Unit 6 APUSH Vocab

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Gilded Age

A period marked by rapid industrialization, massive wealth, technological growth, and significant social change, but also deep poverty, corruption, and inequality; this term was coined by Mark Twain

Urbanization

The massive shift of Americans from rural areas to and the development of cities

Monopolies

Massive trusts controlling entire industries with little to no competition

Social Darwinism

In the Gilded Age, this theory applied “survival of the fittest” to society, arguing the rich succeed due to natural ability, justifying laissez-faire capitalism, inequality, and minimal government intervention

Conspicuous Consumption

Where the newly wealthy (like “Robber Barons” spent lavishly on luxury goods not for need, but to publicly flaunt their immense wealth and social status, starkly contrasting with the poverty of the working class and sparking social criticism and reform movements

Unions

Worker organizations formed during the Gilded Age to fight for better wages, hours, and conditions through collective bargaining

New South

A post-Civil War vision for the American South focused on industrialization, diversification from agriculture, and racial reconciliation (though often failing in practice), promoted by figures like Henry Grady

Tenant Farming

An agricultural system post-Civil War where landless farmers (Black and white) rented plots from landowners, paying rent with a share of their crops (sharecropping) or cash, keeping them in cycles of debt and poverty, and serving as a crucial labor source for the “New South” but without economic independence

Conservation

Sustainable management of resources to ensure their availability for future generations

Preservation

Protecting resources and historical sites form destruction or overuse, keeping them untouched for future generation

Populist Party

Also known as the People’s Party, this late 19th-century political movement of farmers and laborers fought elite power (banks, railroads) with demands like bimetallism (free silver), graduated income tax, direct election of senators, and government ownership of railroads, as outlined in the Omaha Platform, aiming to empower common people but ultimately failing to win the presidency, though influencing later Democratic reforms

Political Machines

Powerful, boss-led urban organizations in the Gilded Age that controlled local politics through exchanging jobs, favors, and aid (especially for immigrants) for votes, often involving bribery and fraud

Settlement House

Community centers in poor urban areas, e.g., Jane Addams’ Hull House in Chicago, offering immigrants and the poor education (English, job skills, civics), childcare, recreation, and advocating for social reforms like labor laws, embodying the Progressive Era’s push for social uplift and community integration by bringing educated middle-class women into close contact with the working-class/immigrant experience

Transcontinental Railroad

The first continuous railroad line across the United States, completed in 1869, connecting the East and West coasts and revolutionizing travel and trade across the country.

Reservation

Assimilation

Laissez-faire

Plessy v. Ferguson

Socialists

Jane Addams

Gospel of Wealth

Capitalism

Mexican-American

Educational Institutions

Political Machines

Holding Companies

Trusts

Corporations

Pacific Rim

Social Gospel

Utopianism