UIL Social Studies - 2027

Adams, Charles Francis

Diplomat and critic of railroad corruption who exposed financial misdeeds in 'Chapters of Erie'.

Akerman, Amos T.

U.S. Attorney General under Grant who vigorously prosecuted the Ku Klux Klan.

Alger, Horatio

Author of 'ragged-to-riches' novels promoting the myth of self-made success.

Ames, Adelbert

Union general and Reconstruction-era Reconstructionist governor of Mississippi.

Ames, Oakes

Congressman implicated in the Crédit Mobilier railroad stock scandal.

Arthur, Chester A.

21st U.S. President who signed the landmark Pendleton Civil Service Act.

Beecher, Henry Ward

Prominent clergyman and reformer whose career was rocked by a sensational adultery scandal.

Bell, Alexander Graham

Inventor of the telephone, which revolutionized global communication systems.

Bellamy, Francis

Christian socialist who wrote the original Pledge of Allegiance in 1892.

Blaine, James G.

Republican 'Half-Breed' leader, Secretary of State, and 1884 presidential candidate.

Bly, Nellie

Pioneering investigative journalist famous for her undercover asylum expose and trip around the world.

Borden, Lizzie

Massachusetts woman tried and acquitted for the 1892 axe murders of her parents.

Brady, James Buchanan

Legendary Gilded Age financier and philanthropist known as 'Diamond Jim' for his wealth.

Brush, Charles

Inventor of the electric arc lamp, which brought early outdoor lighting to cities.

Bryan, William Jennings

Democratic populist leader famous for his anti-gold standard 'Cross of Gold' speech.

Carnegie, Andrew

Steel magnate and philanthropist who advocated for the 'Gospel of Wealth'.

Catto, Octavius

African American civil rights activist and educator assassinated during Philadelphia election violence.

Cleveland, Grover

Only U.S. President to serve two non-consecutive terms; known for his conservative fiscal policies.

Cody, William

Famous frontiersman and showman who created the legendary 'Wild West' show.

Colfax, Schuyler

Ulysses S. Grant's Vice President whose career was ruined by the Crédit Mobilier scandal.

Conkling, Roscoe

Powerful senator and leader of the conservative Republican 'Stalwart' faction.

Conwell, Russell

Baptist minister famous for his 'Acres of Diamonds' lecture promoting the Gospel of Wealth.

Cooke, Jay

Financier whose banking firm's collapse triggered the devastating Panic of 1873.

Croker, Richard

Corrupt political boss who succeeded John Kelly as leader of New York's Tammany Hall.

Debs, Eugene

Labor leader, founder of the American Railway Union, and prominent American socialist.

Dodge, Grace Hoadley

Philanthropist who founded the Association of Working Girls' Societies to aid urban female laborers.

Dodge, Grenville

Union general and chief engineer who oversaw the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad.

Douglass, Frederick

Abolitionist, orator, and statesman who advocated for civil rights during Reconstruction.

Edison, Thomas

Prolific inventor of the incandescent light bulb, phonograph, and motion picture camera.

Field, Marshall

Chicago merchant who revolutionized retail with his customer-focused department store empire.

Fisk, James

Wall Street financier who attempted to corner the gold market in 1869.

Fiske, John

Philosopher and historian who popularized evolutionary theory and Anglo-Saxon racial superiority in America.

Gates, John W.

Industrialist and promoter who popularized barbed wire, transforming farming on the Great Plains.

George, Henry

Reformer and author of 'Progress and Poverty' who proposed a single land tax.

Glidden, Joseph

Inventor who patented the first commercially successful barbed wire in 1874.

Godkin, E. L.

Influential editor of 'The Nation' who campaigned for civil service reform.

Gompers, Samuel

Founder and long-time president of the American Federation of Labor.

Gould, Jay

Ruthless railroad developer and speculator often labeled as a classic 'robber baron'.

Grant, Ulysses

18th U.S. President whose Reconstruction policies were overshadowed by administration scandals.

Green, Hetty

Financier nicknamed the 'Witch of Wall Street,' known as the richest woman in America.

Hanna, Mark

Industrialist and political strategist who secured William McKinley's 1896 presidential victory.

Harris, Mary

Labor organizer known as 'Mother Jones' who championed miners and child labor laws.

Harrison, Benjamin

23rd U.S. President who signed the Sherman Antitrust Act and McKinley Tariff.

Harvey, William

Author of 'Coin's Financial School,' a popular pamphlet advocating for free silver.

Hayes, Rutherford B.

19th U.S. President whose controversial election ended Reconstruction in 1877.

Hill, James J.

Empire-building railroad executive who constructed the Great Northern Railway.

Huntington, Collis P.

One of the 'Big Four' industrialists who built the Central Pacific Railroad.

Ingersoll, Robert G.

Orator and political leader famous for his defense of agnosticism and freethought.

