Periods 4-6

Mark Twain

• Author/humorist who wrote Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn

• Coined the term "The Gilded Age" (YESSSSSS ENGLISH NERDS!)

"New South"

1. The New South Vision

• Trying to move the south in a different direction (away from agriculture & slavery) after the North left them alone

• Modernized, self-sufficient Southern Economy, Diversified industry, Not solely dependent on the North, Controlled by wealthy while elite

2. The New South Actuality

• Some economic growth (Birmingham - steel, Memphis - lumber, Richmond - tobacco, Carolinas - textiles)

• South is still largely agricultural

• Continued poverty/sharecropping/tenant farming

Plessy v. Ferguson

(1896)

• Plessy is an African American who sits on a white only railroad cart and gets kicked off

• He sues saying that it's unconstitutional and it goes to the supreme court

• The supreme court states that if the facilities are "separate but equal" it's allowed

Henry Grady

• The one credited with creating the vision for the "New South" (Yeah that didn't work out to well bud...)

"Lost Cause"

• Popular mythology in the South

• The idea that Confederates were noble and heroic and that the war was to defend the Southern way of life against Northern aggression

• Denial that slavery was a bad thing, and saying that it wasn't the central cause of the war

• United Daughters of Confederacy (UDC): Construction of monuments, revision of textbooks, etc. (F the lost cause movement. And Ron DeSantis -Cas)

Redeemers

• Group in the South trying to put power back in the hands of the southern elites

• Taking power away from free African Americans and Northerners

• Push for a laissez-faire government (Allows for racist local control)

Segregation and 14th Amendment

Much as put in place in the south to increase segregation and limit their 14th amendment rights such as:

• Voter disenfranchisement (Literacy tests, poll taxes, grandfather clauses, violence/intimidation)

• Jim Crow Laws

• "Separate but equal" facilities (Not sure if that's actually what that ID was asking for)

Fredrick Jackson Turner

• Historian during the 1890s who wrote the frontier thesis

• Argued that the continuous existence of the American frontier had shaped the character of the nation, and the end of this frontier marked the end the first chapter in American history. (Reading his work is like reading Shakespeare tho)

Impact of Republican federal gov't on western expansion after Civil War

Passed Legislation encouraging expansion such as:

• Homestead act (1862)

• Pacific Railway Act (1862)

• Morrill Land Grant Act (1862) (They're all in 1862....why did I feel the need to write 1862 three different times- four times now, actually)

Government subsidies

Homestead act (1862)

• 160 acre plots, must improve land for 5 years

• Eastern families, exodusters, immigrants

Federal assistance to railroad companies

Government gave railroad companies lots of money/loans/etc to increase the railroads in the US. For example:

Pacific Railway Act (1862)

• Government bonds and land grants

• Railroads received 175 million acres of land

• First transcontinental railroad finished at Promontory Point UT (1869) (chugga chugga cho chooooo -cas)

Land grants

Morrill Land Grant Act (1862)

• Giving land dedicated to creating universities

• Wanted the universities to be focused on agricultural advancements

Transcontinental Railroad benefits

• It could carry people westward easier

• Revolutionized agriculture because cattle could be transported by train cars

• Allowed for speedier mail delivery and carried ore to production sites

• Allowed for the transport of military aid to areas of conflict

Homesteaders

Settlers who claimed land on the Great Plains under the Homestead Act (Wow for once the name for something actually sorta makes sense)

Buffalo extermination

• Spreading west caused Americans to try to kick out the Native Americans (THEY'RE NATIVE FOR A REASON LEAVE THEM ALONE 😵‍💫)

• Used members of the US army to kill buffalo in the great plains therefore forcing natives out

Longhorn cattle

• Brought by Spanish settlers

• Descended from the natural crossbreeding of Spanish retinto stock and European cattle.

• Disease resistant and adaptable to harsh weather.

• Could live far from water and ate only grass (Super cow?? 🐮 -me) (they employed cowboys -cas)

Barbed wire

(Example of farming innovation and mechanization)

• Installed to keep wild animals off farmers property

• Defined property lines

• Also kept cowboys from driving their cattle through the farmer's property (☹️ -cas) (Cas what?? -me)

End of cattle drive/cowboy Era

Factors:

• Barbed wire made it easier to mark territory and keep cattle in place.

