Gilded Age - WW2 Final

Horatio Alger Myth

A poor, honest boy can rise to wealth and success in America through hard work, good character, and self reliance. Ragged Dic. Significant because it embodies the american dream.

Frontier Thesis

Fredrick Jackson Turner- Westward expansion is the key to liberty, freedom, democracy and individualism in America. Problem- ignored the plight of native Americans.

Personal Liberty Law

Passed by several Northern states, aimed to block the fugitive slave act and provide some rights to alleged runaway slaves. Significant because it fueled tensions and pushed nation closer to civil war.

Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth

the wealthy should use their fortunes for the good of others and invest in things that will make society better. Wealthy know best how to spend money, so should facilitate that capitalist movement. Significant because it gave robber barons a lot of power.

Triangle Waist Company Fire

Primarily immigrant women and girls working in a textile factory, caught on fire, but due to the harsh working conditions they were under, the doors were locked and 146 workers did not escape. Significant because it raised outrage and safety concerns and led to a greater movement for workers rights and safety.

1893 Depression

Also known as Panic of 1893, triggered by the switch between gold to silver backing, and railroad overbuilding, became an international issue. Led to Coxey’s Army march.

1894 Jacob Coxey’s Army

consisted of unemployed workers marching to DC to demand congress to create federal jobs building roads and public works, proposing that the government pay them with paper money to stimulate economy. Although not widely successful, set a precursor for the New Deal ideas that would follow.

1894 Pullman Strike Led by Eugene Debs

Pullman arranged housing for his workers, but when the Panic of 1893 caused pay cuts, rent stayed the same. Workers in chicago alongside the ARU (american railway union) were striking. Cleveland sent troops and the strike was shut down. Delegitimized the ARU 

1989 War with Spain

Ended Spains colonial empire and introduced the US into the world of colonialism. Brief but decisive victory for US. Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, Philippines. Sparked by sinking of USS Maine.

Emilio Aguinaldo

First president of the Philippines, fought against Spain for independence and later tried to resist American control.

1899-1902 Philippine War

Aguinaldo fought for independence from US, immense civilian casualties. Treaty of Paris allowed US to just take the territory.

Puerto Rico

The Treaty of Paris after the 1898 War with Spain ceded the territory of Puerto Rico to the US.

1899 Anti Imperialist League

Mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie, Jane Addams, others believed that imperialism, especially after the annexation of the Phillippines, was against the ideals of American liberty.

Lochner v New York

“Freedom of Contract doctrine” stated that the 14th amendment of the constitution meant that labor laws didn’t need to be instituted to protect workers in the name of the Free Market.

Muller V Oregon

Limited working hours for women to 10 hours a day. Allowed better conditions for women and set a precedent that government could regulate working conditions.

Louis brandeis

first jewish supreme court justice. “Brandeis Brief” “the right to be left alone” used science to prove the real world impact of laws

Florence Kelley

Worked to establish protections for women and children in the workplace, like the 10 hour workday. Prohibition of child labor in illinois.

14th amendment

granted citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the U.S., including formerly enslaved people, and guaranteeing all citizens "equal protection of the laws" and "due process" from state governments, fundamentally extending the Bill of Rights to states and shaping key legal decisions on discrimination, rights, and governance. 

police powers

Because so many new laws were created in the progressive era, police powers expanded. Became bureaucratic. Corruption limited through specialized types of police work, like detectives.

Freedom of Contract

Freedom of contract is the legal principle that people can freely enter agreements, choosing whom to contract with and setting their own terms, forming a core of contract law. Lochner Era: The Supreme Court used this principle to strike down many labor and economic regulations, viewing them as undue state interference. 

WEB Dubois founded NAACP, 1909

Du Bois was a leading intellectual advocating for political and economic equality, challenging Booker T. Washington's accommodationist approach. 

Muckrakers

Ida Tarbell: The history of the standard oil company- criticized Rockefeller. Evidence based investigative journalism uncovered corruption.