Johnson, Andrew

17th U.S. President who clashed with Radical Republicans and was impeached.

Judah, Theodore

Railroad engineer who surveyed and promoted the first Transcontinental Railroad.

Kearney, Denis

Irish-born labor leader in California who led the anti-Chinese movement.

Knight, Margaret

Inventor who patented a machine to fold and glue flat-bottomed paper bags.

Latimer, Lewis

African American inventor who patented carbon filaments for light bulbs.

Lazarus, Emma

Poet who wrote 'The New Colossus' for the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.

Lease, Mary

Populist orator who urged farmers to 'raise less corn and more hell'.

Lloyd, Henry Demarest

Muckraking journalist whose book 'Wealth Against Commonwealth' attacked the Standard Oil monopoly.

Lockwood, Belva

Attorney and one of the first women to run for U.S. President.

McKinley, William

25th U.S. President who defended the gold standard and led during the Spanish-American War.

Morgan, J. P.

Financier who dominated corporate consolidations, including the creation of U.S. Steel.

Muir, John

Naturalist, preservationist, and founder of the Sierra Club.

Murphy, Isaac

African American jockey who won three Kentucky Derbies during the Gilded Age.

Nast, Thomas

Influential political cartoonist who helped bring down corrupt Tammany Hall boss William Tweed.

Norton, Charles Eliot

Harvard scholar and social critic who advocated for cultural reform and historic preservation.

Olmsted, Frederick Law

Landscape architect who designed New York City's Central Park.

Parker, Ely

Seneca leader and Union officer who served as Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

Parsons, Albert and Lucy

Anarchist labor activists; Albert was executed following the Haymarket Affair.

Powderly, Terence V.

Labor leader who expanded the Knights of Labor into a major national organization.

Pullman, George

Industrialist who designed luxury sleeper cars and built a notorious company town.

Rainey, Joseph

First African American to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Reed, Thomas

Republican Speaker of the House who reformed legislative rules to increase efficiency.

Rockefeller, John D.

Founder of the Standard Oil Company, dominating the American oil industry.

Sand, Julia

Letter writer whose correspondence influenced President Chester A. Arthur's reform policies.

Schurz, Charles

German immigrant, Union general, and senator who championed civil service reform.

Scott, Thomas

President of the Pennsylvania Railroad who played a key role in the Compromise of 1877.

Sherman, John

Senator who authored the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Sherman Silver Purchase Act.

Spencer, Herbert

English philosopher who applied evolutionary theory to human societies, coining 'survival of the fittest'.

Sprague, Frank

Inventor who developed the electric motor and pioneered electric streetcars.

Stanford, Amasa Leland

Railroad tycoon, California governor, and founder of Stanford University.

Stevens, Thaddeus

Radical Republican leader who fought for freedmen's rights and strict Southern Reconstruction.

Strong, Josiah

Clergyman who argued that Anglo-Saxons had a duty to Christianize and civilize the world.

Sullivan, John L.

Heavyweight boxing champion who became America's first modern sports celebrity.

Sullivan, Louis

Architect known as the 'father of skyscrapers' who pioneered 'form follows function' design.

Sumner, Charles

Radical Republican senator who fiercely advocated for civil rights for newly freed slaves.

Sumner, William Graham

Yale sociologist who popularized Social Darwinism and laissez-faire economic theory in America.

Tarbell, Ida

Muckraking journalist whose investigative reporting exposed the corrupt practices of Standard Oil.

Trumbull, Lyman

Senator who co-authored the Thirteenth Amendment and wrote the Civil Rights Act of 1866.

Twain, Mark

Famous author who co-coined the term 'Gilded Age' to describe post-Civil War America.

Tweed, William M.

Corrupt political boss of New York City's Tammany Hall political machine.

Vanderbilt, Alva

Socialite who used her wealth and lavish balls to force her family into high society.

Vanderbilt, Cornelius

Industrialist who built a massive shipping and railroad empire in the northeast.

Walker, Frances

Economist and statistician who directed the 1870 and 1880 U.S. censuses.

Ward, Montgomery

Merchant who founded the first mail-order business to serve rural consumers.

Weaver, James B.

Populist Party presidential candidate who won over one million votes in 1892.

Weed, Thurlow

New York journalist and Whig/Republican political boss who influenced patronage.

Wells, Ida B.

African American journalist who led a fierce national anti-lynching crusade.

Westinghouse, George

Inventor who developed railway air brakes and championed alternating current (AC) electricity.

Willard, Frances

President of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) who fought for women's suffrage.

Woodhull, Victoria

First female candidate for U.S. President and advocate for women's suffrage and free love.

Pacific Railway Act

1862 legislation authorizing land grants and government bonds to build the transcontinental railroad.

Pan-Americanism

Movement promoting economic and political cooperation among nations of the Americas.