• Railroad expansion allowed for easier transport of cattle in a more efficient manner. (☹️☹️☹️ -cas again) (Cas is taking over my flashcards -me)

Slaughterhouses

• Places were animals were mass killed for meat production

• Chicago was the central location for these due to it being the principal railroad hub of the central US and because it was the place where railroads brought livestock

Winter of 1886 effects

• harsh winter, dry and cold

• ruined farming industry

• ended the long period of successful farming

Report on lands of arid region of US

• By John Wesley Powell

• Prompted the federal government to invest in dams and canals to support agriculture in the Midwest

General Mining Act of 1872

• United States federal law

• Legalized and promoted mining by private individuals on public lands for $5 per acre

• Mining for economic minerals, such as gold, platinum, and silver, on federal public lands

Mining corporations

• Individual miners weren't successful; instead, working with these, there was much success, leading to an increase in the need for labor. (Remember kids, there's no 'I' in 'team'!!)

Consequences of mining to other industries

• Bad for farming and agriculture

• Left toll on land with chemicals used to extract gold and silver

• Any industry in boomtowns prospered "sdbciwhdImanjdfjk" -Quizlet autofill answer

Alaska Gold Rush

• "Klondike Gold Rush"

• migration by an estimated 100,000 prospectors to the Klondike region of the Yukon in north-western Canada

• Occurred between 1896 and 1899. (Occurred shouldn't be spelled like that- there's no way it needs that many letters)

Safety valve theory

Theory that people from the city could always fall back on the frontier if things didn't work out in the city (I mean...I guess?? It's not a very easy thing to "fall back on"....)

McCoy and Chisolm cattle trails

Google definition cuz I have no clue: "McCoy, a cattle buyer from Illinois, was instrumental in extending the Chisholm Trail from present day Wichita to Abilene, Kansas, to promote and establish cattle market for thousands of longhorn cattle from Texas."

"Crop lien" system

-Borrowing cash/using credit to start a farm and using future crops as collateral

• This lien system often resulted in debt cycles for the farmers (lien = loan)

Price fixing

• An agreement between two or more firms on the price they will charge for a product

• The government wasn't willing to put a set price on what railroads could charge, so the prices became very unreasonable for farmers

Problems for farmers in the West

• Weather, insects, and soil condition

• Physical demands and isolation (sodbusters)

• Crop lien system (debts) and exploitation by railroads

Sodbusters: Nickname for farmers. The sod is a layer of grass with thick roots on top that farmers had to break through to access the soil

Women on the frontier

• Whole family helped work on the farm, and so women had an increased role

• Some Western states granted women voting rights at a state level because they saw their increased role in work (Slay queen? 😂🎉)

National Grange of Patrons of Husbandry (The Grange)

• Founded in 1867 by Oliver H. Kelley

• Focused on farming families coming together/socializing/sharing tips & stories

• Cultivated significant political power, and they played an important part in the rise of the Populist Party. (According to Quizlet's autofill: "It was a kind of fraternity of farmers")

Crop specialization

Becoming an expert at one type of crop → Increased product → overproduction → less money to farmers → more crops to make enough → debt cycle → land taken away in some cases → tenant/sharecropper

• Risky method to farming that is beneficial at first

• Also no backup plan if the one type of crop fails

Farmers Alliance

• Different regional groups- includes millions of people

• Laws to protect farmer

• Wanted to dismantle the crop lien system (Collectively worked to finance and market crops)

• Members often become voters in the populist party

Tribal sovereignty

Inherent authority of tribes within the borders of the United States to self-govern and make decisions about their people.

Indian Appropriation Act

• Ended recognitions of tribes as independent nations (no more treaty agreements)

• Enforced the reservation system (Anyone feel like a little time machine adventure to cause some shenanigans in Congress and make this act disappear?)

