US History: Gilded Age, Labor Movements, and Social Reforms

Who was Thomas Edison? Alexander Graham Bell?

Invented the electric light bulb. Invented the telephone.

What is the difference between Vertical and Horizontal Integration?

Vertical integration meant controlling all steps of production. Horizontal integration meant controlling one stage across the industry.

Who were Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller?

A steel tycoon who used vertical integration and promoted the Gospel of Wealth. A Standard Oil leader who used horizontal integration and built a monopoly.

What was the new middle class?

White-collar workers such as clerks, managers, and professionals, different from the old middle class of farmers and artisans.

Why did sweatshops, slums, and child labor rise dramatically in the latter 1800s?

De-skilling of labor, low wages, overcrowded housing, piecework in sweatshops, and whole families including children had to work.

What was Social Darwinism? Whose idea was it? What was the "Gospel of Wealth"? Who wrote about it?

The idea of "survival of the fittest" in society, promoted by Herbert Spencer and William Graham Sumner. The Gospel of Wealth was an essay by Andrew Carnegie arguing the rich must give back to society.

What was the New Immigration? Whom did it include? What was the Chinese Exclusion Act? Nativism?

Immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe, including Italians, Poles, Jews, and Greeks. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 banned Chinese immigration. Nativism was a preference for native-born people and hostility to immigrants.

What were political machines? What was the most famous (or notorious) political machine?

Local organizations that traded favors for votes, often helping immigrants but also corrupt. The most famous was Tammany Hall in New York City.

What was the Knights of Labor? The American Federation of Labor? The Industrial Workers of the World?

A broad, inclusive labor union that avoided strikes and eventually failed. A union of skilled workers that pursued practical goals under Samuel Gompers. A radical, socialist, militant union crushed by the government.

Who was Samuel Gompers? Who was Terrence Powderly? Who was Big Bill Heywood?

Leader of the AFL. Leader of the Knights of Labor. Radical leader of the IWW.

What happened during the Haymarket Riot? The Homestead Lockout? The Pullman Strike?

In 1886 a bomb exploded at a rally, police were killed, anarchists were blamed, and the labor movement was hurt. In 1892 workers struck at Carnegie Steel, fighting broke out with Pinkertons, and an anarchist attack damaged union support. In 1894 workers struck over wage cuts and high rent, supported by the ARU, but federal troops crushed the strike.

What did the Granger Laws regulate?

Railroads and grain storage rates to protect farmers.

What was the Farmers' Alliance? The Greenback Party?

An organization of farmers promoting cooperatives and reform. A political movement that wanted more paper money (inflation) to help debtors.

What kinds of things did the People's Party hope to achieve?

Government regulation of railroads, silver coinage, direct election of senators, income tax on the wealthy, and more political power for ordinary people.

Who was William Jennings Bryan? What was the Cross of Gold speech?

A Democratic and Populist leader. The 1896 speech called for free silver and attacked the gold standard.

What was Coxey's Army?

A march of unemployed workers in 1894 demanding public works jobs during the Panic of 1893.

What were Jim Crow Laws? What was the purpose of the Poll Tax? The Literacy Test? The Grandfather clause? What was Plessey v. Ferguson?

Segregation laws in the South. The poll tax charged a fee to vote. The literacy test blocked poor and Black voters. The grandfather clause let poor whites vote if their ancestors had. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) upheld "separate but equal" segregation.

Who was Ida B. Wells?

A journalist and activist who led the anti-lynching campaign and fought for civil and women's rights.

What was the Seneca Falls Convention about? Who was Elizabeth Cady Stanton? Susan B. Anthony?

The 1848 convention was the first women's rights gathering. Elizabeth Cady Stanton helped organize it and wrote the "Declaration of Sentiments." Susan B. Anthony was a leading suffragist who worked closely with Stanton.