The Progressive Era

14th Amendment

This amendment declared that all persons born or naturalized in the United States were entitled equal rights regardless of their race, and that their rights were protected at both the state and national levels.

16th Amendment

gave Congress the power to pass an income tax

17th Amendment

Direct election of senators

18th Amendment

Prohibited the manufacture, sale, and distribution of alcoholic beverages

19th Amendment

Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1920) extended suffrage to women in federal or state elections.

Jim Crow Laws

Limited rights of blacks. Literacy tests, grandfather clauses and poll taxes limited black voting rights

Poll Tax

a tax of a fixed amount per person and payable as a requirement for the right to vote

Literacy test

A test administered as a precondition for voting, often used to prevent African Americans from exercising their right to vote.

Grandfather clause

A clause in registration laws allowing people who do not meet registration requirements to vote if they or their ancestors had voted before 1867.

Plessy v. Ferguson

Supreme Court ruled that segregation public places facilities were legal as long as the facilites were equal

Progressivism

the political orientation of those who favor progress toward better conditions in government and society

Muckraker

a journalist who uncovers abuses and corruption in a society

Settlement house

a center in an underprivileged area that provides community services

Jane Addams

the founder of Hull House and settlement house movement, which provided English lessons for immigrants, daycares, and child care classes

Direct primary

an election where voters directly select the candidates who will run for office

Initiative

process that permits voters to put legislative measures directly on the ballot

Referendum

The practice of letting voters accept or reject measures proposed by the legislature

Recall

gave citizens a chance to remove an elected official from office before the person's term ended

Florence Kelley

reformer who worked to prohibit child labor and to improve conditions for female workers

Temperance movement

campaign to limit or ban the use of alcoholic beverages

Suffrage

the right to vote

Carrie Chapman Catt

Conservative leader of the NAWSA from 1915 - 1920 and pushed the suffrage movement nation-wide

NAWSA

National American Woman Suffrage Association; founded in 1890 to help women win the right to vote

Alice Paul

Radical suffragist supporting protests against President Wilson and formed the National Woman's Party

NAACP

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, founded in 1909 to work for racial equality

Theodore Roosevelt

President who reformed government through the Square Deal

Meat Inspection Act

1906 - Laid down binding rules for sanitary meat packing and government inspection of meat products crossing state lines.

Pure Food and Drug Act

the act that prohibited the manufacture, sale, or shipment of impure of falsely labeled food and drugs

Conservation

The protection of natural resources

Woodrow Wilson

Democrat picked him as their candidate, he was a progressive. became President in 1912. Made a program called New Freedom. Also Federal Reserve Act.

Federal Reserve Act

a 1913 law that set up a system of federal banks and gave government the power to control the money supply

Clayton Antitrust Act

law that weakened monopolies and upheld the rights of unions and farm organizations

Civil disobedience

a form of political participation that reflects a conscious decision to break a law believed to be immoral and to suffer the consequences.

Injunction

an authoritative command or order

Social Welfare Programs

program made to ensure a basic living standard for all citizens

Municipal

relating to the government of a town or city

Home Rule

self-government in local matters by a city or county that is part of a national government

Antitrust Legislation

law intended to promote free competition in the market place by outlawing monopolies

Common Good

The good of the community as a whole.

Reform

To change for the better

Regulations

The formal instructions that government issues for implementing laws.

Interest Rates

These represent the cost of borrowing money.

Laissez-faire

a policy based on the idea that government sould play as small a role as possible in the ecomony

Willam Howard Taft

second progressive president from 1909-1913