Q1 History Benchmark Terms

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A system in which emancipated African Americans farmed land and gave the landowner a share of the harvest in return for using the land.

Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890)

Federal legislation designed to outlaw contracts, combinations, or conspiracies that operated in "restraint of trade" and dismantle corporate monopolies.

Bessemer Process

The industrial technological breakthrough that enabled mass manufacturing of inexpensive, durable steel used for skyscrapers and railroads.

Compromise of 1877

The political bargain resolving the disputed 1876 presidential election that removed federal troops from the South, directly precipitating the collapse of Reconstruction.

Haymarket Affair (1886)

Violent confrontation between police and labor demonstrators in Chicago that turned public opinion against union organizing by associating it with radical violence.

Freedmen’s Bureau

An agency created by the federal government tasked with providing relief, food, education, and legal assistance to formerly enslaved people transitioning to emancipation.

Henry Flagler

Industrial developer whose East Coast railroad extension stimulated rapid urban settlement, hotel construction, and commercial enterprise across southern Florida.