Lincoln Steffens: investigative reporting that exposed political and corporate corruption in the early 20th century. His work, particularly his 1904 book The Shame of the Cities, focused on municipal corruption and helped fuel the Progressive movement

Upton Sinclair: The Jungle, meatpacking industry

Woodrow Wilson’s War Message

Woodrow Wilson's 1917 war message to Congress asked for a declaration of war against Germany, framing it not as revenge but as a moral crusade to make the world "safe for democracy," protect liberty, uphold international law (especially freedom of the seas), and defend the rights of small nations against autocratic aggression, citing Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare and the Zimmermann Telegram as key provocations. He emphasized America's selfless aims, seeking no conquest, only vindication of human rights and a just, democratic world order. 

Robert La Follette’s dissent 1917

La Follette was a leading voice against U.S. involvement, voting against the declaration of war in 1917 and arguing the nation wasn't neutral and that war was driven by "selfish ambition and cruel greed" of a few.

The Great War

The Great War, or World War I, was a global conflict from 1914-1918, marking the first truly massive war, hence the name, where European powers (Allies vs. Central Powers) fought with new technologies like tanks and trench warfare, leading to unprecedented destruction and reshaping global politics, society, and economies, with its causes rooted in imperialism, nationalism, alliances, and the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. 

Great Migration

the mass movement of about six million African Americans from the rural South to cities in the North, Midwest, and West between 1910 and 1970, seeking jobs and escaping segregation, racism, and violence, fundamentally reshaping American demographics and culture.

Lusitania

a British luxury ocean liner sunk by a German U-boat on May 7, 1915, during World War I, killing 1,198 people, including 128 Americans, which ignited U.S. outrage and fueled anti-German sentiment, becoming a significant turning point that pushed the neutral United States closer to entering the war two years later due to Germany's policy of unrestricted submarine warfare. 

Red Scare 1919

a period of intense fear of communism, socialism, and anarchism in the United States, particularly after World War I. It was fueled by post-war labor strikes, social unrest, and a series of anarchist mail bombs in 1919, leading to widespread panic and anti-immigrant sentiment

Palmer Raids

The Palmer Raids were a series of aggressive U.S. government raids in 1919-1920, led by Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, targeting suspected radicals (communists, socialists, anarchists) amid post-WWI fears of revolution, resulting in mass arrests, sometimes without warrants, and deportations, significantly violating civil liberties in the first Red Scare. 

anti russian sentiment

Russians in the U.S. faced intense suspicion, persecution, and restrictive immigration due to the Red Scare and fear of communism, leading to deportations (Palmer Raids) and tightened quotas

Anti German Sentiment

anti-German sentiment in the U.S. exploded due to wartime propaganda, which demonized Germans as "Huns," leading to widespread suspicion, violence, and cultural suppression against German Americans, including renaming foods (sauerkraut to "liberty cabbage"), banning German language in schools, changing town names, interning "enemy aliens," and even lynching individuals, forcing many German Americans to assimilate to avoid persecution. 

national german american alliance

The hostility toward German-Americans during WWI crippled the Alliance, forcing it to disband by 1918 as its efforts to maintain a distinct cultural identity clashed with wartime nationalism. 

espionage and sedition acts 1917-1918

US laws during WWI that cracked down on dissent, making it a crime to help the enemy, obstruct the military (like draft dodging), or use "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" about the U.S. government, flag, or armed forces, effectively silencing anti-war speech and criticism under the guise of national security. 

Mollie Steimer

anarchist: got involved in Abrams v united states

Henry Ford’s Model T

it was the first affordable car for the average American, thanks to Henry Ford's mass-production innovations, especially the moving assembly line. The increased mobility led to the growth of businesses like restaurants, suburbs, and farms, and it helped create a larger middle class. 

Planned Obsolescence

emerged in the 1920s as a deliberate business strategy, exemplified by the Phoebus Cartel (1925) colluding to shorten light bulb lifespans to 1,000 hours for more sales, and by General Motors (GM) using annual redesigns (dynamic obsolescence) to make cars seem outdated, fostering continuous consumer purchasing through style and engineered decay, setting a template for modern consumerism. 

Radio

transforming American culture by creating a shared national experience through instant news, music (jazz!), and entertainment (drama, sports) in homes, fostering unity, shaping consumer tastes, revolutionizing politics with direct communication, and boosting new industries like advertising, making it a defining technology that connected a vast, diverse nation like never never before. 

