Unit 7B USH

Elkins Act

Federal law amending the Interstate Commerce Act that allowed the ICC to fine railroads and shippers for offering or accepting rebates.

Hepburn Act

Law that strengthened the ICC by allowing it to set maximum railroad rates and regulate express companies, sleeping cars, and oil pipelines.

Conservation

Progressive-era movement to protect and efficiently manage natural resources, strongly associated with Theodore Roosevelt.

16th Amendment

Constitutional amendment (1913) that allowed the federal government to collect an income tax.

Eugene V. Debs

Socialist leader, labor activist, founding member of the IWW, and five-time Socialist Party presidential candidate.

Federal Reserve Act

1913 law that created the Federal Reserve System, the U.S. central banking system.

Clayton Antitrust Act

1914 law that strengthened the Sherman Antitrust Act by banning anticompetitive practices and protecting labor unions.

NAACP

Civil rights organization founded in 1909 to promote equality and eliminate racial discrimination.

National Association for Women’s Suffrage

Women’s rights organization founded in 1890 that played a key role in securing the 19th Amendment.

19th Amendment

Constitutional amendment ratified in 1920 granting women the right to vote.

Lusitania

British passenger ship sunk by a German submarine in 1915, killing Americans and increasing U.S. support for entering World War I.

Zimmerman Telegram

1917 German message proposing an alliance with Mexico against the U.S.; its interception pushed the U.S. into World War I.

Bolshevik Revolution

1917 Russian revolution led by Vladimir Lenin that established a communist government and later the Soviet Union.

Fourteen Points

Woodrow Wilson’s 1918 plan outlining principles for peace after World War I, including self-determination and a League of Nations.

League of Nations

International organization created after WWI to maintain peace; the United States never joined.

Food Administration

WWI agency created in 1917 to manage food production and distribution to support the war effort.

National War Labor Board

WWI agency formed in 1918 to prevent labor strikes and ensure industrial production during the war.

Committee on Public Information

Government propaganda agency (1917) that promoted public support for World War I, also called the Creel Committee.

Espionage and Sedition Acts

Laws passed in 1917–1918 that limited free speech by banning criticism of the government or war effort.

Schenck v. United States

Supreme Court case that upheld limits on free speech during wartime and established the “clear and present danger” test.

Selective Service Act

1917 law that established the military draft for men ages 21–30.

Great Migration

Movement of millions of African Americans from the rural South to northern and western cities starting in 1916.

Red Scare

Period of intense fear of communism and anarchism, especially from 1919–1920.

Palmer Raids

Government raids (1919–1920) targeting suspected radicals during the First Red Scare.

Race Riots

Violent outbreaks caused by racial tension; many occurred during the Red Summer.