US History: Reconstruction through Populism and the Labor Movement

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering post-Reconstruction America, industrialization, western expansion, Populism, and the rise of the organized labor movement based on lecture notes.

Compromise of 1877

An agreement that awarded the presidency to the Republicans in exchange for ending Reconstruction, resulting in the withdrawal of federal troops and returning Black Americans in the South to virtual slavery through disenfranchisement and segregation.

Poll Tax

A fee required in order to vote, implemented in the Jim Crow South as a political tactic to prevent Black men from voting.

Grandfather Clause

A voting restriction stating that a person could only vote if their grandfather had been eligible to vote, effectively disenfranchising Black citizens whose ancestors were enslaved.

Literacy Test

A reading and writing assessment administered as a prerequisite for voting, used in the South to disenfranchise Black voters.

Sharecropping

An economic arrangement where tenant farmers paid rent using a share of their crop, which functioned as a scam that kept Black farmers permanently in debt.

Plessy v. Ferguson

An 1896 Supreme Court ruling that established the legal doctrine of 'separate but equal,' upholding racial segregation across the South from 1877 to 1954.

Lynching

An illegal hanging executed by a mob without a trial.

Laissez-Faire Capitalism

An economic policy and philosophy where the government maintains zero involvement in the economy.

Vertical Integration

A business strategy of monopolization where a single company owns all steps of production and supply within an industry.

Interlocking Directorates

A practice where individuals serve on the corporate boards of directors of multiple competing companies to control an entire industry.

Social Darwinism

A social theory asserting that individuals or groups who adapt best to environmental and economic changes will achieve success.

Gospel of Wealth

The belief that acquiring financial wealth is a direct sign of God's divine blessing.

Old Immigrants

Immigrants who arrived in the United States between 1607 and 1850, primarily originating from Northern and Western Europe.

New Immigrants

Immigrants who arrived between 1880 and 1920, predominantly from Southern and Eastern Europe, facing cultural controversy over differences in language, dress, food, religion, and appearance.

Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)

Federal legislation passed by Congress halting all immigration from China to the United States.

How the Other Half Lives

A groundbreaking investigative journalism book written by Jacob Riis detailing the living conditions in New York City tenement apartments.

Yellow Journalism

A style of reporting that utilizes sensationalized, attention-grabbing headlines and stories designed to pull in readers, similar to modern clickbait.

Vaudeville

A popular form of live stage entertainment featuring a variety of acts.

Homestead Act (1862)

A federal law granting 160 acres of public land to any citizen who agreed to settle on and cultivate it.

Battle of Little Bighorn (1876)

A conflict between Native leaders Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse against George Armstrong Custer, in which Custer was outnumbered 10 to 1 and killed along with his troops.

Custer's Last Stand

A media-generated myth claiming Custer's forces held out heroically on a hill all day against impossible odds, becoming embedded in American founding folklore.

Dawes Act

Federal legislation that divided tribal lands into individual allotments for Native American families in an attempt to forcibly assimilate them into American culture.

Battle of Wounded Knee (1890)

An 1890 massacre in South Dakota where U.S. forces killed approximately 200 Lakota Sioux, marking the final major military conflict against Native Americans.

Rugged Individualism

The foundational American belief that any individual can achieve success through hard work, intelligence, and personal effort, personified in pop culture by the cowboy.

Populism

A 1890s political movement composed of distressed farmers responding to economic depression, overproduction, underconsumption, and high railroad freight charges.

William Jennings Bryan

A prominent speaker for the Farmers' Alliance and Populist leader who ran for president in 1896 under the Populist banner before being absorbed into the Democratic Party.

Haymarket Riot (1886)

A Chicago rally protesting police brutality and demanding a shorter work week that turned deadly when a bomb exploded, killing 7 and injuring 60, resulting in loss of middle-class sympathy for unions.

Pullman Strike

A massive railroad labor strike originating in Ohio that shut down rail traffic to the Pacific Ocean, resulted in 12 deaths, and turned middle-class public opinion against the labor movement.

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

A major labor alliance led by Samuel Gompers that sought improved wages, working hours, and conditions by operating within the capitalist system.

Collective Bargaining

The process in which organized workers negotiate as a group with employers to secure better wages, hours, and working conditions.

Capitalism

An economic system based on private ownership of the means of production by individuals or corporations.

Socialism

An economic framework in which the government or workers own the major means of production.

Communism

An economic system in which 100% of the means of production are publicly owned and controlled by the government.