American History - Unit 2

Immigration, Urbanization, and Westward Expansion

Mechanized Farming 

The use of technology, machinery, and equipment to perform agricultural tasks, replacing traditional manual labor to increase efficiency.

• Increased agricultural production meaning more food for society

• New technology however meant less farmers so they immigrated to cities for work (urbanization)

• unskilled labor with assembly line and mass production

Urban

The city and towns many workers moved to and became more populated as America industrialized.

Rural

The pre-industrialization, agrarian (farming) society with low population density.

Pull factors

• Reasons to enter a country/what attracts you to the country

• Religious freedom, jobs, land, democracy

Push factors

• Reasons to leave a country

• Political persecution, religious persecution, war, famine, no job

Bessemer Process

steelmaking method invented by Henry Bessemer that used a blast of air through molten pig iron to remove carbon and impurities, creating large quantities of inexpensive steel.

Robber Barons

Men who became rich through ruthless and unethical methods, trying to crush competitors and make monopolies while workers suffered and exploited.

• Cornelius Vanderbilt

• John D. Rockefeller

• Andrew Carnegie

• JP Morgan

Captains of Industry

Term used to describe the same wealthy businessmen but the positive impact they made on society through contributions and philanthropy.

• Cornelius Vanderbilt (railroad)

• John D. Rockefeller (oil)

• Andrew Carnegie (steel)

• JP Morgan (banking)

Monopoly

• Total control of an industry by one person/one company

  • Illegal

  • elimination of COMPETITION

    • It lowers costs for consumers

    • spurs the invention of new or better products and more efficient processes helping businesses

• Creation of Trusts = competitors merge into one company making trusts that make a monopoly.

Transcontinental Railroad

Connected east and west, 6 month journey cut to 6 days

• Trade faster and easier

• Opened new markets

• Created millions of jobs on the railroad and other industries.

Populist Party (Their Platform)

Was known as the peoples party and their ideals contributed to future movements that enacted the change.

• Wanted the Government to own railroads and control shipping rates instead of monopolistic companies.

• The Populist Party demanded graduate income tax so that wealthy individuals should pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes than lower-income earners. This was a key reform aimed at lowering economic inequality and shifting the tax burden away from working-class Americans and farmers. 

• The Populist Party encouraged the 8-hour workday signifying its goal of uniting industrial laborers and farmers against the perceived abuses of big business during the Gilded Age. By advocating for shorter working hours, the party aimed to improve conditions for the working class and create a powerful political alliance. 

Angel Island

• Processing center on the west coast

• Much harsher experience for Asian immigrants compared to Ellis Island

Ellis Island

• Processing center for millions of immigrants on the east coast

Old Immigration

• northern/western Europe (Germany, England)

• skilled

• literate

• English speaking,

• fit in well

• adapted easily to American culture

New Immigration

• southern/eastern Europe

• unskilled

• illiterate

• poor

• not as accepted into society

• led to immigration restrictions

Nativism

• people who favor native born Americans, anti-immigrant support Nativism

• Nativists get legislation passed to end unrestricted immigration

  • Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

    • Banned immigration from China

Immigration Act of 1924

• Also known as National Origins Act of 1924

• Sets a quota on the number of people who could immigrate from a certain country

• Creates a steep decline in the number of new immigrants

Social Darwinism

• Darwin’s theory of natural selection or survival of the fittest (in society)

• Used to justify the superiority of the wealthy and the gap between rich and poor

• Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth = rich give back to society to fund public places for themselves only because they were fit and able to succeed.(Philanthropy)

Laissez-Faire

Government does not interfere in the economy (hands off)

• No rules, no regulations, no laws!

• Led to creation of LABOR UNIONS

  • Organization of workers who fight for rights and better conditions (wages, hours, safety) yet taken done sometimes by government

  • Collective bargaining

    • Negotiations between workers and management on labor hours, salary, working conditions

  • Why did unions fail?

    • Labels such as communists/anarchists

    • People willing to work despite low pay/bad conditions

    • Blacklists = companies wouldn’t hire people in unions

Trail of Tears

The forced migration of American Indian tribes, notably the Cherokee, from their ancestral lands in the southeastern United States to designated Indian Territory in the West

Assimilation

The U.S. government sought to absorb Native Americans into mainstream Euro-American culture by eradicating their traditions, language, and social structures and replacing them with dominant cultural norms.

Reservation System

established to remove Native Americans from their ancestral lands, confine them to designated areas, and facilitate westward expansion, with the stated goals of Americanization and farming

Dawes Act

A U.S. law that aimed to assimilate Native Americans into mainstream American society by ending communal land ownership and dividing reservation lands into private parcels. By breaking up tribal landholdings, the act's proponents hoped to promote individualism and capitalism among Native peoples. However, the act resulted in the loss of millions of acres of Native land, poverty, and the breakdown of tribal communities

Ghost Dance

was a Native American spiritual movement and ceremonial dance that arose in the late 19th century, primarily in Nevada and spreading to the Great Plains, as a response to the devastating impacts of American westward expansion and colonization.

Manifest Destiny

belief that the United States was god given right to expand across North America, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.