APUSH Period 6

Gilded Age

Period from about 1870-1900 marked by rapid industrial growth, wealth inequality, political corruption, and social problems hidden beneath economic success.

Grandfather clause

Laws exempting people from literacy tests/other requirements if their ancestors had voted before 1860

Enforced white supremacy while disenfranchising Black citizens

Poll tax

A fee required to vote, used to prevent poor people, especially African Americans, from voting.

Sharecropping

post-Civil War agricultural system in the South where farmers (former enslaved AA’s & poor whites) rented land in exchange for a share of their crops, often trapping them in debt

Jim Crow laws

Laws enforcing racial segregation, through “separate but equal” facilities and discriminatory voting practices.

Plessy v. Ferguson

1896 Supreme Court case that upheld racial segregation under the 'separate but equal' doctrine

Since the separate facilities were equal for blacks and whites, it did not violate the 14th amendment

Chinese Exclusion Act

1882 law that banned Chinese immigration and was the first major restriction on immigration in the U.S…fueled by nativism and labor competition

Horace Greeley

Newspaper editor and political reformer; founder of the New York Tribune.

J. Pierpont Morgan

Powerful banker and financier. Specialized in industrial consolidation, forming massive corporations (US Steel) and reorganizing railroads. Stabilized economy.

Transcontinental railroads

Rail lines connecting the eastern and western United States, completed in 1869.

Bessemer Process

Method of mass-producing steel cheaply, fueling industrial growth.

U.S. Steel

First billion-dollar corporation, formed by J.P. Morgan buying out Carnegie Steel.

Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railroad Company v. Illinois

Supreme Court case ruled that individual states could not regulate interstate commerce, only the federal govt can

Interstate Commerce Act

1887 law that regulated railroad rates to be “just and reasonable”, and created the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC).

Vertical integration

Business strategy where a company controls all stages of production and distribution.

Horizontal integration

Business strategy where a company controls many firms in the same industry.

Trust (in business)

Legal arrangement where companies combine to reduce competition and control prices.

Cornelius Vanderbilt

Railroad tycoon who merged local railroads into a massive, efficient, and interconnected network.

Samuel F. B. Morse

Inventor of the telegraph and Morse code.

Alexander Graham Bell

Inventor of the telephone.

Thomas Alva Edison

Inventor known for the light bulb, phonograph, and motion picture camera.

George Westinghouse

Inventor and entrepreneur who promoted alternating current (AC) electricity.

Andrew Carnegie

Revolutionized steel production using the Bessemer process, practiced vertical integration, and promoted philanthropy “Gospel of Wealth”.

John D. Rockefeller

Oil tycoon who founded Standard Oil and used horizontal integration.

Standard Oil Company

Rockefeller's oil monopoly that dominated the oil industry.

Social Darwinism

Belief that wealth and success were signs of natural superiority and survival of the fittest…helping the poor goes against the laws of nature

Sherman Antitrust Act

1890 law aimed at limiting monopolies and trusts.

United States v. E. C. Knight

Supreme Court case that weakened the Sherman Antitrust Act, ruled that the federal govt couldn't regulate monopolies in manufacturing, only in interstate commerce

Adam Smith

Economist who supported laissez-faire capitalism and free markets.

Gospel of Wealth

Carnegie's belief that the rich should use their wealth to benefit society.

Homestead Strike

1892 deadly labor strike at Carnegie's steel plant in Pennsylvania triggered by wage cuts; union defeated

National Labor Union

Early labor organization that sought better wages, working conditions, and 8-hour workday

Knights of Labor

First major labor union in the U.S., welcomed skilled and unskilled workers, women, and African Americans. Fought for better wages, working conditions, abolition of child labor

Haymarket Square bombing

1886 peaceful labor protest in Chicago that turned violent when a bomb suddenly went off. After, public viewed labor unions as violent and anarchist, hurt the labor movement.

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

Labor union focused on skilled workers and practical goals like higher wages, rather than social reform.

Samuel Gompers

Leader of the AFL who promoted collective bargaining, to establish legally binding agreements regarding wages, hours, etc

Pullman Strike

1894 railroad strike sparked by wage cuts and high rents in George Pullman’s company town. Ended when President Cleveland sent federal troops

National Grange

Organization that supported farmers and pushed for railroad regulation.

Granger laws

State laws regulating railroad rates and grain storage fees to help farmers.

Farmers' Alliance

Agrarian movement (1870s-1880s) to fight farmer debt, declining crop prices, and high railroad rates.

Populist (People's) Party

Political party advocating reforms like free silver and government control of railroads. Emerged from Farmer’s Alliance

Booker T. Washington

African American leader who supported vocational education and gradual equality…to prove their value through hard work to gain respect and rights

W. E. B. Du Bois

African American intellectual who demanded immediate civil rights and higher education.

Nativism

Anti-immigrant sentiment favoring native-born Americans.

New Immigration

Immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe arriving after 1880.

Social gospel

Movement applying Christian ethics to social problems caused by industrialization, like poverty.

Settlement house

Community centers est in urban slums to help the poor/immigrants, providing education and healthcare. Run by middle-class women

Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)

Organization advocating temperance and women's rights.

Tuskegee Institute

School founded by Booker T. Washington to train African Americans in vocational skills.

Land-grant colleges

Colleges established under the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890, which provided states w/ federal land to create colleges focused on agriculture, engineering

National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)

Organization that fought for women's right to vote.

Homestead Act

1862 law granting 160 acres of land to settlers willing to farm it for 5 years. To promote Western settlement

Realism (in art and literature)

Movement that portrayed everyday life realistically.

Winslow Homer

Artist known for realistic paintings of American life.

Henry George, Progress and Poverty

Book arguing that a "single tax" on land would solve poverty. 

Frederick Law Olmsted

Landscape architect who designed Central Park.

Sitting Bull

Sioux leader who resisted U.S. expansion.

George A. Custer

U.S. general defeated at the Battle of Little Bighorn.

Little Big Horn

1876 battle where Native American forces defeated Custer.

Chief Joseph

Nez Percé leader who resisted forced relocation.

Geronimo

Apache leader who resisted U.S. military control.

Sioux Wars

Conflicts between the U.S. and the Sioux over land.

Nez Percé

Native American tribe forced from their lands in the Pacific Northwest.

Apache

Native American tribe of the Southwest.

Ghost Dance

Religious movement promising Native American renewal.

Battle of Wounded Knee

1890 massacre of Sioux, marking the end of armed Native American resistance.

Dawes Severalty Act

Law dividing tribal lands into individual plots to promote assimilation.

Reservation system

Policy forcing Native Americans onto designated lands.

Waving the bloody shirt

Political tactic reminding voters of Civil War loyalties.

Tweed Ring

Corrupt political machine led by Boss Tweed in New York City.

Credit Mobilier Scandal

Railroad corruption scandal involving bribery of Congress members.

Panic of 1873

Economic depression caused by railroad overbuilding and bank failures.

Samuel Tilden

Democratic candidate in the disputed 1876 presidential election.

Compromise of 1877

Agreement ending Reconstruction by removing federal troops from the South.

Pendleton Act

Law establishing civil service reform and merit-based government jobs.

William Jennings Bryan

Populist leader known for the 'Cross of Gold' speech.