Sand Creek Massacre

(1864)

• Cheyenne natives had already been relocated once and believed they were being compliant with the government

• Troops open fire at the natives and kill many

Reservation

Federal land set aside for Native Americans (These terms are sad and I want to be done making flashcards ☹️)

Battle of Little Bighorn

(1876)

• Also known as "Custer's Last Stand"

• Sioux natives vs US army (Lead by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse)

• Natives defeat the US army to defend their land in Massachusetts & kill the US general Custer

• Sitting Bull leads his tribe to safety in Canada (🎉)

• US uses this as rationale for controlling them

Massacre of Wounded Knee

(1890) - In South Dakota

• Natives hope that by participating in the Ghost Dance (a religious dance) they can bring back the buffalo and get protection

• US troops are nearby and think the natives are launching an attack

• The troops open fire on the natives. Biggest massacre in American history (About 300 dead)

A Century of Dishonor

• Written by Helen Hunt Jackson (1881)

• History book talking about all the bad things that happened to Native Americans over the course of American history (No surprise it's a really big book)

Dawes Severalty Act

(1887)

• Allowed the federal government to seize and section out native land

• No more tribal/communal ownership of land

Ghost Dance

• A ritual dance the Sioux performed to bring back the buffalo and return the Native American tribes to their land. (Here's the link if you want to see a clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoMW37xfMRw)

Assimilation of Native Americans

• The US government trying to make Natives more "American"

• Children sent to boarding schools and forced to assimilate to American culture (Ex. Carlisle School in PA)

• Dawes-Severalty Act (1887)

Carlisle Indian school

• Pennsylvania school for Indians funded by the government

• Children were separated from their tribe and were taught English and white values/customs.

• Motto of founder: "Kill the Indian and save the man." (That's horrible)

Cowboy life and diversity

• Herded cattle long distances to railroad lines or other transport locations

• Strenuous, low paying, glorified

• Most were young single men. Significant portion were black, Mexican/Mexican-American (vaqueros) or civil war vets (I JUST DISCOVERED THE COWBOY EMOJI IT'S SO CUTE -me)

Vaqueros

• Skilled Mexican American riders who herded cattle on ranches in Mexico, California, and the Southwest (cowboyssssssssssssssssss -cas)

Buffalo Bill's Wild West

• A circus like production begun in 1883 that helped create a romantic and mythological view of the West in the American imagination (Uh oh...)

"old immigrants"

This group assimilates fairly well

• Begin in 1860's

• Mostly coming from Western/Northern Europe (Ex. Swedish, Norwegian, British, German)

• Generally well educated

• Spoke languages with the same alphabet as English

• Came from countries with representative governments

• Protestant Christian religions (Similar to many American)

• Fit in appearance wise

Pull/Push factors

Conditions that draw people to another location (pull factors) or cause people to leave their homelands and migrate to another region (push factors)

For Irish/German Immigrants coming to the USA

• Push: Potato famine, England's treatment of the Irish, Germany isn't unified.

• Pull: Living in a democracy, laws like the homestead act, better economic opportunities, civil/political rights

"new immigrants"

These people don't assimilate as well and suffer more nativism

• Begin in 1890's

• Mostly coming from rural Southern/Eastern Europe

• Lower literacy rates

• Orthodox or Jewish (Different from most Americans)

• Language with different alphabets than English

• Don't fit in well appearance wise

• "THE POLISH!!!" -Andrew

Assimilation

• The social process of joining a new culture (Ex. Immigrants coming to the US)

• Ethnic enclaves and chain migration made it hard for immigrants to adapt to American culture, since they were surrounded by others from their home country.

• Kids were often the bridge that helped that assimilation eventually happen (GO KIDS 👏)

Ghetto

A poor densely populated city district occupied by a minority ethnic group linked together by economic hardship and social restrictions

Ethnic enclaves

• Neighborhoods where people from similar cultures live together and assert cultural distinction from the dominant group

• Ex. Chinatown, Little Italy

Chain migration

• Migration of people to a specific location because relatives or members of the same nationality previously migrated there (Isn't that like...group think or something?? The psych term??)

Thomas Nast

• Considered to be the father of American political cartooning.

• He invented "Uncle Sam" and came up with the elephant and the donkey for the political parties.

• His artwork was primarily satirical and based on political corruption

• He almost brought down Boss Tweed the political Machine leader (I feel like we need some dramatic show down between Boss Tweed and Thomas Nast now)

Victorian morality

• A set of social ideas embraced by the privileged classes of England and America during the reign of Britain's Queen Victoria (1837—1901)

• Strict standards of dress, manners, and sexual behavior (Borrrring )

Cult of domesticity

• Idealized view of women & home

• Portrayed women as self-less caregivers for their children and refuge for husbands (Ok first off that's really weird, and second- this term has come up WAY too many times)

Jacob Riis

• A Danish immigrant who became a reporter

• He pointed out the terrible conditions of the tenement houses of the big cities where immigrants lived during the late 1800s.

