an industrial giant using vertical integration, promoted philanthropy through the “Gospel of Wealth.”

John D. Rockefeller

Founded Standard Oil and created a near-monopoly through ruthless business tactics and horizontal integration, sparking calls for regulation.

Wong Kim Ark

A Chinese American whose 1898 Supreme Court case established the principle of birthright citizenship as protection against anti-immigrant discrimination.

James Garfield

President elected in 1880, assassinated in 1881, whose death spurred civil service reform to reduce political patronage.

William Jennings Bryan

Democratic and Populist presidential candidate in 1896, known for advocating “free silver” to help farmers and representing rural discontent.

Big Corporations

Companies like Standard Oil and Carnegie Steel that dominated markets, transforming business into nationwide enterprises and symbolizing both innovation and fears of monopoly.

Knights of Labor

A broad labor union open to all workers, pushing for better wages, shorter hours, and social reforms, whose reputation declined after the Haymarket Affair.

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

A labor union focused on skilled workers, wages, hours, and conditions, becoming the most enduring labor organization of the period.

The Grange / Farmers’ Alliance

Groups that united farmers against railroad abuses and big corporations, laying the foundation for the Populist movement.

People’s / Populist Party

A political party of farmers and workers in the 1890s that demanded silver coinage, government ownership of railroads, and other reforms to challenge corporate power.

Pendleton Act (1883)

Introduced civil service exams and reduced the spoils system, an important step toward professionalizing government jobs.

Interstate Commerce Commission (1887)

Created to regulate railroad rates and practices, showing the federal government’s first serious attempt to oversee big business.

Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)

The first federal law against monopolies and trusts, weakly enforced at first but setting a precedent for later regulation.

U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark (1898)

Supreme Court case that confirmed birthright citizenship for children born in the U.S. to immigrant parents, protecting 14th Amendment rights.

Civil Rights Cases (1883)

Struck down the Civil Rights Act of 1875, ruling that private businesses could discriminate, opening the door to legalized segregation.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Supreme Court decision upholding “separate but equal,” legalizing racial segregation and justifying Jim Crow laws.

Railroads create time zones (1883)

Standardized timekeeping across the U.S. to coordinate train schedules, showing railroads’ power in shaping national life.

Federal acquisition of Western lands

Government took huge tracts of western land for settlement and ranching, fueling expansion but often dispossessing Native peoples.

Reversal of the Chicago River (1900)

An engineering project to improve sanitation and protect Chicago’s water supply, symbolizing rapid urban growth and industrial change.

Spoils system & civil service reform

The old system of rewarding political supporters with jobs, which gave way to reform after President Garfield’s assassination.

Great Railroad Strike (1877)

A massive strike against wage cuts that spread nationwide, turning violent and showing growing worker unrest.

Haymarket Affair (1886)

Labor rally in Chicago that turned deadly when a bomb went off, leading to violence and public backlash against unions.

Homestead Strike (1892)

Carnegie Steel workers struck against wage cuts; the strike was violently broken, marking a major defeat for unions.

Election of 1896

William McKinley defeated Bryan in a battle between big business Republicans and Populist/Democratic reformers, marking the dominance of pro-business politics.

Role of railroads

Created a unified national market and tied together distant regions, making the U.S. economy more connected.

Bonanza farms / giant ranches

Huge, industrial-scale farms and ranches in the West that symbolized the commercialization of agriculture.

Kansas City as a hub

Grew into a major center of railroads and cattle trade, linking rural production with national markets.

Monopolies / trusts

Massive corporations that controlled entire industries, raising fears of concentrated economic and political power.

Urban inequality

The Gilded Age featured extreme wealth for elites alongside overcrowded, unsanitary tenements for the poor.

“Robber barons” vs. “captains of industry”

A debate on whether tycoons like Carnegie and Rockefeller were greedy exploiters or visionary builders.

Social Darwinism

Applied “survival of the fittest” to society, justifying inequality and opposing government help for the poor.

Limits of reforms

Laws like the Pendleton Act, ICC, and Sherman Act were steps forward but often weak compared to broader demands for change.

Tariff debate

Republicans favored high tariffs to protect industry, while Democrats and farmers opposed them for raising consumer prices.

Jim Crow & segregation

Racial segregation laws in the South, upheld by Plessy v. Ferguson, entrenching discrimination for decades.

Working animals (in urban environments)

Horses powered transport and industry in rapidly growing cities during the Gilded Age.

Animals as food (in urban environments)

Stockyards like those in Kansas City became major centers of meatpacking and national food supply.

Parks & zoos (in urban environments)

Growing urban populations sought green spaces and animal exhibits for recreation.

Animal welfare (in urban environments)

Groups like the ASPCA reflected rising concern for animal treatment after the Civil War.

Pests (in urban environments)

Cities struggled with rats and other animals blamed for spreading disease.

New species (in urban environments)

People introduced species like starlings and squirrels into cities, reshaping urban environments.