U.S. History: Industrialization, Immigration, and the Progressive Era

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering the Age of Industry, immigration trends and legislation, labor movements, and Progressive Era reforms.

Telegraph

A communication technology invented by Samuel Morse in 1837 using Morse Code, expanding to over 1 million miles of wire in the U.S. by 1900.

Sixteenth Amendment

Progressive constitutional amendment that created the federal income tax.

Seventeenth Amendment

Progressive constitutional amendment establishing the direct election of U.S. senators by the people.

Eighteenth Amendment

Constitutional amendment that established Prohibition by outlawing alcohol.

Nineteenth Amendment

Progressive constitutional amendment by which women gained the right to vote.

Push Factors

Reasons that cause immigrants to leave their home countries, including war, economic depression, abuse, farm poverty, and rapid population growth in European cities.

Pull Factors

Conditions that attract immigrants to a new country, including job opportunities, the American Dream, better quality of life, cheap property, and personal freedoms.

Old Immigration (1800–1830)

Immigration wave primarily composed of people from Western and Northern Europe (known as WASPs) who assimilated quickly into American culture.

New Immigration (1890–1910)

Immigration wave of people from Eastern and Southern Europe who brought new religions like Judaism, formed separate ethnic communities such as Chinatown, and did not assimilate quickly.

Steerage

The large open area beneath a ship's deck characterized by crowded, filthy conditions and seasickness, where immigrant passengers traveled and waited to undergo screening.

Six Second Exam

A rapid medical inspection at Ellis Island involving a physical examination and eye test to check incoming immigrants for signs of disability or disease.

Americanization

The movement and process of assimilating incoming immigrants into American society and culture.

Nativism

A bias favoring native-born Americans over immigrants due to perceived economic threats to jobs and differences in religion.

Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)

Federal legislation that prohibited Chinese laborers from entering the country; it was rooted in job competition fears and remained in effect until repealed in 1943.

Angel Island

An immigration station operating on the West Coast from 1910 to 1940, known as the 'Ellis Island of the west,' designed to enforce the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Immigration Act of 1965

Legislation that abolished the restrictive national origins quota system and instituted a standard limit allowing 20,000 immigrants per country per year.

Guest Worker Program (1986)

A federal policy enabling immigrants to enter the country legally in order to fill vacant labor positions.

Bessemer Process

An industrial method developed by Henry Bessemer in 1855 that turned iron into steel much faster and more durably, initiating the development of skyscrapers.

Gilded Age (1870–1900)

An era named after a Mark Twain book characterized by the description: 'Looks like Gold, but only on the outside.'

Assembly Line

A manufacturing method in which workers repeatedly perform one or two tasks to increase efficiency and productivity, allowing Henry Ford to produce the Model T in less than 6 hours.

Capitalism

An economic system in which the means of production (factories) are privately owned rather than state-owned, operating to generate profit for individuals.

Monopoly

A market condition in which a single company controls an entire product, service, or industry, acting as the sole seller.

Horizontal Integration

A corporate strategy of bringing together as many companies as possible within the same industry by buying out competitors.

Vertical Integration

A corporate strategy that involves controlling every step of the production and distribution processes of a good.

Robber Barons

A term for the wealthiest and most successful industrialists of the Gilded Age, such as Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and J.P. Morgan.

Labor Union

A collection of organized workers formed to improve working conditions, pay, benefits, and overall workplace treatment.

Collective Bargaining

The process by which workers negotiate wages, benefits, and work rules together as a unified group rather than individually.

Tenements

Run-down, crowded, multi-family apartment buildings located in urban slums where working-class families lived.

Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)

Federal legislation that outlawed trusts and monopolies, famously used by President Theodore Roosevelt to initiate legal action against 44 corporations.

Bull Moose Party

The Progressive third party formed by Theodore Roosevelt when he ran against his handpicked successor, William Howard Taft, in the election of 1912.

Square Deal

President Theodore Roosevelt's reform program based on the 'Three C's': Conservation of Natural Resources, Control of Corporations, and Consumer Protection.

Muckrakers

Investigative journalists during the Progressive Era, a term coined by Theodore Roosevelt, who exposed corruption and social problems.

The Jungle

A novel written by Upton Sinclair detailing the horrific and unsanitary conditions in the meatpacking industry, prompting passage of the Meat Inspection Act of 1906.

Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)

A labor organization co-founded by Eugene Debs, a prominent union organizer and leader of the Socialist Party in the United States.

How the Other Half Lives

A book written by Jacob Riis describing the horrific conditions of urban slums, leading to legal requirements for light, fire safety, sanitation, and room sizes.

The Bitter Cry of Children

A book documenting the abuses of child labor that helped spur state legislation establishing minimum working ages, hour limits for minors, and compulsory schooling.

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (1911)

An industrial disaster in which 146 workers trapped on top floors were killed, leading to the creation of mandatory workplace safety standards.

Social Darwinism

A social theory applying biological natural selection and 'survival of the fittest' to human societies and nations, asserting that the strong survive while the weak die out.