• He wrote How The Other Half Lives in 1890. (Clap clap clap)

Jane Addams

• Founder of Settlement House Movement.

• First American Woman to earn Nobel Peace Prize in 1931

• President of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. (Slayyyyyy)

Children's Aid Society

• Private charitable organization based in NYC.

• Founded in 1853 by Charles Loring Brace

• Believed that institutional care destroyed children, so he sent kids out west to help farmers and learn a trade.

• Created dorms, reading rooms, and workshops.

Social Gospel

• Idea that the richest Americans should actively engage in philanthropy and charity in order to close the widening gap between rich and poor

• Ex. Build libraries and art museums instead of directly paying workers more

• Ex. Carnegie Hall

• Ex. Gospel of Wealth (Published by Carnegie)

Settlement House Movement

• These were located in poorer neighborhoods and staffed by middle class workers

• Offered services (Ex. often food, shelter, and basic higher education) to urban poor

• Hull House was most famous

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

• Law that suspended Chinese immigration into America.

• The ban was supposed to last 10 years, but it was expanded several times and was essentially in effect until 1934

• First significant law that restricted immigration into the United States of an ethnic working group.

• Extreme example of nativism in this period

Dennis Kearney

Created the Workingmen's party of California (1877)

• Nativist party that was created to get the Chinese immigrants out of California and decrease job competition

• This party grew in popularity and was able to get provisions added to the state competition, such as public schools being able to turn away these immigrants (Anyone have a magic wand and a time machine we could use to make him disappear? A conveniently placed cliff could work too.)

American Protection Association

• Nativist organization that attacked new immigrants in the 1880s and 1890s

• Specifically anti-Catholic

"Undesirables"

• Groups of immigrants the government declared weren't wanted in the US, and made their immigration illegal

• Immigration Restriction League helped pass many of these anti-immigrant laws

Examples of "undesirables":

• If you were a prostitute or convict in your previous country

• If you were a lunatic or idiot (THAT'S THE GOVERNMENT'S WORDS NOT MINE!!)

• People who were illiterate in their home language (Henry Cabot Lodge was a big pusher for this movement)

New inventions

Examples:

• Skyscrapers

• Electric light bulbs

• Telephone

• Typewriters

• Mail Order Catalogs (Ex. Sears Roebuck)

• Cash register ⬇️

Acronym: Cats met 😽😻 (Ca)sh register (T)ype writers (S)kyscrapers (M)ail order catalogs (E)lectric light bulbs (T)elephone

Manufacturing towns

Cities focused almost entirely on one industry

• Ex. Pittsburgh -> Steel (Which is why their team is the Steelers)

• Ex. Chicago -> Meat processing

• Ex. Detroit -> Automobiles

Six features that dominate large scale manufacturing after Civil War

Acronym: ✨Fab Dimwit✨ (Look it works don't question it)

1. (F)inance/business structures

2. (A)bundance of natural resources

3. (B)usiness Friendly government policies

4. (D)estruction after the Civil War

5. (I)ncreased Immigration

6. (M)ass production perfected

7. (W)ell-developed agricultural system

8. (I)nnovations/technologies

9. (T)ravel Networks

(uhhhh I have nine not six what did I do...)

Cornelius Vanderbilt

• During the gilded age there was extreme wealth in the hands of a few capitalists

• For example this dude who controlled railroad and shipping businesses (I don't think he could have any more of a pompous name- also what is going on with that facial hair style....)

Telegraph

• A device for rapid, long-distance transmission of information over an electric wire.

• It was introduced in England and North America in the 1830s and 1840s.

Time zones

• Creation of these to increase railroad efficiency

• Prior to this towns could have their own times

• "OHIO TIME!!" -Cas during apush

Refrigerator cars

• Invented in the 1880's

• These cars attached to trains made it more cheap and possible to transport perishable food (I'm just imagining huge modern refrigerators which is just not it....)

Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 (ICC)

• The one time congress actually got their butts moving and did something in the Gilded age

• Oversees railroad rates, prohibits price discrimination, and requires publishing of rates

J. Pierpont Morgan

• During the gilded age there was extreme wealth in the hands of a few capitalists

• For example this dude who controlled banking and finance shenanigans

• He bought out Carnegie and started the United States Steel Corporation. Also arranged the formation of General Electric.

