Western Expansion, Gilded Age, Industry

Monopoly

Complete control of a product or business by one person or group

Gilded Age

1870s - 1890s; time period looked good on the outside, despite the corrupt politics & growing gap between the rich & poor

John Rockefeller

Creator of the Standard Oil Company who made a fortune on it and joined with competing companies in trust agreements that in other words made an amazing monopoly.

Andrew Carnegie, industrialist

A Scottish-American industrialist who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century. Donated most of his money.

JP Morgan

Banker who buys out Carnegie Steel and renames it to U.S. Steel. Was a philanthropist in a way; he gave all the money needed for WWI and was payed back. Was one of the "Robber barons"

Coal mines

most dangerous working conditions due to accidents, dampness, breathing of coal dust; average life span of coal miner was 10 years less than other workers

Homestead Act

1862 law that gave 160 acres of land to citizens willing to live on and cultivate it for five years

Iaissez faire

holds that government should play a very limited role in business

subsidy

government payment to encourage the development of certain key industries (sac has railroads)

civil service

the government's non-elected workers

Pendleton Act

This authorized an independent civil service commission to make government appointments based on the merit system.

Rebates

partial refunds to favored customers

John Rockefeller

Creator of the Standard Oil Company who made a fortune on it and joined with competing companies in trust agreements that in other words made an amazing monopoly.

coal mines

most dangerous working conditions due to accidents, dampness, breathing of coal dust; average life span of coal miner was 10 years less than other workers

Transcontinental Railroad

one that stretches across a continent from coast to coast

Stalwarts

These Republican supporters of New York City boss Roscoe Conkling were strongly opposed to civil-service reform.

Chester A. Arthur

This president surprised everyone by turning reformer. His efforts to persuade Congress to reform the civil service resulted in the Pendleton Act.

Rutherford B. Hayes

This president was a strong supporter of civil-service reform. Although he did not succeed in getting congress to go along with his plans for reform, he was able to clean up the nation's customhouses.

graft

This was any type of unethical or illegal use of political influence for personal gain.

political machines

These were organized groups that controlled the activities of a political party in a city

Sitting Bull

This leader of the Hunkpapa Sioux never signed the Treaty of 1868. He helped to defeat the U.S. Army at the Little Bighorn, toured in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, encouraged the Ghost Dance Movement, and was killed during an attempt by reservation police to arrest him.

Great Plains

This is the vast grassland extending through the west-central portion of the United States

Chisholm Trail

This was the major cattle route from San Antonio, Texas, through Oklahoma to Kansas

Assimilation

Native Americans were supposed to be farmers, learn English and become Christians

Spoils System

A system of public employment based on rewarding party loyalists and friends.

Red Cloud

Leader of the Lakota Sioux who signed the Fort Laramie Treaty and advised his people to move onto the reservation

Dawes Act

This was supposed to "Americanize" Native Americans by encouraging in them the desire to own property and to farm reservation land distributed to Native American families.

Ghost Dance

This ritual was supposed to restore the Native American way of life.

George A Custer

This colonel's bad judgment in attacking native American warriors at the little bighorn river resulted in his death and that of all his troops

Battle of Wounded Knee (1890)

This resulted when the U.S. Army fired cannons on 340 starving, freezing Sioux; within minutes 300 were dead

Sand Creek Massacre

This resulted when the peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho were attacked without warning by the U.S. Army. Over 150 inhabitants were killed, mostly women and children.

William J. Fetterman

Captain whose troops were ambushed and massacred in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming by the Sioux Indians, who were opposed to the construction of the Bozeman Trail.

Edwin Drake

first successfully used a steam engine to remove oil from beneath the earth's surface

Eugene V. Debs

ran the American Railway Union and later ran for president several times as a socialist

Christopher Sholes

Invented the typewriter

Thomas Alva Edison

perfected the incandescent light bulb, created an electrical power system, and organized power plants

Mary Harris "Mother" Jones

organized coal miners, their wives, and their children to fight for better working conditions

George Pullman

railroad-car mogul who built a town to house his employees

Alexander Graham Bell

opened the way for worldwide communications with invention of the telephone

Henry Bessemer

developed a cheap and effective manufacturing process for making steel

Grover Cleveland

22nd and 24th president, Democrat, Honest and hardworking, fought corruption, vetoed hundreds of wasteful bills, achieved the Interstate Commerce Commission and civil service reform, violent suppression of strikes

James Garfield

the 20th President of the US; he died two months after being shot and six months after his inauguration.

Benjamin Harrison

23rd President; Republican, poor leader, introduced the McKinley Tariff and increased federal spending to a billion dollars

Urbanization

Movement of people from rural areas to cities

Settlement Houses (Notably Jane Addams' Hull House)

Founded in the late 1800s by social reformers

Tenements

Poorly built, overcrowded housing where many immigrants lived

Jane Addams

one of the most influential members of the social gospel movement, founded the Hull House

Ellis Island

An East Coast (NYC) immigrant receiving station that opened in 1892, where immigrants were given a medical examination and only allowed in if they were healthy

Melting Pot Theory

American culture is a blend of many different cultures by abandoning native language and culture

Angel Island

The immigration station on the west coast where Asian immigrants, mostly Chinese gained admission to the U.S. at San Francisco Bay. Between 1910 and 1940 50k Chinese immigrants entered through Angel Island. Questioning and conditions at Angel Island were much harsher than Ellis Island in New York.

Nativism

A policy of favoring native-born individuals over foreign-born ones

Chinese Exclusion Act

(1882) Denied any additional Chinese laborers to enter the country while allowing students and merchants to immigrate.

Gentlemen's Agreement

Agreement when Japan agreed to curb the number of unskilled workers coming to the US and in exchange for the repeal of the SF Segregation Order

Tammany Hall

Political machine in New York, headed by Boss Tweed.

Patronage

Granting favors or giving contracts or making appointments to office in return for political support

row house

single-family dwelling that shared side walls with other houses