history after 1877 midterm 1

Industrialization era

The growth of industries and factories, leading to mass production of goods and major economic and social changes.

railroads

A transportation system of trains and tracks that connected different parts of the country, speeding up trade, travel, and settlement.

Farmer’s Alliances

Groups of farmers in the late 1800s who united to fight for better prices, fairer railroad rates, and government support.

Cotton Farming

The large-scale planting and harvesting of cotton, especially in the South, often linked to sharecropping after slavery ended.

Settlement Houses

Community centers in cities that provided help, education, and services to poor immigrants and urban families.

Jim Crow

State and local laws that enforced racial segregation and discrimination in the South after Reconstruction.

Lynching

The killing of someone (often African Americans) by a mob without a legal trial, used as a tool of racial terror.

Plessy v. Ferguson

An 1896 Supreme Court case that legalized “separate but equal” segregation, keeping racial segregation in place.

Disfranchisement

Denying certain groups, especially African Americans, the right to vote through laws like poll taxes and literacy tests.

Gilded Age

period (late 1800s) of rapid economic growth, wealth, and corruption, where society looked prosperous but had deep problems.

Horizontal Integration

When a company buys out or merges with other companies in the same industry to reduce competition.

Vertical Integration

When a company controls every step of production, from raw materials to finished product, to increase profits.

Child Labor

The practice of using children to work in factories, mines, or farms, often in unsafe and unfair conditions.

Knights of Labor

An early labor union that tried to organize all workers (skilled and unskilled) to fight for better wages and conditions.

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

A labor union founded in 1886, focused on skilled workers and improving wages, hours, and working conditions.

Nativism

The belief that native-born Americans should be favored over immigrants; led to discrimination against immigrants.

Chinese Exclusion Act

An 1882 law that banned Chinese immigrants from coming to the U.S., the first law restricting immigration by nationality.

Department Store

A large retail store that sold many different goods in sections, making shopping more convenient in cities.

Americanization

The process of immigrants adopting American customs, language, and culture, often encouraged in schools and workplaces.

Wounded Knee Massacre

In 1890, U.S. soldiers killed hundreds of Lakota Sioux, marking the violent end of Native American resistance.

Chisholm Trail

A famous cattle-driving route used after the Civil War to move cattle from Texas to railroad hubs in Kansas.

Dawes Act

An 1887 law that divided Native American land into private family plots to force assimilation and weaken tribes.

Homestead Act

An 1862 law that gave settlers free land in the West if they farmed it for five years, encouraging westward expansion.

Republic of Hawaii

A short-lived government formed after U.S. businessmen and settlers overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893.

Open Door Policy

A U.S. policy (1899) that said all countries should have equal trading rights in China, protecting U.S. access to markets.

Spanish-American War

war in 1898 where the U.S. defeated Spain, gaining control of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.

Platt Amendment

A war (1899–1902) fought when Filipinos resisted U.S. control after the Spanish-American War; the U.S. won.

Panama Canal

A man-made waterway built by the U.S. (opened 1914) that connected the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, boosting trade and naval power.