AP US History Period 6 Vocabulary Review

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering AP United States History topics from the Gilded Age, Western Expansion, the New South, industrialization, and early immigration.

Transcontinental Railroads

Railway networks spanning the North American continent, connecting the Pacific and Atlantic coasts to facilitate national trade and western settlement.

Great American Desert

The nineteenth-century term used to describe the arid Great Plains region between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains prior to extensive settlement and cultivation.

100th Meridian

The longitudinal line dividing the humid eastern United States from the arid western Great Plains, where agriculture generally required irrigation or dry-farming techniques.

Vaqueros

Mexican cowboys whose equestrian, roping, and cattle-herding traditions laid the foundation for the American western cattle culture.

Cattle Drives

The mass overland herding of cattle from Texas pastures across the open range to Midwestern railheads during the late nineteenth century.

Homestead Act

An 1862 federal law offering 160 acres of public western land to any citizen who paid a filing fee and agreed to cultivate and improve the tract for five years.

"Dry Farming"

An agricultural technique developed for semi-arid regions that used deep planting and frequent surface cultivation to maximize moisture conservation in the soil.

Joseph Glidden

The American inventor who patented modern barbed wire in 1874, revolutionizing western agriculture and enclosing the open range.

National Grange Movement

An agricultural fraternity organized in 1867 by Oliver H. Kelley that evolved from a social collective into a political force defending farmers against railroad monopolies and warehouse fees.

Granger Laws

A series of state laws enacted across Midwestern states during the 1870s to regulate the storage rates and transport fees charged by railroad monopolies and grain elevators.

Munn v. Illinois

An 1877 Supreme Court decision affirming the right of state governments to regulate private business property dedicated to a public interest, such as grain warehouses.

Ocala Platform

An 1890 platform drafted by the National Farmers' Alliance calling for direct election of U.S. senators, lower tariffs, a graduated income tax, and federally managed sub-treasuries.

Frederick Jackson Turner

The American historian who presented the 1893 "Frontier Thesis," arguing that western expansion and the frontier experience were primary forces shaping American democracy and identity.

Little Big Horn

An 1876 battle in Montana Territory in which Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors decisively defeated Lieutenant Colonel George Custer and the U.S. 7th Cavalry.

Assimilationists

Social reformers who advocated integrating Native Americans into mainstream white American society by eradicating indigenous cultural practices, communal ownership, and native tongues.

Helen Hunt Jackson

The author of the 1881 book "A Century of Dishonor," which documented the federal government's long record of broken treaties and mistreatment of Native American tribes.

Dawes Act of 1887

Federal legislation that dismantled tribal reservations by allotting communal tribal land to individual Native American families and selling the surplus acreage to white settlers.

Indian Reorganization Act

A 1934 measure that overturned the assimilation policies of the Dawes Act, restoring communal land management and self-government rights to Native American tribes.

Forest Reserve Act of 1891

A federal law giving the U.S. President unilateral power to set aside public timbered lands as national forest preserves.

Forest Management Act of 1897

A federal law that defined the operational purposes of national forest reserves, authorizing their protection while allowing regulated harvesting of timber, water, and minerals.

John Muir

A preservationist, author, and co-founder of the Sierra Club in 1892 who championed the total preservation of wilderness areas from commercial development.

"New South"

A post-Reconstruction vision that advocated industrialization, commercial growth, modern infrastructure, and integration with the Northern capitalist economy.

Henry Grady

The editor of the Atlanta Constitution who promoted the "New South" program of industrial development, diversification of southern crops, and reconciliation with northern business.

Tenant Farmer

An agricultural worker who rented farmland from an owner and supplied their own farming tools, draft animals, and supplies, paying rent in cash or crops.

Sharecroppers

Farmers who cultivated land owned by another in exchange for a fraction of the harvest, frequently trapped in perpetual debt due to high credit costs for food, seed, and tools.

George Washington Carver

An agricultural scientist and educator at the Tuskegee Institute who developed hundreds of innovative uses for crops like peanuts, sweet potatoes, and soybeans to diversify southern agriculture.

Tuskegee Institute

An Alabama educational institution founded in 1881 by Booker T. Washington to provide Black students with vocational and industrial training.

Civil Rights Cases of 1883

A collection of Supreme Court decisions ruling that the Fourteenth Amendment prohibited state-sponsored discrimination, not discriminatory acts by private businesses or citizens.

Plessy v. Ferguson

An 1896 Supreme Court ruling establishing the "separate but equal" doctrine, which legally validated racial segregation under the Equal Protection Clause.

Poll Taxes

Head taxes required as a condition for voter registration, used across the post-Reconstruction South to disenfranchise African Americans and impoverished citizens.

Grandfather Clauses

Statutory provisions in southern states exempting individuals from literacy tests and poll taxes if their ancestors were eligible to vote prior to 1867.

Ida B. Wells

An African American investigative journalist, educator, and civil rights advocate who led a nationwide and international anti-lynching crusade.

Booker T. Washington

An African American leader who urged Black citizens to prioritize economic independence and vocational skill development over immediate political equality.

W.E.B. Dubois

An African American scholar, sociologist, and civil rights leader who rejected gradualism, demanded immediate social and political equality, and co-founded the NAACP.

Atlanta Compromise

An 1895 speech delivered by Booker T. Washington proposing that southern Black people tolerate social segregation and disenfranchisement in return for basic economic and educational opportunities.

Transatlantic Cable

An undersea telegraph cable successfully laid across the Atlantic Ocean in 1866, providing rapid electronic communication between North America and Europe.

Alexander Graham Bell

The Scottish-born inventor who patented the first practical telephone in 1876, revolutionizing telecommunications.

Henry Bessemer

An English engineer who developed a low-cost industrial manufacturing method for mass-producing steel by blowing air through molten pig iron to burn away impurities.

