Progressive Era Vocabulary Review

Progressives

A diverse group of reformers unified by the belief in the public interest, or what was best for the majority of the people.

Spoils System

The practice of rewarding political supporters with governmental jobs.

Civil Service

A system that requires people are qualified to hold government jobs.

Political Machines

An organization that controls all aspects of a local government through bribery and extortion.

Direct Primary

An election in which voters, rather than party leaders, choose their party candidate for office.

Recall

The process by which people may vote to remove an elected official from office before the end of their term.

Initiative

The process that allows voters to put a bill before a state legislature.

Referendum

A way for people to vote directly on a proposed law.

16th Amendment

It gave Congress the right to pass an income tax.

17th Amendment

It allowed citizens to directly elect their United States Senators.

Muckrakers

The term for a crusading journalist who exposed the evils of society.

The Jungle

A novel written by Upton Sinclair which exposed the horrors of the meat packing industry.

Trustbuster

Term for Roosevelt who worked to destroy monopolies and trusts.

Sherman Anti-Trust Act

Law that tried to ensure that trusts would not have too much control in big business.

Conservation

The protection of natural resources.

Meat Inspection Act

Declared that meat that passed over state lines would be inspected.

Pure Food and Drug Act

Law that required food and drug makers to list all ingredients on their packages.

Federal Reserve Act

Set up a system of federal banks; gave the government the power to control the money supply and set interest rates.

18th Amendment

Prohibition Amendment: Banned the sale and consumption of alcohol in 1919.

19th Amendment

Inspired by suffragists, gave women the right to vote in 1920.

Booker T. Washington

African American who advised African Americans to learn a trade to move up in society.

W.E.B. DuBois

Founder of the NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Lynching

Murder by a mob.

Segregation

The forced separation of African Americans and white people in public places.

Gentlemen's Agreement

Agreement that allowed Japanese women to join their husbands in the U.S. in exchange for reduced Japanese immigration.