Unit 7 (1890-1945)

horizontal integration

A business strategy where a company buys competing firms to dominate one industry.

vertical integration

A business strategy where a company controls multiple steps of production and distribution.

Panic of 1893

A severe economic depression caused by railroad failures, bank collapses, and weak financing

Panic of 1907

A major financial panic that exposed the weakness of the U.S. banking system.

Homestead Strike (1892)

A violent steelworkers' strike against Carnegie Steel in Pennsylvania.

Pullman Strike (1894)

A major railroad strike that spread nationally after wage cuts at the Pullman Company.

Progessives

A reform period when Americans pushed government to address problems from industrialization and urban life.

Initiative

A process that lets voters propose new laws directly.

referendum

A direct vote by citizens on a proposed law or policy.

recall

A procedure that allows voters to remove an elected official before the term ends.

17th Amendment

The amendment that established direct election of U.S. senators by voters.

Sherman Antitrust Act

An 1890 federal law aimed at breaking up monopolies and restraining trusts

Northern Securities case

A 1904 Supreme Court case that broke up a large railroad trust.

Clayton Antitrust Act

A 1914 law that strengthened federal power against monopolies and unfair business practices.

Federal Reserve Act

The 1913 law that created the Federal Reserve System to stabilize banking and the money supply.

Meat Inspection Act

A 1906 law that required federal inspection of meatpacking plants and meat products.

Pure Food and Drug Act

A 1906 law that banned mislabeled and contaminated food and medicines.

New Deal

Franklin Roosevelt's program of federal relief, recovery, and reform during the Great Depression.

Social Security Act

A 1935 law that created pensions and other federal protections for economic hardship.

limited welfare state

A system where government provides some economic protections without fully guaranteeing equality or broad social benefits.

fireside chats

Roosevelt's informal radio addresses used to explain policies and reassure the public.

Harlem Renaissance

A flowering of African American art, literature, and music centered in Harlem in the 1920s.

Scopes Trial (1925)

The court case over whether a teacher could teach evolution in Tennessee.

Prohibition

The nationwide ban on alcohol created by the 18th Amendment.

Nativism

A belief that favors native-born Americans over immigrants and often promotes anti-immigrant prejudice.

New Immigrants

Immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe who arrived in large numbers in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Immigration Act of 1924

A federal law that set strict immigration quotas based on national origins.

Great Migration

The mass movement of African Americans from the South to northern and western cities.

Jim Crow

A system of segregation and racial discrimination enforced mainly in the South.

Red Summer (1919)

The wave of racial violence and riots that struck American cities.

Alfred Thayer Mahan

A naval strategist who argued that national power depended on a strong navy and overseas bases.

Social Darwinism

The idea that competition among people and nations was natural and showed who was strongest.

Spanish-American War (1898)

The war in which the United States defeated Spain and gained overseas territories.

Open Door Policy

A U.S. policy calling for equal trade access in China without formal colonization.

Roosevelt Corollary

An addition to the Monroe Doctrine claiming the U.S. could intervene in Latin America.

Anti-Imperialist League

A group that opposed U.S. overseas expansion after the Spanish-American War.

Zimmermann Telegram

A secret German message urging Mexico to ally against the United States during World War I.

Fourteen Points

Wilson's plan for a fair peace after World War I based on openness and self-determination.

League of Nations

An international organization proposed after World War I to keep peace through cooperation.

Treaty of Versailles

The peace treaty that formally ended World War I and imposed harsh terms on Germany.

Red Scare (1919-1920)

A period of intense fear that radicals, communists, or anarchists threatened the United States.

Neutrality Acts

Laws meant to keep the United States out of foreign wars during the 1930s.

Lend-Lease

A program that let the U.S. supply Allied nations with war materials before formally entering World War II.

"Arsenal of Democracy”

A phrase describing the United States as the major producer of weapons and supplies for the Allies.

Double V Campaign

A World War II campaign calling for victory against fascism abroad and racism at home.

Japanese internment

The forced relocation and confinement of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Korematsu v. U.S.

A Supreme Court case that upheld the wartime internment of Japanese Americans.

United Nations

An international organization created after World War II to promote peace and cooperation.

Bretton Woods system

The postwar international financial system that established rules and institutions for global economic stability.