Rising Consumer Debt

fueled by new credit options like installment plans, making big-ticket items (cars, radios, appliances) affordable for average Americans, shifting identity from producer to consumer, and creating a "buy now, pay later" culture that spurred economic growth but built up an unsustainable "credit bubble," contributing to the 1929 crash and the Great Depression. 

19th Amendment 1920

, granting women the right to vote by prohibiting states from denying this right based on sex. but Despite the 19th Amendment, many women faced continued barriers to voting, including poll taxes, literacy tests, and Jim Crow laws.

1928 Election Al Smith v Herbert Hoover

The campaign is considered a realigning election that highlighted growing urban/rural and cultural divisions within the Democratic party, setting the stage for future political dynamics. 

Prohibition

Prohibition in the 1920s was a nationwide ban on making, selling, and transporting alcoholic drinks, established by the 18th Amendment and enforced by the Volstead Act, which aimed to reduce crime and improve morality but instead fueled organized crime, created speakeasies, and led to widespread law-breaking, ultimately ending with the 21st Amendment in 1933.  

Al Capone

Chicago's most infamous Prohibition-era crime boss, symbolizing organized crime's power, violence (like the St. Valentine's Day Massacre), and media allure; he built a massive bootlegging empire, was ultimately jailed for tax evasion, and became a cultural icon immortalized in films, representing the era's lawlessness and the struggle of law enforcement. 

Wickersham Commission

It documented the widespread evasion of Prohibition and its negative effects on American society and recommended much more aggressive and extensive law enforcement to enforce compliance with anti-alcohol laws.

Quota Act 1924

a U.S. law that drastically restricted immigration by establishing strict national origins quotas, favoring Northern/Western Europeans while severely limiting Southern/Eastern Europeans and effectively banning Asians to preserve American homogeneity.

Sacco and Vanzetti 1927

two Italian-born anarchist immigrants, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, who were convicted of armed robbery and murder and executed in Massachusetts in 1927. Their trial and execution became a symbol of social and political tension, sparking a major international protest as many believed they were innocent victims of xenophobia and anti-immigrant bias, particularly because of their anarchist beliefs.  

buying on margin

Buying on margin allowed investors to purchase stocks by paying only a small percentage of the total price (sometimes as little as 10-20%) and borrowing the rest from a stockbroker or bank. This strategy, known as leverage, amplified potential returns in a rising market, which made it highly popular during the "Roaring Twenties". 

1929 Stock Market Crash

The 1929 stock market crash was a sudden and steep decline in U.S. stock prices in October 1929, triggered by speculation, overconfidence, and a lack of regulation. The crash, particularly on Black Thursday (October 24) and Black Tuesday (October 29), wiped out fortunes, led to widespread bank failures, and ushered in the Great Depression. 

Neurasthenia

Neurasthenia is a historical diagnosis for a nervous condition marked by extreme mental and physical fatigue, weakness, irritability, headaches, and insomnia, stemming from "nerve exhaustion" due to modern life's stresses

Herbert Hoover

defined by the failure to combat the Great Depression, highlighting debates on government's role in crises, with his legacy often reduced to "Hoovervilles" despite his efforts like the RFC and Smoot-Hawley Tariff. He championed limited government but reluctantly expanded federal action, ending interventionist foreign policy and pursuing disarmament, yet his response to the economic collapse led to massive electoral defeat and lasting negative public perception, contrasting sharply with his earlier public image. 

Bonus March 1932

Douglas McArthur set federal troops against unemployed WW1 veterans. demanding early payment of a promised bonus, legislated for 1945 but needed during the Great Depression. After Congress rejected the immediate payment, President Hoover ordered the U.S. Army to forcibly clear the veterans' makeshift camps in July 1932, using gas and bayonets, leading to injuries and burning their shantytown, an event that damaged Hoover's presidency and highlighted the nation's hardship. 

Woody Guthrie this land is your land

Guthrie wrote it in 1940 as a rebuttal to Irving Berlin's "God Bless America," finding it too sentimental and ignoring the widespread poverty of the Great Depression.

Townsend Plan

a popular 1930s proposal by Dr. Francis Townsend for a national pension to combat the Great Depression, offering $200 monthly to Americans over 60 who retired and spent the money within 30 days, funded by a 2% sales tax. While never enacted, its massive grassroots support through Townsend Clubs heavily influenced Congress to create Social Security, providing a smaller safety net for retirees.  

