Unit 2: 2nd Industrial Revolution, Gilded Age, Progressives, and Imperialism

What factors lead immigrants from Europe and Asia to move to the United States in the late 1800s?

Push Factors: Poverty, famine, religious persecution, lack of jobs, and political instability.\n\nPull Factors: More job opportunities, higher wages, freedom, and the hope of a better life.

What are entrepreneurs?

People who start and run businesses, taking financial risks to earn a profit.

Define free enterprise/free market.

An economic system where individuals can own businesses, compete, and make decisions with limited government interference.

Describe “laissez faire” policies.

A policy where the government avoids interfering in businesses and allows the economy to operate freely.

What is nativism?

A political and social ideology that prioritizes the interests, culture, and well-being of native-born or long-established residents over those of immigrants.

What were the impacts of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882?

It caused population declines, denial of citizenship, the rise of Chinatowns and illegal immigration, labor and wage disruptions, manufacturing decline, racial gatekeeping, and foreign policy strain.

Why did some Southern white leaders push for the establishment of a “New South”?

Southern white leaders pushed for the establishment of a “New South” primarily to rebuild the region’s shattered post-Civil War economy and preserve white supremacy.

Who coined the term “Gilded Age”?

Writer Mark Twain and his co-author Charles Dudley Warner.

What is a monopoly?

A market structure in which a single company or seller is the sole provider of a specific good or service with no close substitutes.

What is the difference between a Captain of Industry and a Robber Baron?

A robber baron is a businessman who built a fortune through ruthless, unethical, and monopolistic practices. A captain of industry is a visionary leader whose ingenuity and drive dramatically built up the national economy.

Define “social darwinism.”

The theory that views society as an evolving organism where the “best competitors” or “fittest” individuals, groups, or races naturally rise to positions of wealth and power.

Describe the working conditions for laborers in factories and sweatshops during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Long working hours, low wages, dangerous machinery, poor ventilation, overcrowding, and little to no job security.

What were company towns and company stores, and how did they relate to wage slavery?

Company towns were communities where workers lived in housing owned by employers, and company stores were where workers had to buy supplies. Spending wages at these stores and paying rent to employers kept workers trapped in debt and dependency (wage slavery).

What are labor unions? Give an example of a union formed during the Gilded Age.

Organizations of workers who join together to fight for better wages, safer working conditions, and shorter hours. An example is the American Federation of Labor.

Progressives pushed for reform to address a variety of issues. List 3 things progressives sought to change:

1. Improve working conditions and protect workers\n2. Reduce corruption in government and big businesses\n3. Improve public health

Define initiatives, referendums, and recalls.

Initiative: Citizens propose a law through petitions.\n\nReferendum: Citizens vote to approve or reject a law.\n\nRecall: Citizens vote to remove an elected official before their term expires.

What did the 16th Amendment do?

Gave the federal government the power to collect income taxes.

Compare and contrast the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Clayton Antitrust Act.

Sherman Antitrust Act: Made monopolies and business practices that restricted trade illegal.\n\nClayton Antitrust Act: Strengthened antitrust laws by targeting specific unfair business practices, such as price discrimination and certain mergers.\n\nBoth: Aimed to limit monopolies and protect competition.

What did Upton Sinclair intend to draw attention to in The Jungle? What was the actual effect?

Intended: To expose the terrible working conditions and exploitation of workers in meatpacking factories.\n\nActual effect: Readers focused on the unsanitary conditions, leading to demand for food safety laws.

Name the government agency that formed as a direct result of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

What is imperialism? What did this look like for the United States?

Imperialism is when a country extends its control over other countries and territories. For the U.S., it involved taking control of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam after the Spanish-American War, as well as annexing Hawaii.

Trace the relationship between the political, social, and economic changes brought about by industrialization and the development of imperialism in the United States.

Industrialization increased the need for raw materials and new markets. The U.S. expanded overseas to gain resources, sell products, and increase its political and economic power, leading to imperialism.