Unit 3 FINAL EXAM: Industrialization & Urbanization

Industrialization & Urbanization

The rapid growth of industry and cities in the late 1800s; caused crowded cities, factory jobs, and major social changes.

Rise of Inequality

Industrial wealth was concentrated in the hands of a few, while many workers lived in poverty and poor conditions.

Wealth Disparity

The large gap between the rich and poor during the Gilded Age.

Laissez-Faire

Economic policy where the government does not interfere in business; favored by big business during the Gilded Age.

Labor Rights Movement

Workers fought for better pay, safer conditions, and shorter hours; led to the rise of labor unions like the AFL.

Social, Economic, and Political Reform

Changes aimed at fixing problems caused by industrialization, such as corruption, poverty, and poor working conditions.

Populism and the "People's Party"

A political movement by farmers in the late 1800s calling for reforms like railroad regulation and direct election of senators.

Socialists

People who believed in public ownership of industries and reducing wealth inequality; some wanted major economic reforms.

Social Darwinism

Belief that the "fittest" in society (rich and powerful) naturally succeed, and helping the poor interfered with nature.

Settlement House Movement

Community centers like Jane Addams' Hull House that offered education, child care, and support for poor and immigrant families.

Women's Suffrage

The fight to give women the right to vote, which succeeded with the 19th Amendment in 1920.

Progressive Presidents

Leaders like Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft, and Woodrow Wilson who aimed to reform business and society.

Targeting the Trusts

Efforts to break up monopolies and regulate big businesses to promote fair competition (also called 'trust-busting').

Teddy Roosevelt

26th President; a Progressive who busted trusts, supported conservation, and passed consumer protection laws.

Muckrakers

Investigative journalists who exposed corruption and problems in society (e.g., Upton Sinclair, Jacob Riis).

Jim Crow America and African Americans

Laws and customs that enforced racial segregation and inequality in the South after Reconstruction.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Supreme Court decision that upheld "separate but equal" segregation laws.

Native Americans

Faced forced assimilation, loss of land, and cultural suppression during westward expansion and into the 20th century.

Immigrants

Came to the U.S. in large numbers during the late 1800s and early 1900s; often faced discrimination and poor living/working conditions.

Jacob Riis

Photographer and journalist who exposed the harsh living conditions of the urban poor in How the Other Half Lives.

Progressivism

Reform movement that aimed to fix social, political, and economic problems caused by industrialization.

Upton Sinclair

Author of The Jungle, which exposed unsafe practices in the meatpacking industry.

Meat Inspection Act (1906)

Law passed after The Jungle; required sanitary conditions and federal inspection of meat products.

Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)

Law that banned the sale of unsafe food and drugs and led to the creation of the FDA.

Margaret Sanger

Advocate for women's health and birth control; founded what later became Planned Parenthood.

Booker T. Washington

African American leader who promoted vocational education and gradual progress for Black Americans.

W.E.B. Du Bois

Co-founder of the NAACP; demanded immediate civil rights and higher education for African Americans.