Huey Long

Huey Long's significance during the Depression was his radical "Share Our Wealth" movement, which challenged FDR's New Deal by demanding massive wealth redistribution, capping fortunes, guaranteeing income, and providing pensions/free education, appealing to millions and forcing Roosevelt to adopt more progressive policies in the Second New Deal, significantly influencing American social welfare, as seen in Social Security. 

Upton Sinclair

despite losing the 1934 governorship race, transformed California's Democratic Party and showed the era's deep desire for economic solutions beyond the New Deal. His work highlighted systemic injustice and offered concrete, albeit ambitious, governmental solutions to mass unemployment, influencing labor and progressive politics even in defeat. 

FDR

most significant actions during the Depression focused on immediate relief (job creation via CCC/WPA), financial stabilization (FDIC, Glass-Steagall to restore bank trust), social safety nets (Social Security, Fair Labor Standards Act for minimum wage/hours), and massive infrastructure/resource projects (TVA), all under the banner of his transformative New Deal, rebuilding faith in government and creating lasting economic security. 

21st amendment

ratified in 1933, is famous for repealing the 18th Amendment, which had established nationwide Prohibition (banning alcohol). This amendment ended the national ban but gave individual states significant power to regulate or even prohibit alcohol within their borders, leading to diverse state-level liquor laws and marking a major shift from federal control to state control over alcohol. 

The New Deal

1. Relief: Immediate aid for the millions suffering from poverty and unemployment (e.g., Federal Emergency Relief Act).

2. Recovery: Stimulating the economy and putting people back to work (e.g., Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Works Progress Administration (WPA)).

3. Reform: Fixing the financial system and preventing future depressions (e.g., FDIC for banks, Securities Act for stock market). 

TVA

or bringing jobs, electricity, flood control, and economic development to the impoverished Tennessee Valley, transforming it from a struggling rural area into a more prosperous region by modernizing farming, providing power, and creating infrastructure, though its large projects also displaced people.

CCC

, providing relief by giving young, unemployed men jobs in conservation (planting trees, building parks, fighting fires) while boosting national morale, transforming landscapes with park infrastructure, and giving workers skills, education, and dignity, laying groundwork for modern environmentalism and park systems.

HOLC

Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) was a key New Deal agency (1933) created to combat mortgage foreclosures during the Great Depression, refinancing loans for over a million homeowners and stabilizing the housing market. While it saved many families, the HOLC also institutionalized redlining through color-coded security maps, grading minority neighborhoods as "hazardous" (red) and denying them federal mortgage support, which laid foundations for the racial wealth gap and segregation still felt today

Glass Steagall Act

The Glass-Steagall Act effectively separated commercial banking from investment banking and created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, among other things.

Frances Perkins

the first female U.S. Cabinet member and Secretary of Labor, was instrumental in combating the Great Depression by designing key New Deal programs like the Social Security Act, minimum wage, and unemployment insurance, creating jobs through public works (CCC, WPA) to lift Americans out of despair, and establishing a lasting social safety net, all while managing significant personal struggles with her husband's and daughter's depression. She built a modern American welfare system, providing relief and hope during the nation's worst economic crisis. 

wagner act

is a cornerstone US labor law guaranteeing private-sector employees the right to form unions, bargain collectively, and strike, while also banning unfair employer practices and creating the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to enforce these rights, aiming to balance power between workers and employers during the Great Depression.  

social security act 1935

was a landmark U.S. law creating a safety net for Americans, providing old-age pensions (retirement), unemployment insurance (money when you lose your job), and aid for dependent children, the blind, and maternal/child health, funded by new taxes on workers and employers to ensure economic security, especially during the Great Depression. 

