Amex Unit 5 Key Terms

Black Codes

State laws that developed after the Civil War in the former Confederate states that limited the power/mobility of black people. These laws posed the question of whether anything really had changed after the war. Congress ended up later passing things to nullify these laws.

14th Amendment (1868)

The amendment that granted citizenship to anyone born in the US and prohibited states from denying life, liberty, or property without due process of law or equal protection under the law. Now race was no longer a barrier to citizenship and former congressmen/officials who aided the Confederacy couldn’t be in office unless 2/3 agreed to it.

Congressional Reconstruction Plan

A plan that combined the 10 remaining seceded states and split them into 5 districts whose voters elected new state constitutions (which were required to include Black suffrage). Once each state elected enough stuff, they were readmitted to the Union.

15th Amendment (1870)

The amendment that prohibited the government from denying suffrage to anyone on the basis of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. This opened up voting to all male citizens regardless of race, significantly changing the voting pool.

Reconstruction in Southern states

Included Black people in office, angering white congressmen. Large state expenditures were in efforts of providing the South with services the antebellum governments gave them.

Sharecropping

A farming system in which large landowners rented their fields to poorer farmers/families in return for a share of the crop product. Many Black people rented land because they enjoyed the sense of freedom and independence, while landowners also benefited from not having to pay for slaves but still getting a cut of the profit.

Crop-lien system

A system in which farmers promised some of their future crops in exchange for supplies from local merchants. Poor farmers fell into endless cycles of debt from this, causing them to lose their property. It also made farmers completely dependent on cotton/cash crops.

Grant Scandals

Included a French-owned construction company giving key congressmen stock so they wouldn’t be investigated for fraud, some secretary’s officials/distillers filing false reports, and war secretaries accepting bribes. This all fed into the impression of “Grantism” corrupting the government.

Ku Klux Klan

A secret society that used terrorism and violence to intimidate Black people and undercut their 14th and 15th amendment rights.

Enforcement Acts (1870-1871)

Acts that stopped states from discriminating against voters for their race and allowed the national government to prosecute individuals’ crimes by law. While these were seldom enforced, they did discourage KKK violence to an extent.

Panic of 1873

A huge financial crisis in the United States that caused unemployment and bankruptcy to skyrocket like never before.

Compromise of 1877

A promise made by Hayes to withdraw federal troops from the South, effectively ending Reconstruction in exchange for the support of Southern delegates from the 1876 election. The promise agreed to appoint at least 1 Southerner to the Cabinet, have control of federal patronage in Southern Democrat states, federal aid for pacific/Texas Railroad, and withdraw troops from the South.

Radical Reconstruction

The period of time after the Reconstruction Act of 1867 in which all Southern states were controlled by Republicans, there was an interracial democracy, and there were an estimated 2000 Black officeholders in Southern states. Newly enfranchised Black people gained a voice in government for the first time in American history, winning election to southern state legislatures and even to the U.S. Congress.

Radical Republicans

A group that believed blacks were entitled to the same political rights and opportunities as whites. They also believed that the Confederate leaders should be punished for their roles in the Civil War. They were the group that created the Reconstruction Acts.

Plains Native American Tribes

Native American groups whose economy relied on buffalo/bison. They were the most formidable foes white people encountered, but they usually were unable to resist against it because of disparities in healthcare/weaponry.

Hispanic New Mexico

Consisted of Spanish-speaking farming/trading communities who the nearby American troops tried to overtake by establishing a territorial government. So they rebelled and killed everyone behind the overtaking, delaying it by 3 years. New railroads, ranching, farming, and mining drew more Mexican immigrants, even though they were never offered high-paying jobs.

Californios

Hispanic California residents who faced large numbers of English-speaking immigrants during the gold rush. These immigrants went to great lengths to exclude them from the gold rush and used corrupt business deals/seizure to steal their land.

Chinese migration

Increased during the gold rush and was viewed by Americans as a rivalry because they were so successful and industrious. In western cities, they occupied “the lower rungs of the employment ladder.” Women and secret societies were sold into prostitution.

Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)

An act that completely blocked Chinese immigrants from coming to the United States. The Chinese population declined by over 40% in the 40 years after the act’s passage. This was the first US act that completely blocked a group from coming in solely on the basis of race.

Homestead Act (1862)

An act that allowed any citizen, including freed slaves, to buy 160 acres of public land after living there for 5 years. Many believed it would create new markets/outposts of commercial agriculture for the economy, while others didn’t think 160 acres was enough.

Mark Twain

The author of “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “Huckleberry Finn,” which both gave voice to his romantic vision of the frontier. This was a reflection of the Western yearning for freedom as the “last refuge from the constraints of a civilization.”

Turner Thesis (1893)

A thesis that said westward expansion defined and renewed American ideas about democracy/individualism. While this was accepted by the author’s contemporaries, it is now widely debated by historians.

Comstock Lode

A site in which silver was found in Nevada. Everything there was remote and had to be shipped to cities. Californian/eastern capitalists used quartz mining to get even more silver and made huge profits.

Cattle Kingdom

A term describing the large cattle industry in the West. “Range wars” arose due to competition between groups/businesses. The open-range cattle industry never recovered, although some established cattle ranches prevailed and prospered.

Pacific Railway Act (1862)

Concentration policy (1851)

A policy that forced tribes to only live in certain regions of the US so white people could take over the most desirable lands for themselves. This didn’t last long and was the start of many more “solutions” created by white people that led to dispute.

Sand Creek (1864)

The site where Arapano and Cheyenne camped and were massacred during the Civil War. They were basically tricked into going there and was a huge display of their mistreatment.

Little Bighorn (1876)

A battle in which Custer and his men were killed by a huge army of Sioux warriors. The Sioux didn’t have the political organization or supplies to keep going, and their power ultimately collapsed.

Apache Wars (1849-1886)

Wars fought between the US and Apache over who had rights to the land. Both sides were violent and the white people’s violence only continued after this.

Wounded Knee (1890)

The site of a SC massacre of 150-300 Sioux (Lakota) by the US army. \~40 white soldiers and 200 Sioux died. The US army had stronger technology which allowed them to almost mow them down in the snow.

Dawes Severalty Act (1887)

An act gradually eliminated tribal ownership of land/allotment of tracts to individual owners. Owners were granted citizenship, but no full property rights until 25 years. This separated families, promoted assimilation, spread Christianity, and was so corrupt that it was rarely enforced.

Communication technologies

Included the transatlantic telegraph, telephone, development of radio, electricity, typewriter, cash register, etc. These were all contributors to industrial growth and made everything more efficient.

Bessemer process

A process that converted iron into steel, which was much more durable and versatile. Created by Henry Bessemer and William Kelly. It made huge quantities of steel production possible and was used for locomotives, buildings, etc.

Henry Ford

An early leader of the automobile industry who stressed the standardization of parts and assembly lines. Companies like his dominated and from 1895-1917 the roads went from 4 cars to 5 million.

Taylorism

Frederick Winslow Taylor’s attempt to use scientific management to improve factory production. He basically made every task as simple as possible to minimize worker error, speed up production process, and make workers as replaceable as possible.

Andrew Carnegie

A Scottish immigrant who became a steel magnate and philanthropist during the Gilded Age. He dominated the steel industry and eventually became part of the creation of the US Steel Corporation.

J.P. Morgan

The creator of the US Steel Corporation, which merged many steelworks together. It was a huge $14 billion enterprise that controlled 2/3 of the country’s steel production.

Horizontal integration

A corporate combination in which a group of businesses who did the same thing were consolidated. This helped create less competition among businesses and ensure that the huge enterprises would come out on top.

Vertical integration

When a company takes ownership of businesses in various stages of production/distribution within the same industry. This eliminated (or severely minimized) competition from rivals.

