JACOBS 😭🤑❤️👌

Railroad Pricing Policies

Railroads gave rebates to large shippers while charging higher rates to small farmers and businesses.

Patents

Legal protections that allowed inventors to profit from inventions without fear of theft.

Mass Production and Assembly Line

Faster production, lower costs, higher profits, and cheaper goods for consumers.

Corporation

A business owned by stockholders that raises money by selling stock; owners have limited liability.

Stock

Units of ownership in a corporation that investors buy or sell to make profit.

Monopoly

A business that controls an entire industry, eliminating competition.

Laissez-Faire Capitalism

An economic system with little to no government interference in business.

Gilded Age

A period of extreme wealth inequality caused by rapid industrial growth and lack of regulation.

Gospel of Wealth

Andrew Carnegie’s belief that the rich should give back through philanthropy.

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

1911 factory fire that exposed unsafe working conditions and led to labor reforms.

Labor Union

An organization of workers formed to protect workers’ rights.

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

A labor union for skilled workers led by Samuel Gompers.

Socialism

An economic system where resources are owned collectively.

Anarchist

Someone who opposes all forms of government.

Collective Bargaining

The process by which unions negotiate wages and conditions as a group.

Scientific Management

Efficiency-based workplace system developed to increase productivity.

Samuel Gompers

Leader of the AFL who focused on practical worker gains.

Eugene Debs

Socialist leader and head of the American Railway Union.

Collective Bargaining Benefits

Gives workers greater power by negotiating together.

Union Tactics

Strikes, protests, and negotiations for better conditions.

Importance of Unions

Protected workers from low pay, long hours, and unsafe jobs.

Union Opposition

Government and business used force and laws to break unions.

Fear of Unions

Linked to violence, socialism, and anarchism.

Assimilation

The process by which immigrants adapt to American culture.

New Immigrants

Immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe (1880s–1900s).

Nativism

Anti-immigrant sentiment favoring native-born Americans.

Chinese Exclusion Act

1882 law banning Chinese laborers from entering the U.S.

Tenements

Crowded, unsafe apartment buildings for urban immigrants.

Immigrant Housing in NYC

Most immigrants lived in tenements.

Exodusters

African Americans who migrated west to escape Southern racism.

Native American Assimilation

Forced relocation to reservations and boarding schools.

Homestead Act

1862 law granting free land to settlers who farmed it.

Farmers’ Movements

Groups like the Grange and Populists that fought for farmers’ rights.

Turner Frontier Thesis

The frontier shaped American democracy and individualism.

Urbanization

Growth of cities due to industrialization.

Settlement House

Community centers providing services to the urban poor.

Jane Addams

Social reformer who founded Hull House.

Hull House

A settlement house in Chicago helping immigrants and the poor.

Urban Poor

Lived in crowded housing with poor sanitation and long work hours.

Middle Class

Lived in suburbs and worked office or skilled jobs.

Wealthy Class

Lived in luxury and controlled major industries.

How the Other Half Lives

A book by Jacob Riis exposing urban poverty.

Urban Reformers

Created settlement houses and pushed housing reforms.

Gilded

Means covered up or disguised (not truly golden).

Spoils System

Giving government jobs based on political loyalty.

City Bosses

Political leaders who controlled cities through patronage.

Graduated Income Tax

A tax system where higher incomes are taxed more.

Muckraker

Journalists who exposed corruption and social problems.

Patronage

Giving jobs or favors for political support.

Merit

System of hiring based on qualifications.

Civil Service Commission

Agency created to enforce merit-based hiring.

Boss Tweed

Corrupt leader of Tammany Hall in NYC.

13th Amendment

Ended slavery in the United States.

14th Amendment

Granted citizenship to all people born in the U.S.

15th Amendment

Prohibited denying voting rights based on race.

Angel Island

West Coast immigration station in San Francisco.

Battle of Little Bighorn

1876 battle where Sitting Bull defeated Custer.

Black Codes

Laws restricting the rights of freed African Americans.

Carlisle Indian School

Boarding school aimed at assimilating Native Americans.

Dawes Act

1887 law dividing tribal land into individual plots.

Ellis Island

East Coast immigration station for European immigrants.

Freedmen’s Bureau

Agency that helped former slaves after the Civil War.

Homestead Strike

1892 violent strike at Carnegie Steel.

Jim Crow Laws

Laws enforcing racial segregation.

Ku Klux Klan

White supremacist group using terror against African Americans.

Noble Savage

Belief that primitive people are naturally good.

Pendleton Act

1883 law creating civil service reform.

Plessy v. Ferguson

1896 case allowing “separate but equal” segregation.

Poll Tax

A tax required to vote, used to suppress Black voters.

Populism

Movement supporting farmers against elites.

Presidential Reconstruction

Reconstruction plan led by President Johnson.

Pullman Strike

1894 railroad strike shut down by federal government.

Radical Reconstruction

Congressional Reconstruction expanding Black rights.

Sand Creek Massacre

1864 massacre of Cheyenne by U.S. militia.

Sharecropping

Farming system trapping workers in debt.

Social Darwinism

Belief that success reflects “survival of the fittest.”

Transcontinental Railroad

1869 railroad linking East and West.

Turner Thesis

Frontier encouraged democracy and individualism.