Reform Movements

Abolitionism

• Reform movement to END SLAVERY

• Succeeded with passage of 13th amendment

Frederick Douglas

• Escaped slave who went on to earn his law degree

• Famous abolitionist- spoke out against slavery

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

• Muckraking novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe

• Exposed Northerners to the evils of slavery

• Tom savagely beaten to death for helping woman to escape to find her daughter

Underground Railroad

Series of safe houses that helped escaped slaves flee to the North

Popular sovereignty

• Allowing a territory to vote on whether slavery is allowed in the territory

• Kansas- Nebraska Act---> Bleeding Kansas

Missouri Compromise

• 36’30” used to determine slave or free

Compromise of 1850

• Second attempt to deal with expansion of slavery

• California entered as free state

• Fugitive slave act

• Popular Sovereignty used in remaining territories

• Un-does the Missouri Compromise

Progressive Movement

Reform movement to correct problems created by the industrial revolution (Gilded Age)

Granger Movement

Mid-western farmers who ask Congress to set railroad shipping prices

The Jungle

• Upton Sinclair

• Muckraking novel about disgusting conditions in Meat-Packing plants

• Lead to Meat-Inspection Act

How the Other Half Lives

• Jacob Riis

• Muckraking book of photographs taken in NYC slums

• Created to demonstrate poor living conditions of the working class

Knights of Labor

Labor Union who tried to negotiate better working conditions for its members

Samuel Gompers

Famous leader of the Knights of Labor

Haymarket Riot and Pullman Strike

• Example of violent confrontation between labor unions and businesses

• Government supported businesses

Sherman Antitrust Act

• Made Monopolies (Trusts) illegal

Initiative, referendum, recall, direct primary, secret ballot

• Progressive Reforms to INCREASE CITIZEN PARTICIPATION in government

• Designed to counteract corrupt political machines

Seneca Falls Convention

• 1848 - upstate new york

• Meeting to discuss WOMEN’S RIGHTS

• “Declaration of Sentiments”- mirrored Dec. of Independence- “all men AND women are created equal

Susan B. Anthony

• Most prominent (important) champion for WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE (right to vote)

• Was arrested for trying to vote

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

organizer of Seneca Falls convention

- champion for WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE

Temperance Movement

• Prohibition 18th Amendment

• Group pushed for the banning of Alcohol- saw it as the root of all society’s evils

Rosa Parks

• Seamstress that refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery city bus

• Her arrest triggered the Montgomery bus boycott which introduced the world to MLK

Montgomery Bus Boycotts

• Triggered by arrest of rosa parks

• Lasted more than a year- drew national attention to the issue of segregation

• Achieved its goal of desegregation of Montgomery City

Martin Luther King Jr. 

• Civil rights activist

• Practiced civil disobedience (Gandhi)

• Montgomery bus boycott/”I have a dream” speech

• Assassinated April 1968

Selma March

• Act of Civil disobedience organized by MLK

• Peaceful demonstration violently broken up by police (clubs, dogs, and firehoses)

• Broadcast on live TV- brought national attention

Civil Rights Act of 1964

• “Great Society” legislation- LBJ

• Makes it ILLEGAL TO DISCRIMINATE BASED ON RACE

Voting Rights Act of 1965

makes it so you cant disimigerat any that votes

title ix

• Promotes equality in sports offerings in colleges and high schools 

• Since 1972 women’s participation in athletics has risen by 600%

Americans with Disabilities Act

• 1990

• Bans discrimination based on any disability 

Three Mile Island

• Environmental disaster

  • Nuclear power facility experiences issues that leads to radiation leaks

love canal

• Housing development in western NY built on a toxic waste dump

• Tremendous spike in cancer rates in the community

Silent Spring

• Rachel Carson

• Muckraking book exposing the issues of pesticides (DDT)

  • Started the Environmental movement

Ralph Nader

• Consumer advocate for traffic safety

• Pushed for safety improvements in automobiles such a seatbelts and airbags

  • In 2000 ran for President for the Green Party

Unsafe at Any Speed

• Book by Ralph Nader that discusses the problems with vehicle safety in the US

• Led to improvements such as seatbelts and airbags