APUSH UNIT 6 Terms

U6 Terms List CH. 17 RG Terms 1/12-1/13

Homestead Act

Landmark law granting 160 acres of public land to settlers (citizens/prospective citizens, including women, African Americans, immigrants) for a small fee, requiring them to live on, improve (build, farm), and cultivate the land for five years to gain full ownership

Wounded Knee Massacre

U.S. Army's slaughter of nearly 300 Lakota Sioux, including many women and children, near Wounded Knee Creek

Dawes Severalty Act 1887

U.S. law that broke up communal tribal lands into individual plots (allotments) for Native Americans, aiming to assimilate them into mainstream society by promoting private land ownership and farming

Turner’s Frontier Thesis

Argues that the American frontier—the constant westward expansion and available land—was the primary force shaping the unique American character, fostering individualism, democracy, and innovation, while separating the U.S. from its European roots

Andrew Carnegie

Scottish immigrant who became a "captain of industry," dominating the American steel industry through vertical integration and ruthless business practices, then becoming a major philanthropist, funding libraries and education based on his "Gospel of Wealth" philosophy that the rich should use their fortunes for the public good

John D. Rockefeller

American industrialist and philanthropist who founded the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and became one of the first multinational corporations in the world

Plessy v.Ferguson 1896

Supreme Court case that established the "separate but equal" doctrine, legalizing racial segregation in public facilities under the 14th Amendment

Robber Barons

19th-century industrialists (like Rockefeller, Carnegie, Vanderbilt, Morgan) who amassed huge fortunes through ruthless, often unethical, practices, including exploiting labor (low wages, poor conditions), eliminating competition via monopolies (trusts, horizontal integration), and manipulating markets

Social Darwinism

Misapplication of Darwin's evolution theory to society, arguing the "fittest" (wealthy/strong) succeed, while the "weak" (poor/minorities) fail, justifying laissez-faire capitalism, inequality, and opposing social aid as interfering with "natural selection," common during the Gilded Age to rationalize racism and imperialism

Gospel of Wealth

Andrew Carnegie's 1889 idea that the wealthy have a moral duty to use their fortunes for societal improvement, acting as stewards to fund libraries, education, and arts, rather than leaving wealth to heirs, thus justifying capitalism's inequality while directing surplus riches to benefit the poor and elevate society, especially helping those who would help themselves

Horatio Alger Myth

Any poor, honest, hard-working American youth could achieve success and wealth ("rags-to-riches") through virtuous effort and some luck, embodying the idealized "self-made man" during the Gilded Age, though often masking systemic barriers. 

Chinese Exclusion Act

First significant U.S. federal law to halt Chinese laborers from immigrating for 10 years, reflecting nativism, economic fears, and racial prejudice, and also barred Chinese already in the U.S. from citizenship, setting a precedent for future ethnic-based immigration restrictions

Political Bosses and Machines

Powerful, hierarchical party organizations in late 19th-century cities that controlled local politics by exchanging favors, jobs, and services for votes, especially from immigrants, using corruption like bribery and kickbacks, led by influential political bosses (like Boss Tweed of Tammany Hall)

Patronage

Political practice of giving government jobs, contracts, or favors (like money or protection) to supporters in exchange for political loyalty, votes, and campaign help

Great Railroad Strike of 1877

Nation's first major nationwide labor strike, triggered by massive wage cuts during the Panic of 1873 depression, leading railroad workers to stop trains from the B&O Railroad and spread across states, resulting in federal troops using force to end the violence, highlighting growing labor-capital conflict, and prompting greater union organization despite the strikers achieving no immediate gains

Knights of Labor

First major U.S. labor organization (founded 1869) in the Gilded Age, famously inclusive of skilled/unskilled, women, and Black workers, advocating for broad reforms like the eight-hour day, ending child labor, and cooperative workplaces, but declined after the Haymarket Riot linked them to violence, though they pioneered inclusive unionism and social justice goals

Haymarket Bombing 1886

Violent confrontation at a labor rally for the eight-hour workday, where a bomb exploded amidst police, leading to deaths and a subsequent unjust trial and conviction of anarchists

American Federation of Labor AFL

Powerful federation of skilled craft unions, founded by Samuel Gompers in 1886, that focused on practical "bread-and-butter" issues like higher wages, shorter hours, and better conditions, using strikes and collective bargaining, largely excluding unskilled workers and avoiding radical politics to achieve concrete economic gains for its members

Homestead Strike 1892

Violent labor dispute at Carnegie Steel's Homestead Works in Pennsylvania, workers of Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers struck against major wage cuts imposed by manager Henry Clay Frick, leading to armed clashes with Pinkerton guards and the eventual crushing of the union by the National Guard

Pullman Strike 1894

Major nationwide railroad strike at the Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago, sparked by wage cuts during an economic depression, leading to mass walkouts, federal intervention

National Grange Movement

Late 19th-century farmers' organization focused on improving farmers' economic and social conditions through education, cooperation (like co-op stores and grain elevators), and political action to fight monopolistic railroads and middlemen, leading to key "Granger Laws" regulating rates in Midwestern states

Wabash Case

Declared states cannot regulate interstate commerce, limiting state power and paving the way for federal regulation of railroads, leading to the Interstate Commerce Act (1887) to address unfair railroad practices like price discrimination and pools

Farmers Alliance

Major late 19th-century agrarian movement in the South and West, organizing farmers to combat economic hardship from low crop prices, debt, and railroad monopolies by forming cooperatives, advocating for political reforms (like subtreasury plans, railroad regulation, and free silver), and ultimately laying the groundwork for the Populist Party. 

Pendleton Act 1881

Landmark law that established a merit-based system for federal jobs, requiring exams and qualifications over political favoritism (the spoils system) and creating the Civil Service Commission to oversee it, shifting hiring from patronage to professionalism after President Garfield's assassination

Interstate Commerce Act 1886

Landmark federal law that first regulated railroads to combat monopolistic practices, requiring "just and reasonable" rates, banning rebates and pools, prohibiting long-haul/short-haul discrimination, and establishing the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to enforce these rules

Sherman Anti-Trust Act 1890

Federal law outlawing monopolistic practices, prohibiting any "contract, combination, or conspiracy in restraint of trade or commerce," making illegal trusts and cartels that stifled competition, and marking a shift from laissez-faire to government regulation to protect consumers and promote fair market practices during the Gilded Age

McKinley Tariff 1890

Republican-backed act that raised U.S. protective tariffs on imported goods to nearly 50%, the highest peacetime rates ever, aiming to shield American industries but causing consumer backlash and contributing to the annexation of Hawaii

Panic of 1893

Severe economic depression in the U.S., triggered by railroad overextension and the collapse of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad

Coxey’s Army

Protest march of unemployed workers, led by populist - who marched to Washington D.C. during the Panic of 1893 to demand government-funded public works projects (like road building) to create jobs and inflation for relief, symbolizing early labor activism and discontent with inaction on poverty

The Populist Party

Late 19th-century political movement representing farmers and laborers, emerging from the Farmers' Alliance to challenge big business and political elites during economic hardship

Cross of Gold Speech

William Jennings Bryan's electrifying 1896 Democratic Convention speech advocating for bimetallism (free coinage of silver) to help indebted farmers and workers by inflating currency