Unit 1: Western Expansion, Populism, and Gilded Age Industry

Flashcards covering key vocabulary, terms, and historical concepts for Unit 1: Western Expansion, Populism, and Gilded Age Industry.

Gilded Age Industry

The rapid expansion of manufacturing, factories, and technological production in the late 19th-century United States.

Tariffs

Taxes raised on imported goods during the Gilded Age to protect domestic industry from foreign competition.

Robber Baron

A negative term used to describe Gilded Age industrial leaders who accumulated fortunes through ruthless, unfair, or unethical business practices.

Captain of Industry

A positive term used to describe business leaders who contributed beneficially to the nation by creating jobs, expanding markets, and engaging in philanthropy.

Edison

Thomas Edison, a prominent inventor whose technological innovations during the Gilded Age accelerated industrial growth and urban electrification.

Sherman Anti Trust

Federal legislation originally created to prevent monopolies and unfair business restraint, though early on it was frequently used against workers unions.

Social Darwinism

The application of 'survival of the fittest' theory to society and business, used to justify extreme wealth inequality and resist regulation.

Goals of workers unions

The primary demands of labor organizations during the Gilded Age, including higher wages, shorter workdays, safer workplace conditions, and recognition.

Yellow Dog Contracts

Employment agreements that required workers to pledge never to join a labor union as a condition of hire.

Populists

Members of a political movement advocating for agrarian interests, free silver coinage, government control of railroads, and political democracy for common people.

Western Expansion

The large-scale movement of American settlers into the Western territories, promoted by rail development, federal land policies, and economic opportunity.

Homestead act

A law providing public land in the West to citizens who met requirements such as paying a small fee and improving the land over five years.

Free Silver

A monetary policy supported by Populists and farmers demanding the unlimited coinage of silver to increase the money supply and alleviate debt.

Farmers

Agricultural workers who struggled with debt, low crop prices, high railroad shipping rates, and wanted monetary inflation through free silver.

Bankers

Financial figures during the Gilded Age who favored a strict gold standard, opposition to currency inflation, and protection of capital value.

Treatment of natives

Government actions and settler encroachment that resulted in forced displacement, land loss, conflict, and assimilation efforts toward Indigenous populations.

Pendleton Civil Service Act

A reform law enacted to curb political corruption by requiring civil service applicants to qualify through competitive merit exams.

Political Machines

Urban political organizations that retained control in big cities by exchanging social assistance, jobs, and services for votes.

Tammany Hall

The powerful New York City political machine notorious for political patronage, corruption, and strong influence among urban immigrant communities.

Anti-immigrant sentiment

Nativist hostility and discrimination directed toward incoming immigrants due to cultural differences, religious friction, and job competition.

Urbanization

The rapid growth and expansion of cities during the Gilded Age, which caused severe issues like tenement overcrowding, pollution, and poor sanitation.

Gilded Age

A historical era late in the 19th century characterized by shiny surface-level prosperity masking deep corruption, labor struggles, and economic inequality.

Laissez-faire

An economic concept advocating for minimal government intervention, regulation, or oversight in business and market affairs.

The Gospel of Wealth

An essay and doctrine popularized by Andrew Carnegie asserting that the wealthy hold a moral duty to give back to society through philanthropy.

Philanthropy

The practice of donating private riches to public causes, such as funding libraries, universities, and cultural institutions during the Gilded Age.

Industrial growth

The significant expansion of corporate production, resource extraction, and factory systems driving the late 19th-century American economy.

Impact on cities

The transformation of urban areas resulting in skyscraper construction, rapid population density, infrastructure demands, and socioeconomic division.

Failure of populists

The political decline of the Populist Party caused by presidential campaign losses, absorption into the Democratic Party, and failure to unite urban laborers with farmers.

Success of populists

The long-term impact of the Populist movement seen in the eventual adoption of many of their policy goals by major political parties during the Progressive Era.

Changes in immigration

A demographic transition during the late 19th century toward higher immigration numbers from Southern and Eastern Europe into industrial cities.