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Gilded Age

Era of wealth masking social corruption and inequality

Industrialization

Shift from hand goods to machine manufacturing

Urbanization

Growth of cities due to population shifts

Reconstruction

Era following Civil War to rebuild South and integrate freedmen

Immigration

Moving permanently to a new country

Push Factors

Conditions that force people to leave home (war, poverty)

Pull Factors

Conditions that attract people to a new place (jobs, land)

Old Immigrants

Northern/Western Europeans arriving before 1880s

New Immigrants

Southern/Eastern Europeans & Asians arriving 1880s-1920s

Ellis Island

East Coast immigration center in NYC Harbor

Angel Island

West Coast immigration center in San Francisco Bay

Tenements

Overcrowded, low-cost urban apartments

Nativism

Anti-immigrant belief favoring native-born citizens

Political Machines

Corrupt organizations that controlled local politics

Tammany Hall

NYC Democratic political machine

Boss Tweed

Corrupt leader of Tammany Hall

Chinese Exclusion Act

1882 law banning Chinese laborers

Gentlemen's Agreement

Japan restricted emigrants in exchange for SF desegregating schools

Alien Land Law

California law preventing Asian immigrants from owning land

Immigration Act of 1917

Required literacy tests and created barred zones in Asia

Americanization

Campaigns to assimilate immigrants into U.S. culture

Monopoly

Total control of an industry by one company

Trust

Combined companies managed by a single board to control prices

Vertical Integration

Owning all steps of the production process

Horizontal Integration

Buying out competing companies in the same industry

Lobbying

Directly influencing lawmakers for specific policies

Robber Barons

Negative term for ruthless industrial leaders

Captains of Industry

Positive term for business leaders and philanthropists

Philanthropy

Donating large sums of wealth to public causes

Labor Union

Worker associations organized for better wages and safety

Collective Bargaining

Direct union negotiations with management

Strike

Organized work stoppage by employees

Knights of Labor

Early union open to all skilled and unskilled workers

AFL

Union limited strictly to skilled craft workers

IWW

Radical socialist union aiming to unite all workers

Great Railroad Strike of 1877

Nationwide strike ended by federal troops

Haymarket Affair

Bombing that linked unions to anarchism and ruined Knights of Labor

Pullman Strike

Railway strike broken by federal court injunctions

Coal Strike of 1902

Strike where Teddy Roosevelt forced neutral arbitration

Dawes Act

Law dividing Native reservations into private plots to force assimilation

Ghost Dance

Native American spiritual movement to restore traditional lands

Wounded Knee Massacre

1890 confrontation ending major Native military resistance

Exodusters

African Americans who migrated from the South to Kansas

Grange

Early farmer organization fighting high railroad rates

Farmers Alliance

Regional political groups forming cooperatives for better crop prices

Populist Party

Third party demanding free silver, income tax, and railroad regulation

Omaha Platform

Populist manifesto calling for bimetallism and direct election of senators

Bimetallism

Currency backed by gold and silver to help farmers

Graduated Income Tax

Tax rate that increases as income rises

Sherman Antitrust Act

1890 federal law banning business monopolies

16th Amendment

Created federal income tax

17th Amendment

Direct election of U.S. Senators

19th Amendment

Granted women's right to vote

Panic of 1893

Severe economic depression caused by bank and rail failures

Gold Standard

Currency backed strictly by gold

William Jennings Bryan

Populist/Democrat candidate who gave Cross of Gold speech

William McKinley

25th President who favored high tariffs and the gold standard

Cross of Gold Speech

Speech attacking the gold standard in favor of bimetallism

Indian Wars

Western military conflicts over land control

Buffalo Soldiers

African American Army regiments serving on the Western frontier

Populism

Movement championing common people against elites

Frontier

Line separating settled land from wild, undeveloped territory

Westward Expansion

Movement of settlers into the West

Homestead Act

1862 law giving 160 acres of land for farming it for 5 years

Gold Rush

Mass movement west in search of quick wealth

Reservation

Federal land set aside for Native American tribes

Samuel Morse

Invented the telegraph

Cyrus Field

Laid first transatlantic telegraph cable

Alexander Graham Bell

Invented the telephone

Thomas Alva Edison

Perfected the lightbulb and invented the phonograph

Edwin Drake

Drilled first commercial oil well

Henry Ford

Popularized cars and assembly line manufacturing

Wright Brothers

Flew first successful airplane at Kitty Hawk

Christopher Scholes

Invented the typewriter

George Eastman

Invented Kodak handheld camera and roll film

Josephine Cochran

Invented automatic dishwasher

John Albert Burr

Patented improved lawn mower rotary blade

Granville T. Woods

Invented telegraph system for moving trains

Elijah McCoy

Invented automatic lubricators for steam engines

Sarah Goode

Invented foldaway cabinet bed

Madame C.J. Walker Created African American hair products; first self-made female millionaire

Lewis Howard Latimer

Invented carbon filament for lightbulbs

Jan Ernst Matzeliger

Invented automated shoe-lasting machine

Garrett Morgan

Invented safety hood (gas mask) and traffic signal