The American Yawp: Vol 2 Vocabulary Study Set

Vocabulary terms and definitions from 'The American Yawp' U.S. History textbook covering major events and concepts from 1877 to the start of the 21st century.

Great Railroad Strike of 1877

A massive labor conflict sparked when rail lines slashed workers' wages during a stagnant economy; it was eventually suppressed by federal troops after nearly 100 people died and $40 million in property was destroyed.

Taylorism

Also known as scientific management, this principle urged manufacturers to increase efficiency by subdividing tasks into distinct, interchangeable parts to speed up production.

Economies of Scale

A financial principle where the cost of production per unit decreases as the volume of production increases, allowing large firms to realize massive profits after initial investments.

The Great Merger Movement

A period between 1895 and 1904 when four thousand companies—nearly 20 percent of the American economy—were folded into rival firms to avoid cutthroat competition.

Robber Barons

The great financial and industrial titans of the Gilded Age, including Cornelius Vanderbilt, J. D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and J. P. Morgan, who amassed unprecedented fortunes.

Social Darwinism

A theory popularized by Herbert Spencer that applied Darwin’s biological theories to society, suggesting that 'survival of the fittest' meant economic success proved superiority and that state welfare encouraged social degeneration.

Knights of Labor

A highly successful labor organization in the 1880s that united skilled and unskilled workers, including women, and envisioned a cooperative producer-centered society.

Haymarket Riot

An 1886 protest in Chicago where a bomb explosion killed seven policemen; the resulting sensationalism caused many Americans to associate unionism with radicalism and led to the collapse of the Knights of Labor.

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

A conservative alliance of craft unions that rejected the Knights of Labor's expansive vision in favor of 'pure and simple trade unionism'—aiming for practical gains like higher wages and shorter hours.

The People’s Party

Also known as the Populists, this third-party movement was organized by farmers in the 1890s to challenge the power of bankers, railroads, and industrial monopolists through a strong federal government.

Omaha Platform

The 1892 political vision of the Populists that proposed nationalizing railroad and telegraph systems, establishing postal savings banks, an inflationary monetary policy through silver, and a graduated income tax.

William Jennings Bryan

A skilled orator and Democratic presidential candidate known for his 'Cross of Gold' speech, which attacked the gold standard and promoted bimetallism for the benefit of the average American.

Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)

Commonly known as the 'Wobblies,' this radical and confrontational union formed in 1905 welcomed all workers regardless of race or gender and sought the overthrow of the capitalist system.

Homestead Act of 1862

A law that allowed male citizens to claim 160 acres of federally owned land in the West, provided they improved the land and lived on it for five years.

Sand Creek Massacre

An 1864 slaughter where John M. Chivington’s militia killed approximately two hundred peaceful Cheyenne men, women, and children near Fort Lyon in Colorado.

Dawes General Allotment Act

An 1887 law that splintered Native American reservations into individual 160-acre family homesteads in an attempt to force assimilation and American-style agriculture.

Ghost Dance

A religious ceremony based on a revelation by prophet Wovoka, promising that if Native Americans lived justly and performed the dance, their ancestors would rise, whites would vanish, and the buffalo would return.

Wounded Knee Massacre

The 1890 event in South Dakota where American cavalrymen killed between 150 and 300 Native Americans, marking the end of sustained, armed Native resistance in the West.

Turner Thesis

Frederick Jackson Turner’s influential theory arguing that the frontier was the source of America's exceptional hustle and democratic spirit, distinguishing it from European monarchies.

Tammany Hall

New York City’s infamous Democratic Party machine that operated as a mutual aid society for immigrants while profiting through legendary corruption and 'graft.'

Jim Crow Laws

A system of legal segregation in the South that enforced racial separation in schools, transportation, and public facilities while using literacy tests and poll taxes to disenfranchise black voters.

The Lost Cause

A civic religion that glorified the Confederacy and romanticized the Old South, claiming that secession had little to do with slavery and that soldiers fought for home and honor.

Muscular Christianity

A movement that sought to counteract the perceived effeminacy of modern office work by founded summer camps and outdoor clubs to put young men in touch with their 'primal manliness.'

Open Door Policy

A policy articulated by Secretary of State John Hay in 1899 calling for all Western powers to have equal access to Chinese markets.

Roosevelt Corollary

An expansion of the Monroe Doctrine in 1904 asserting that the United States had the right to preemptive action and police power in any Latin American nation to correct administrative and fiscal deficiencies.

Muckrakers

A label given by Theodore Roosevelt to journalists who used magazines and books to expose political corruption, business malfeasance, and the plight of the nation’s poor.

Social Gospel

A Protestant theological movement at the end of the 19th century that emphasized the salvation of society through the challenge of social, political, and economic structures.

Plessy v. Ferguson

An 1896 Supreme Court case that established the legal principle of 'separate but equal,' permitting racially segregated facilities provided they were ostensibly equivalent.

Zimmermann Telegram

A secret German diplomatic communication that offered support to Mexico to regain Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona if they joined the war against the United States; its revelation helped lead the U.S. into World War I.

The Harlem Renaissance

A period of African American cultural ferment in the 1920s centered in New York City, manifested through theater, art, music, and the works of 'New Negro' writers.

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

An ambitious New Deal program that built hydroelectric dams along the Tennessee River to control flooding and provide electricity to impoverished, non-electrified regions.

Executive Order 9066

An order signed by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1942 authorizing the mass exclusion and detention of over 110,000 Japanese-descended individuals, including 70,000 American citizens.

The Marshall Plan

Also known as the European Recovery Program, it pumped $13\,billion$ into Western Europe from 1948 to 1952 to rebuild economies and win support for capitalist democracies.

NSC-68

A 1950 national security memo that warned of a fanatic Soviet movement seeking world domination and urged a massive buildup of U.S. political, economic, and military strength.

Brown v. Board of Education

A 1954 landmark Supreme Court decision that found racial segregation in public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment, declaring that 'separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.'

The Great Society

President Lyndon Johnson’s package of domestic reforms aiming to end poverty and racial injustice through programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and the Voting Rights Act.

Stagflation

An economic dilemma of the 1970s characterized by the simultaneous onset of high inflation and stagnant economic growth/unemployment.

Supply-Side Economics

A theory popular during the Reagan administration holding that lower personal and corporate tax rates would encourage private investment and production, eventually 'trickling down' to lower-income groups.

Bush Doctrine

A policy claiming the United States has the right to unilaterally and preemptively make war on any regime or terrorist organization that poses a threat to the U.S. or its citizens.