Post-Civil War America: Reconstruction, Industrialization, Labor, and Immigration

Vocabulary flashcards covering the Reconstruction era, civil rights, industrial monopolies, labor unionization, and late 19th-century immigration.

Reconstruction

The period after the Civil War during which the United States tried to rebuild the South.

13th Amendment

The constitutional amendment that abolished slavery.

14th Amendment

The constitutional amendment that granted equal protection of the laws to African Americans.

15th Amendment

The constitutional amendment that gave African American men the right to vote.

Black nadir

The lowest point for African Americans since the end of the Civil War.

Poll tax

A tax required to be paid before a citizen could vote.

Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

An organization formed in 1866 that used threats and violence to intimidate African Americans.

Segregation

The separation of Black people and white people, which mostly took place in the South.

Jim Crow laws

Laws designed to maintain white power in society.

Separate Car Act of 1890

A law requiring 'equal but separate' accommodations for white and Black railroad passengers.

Plessy v. Ferguson

A Supreme Court ruling establishing 'separate but equal' by deciding that separate facilities did not violate the 14th Amendment.

Booker T. Washington

An educator who founded the Tuskegee Institute.

W.E.B. Du Bois

An African American sociologist, historian, and civil rights leader who aimed for the NAACP to end segregation and be a force for change.

Entrepreneurs

The first people to start a business.

Corporation

A business entity made up of workers and shareholders.

Cornelius Vanderbilt and Jay Gould

Prominent business figures in the railroad industry.

Interstate Commerce Act

Federal legislation that went into effect in 1887 following state-level Granger laws in the mid-1870s and the establishment of state regulatory commissions to address robber barons.

Andrew Carnegie

The most dominant figure in the steel industry who utilized vertical and horizontal integration to create a monopoly.

Vertical integration

A business strategy utilized by Andrew Carnegie for industrial production.

Horizontal integration

A business strategy adopted by Andrew Carnegie to deal with his competition.

Social Darwinism

The belief that wealthy individuals represented the fittest of humans, destined to survive and succeed.

Gospel of Wealth

Andrew Carnegie's refined ideas regarding wealth and the social responsibility of the rich to give back.

Titusville, Pennsylvania

The site where the first American oil was discovered, initially used primarily for fuel and kerosene.

John D. Rockefeller

An oil tycoon who ran Standard Oil, used price cutting to attract customers, controlled about 90% of the oil industry by the 1880s, and reestablished a holding company trust in response to regulators.

Ida Tarbell

A journalist who wrote a series of investigative articles exposing John D. Rockefeller.

Labor unions

Groups of workers who banded together for better pay, hours, and conditions, originating among skilled trades like cigar makers, shoemakers, and coal miners.

Strike

A labor tactic where workers stop working to force companies to listen to their demands.

Great Railroad Strike

A major strike involving around 100,000 workers that began after workers' pay was cut by 10% at the B&O Railroad.

Knights of Labor

A labor organization that fought for an 8-hour workday.

Haymarket Riot

A protest that turned violent after a dynamite bomb was thrown into a crowd, ultimately resulting in executions.

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

A labor organization led by Samuel Gompers that sought higher wages, better benefits, and safer working conditions.

Homestead Strike and Pullman Strike

Two major labor strikes in the 1890s that set back the labor movement.

Angel Island

The arrival port for West Coast immigrants entering the United States.

Ellis Island

The processing station where most European immigrants landed starting in 1892.

Americanization

A movement aimed at immersing immigrants in American culture.

Nativists

People who favored native-born Americans over immigrants.

Political machine

An exclusive power structure that controlled city politics, exemplified by Tammany Hall led by Boss Tweed.