Gilded Age and Progressive Era Vocabulary Review

A complete set of vocabulary flashcards covering key historical terms, legislation, figures, and concepts from the Gilded Age, Progressive Era, and American Imperialism.

Nativism

Favoring the interests of American-born people over immigrants.

Muckrakers

Journalists who exposed the corrupt business practices during the Gilded Age.

Urbanization

The massive growth of cities.

Tenement

An overcrowded and unsanitary multi-family building.

Americanization movement

Education program designed to help immigrants assimilate.

Trust

An organization that controls several companies at the same time.

Labor union

A group of workers who have organized in order to fight collectively for their rights.

Political machine

An organized group in a city that offered services to voters and businesses in exchange for political and financial support.

Bessemer process

A way to make steel more cheaply.

Poll tax

Money that had to be paid by anyone in the South wishing to vote.

Grandfather clause

A law used to exempt whites from the strict voting requirements in the South that keep blacks from voting.

Imperialism

The process of richer nations taking control of poorer ones.

Racial etiquette

Behavior and customs that guided interaction between blacks and whites.

Jim Crow laws

Laws created by Southern states to separate whites and blacks in public and private facilities.

Yellow journalism

Exaggerated reporting by newspapers in order to attract readers.

Suffrage

The right to vote.

Monopoly

A business that has complete control of a market, with no outside competition.

Transcontinental railroad

Railroad that connected the entire country from east to west.

Social Darwinism

Theory stating that the most intelligent people in society would be the ones to become wealthy, while everyone else was destined for poverty.

Ellis/Angel Islands

Ports of entry in New York and California for millions of immigrants coming into America.

Gentlemen's Agreement

Deal between the U.S. and Japanese governments limiting Japanese immigration into America.

Chinese Exclusion Act

Law stating that all immigrants from a country except for teachers, students, merchants, and government officials, were not allowed.

Sherman Antitrust Act

Law that tried to make monopolies illegal.

American Federation of Labor

An alliance of trade and craft unions formed in 1886.

17th Amendment

Law that allowed for the direct election of US senators by the American people.

The Jungle

Book written by Upton Sinclair that spoke of the disgusting practices of the meat industry.

19th Amendment

Law that gave women the right to vote.

Plessy v. Ferguson

Case that made segregation legal.

Pure Food and Drug Act

Law that stopped the sale of contaminated goods and forced companies to label the ingredients in their products.

White Man's Burden

A poem written by Rudyard Kipling that said it was the white man's responsibility to civilize all other races.

Bull Moose Party

Name given to the Progressive Party of 1912, led by Teddy Roosevelt.

Rough Riders

A group of volunteer soldiers led by Teddy Roosevelt who fought in the Spanish-American War.

NAACP

An organization created in 1909 to fight for racial equality.

Platt Amendment

Law that allowed the U.S. to intervene politically and economically in Cuba whenever it wanted.

Boxer Rebellion

A revolution in 1900 in which Chinese citizens unsuccessfully fought against European and American occupation of their country.

USS Maine

A ship that mysteriously sank in the Caribbean, starting the Spanish-American War.

Wounded Knee Massacre

A conflict between the U.S. and the Lakota which led to over 300 Native Americans killed, mostly women and children.

Convict leasing

A system in the Jim Crow South that sold black prisoners to companies for their labor.

Populism

A political movement demanding that people have more of a voice in government.

Assimilation

A minority group's adoption of the behavior and customs of the majority group.

Gold standard

The use of gold as the backing of a country's currency.

Bimetallism

The use of both gold and silver as the backing of a country's currency.

Homestead Act

Provided 160 acres of western land to any American citizen willing to farm it for at least five years.

Cross of Gold speech

A statement by William Jennings Bryan in support of bimetallism.

Dawes Act

Law that intended to "Americanize" Native Americans by forcing them to farm and to assimilate.

Meat Inspection Act

A 1906 law that required strict cleanliness in meatpacking plants and created a federal inspection program.

Atlanta Compromise

Speech by Booker T. Washington in which he proposed that blacks submit to the political and social rule of whites and, in exchange, whites help provide economic and educational opportunities for blacks.

Grange

Social and educational organization through which farmers tried to fight the power of railroads during the Gilded Age.