UNIT 5 - Transformation of America c. 1865 to c. 1898

These flashcards cover key terms and concepts related to the transformation of America during the Reconstruction era, the Gilded Age, and the rise of progressivism.

Reconstruction

The period following the Civil War during which the United States worked to reintegrate the Southern states and address the rights of freed slaves.

$13^{th}$ Amendment

The constitutional amendment that abolished slavery in the United States.

Freedmen’s Bureau

A federal agency established to aid freed slaves in the South during Reconstruction.

Black Codes

Laws enacted in Southern states to restrict the rights of African Americans after the Civil War.

Ku Klux Klan

A white supremacist group that emerged after the Civil War to intimidate and control African Americans.

Radical Republicans

A faction of the Republican Party that advocated for the full citizenship and rights of African Americans during Reconstruction.

$14^{th}$ Amendment

The constitutional amendment that granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States and guaranteed equal protection under the law.

$15^{th}$ Amendment

The constitutional amendment that prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on race.

Compromise of $1877$

An agreement that resolved the disputed $1876$ presidential election and effectively ended Reconstruction.

Telegraph

A device that uses electrical signals to transmit messages over wires, revolutionizing communication.

Transatlantic Cable

An underwater cable that allows telecommunication between the continents.

Bessemer process

A method for refining steel that increased production efficiency and reduced costs.

Social Darwinism

A theory that applied the concept of 'survival of the fittest' to societies, often used to justify economic inequality.

Sherman Antitrust Act

A federal law aimed at preventing monopolies and promoting competition.

Iron Law of Wages

The theory that wages naturally tend to stabilize at a level sufficient only to keep workers alive.

Collective Bargaining

The process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at reaching agreements.

Chinese Exclusion Act

A federal law prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers to the United States.

Progressivism

A social and political movement that aimed to address the issues caused by industrialization, urbanization, and political corruption.

Muckrakers

Journalists and writers who exposed corruption, inequality, and social injustices in the early $20^{th}$ century.

Square Deal

President Theodore Roosevelt's domestic program which included reforms for fair labor practices and consumer protections.

Women’s Suffrage

The movement aimed at securing voting rights for women.

Andrew Carnegie

A steel industrialist and philanthropist who led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late $19^{th}$ century.

John D. Rockefeller

The founder of the Standard Oil Company who used horizontal integration to dominate the oil industry.

J.P. Morgan

A powerful financier and banker who dominated corporate finance and facilitated industrial consolidation.

Theodore Roosevelt

The $26^{th}$ U.S. President, a leader of the Progressive movement known for trust-busting and conservation.

Susan B. Anthony

A social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement.

Ida Tarbell

A leading muckraker whose investigative journalism led to the breakup of the Standard Oil monopoly.

Upton Sinclair

A muckraker whose novel 'The Jungle' exposed the unsanitary conditions of the meatpacking industry.

Ida B. Wells

An African American journalist and reformer who led an international crusade against lynching.

W.E.B. Du Bois

A civil rights activist and scholar who co-founded the NAACP and advocated for immediate social and political equality.

Booker T. Washington

An educator and reformer who advocated for African American economic progress through vocational training.

Gilded Age

An era of rapid economic and industrial growth during the late $19^{th}$ century marked by social inequality and corruption.

Monopoly

A market structure in which a single seller dominates the supply of a particular good or service.

Trust

A legal arrangement where a small group of trustees manages the stock of several companies as a single entity to control an industry.

Jim Crow Laws

State and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States.

Plessy v. Ferguson

An $1896$ Supreme Court case that ruled racial segregation was legal under the 'separate but equal' doctrine.

$19^{th}$ Amendment

The constitutional amendment that guaranteed women the right to vote.

Jane Addams

A social worker and reformer who co-founded Hull House and led the settlement house movement.

Vertical Integration

A business strategy where a company controls every stage of the manufacturing process from raw materials to distribution.

Horizontal Integration

A business strategy where a company acquires or merges with competitors in the same industry to dominate the market.

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

A national federation of labor unions led by Samuel Gompers that focused on higher wages and better working conditions.

Knights of Labor

An early labor union that organized both skilled and unskilled workers and advocated for the eight-hour workday.

$16^{th}$ Amendment

The constitutional amendment that authorized the federal government to collect an income tax.

$17^{th}$ Amendment

The constitutional amendment that provided for the direct election of U.S. Senators by the people.

$18^{th}$ Amendment

The constitutional amendment that prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages.

Jacob Riis

A muckraking photojournalist whose book 'How the Other Half Lives' exposed the squalid living conditions of the urban poor.

Pendleton Civil Service Act

An $1883$ law that established merit-based hiring for federal government jobs to reduce political patronage.

Great Migration

The mass movement of African Americans from the rural South to urban centers in the North and West during the early $20^{th}$ century.

Populist Party

A political party formed by farmers and laborers that advocated for the free coinage of silver and government regulation of railroads.

Pure Food and Drug Act

A $1906$ law that prohibited the sale of misbranded or adulterated food and drugs and led to the creation of the FDA.