The Progressive Era and Gilded Age

Progressive Era

the period beginning in the late 1890’s and ending in 1920 

lynching (hangings)

kill (someone), especially by hanging, for an alleged offense with or without a legal trial

NAACP

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; a prominent American civil rights organization founded in 1909 to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of all people and to eliminate race-based prejudice

“Birth of a Nation”

A 1915 movie which is widely considered the first American “blockbuster”

professional class

a group of individuals with specialized knowledge and skills, typically acquired through higher education, who work in non-manual occupations like management, finance, law, medicine, and technology

Muckraking (investigative)

journalists “investigated almost every corner of American life: government, labor unions, big business, Wall Street, health care, the food industry, child labor, women’s rights, prostitution, ghetto life, and life insurance

monopolies

dominance led to concerns about concentrated wealth, unfair labor practices, and high prices

Theodore Roosevelt

26th US president during 1901

Sherman Antitrust Act

Prohibits monopolies: Section 2 makes it illegal to monopolize, attempt to monopolize, or conspire to monopolize any part of interstate trade. Outlaws anti-competitive agreements: Section 1 prohibits any contract, combination, or conspiracy that is in restraint of trade or commerce among the states. This includes agreements to fix prices, rig bids, or allocate customers or markets.

Meat Inspection Act

a law that mandated federal inspection of all meat-packing plants, preventing the sale of adulterated or misbranded livestock products and ensuring sanitary slaughtering and processing

“The Jungle”

a 1906 novel by Upton Sinclair that exposed the harsh conditions of the meatpacking industry in Chicago, leading to public outrage over unsanitary food production

Pure Food and Drug Act

first law regulating other food and drugs

Hepburn Act

gave the Interstate Commerce Commission the power to regulate railroad rates

Triangle Shirtwaist Company

a deadly 1911 factory fire in New York City that killed 146 garment workers, most of them young female immigrants

organized labor (unions)

the collective action of workers, typically through unions, to improve their wages, benefits, and working conditions

William H. Taft

27th US president; successor of Theodore Roosevelt - 1908

Woodrow Wilson

28th US president; successor of William H. Taft - 1912

16th Amendment

gave congress the power to impose an income tax, thus providing an important tool that would be used later on to expand the role and size of the federal government

Populist Party

a political party in the late 19th century United States that emerged from an agrarian-based political movement of farmers and laborers

17th Amendment

provided for the direct election of US Senators, who under the original Constitution were appointed by state legislatures rather than chosen directly by the people.

women’s suffrage

the movement and legal fight to grant women the right to vote in political elections

19th Amendment

giving women the right to vote

birth control movement

a social reform campaign beginning in 1914 that aimed to increase the availability of contraception in the U.S. through education and legalization

Margaret Sanger

pioneering American birth control activist, nurse, and writer who founded the birth control movement in the United States and is considered a founder of Planned Parenthood

temperance movement

to prohibit alcohol consumption

18th Amendment

banned the sale of liquor in the US after 1920

reapealed

formally revoked or ended

21st Amendment

the amendment to the US Constitution that repealed the 18th Amendment, ending the era of Prohibition

20th Amendment

allowed a president elect to take office of president soon January 20th following November election.

Eugene Debs

notable Socialist candidate - got nearly a million votes

birth control

access to information on how to prevent unwanted pregnancies - contraceptives, abortion, comstock law

Comstock Law

prohibited contraceptives from being mailed

Griswold vs Connecticut

involves the right of married persons to obtain and use birth control devices