APUSH Period 6 (1865–1900): The Gilded Age, Industrialization, and Western Expansion

Comprehensive practice flashcards in vocabulary format covering political, economic, and social developments of the Gilded Age, the Industrial Revolution, Western Expansion, and Period 6 of AP U.S. History.

Credit Mobilier Scandal

A scandal during President Grant's administration in which railroad insiders and congressmen, including the vice president, used railroad stock to generate personal profits.

Whiskey Ring

A Federal bribery scandal in which President Grant's personal secretary was embezzling $3,000,000 in federal excise taxes on liquor.

Tammany Hall

A NYC Democratic political machine led by William 'Boss' Tweed, who embezzled over $200,000,000 before being publicly exposed by political cartoonist Thomas Nast.

Compromise of 1877

An agreement resolving the 1876 presidential election that gave the presidency to Rutherford B. Hayes in exchange for withdrawing federal troops from the South, officially ending Reconstruction.

Civil Rights Cases of 1883

A series of Supreme Court rulings that invalidated the Civil Rights Act of 1875 by deciding that the 14th Amendment prohibited governmental civil rights violations, not private acts of racial discrimination.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

A Supreme Court decision that legalized Southern segregation policies by establishing the constitutional doctrine of 'separate but equal.'

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

A federal law prohibiting the immigration of Chinese laborers, marking the first U.S. federal legislation to restrict immigration explicitly on the basis of race and nationality.

Pendleton Act

An 1883 civil service reform law that established the Civil Service Commission and mandated competitive examinations for federal office applicants to reduce political patronage.

Pacific Railroad Act

An 1862 federal law that provided land grants and loans to build the first transcontinental railroad.

Horizontal Integration

Used by John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, in which a corporation merges with or acquires competing firms within the same industry to monopolize the market.

Vertical Integration

Used by Andrew Carnegie's steel corporation that controlled every phase of manufacturing, from extracting raw resources to final distribution, eliminating middlemen and improving efficiency.

Social Darwinism

A philosophy applying Charles Darwin's theories of natural selection to human society, arguing that the wealthy were hardworking and fit to survive, while the poor were weak.

Gospel of Wealth

The moral belief by Andrew Carnegie that wealthy elites held a moral obligation to use their fortunes to benefit society by funding libraries, universities, and charities.

Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890

Outlawed monopolies, trusts, and business agreements that restrained trade, which was initially ineffective against corporations and instead used by courts to break up labor unions.

Knights of Labor

A labor union founded in 1869 by Terence Powderly that organized skilled and unskilled workers, including women and African Americans, but lost national support after the 1886 Haymarket Riot.

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

A federation of craft unions established in 1886 by Samuel Gompers that admitted skilled workers only and focused exclusively on practical goals such as higher wages, better hours, and improved working conditions.

Munn v. Illinois (1877)

A Supreme Court ruling that upheld state Granger laws by establishing that state governments had the constitutional authority to regulate private businesses devoted to public use.

Wabash Case (1886)

A Supreme Court ruling that overturned state Granger laws by deciding that individual states did not have the constitutional authority to regulate interstate commerce.

Interstate Commerce Act of 1887

Established the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), outlawing railroad pools and rate rebates, and representing the federal government's first major attempt to regulate private industry.

Dumbbell Tenement

A multi-story housing structure built to maximize urban tenant occupancy, commonly characterized by poor ventilation, unsanitary conditions, and the spread of diseases like cholera, typhoid, and tuberculosis.

New Immigrants

Immigrants arriving after 1880 predominantly from Southern and Eastern Europe (including Italy, Russia, Poland, and Greece) who were largely non-Protestant, poor, illiterate, and unskilled.

American Protective Association (APA)

An anti-immigrant nativist group formed by American Protestants to oppose Catholic immigrants arriving from Southern and Eastern Europe.

Social Gospel Movement

A religious reform effort that urged Christian churches and believers to apply Christian principles directly to solve problems of urban poverty.

Hull House

A settlement house founded in Chicago in 1889 by Jane Addams that offered immigrant communities social services, English classes, and childhood education.

Booker T. Washington

An African American leader, advocated vocational education and economic self-help rather than immediate political confrontation against racial segregation.

W.E.B. Du Bois

A civil rights leader who demanded immediate social and political equality. He emphasized the importance of higher education for the "Talented Tenth" of the African American community.

Homestead Act of 1862

Offered 160 acres of public Western land to any citizen who lived on and improved the plot for 5 years.

Comstock Lode

A massive deposit of silver discovered in Nevada in 1859 that spurred a major mining boom and expedited Nevada's entry into the Union.

Sand Creek Massacre

1864 conflict when the Colorado territorial militia attacked and killed over 100 Native Americans, largely composed of women and children.

Battle of Little Bighorn

1876 battle in which Sioux warriors killed Colonel George Custer and the 7th Cavalry.

Battle of Wounded Knee

1890 battle in the Dakota Territory where the U.S. Army killed over 200 Sioux practicing the Ghost Dance, ending the major Indian Wars on the Western frontier.

Dawes Severalty Act of 1887

A law that divided tribal reservations into individual 160-acre family allotments and extending citizenship to those who adopted 'civilized' life for 25 years.

Populist Party

A political formed in the 1890s by agrarian and labor groups who demanded government ownership of railroads, the free and unlimited coinage of silver, a graduated income tax, and direct election of senators.

Pullman Strike of 1894

A national railroad strike that collapsed when President Grover Cleveland deployed federal troops and obtained a federal court injunction to force workers back to work.

Cross of Gold Speech

1896 address advocating for the free coinage of silver over the gold standard.