John D. Rockefeller

The founder of Standard Oil, famous for horizontal and vertical integration, and the wealthiest man of the Gilded Age. He viewed consolidation as a coping mechanism for “cutthroat competition.”

Trusts

Attempts to stabilize prices in which stockholders in individual corporations transferred their stocks to a small group of trustees in exchange for the trust itself. Trustees ended up with control over many companies, even if they only owned a few.

Social darwinism

The belief that societies are subject to the laws of natural selection and that some societies/peoples are innately superior to others. This allowed capitalists to argue they deserved their success through “survival of the fittest,” but critics argued they only became successful by creating monopolies.

Gospel of wealth

Andrew Carnegie’s argument that those with immense wealth carry a greater burden to use it for social progress. He argued social darwinism was too harsh and that the wealthy should be more responsible in contributing to social justice.

Monopolies

Business entities that controlled an industry/market sector without any competition. Since they could price however they wanted, the economy produced severe recessions every 5-6 years, each one being worse than the last.

Industrial working conditions

Included a salary of $400-500 per year, lack of job security, instability, and made workers extremely close to poverty. The decreased need for skilled work allowed many women/children to be hired in the terrible conditions.

Knights of Labor

A short-lived national labor union championing 8-hour workdays and no more child labor (they wanted LAWS to be changed). It was open to almost all workers. They ultimately failed to win any meaningful concessions and lost their credibility.

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

A labor union comprised of skilled workers who went on strikes to gain concessions from management. They fought for better wages, hours, working conditions, etc. in the workplace, but no laws to actually be changed. LESS radical than the Knights of Labor.

Haymarket bombing (1886)

An incident in which a person bombed a crowd in Chicago and killed 7 policemen and 70 others. It symbolized social chaos/radicalism, was used to discredit labor unions, and now “anarchism” became code for terrorism/violence.

Homestead strike (1892)

A steel mill union strike where they set the plant on fire and fought the Pinkertons (strikebreakers). It was unsuccessful and workers eventually drifted back to their jobs within 4 months.

Pullman strike (1894)

A railroad strike after Pullman (company) slashed wages by 25%. The strike escalated to 27 states/territories before it was shut down by troops and resulted in a management victory.

Immigrant populations in urban America

Increased greatly, with 50 million European immigrants from 1800-WWI. Industrialization was a HUGE pull factor and more people were moving away from farming.

Assimilation

Occurred with schools teaching in English, stores selling American products, etc. Huge numbers of immigrants provoked fear among white people, which incentivized them to pass exclusionary acts.

Tenements

A form of housing consisting of crowded, miserable, windowless rooms without plumbing or heating. The working class/poor lived here and it was seen as a “great improvement” despite how terrible the conditions were.

Price gauging

Sellers trying to take unfair advantage of consumers during an emergency or disaster by greatly increasing prices for essential consumer goods and services.

Gustavus Swift

A Chicago cattle dealer who saw that local slaughterhouses lacked the scale to utilize waste by-products and cut labor costs, so he invented the assembly line; pioneered vertical integration and used predatory pricing to bring down his competitors. MONOPOLY!

Cornelius Vanderbilt

An American business magnate and philanthropist who built his wealth in railroads and shipping. Very significant in helping the economy and building a large empire of railroads.

Laissez-faire

A term referring to the lack of regulation/worker protection/minimum wage laws from the federal government during industrialization.

Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)

An act that prohibited illegal restraint of trade to break up trusts/monopolies (this was the main intention). However, it also made things hard for laborers since it prevented them from striking.

US v. Wong Kim Ark

A Supreme Court decision that ruled that all people born on American soil WERE citizens and could reenter the country. So if a Chinese person was born in the US, left, then came back, they would be allowed to reenter even with the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Lonewolf v. Hitchcock/Ex parte Crow Dog

Said that Congress had the ability to alter or cancel any Native American treaty at any time, and that they had the authority to make the call on the citizenship rights of Native Americans (they were seen as sovereign entities and NOT citizens).