Second Exam Study Guide: Progressive Era to the Great Depression

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering all terms from the Second Exam Study Guide, spanning the Progressive Era, World War I, the 1920s, and the Great Depression.

American Federation of Labor (1897)

A major national alliance of trade unions organized to advocate for skilled workers' wages, hours, and working conditions.

International Ladies’ Garment Workers (1906)

A major labor union representing workers in the women's clothing industry that organized mass strikes for better shop conditions and pay.

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory (1910)

The New York City garment factory where a catastrophic fire killed 146 trapped workers, spurring workplace safety reforms and labor laws.

International Workers of the World (1905)

A radical international industrial union founded in 1905 aiming to unite all wage workers into 'One Big Union' to overthrow capitalism.

Wobblies

The popular nickname given to members of the radical labor union known as the International Workers of the World (IWW).

Socialism

A political and economic doctrine advocating for collective or government ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution.

Eugene V. Debs

A prominent labor organizer, political activist, and founding leader of the Socialist Party of America who ran for president five times.

Socialist Party of America (1900)

A democratic socialist political party formed in the United States around 1900 that championed labor rights and public ownership of major industries.

Progressive Era (1896-1918)

A period of widespread political reform and social activism across the United States focused on eliminating corruption and regulating big business.

Muckrakers

Investigative journalists, authors, and photographers during the Progressive Era who exposed corporate corruption, urban poverty, and political abuse.

Mann Act (1910)

Federal legislation passed in 1910 making it a crime to transport individuals across state lines for prostitution or any other immoral purpose.

Temperance

A reform movement dedicated to curbing or prohibiting the production, sale, and consumption of alcoholic beverages.

Eugenics

A set of pseudoscientific beliefs and practices aimed at improving the genetic quality of a population through controlled selective breeding.

Social Darwinism

The application of Charles Darwin's concepts of natural selection and 'survival of the fittest' to human societies, wealth distribution, and politics.

Booker T Washington (1915)

An African American leader and educator who advocated for vocational education, economic self-reliance, and accommodation over direct political agitation.

W.E.B. DuBois (1868-1963)

An African American scholar, civil rights activist, and co-founder of the NAACP who demanded immediate political, civil, and social equality.

NAACP (1909)

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a civil rights organization established in 1909 to fight racial discrimination.

Theodore Roosevelt

The 26th U.S. President whose Progressive administration advanced the 'Square Deal,' aggressive trust-busting, conservation, and consumer protection.

Upton Sinclair

A prominent American muckraker and novelist whose expose on Chicago slaughterhouses stimulated national food safety regulations.

The Jungle (1906)

A novel by Upton Sinclair that exposed the unsanitary conditions and worker exploitation inside the American meatpacking industry.

Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)

A federal law passed in 1906 that prohibited the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated or misbranded foods and medicines.

Meat Inspection Act (1906)

Federal legislation enacted in 1906 mandating federal oversight of meat processing plants and livestock to ensure sanitary slaughtering conditions.

National Reclamation Act (1902)

Federal legislation that funded irrigation and water management projects for arid public lands in the western states using public land sales.

William Howard Taft

The 27th U.S. President who continued antitrust litigation, championed Dollar Diplomacy, and later served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Bull Moose Party (1912)

The third-party Progressive Party nominated by Theodore Roosevelt in the presidential election of 1912 following his split with Taft.

Woodrow Wilson

The 28th U.S. President who introduced the 'New Freedom' agenda, led the country through World War I, and proposed the Fourteen Points.

Muller vs Oregon (1908)

A Supreme Court ruling upholding state limits on female factory workers' daily work hours on the basis of protecting maternal health.

16th Amendment (1913)

A constitutional amendment ratified in 1913 that empowered the U.S. Congress to levy a direct federal income tax.

17th Amendment (1913)

A constitutional amendment ratified in 1913 establishing the direct election of United States Senators by popular vote rather than state legislatures.

18th Amendment (1919)

A constitutional amendment ratified in 1919 prohibiting the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquors within the United States.

19th Amendment (1920)

A constitutional amendment ratified in 1920 that granted women the constitutional right to vote throughout the United States.

Roosevelt Corollary

Theodore Roosevelt's extension of the Monroe Doctrine asserting the right of the United States to intervene as an international police power in Latin America.