Thomas Edison

An American inventor whose Menlo Park industrial research laboratory produced the commercial incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, and central electrical utility systems.

George Westinghouse

An American inventor and manufacturer who developed the railroad air brake and championed alternating current (AC) high-voltage electrical distribution.

Brooklyn Bridge

A suspension bridge spanning New York's East River, completed in 1883 using steel cables, that symbolized American industrial and architectural engineering achievement.

R.H. Macy

A nineteenth-century American businessman who helped pioneer the modern urban department store in New York City.

Gustavus Swift

An industrialist who revolutionized meatpacking by introducing refrigerated railcars and employing vertical integration to distribute fresh meat nationally.

Consumer Economy

An economic structure sustained by consumer purchases and the nationwide advertising, marketing, and distribution of mass-manufactured goods.

American Railroad Association

An industrial trade organization that established standardized operational guidelines and implemented four nationwide time zones in 1883.

Time Zones

Four standardized regional time designations created in 1883 across the United States to standardize train scheduling and prevent transit collisions.

Cornelius Vanderbilt

A shipping and railroad magnate who consolidated regional northeastern railway lines to establish the unified New York Central Railroad network.

Watering Stock

The business practice of artificially exaggerating the perceived value and assets of a corporation's stock shares before selling them to investors.

Rebates

Secret refunds or discounted freight charges granted by railroad lines to favored high-volume shippers at the expense of regular small shippers.

Pools

Secret agreements among competing railroad or industrial companies to fix rates and divide regional markets to avoid price competition.

Bankruptcy

The statutory status of an insolvent business or individual whose debts cannot be met, requiring the restructuring or liquidation of remaining assets.

J. Pierpont Morgan

An influential investment banker who consolidated struggling railroads, organized industrial monopolies, and established the United States Steel Corporation.

Interlocking Directorates

A corporate governance practice where identical executives serve on the boards of directors of multiple competing companies to reduce competition.

Andrew Carnegie

A Scottish-American industrialist who dominated the American steel sector using vertical integration and promoted philanthropic responsibility in "The Gospel of Wealth."

John D. Rockefeller

The industrialist who founded the Standard Oil Company, establishing control over the national petroleum refining sector through horizontal integration and trust formation.

Monopoly

The exclusive possession, manufacture, or market control of a commodity or service by a single enterprise, removing market competition and dictating prices.

Horizontal Integration

A business consolidation model involving the acquisition of or merger with rival corporations operating at the identical tier of production.

Vertical Integration

An industrial strategy in which a single firm assumes ownership of every successive phase of manufacturing and distribution, from raw materials to final consumer sales.

Laissez-Faire

An economic doctrine advocating that government should refrain from intervening in, regulating, or imposing restrictions upon business activities and market forces.

Adam Smith

The Scottish political economist who authored the 1776 work "The Wealth of Nations," postulating that free markets are regulated by self-interest and an "invisible hand."

Social Darwinism

A nineteenth-century philosophy applying evolutionary principles of "survival of the fittest" to human society, wealth distribution, and competitive commerce.

Protestant Work Ethic

A cultural value system linking diligence, self-discipline, and material success with spiritual righteousness and individual salvation.

Horatio Alger

A popular American novelist whose "rags-to-riches" stories popularized the belief that impoverished young men could achieve wealth through honesty, grit, and good fortune.

Collective Bargaining

Direct negotiations between organized labor representatives and business management to reach mutual agreements on wage scales, working hours, and workplace rules.

Railroad Strike of 1877

A spontaneous nationwide labor strike against wage cuts across major railroad networks, which turned violent and was broken by federal military troops.

National Labor Union

The first national federation of labor unions in the United States, established in 1866 by William H. Sylvis to advocate for the eight-hour workday and social reforms.

Knights of Labor

A nationwide inclusive labor organization founded by Uriah Stephens and led by Terence Powderly that organized both skilled and unskilled workers, including women and African Americans.

Haymarket Bombing

An 1886 incident in Chicago during a labor strike where a bomb detonated, killing police officers and discrediting the Knights of Labor due to accusations of anarchism.

American Federation of Labor

A coalition of craft unions founded in 1886 that admitted only skilled workers and focused on pragmatic "bread-and-butter" goals such as higher pay and shorter hours.

Samuel Gompers

The founding president of the American Federation of Labor who advocated for collective bargaining, union strikes, and strictly practical economic gains for skilled craftsmen.

Homestead Strike

An 1892 industrial labor dispute at Andrew Carnegie's Homestead steel facility near Pittsburgh, resulting in armed clashes between striking steelworkers and Pinkerton detectives.

Pullman Strike

An 1894 national railroad strike and boycott organized by the American Railway Union against the Pullman Palace Car Company, dismantled by a federal court injunction and troops.

Eugene V. Debs

The president of the American Railway Union who led the 1894 Pullman Strike and subsequently founded the Socialist Party of America.

"Old" Immigrants

Migrants who arrived in the United States predominantly prior to the 1880s, largely hailing from northern and western Europe, including Great Britain, Germany, and Ireland.

"New" Immigrants

A wave of migrants entering the United States between the 1880s and the 1920s, predominantly from southern and eastern Europe, such as Italy, Poland, Russia, and Greece.

Chinese Exclusion Act

An 1882 federal statute that suspended the immigration of Chinese laborers into the United States, representing the first major national restriction based on nationality and race.

Tenement Apartments

Narrow, multi-story urban housing structures designed for working-class families, often characterized by severe overcrowding, minimal lighting, poor ventilation, and inadequate plumbing.

Dumbbell Tenements

A multi-family residential building design featuring recessed side air shafts resembling a dumbbell, introduced to satisfy 1879 New York housing ventilation mandates.