U.S. History: Reconstruction Through the World War I Era

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering major political, social, and economic developments in the United States from Reconstruction through World War I.

13th Amendment

A constitutional amendment ratified in December 1865 that officially abolished slavery and involuntary servitude across the United States, except as criminal punishment.

14th Amendment

A constitutional amendment ratified in July 1868 granting citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. and guaranteeing due process and equal protection under the law.

15th Amendment

A constitutional amendment ratified in February 1870 prohibiting federal and state governments from denying citizens the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Sherman’s Special Field Order No. 15

An order issued in January 1865 redistributing roughly 400,000 acres of confiscated coastal land in 40-acre plots to approximately 40,000 freed families, originating the phrase 'forty acres and a mule.'

Freedmen's Bureau

A federal agency operating from 1865 to 1872 that provided emergency food, healthcare, labor contract dispute resolution, and schooling to newly emancipated African Americans.

The "New South"

A modernization campaign promoted by Southern elites like Henry Grady in the late 19th century to industrialize the region with mills, railroads, and mines, reliant on cheap segregated labor and convict leasing.

Compromise of 1877

An unwritten political agreement resolving the disputed 1876 presidential election by awarding Rutherford B. Hayes the presidency in exchange for withdrawing federal troops from the South, marking the end of Reconstruction.

Transcontinental Railroad

A nationwide rail line completed on May 10, 1869, at Promontory Summit, Utah, connecting the Central Pacific and Union Pacific tracks to enable rapid coast-to-coast transit.

Company Town

An isolated industrial settlement where a corporation owned all housing, utilities, and stores, frequently paying employees in company scrip to maintain labor control.

Great Railroad Strike of 1877

The first nationwide strike in American history, sparked by repeated wage cuts on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and suppressed by federal troops after nationwide violence.

Chinese Exclusion Act

An 1882 federal statute that banned Chinese laborers from immigrating for ten years and denied existing Chinese residents eligibility for U.S. citizenship.

"The New Colossus"

An 1883 sonnet by Emma Lazarus, inscribed on the Statue of Liberty's pedestal, framing the statue as the 'Mother of Exiles' welcoming global immigrants.

Social Darwinism

A 19th-century theory formulated by thinkers like Herbert Spencer applying 'survival of the fittest' to human society to justify laissez-faire capitalism and wealth disparity.

"The Gospel of Wealth"

An 1889 essay by Andrew Carnegie arguing that wealthy individuals have a moral obligation to distribute their surplus wealth during their lifetime to fund public institutions and self-improvement.

Plessy v. Ferguson

An 1896 Supreme Court decision that upheld state racial segregation laws under the 'separate but equal' doctrine.

Social Gospel

A late 19th- and early 20th-century Protestant reform movement advocating that Christian salvation requires confronting social ills such as urban poverty and labor exploitation.

Ida B. Wells

An investigative journalist, sociologist, and NAACP co-founder who documented Southern lynchings to prove they were deliberate economic and racial violence against successful Black Americans.

Settlement Houses

Urban neighborhood community centers, such as Chicago's Hull-House co-founded by Jane Addams in 1889, where middle-class reformers lived among and provided services to immigrant families.

Taylorism (Scientific Management)

A management method developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor that used timed, repetitive steps to boost factory output, deskilling labor and reducing worker autonomy.

John Muir

A preservationist author, explorer, and Sierra Club co-founder who campaigned for Yosemite National Park and promoted preserving untouched wilderness.

Muckrakers

Progressive Era investigative journalists who exposed corporate malpractice, political corruption, and dangerous living and working conditions in mass-market publications.

The Jungle

A 1906 novel by Upton Sinclair that exposed horrific and unsanitary conditions in Chicago's meatpacking industry, compelling the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act.

Progressives

Middle-class reformers active from the 1890s to the 1920s who sought government intervention to curb corporate monopolies, clean up politics, and safeguard public welfare.

Woman Suffrage Movement

A decades-long civil rights campaign led by organizations like NAWSA and the National Woman's Party that culminated in the ratification of the 19th Amendment in August 1920.

Sinking of the Lusitania

The May 7, 1915, torpedoing of a British ocean liner by a German U-boat, resulting in 1,198 deaths (including 128 Americans) and galvanizing American anti-German sentiment.

Zimmerman Telegram

A secret German diplomatic cable intercepted in January 1917 proposing a military alliance with Mexico against the U.S., accelerating the American declaration of war in April 1917.

Fourteen Points

President Woodrow Wilson’s January 1918 vision for post-WWI peace, proposing open diplomacy, free navigation, national self-determination, and the creation of the League of Nations.

Spanish Flu (1918 Influenza Pandemic)

A global H1N1 influenza outbreak between 1918 and 1920 that infected one-third of the world population and caused an estimated 17 to 50 million deaths worldwide.

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

A catastrophic workplace fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, killing 146 garment workers locked inside, spurring mandatory municipal safety regulations and union expansion.