Great White Fleet

The U.S. Navy battle fleet sent on an around-the-world circumnavigation from 1907 to 1909 to showcase American military and naval power.

Dollar Diplomacy

President William Howard Taft's foreign policy strategy of utilizing American financial investments and economic influence to advance diplomatic aims abroad.

Pancho Villa

A Mexican revolutionary leader who raided Columbus, New Mexico, in 1916, prompting a punitive cross-border U.S. military expedition.

John J. Pershing

The U.S. Army general who commanded the expedition pursuing Pancho Villa and subsequently commanded the American Expeditionary Force during World War I.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand

The heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne whose assassination in Sarajevo in June 1914 triggered the alliance system leading to World War I.

Lusitania

A British passenger ocean liner sunk by a German submarine in 1915, resulting in 128 American deaths and straining U.S. neutrality.

Zimmerman Telegraph

An intercepted German message proposing a military alliance between Germany and Mexico against the United States, catalyzing American entry into WWI.

Selective Service Act of May 1917

Federal legislation passed in May 1917 authorizing the conscription of American men to build an army for World War I.

War Industries Board

A U.S. government agency formed during World War I to supervise industrial production, allocate raw materials, and set prices for war supplies.

American Expeditionary Force

The United States armed forces deployed to the Western Front in Europe during World War I under General John J. Pershing.

Committee on Public Information

An independent U.S. government agency established during World War I to generate pro-war public support and patriotism through propaganda.

Fourteen Points

President Woodrow Wilson's 1918 framework of principles designed to establish a lasting, just peace following the conclusion of World War I.

Peace of Versailles

The 1919 peace treaty ending World War I that imposed severe financial reparations and territorial losses on Germany and established the League of Nations.

League of Nations

An intergovernmental organization created after World War I to promote international cooperation and prevent future wars through collective security.

Warren G. Harding

The 29th U.S. President whose term promoted a 'Return to Normalcy' and pro-business policies, overshadowed by administration scandals like Teapot Dome.

Calvin Coolidge

The 30th U.S. President who favored laissez-faire economics, deregulation, and minimal federal intervention during the economic prosperity of the 1920s.

Jazz Age

A 1920s cultural era marked by the popularity of jazz music, evolving social conventions, urbanization, and new youth culture.

Harlem Renaissance

A period during the 1920s characterized by an explosion of African American literary, artistic, and musical achievement centered in Harlem, New York.

Ku Klux Klan

A revived white supremacist organization in the 1910s and 1920s that broadened its hostility toward African Americans, immigrants, Catholics, and Jews.

Marcus Garvey

A Black nationalist leader of the 1920s who championed racial pride, economic independence, and the 'Back to Africa' movement.

Universal Negro Improvement Association

A mass fraternal organization founded by Marcus Garvey that advocated Pan-Africanism, racial pride, and economic empowerment for Black communities.

Scopes Monkey Trail

The high-profile 1925 court trial in Tennessee evaluating the constitutionality of a law banning the teaching of human evolution in public schools.

Prohibition

The period from 1920 to 1933 during which the manufacturing, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages were legally banned across the United States.

Volstead Act

The 1919 federal law enacted by Congress to establish enforcement mechanisms for the Eighteenth Amendment's nationwide ban on alcohol.

Herbert Hoover

The 31st U.S. President who entered office in 1929 and faced criticism for his reliance on voluntary business cooperation during the start of the Great Depression.

Black Thursday

October 24, 1929, the day panic selling struck the New York Stock Exchange, marking the start of the Wall Street Crash.

The Crash

The catastrophic collapse of stock prices on Wall Street in late October 1929, signaling the onset of the Great Depression.

The Great Depression

A severe, prolonged worldwide economic collapse beginning in 1929 and lasting throughout the 1930s, characterized by massive unemployment and deflation.

National Credit Corporation

An agency created in 1931 at Herbert Hoover's request to persuade solvent commercial banks to establish a lending pool for failing banks.

Reconstruction Finance Corporation

A federal agency created in 1932 to provide emergency government loans to struggling banks, railroads, insurance companies, and other businesses.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

The 32nd U.S. President who assumed office in 1933 and implemented the 'New Deal' to provide relief, recovery, and reform during the Great Depression.