taylorism

clashed with the realities of the Great Depression, with its focus on efficiency and worker control clashing with mass unemployment and worker desperation,

flint strike 1937

a pivotal 44-day labor action where United Auto Workers (UAW) members occupied General Motors (GM) plants in Flint, Michigan, halting production to demand union recognition, better pay, and improved conditions, resulting in GM recognizing the UAW as bargaining agent, a massive win for organized labor during the Depression

womens emergency brigade

a crucial, militant group of women—strikers' wives and female workers—formed during the 1937 Flint Sit-Down Strike against General Motors, supporting the United Auto Workers (UAW) by providing food, supplies, and confronting police/militia, breaking factory windows for air, and diverting police,

walter reuther

was a transformative labor leader who built the UAW into a progressive force for social justice, expanding union goals beyond wages to champion civil rights, healthcare, housing, education, and environmentalism, shaping modern America through collective bargaining, political action, and a vision for broad social reform, making him a key figure in American labor and progressive movements. 

treaty of detroit 1950

s a landmark 1950 five-year contract between the United Auto Workers (UAW) and General Motors, setting a new standard for U.S. labor by guaranteeing wage increases tied to cost-of-living and productivity, plus comprehensive pensions, healthcare, and supplemental unemployment benefits, establishing long-term stability and boosting workers into the middle class.

US Housing act 1937

low income housing/section 8

Fair Labor Standards Act 1938

a key New Deal law, established foundational U.S. labor protections, setting the first federal minimum wage, mandating overtime pay (time-and-a-half for hours over 40), and largely banning oppressive child labor, aiming to stabilize wages and hours in interstate commerce and uplift workers' living standards. Signed by President Roosevelt, it created the Wage and Hour Division within the Labor Department to enforce these standards for most workers in private and public sectors

Nye Report

refers to the findings of the U.S. Senate's Special Committee on Investigation of the Munitions Industry (1934-1936), chaired by Senator Gerald Nye, which investigated the role of arms manufacturers and financiers in U.S. entry into World War I, finding they profited immensely and used bribery, but not proving a conspiracy to start the war; the reports, published in 1936, fueled isolationism and led to neutrality acts, but the investigation ended abruptly after Nye criticized President Woodrow Wilson. 

neutrality acts

were a series of U.S. laws passed in the 1930s (1935, 1936, 1937, 1939) driven by American isolationism after World War I, aiming to prevent the U.S. from being drawn into foreign wars by banning arms sales, loans, and travel to belligerent nations, though later acts, like the 1939 revision with its "cash-and-carry" provision, gradually shifted towards aiding Allies like Britain and France before their repeal as WWII intensified. 

lend lease

was a U.S. law allowing President Franklin D. Roosevelt to supply Allied nations (like Britain, the Soviet Union, China) with vital war materials—arms, food, equipment—without direct payment, effectively ending U.S. neutrality and becoming the "Arsenal of Democracy" before its formal entry into WWII.

Winston Churchill

in WWII was his unwavering leadership and powerful oratory, which rallied Britain from the brink of defeat (1940-41) to eventual victory, symbolizing defiance against Hitler, securing crucial alliances (like with the US), shaping Allied strategy, and boosting national morale with his iconic speeches and "V for Victory" symbol. He transformed a nation facing existential threat into a resilient force, ensuring Britain's survival and its vital role in defeating Nazi Germany. 

four freedoms

freedom from want and fear, and freedom of speech and religion

frank chuman

reperations etc etc

fred koremastu

is important because he was a civil rights activist who challenged the Japanese American internment during World War II. His defiance led to the Supreme Court case Korematsu v. United States, and though the initial ruling upheld the internment, his conviction was later overturned in 1983 due to evidence of government misconduct. He became a symbol for standing against injustice and a key figure in advocating for the rights of marginalized groups

repeal of chinese exclusion 1943

The Magnuson Act of 1943 repealed the Chinese Exclusion Acts, ending 60 years of Chinese immigration bans and allowing Chinese immigrants to become eligible for naturalized citizenship for the first time since 1790. While the act was a significant symbolic and legal step, it did not remove all restrictions, as it set a small annual immigration quota of 105 Chinese immigrants per year. The repeal was largely motivated by China being an ally in World War II and was a strategic move to improve U.S. international relations. 

desegregation of the military 1948

8, President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order 9981, officially ending racial segregation in the U.S. Armed Forces, mandating "equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin". This landmark decision, influenced by Black soldiers' WWII performance, civil rights advocacy, and political strategy, established a presidential committee to oversee integration, though full implementation faced significant military resistance and occurred gradually, with the Army being the last to fully integrate by the Korean War's end