Andrew Carnegie

• During the gilded age there was extreme wealth in the hands of a few capitalists

• For example this dude who controlled steel related funsies. (I've used this same format for like three different cards but tbf I'm really tired)

US Steel

The largest steel company of the US, created by J.P. Morgan by merging Andrew Carnegie's Carnegie Steel and several other steel companies together; at the time, the largest corporation in existence.

Bessemer Process

• Remove impurities from iron in the steel making process, allowing for lower quality iron to be used up front, and higher quality steel created

• Increased quantity of steel -> dropped prices for steel

• Abundance of steel greatly impacted industrial growth (For further questions on the Bessemer Process ask Campbell Soup Jeepsus.)

Vertical integration

• One of two ways a monopoly could form

• Take control of all phases of production for the product you're making

• Ex. Carnegie steel production (Carnegie owned the fields, mines, factories, railroads for transport, etc.)

John D. Rockefeller

• Was an American industrialist and philanthropist who used horizontal integration

• Revolutionized the petroleum industry and controlled other oil related stuff (look idk)

Horizontal Integration

• One of two ways a monopoly could form

• Buying out all the competitors and merging them into your own

• Ex. Standard Oil (John D. Rockefeller bought out all competition)

Standard Oil Trust

Rockefeller's company, in 1881, owned 90 percent of the oil refinery business, with a board of trustees at the head (I apologize for the lack of jokes I need to go to bed)

Sherman Anti-Trust Act

(1890)

• Made monopolies illegal, but rarely enforced it

• Mostly used to break up labor unions instead (That's dumb)

Mail-order catalog

• Printed material advertising a wide range of goods that can be purchased by mail

• Allows people to buy things from across the country

• Ex. Sears Roebuck

United States v. E.C. Knight Company

(1895)

• Case that stated the Federal government can't regulate manufacturing happening only within a state

Scientific Management/Taylorism

• The idea that to increase efficiency, large jobs were broken into small steps and workers did one thing all day (Wow that's a very productive way to give someone several mental illnesses really fast)

McCormick process

• Development of a mechanical reaper that allowed for corporate farming and faster harvesting of crop (ALL THE TERMS IN THIS SET ARE JUST ABOUT INCREASED PRODUCTION)

Economies of Scale

The property whereby long-run average total cost falls as the quantity of output increases (That's the quizlet definition not mine so don't blame me if it's wrong....or maybe do....yeah that's still my fault....)

Visible hand

• Managers who operated between the world of workers and owners to ensure efficiency of mass production/distribution

• Different from the invisible hand: The idea that the push and pull between producers and consumers will balance things out (Adam Smith's ideas)

Great Merger Movement

• A predominantly U.S. business phenomenon that happened from 1895 to 1905.

• During this time, small firms with little market share consolidated with similar firms to form large, powerful institutions that dominated their markets. (So monopolies)

Political machines

• Because the government isn't helping with the city conditions, these groups were formed

• Putting people in positions of power at the local level that will provide the city services (Ex. Fire Stations, bus drivers, street cleaning, etc.)

• Controlled the city politics and how things got done through bribery, patronage, and corruption.

• Ex. Helped out new immigrants get acclimated, and in return asked them to vote for them, sometimes multiple times at different voting polls

• Tammany Hall (That was a lot on one card sorry guys)

Boss Tweed

• Leader of the Tammany Hall Political Machine

• (Major democratic Political machine that controlled pretty much all aspects of NY politics)

• Heavily opposed by Thomas Nast.

National Labor Union

• The first large-scale U.S. union; founded to organize skilled and unskilled laborers, farmers, and factory workers.

• Founded by William Sylvis (1866)

• Supported 8-hour workday, convict labor, federal department of labor, banking reform, immigration restrictions to increase wages, women; excluded blacks

Knights of Labor

• First effort to create National union

• Lead by Terence Powderly

• Open to everyone but lawyers and bankers. (Poor lawyers and bankers...or maybe not?? Idk.)

• Vague program, no clear goals, weak leadership and organization, and it eventually failed (I mean they tried)

Terence Powderly

• Leader of the Knights of Labor (Ok Knights of Labor a great name tho 😂)

Haymarket Square riot

A demonstration of striking laborers in Chicago in 1886 that turned violent, killing a dozen people and injuring over a hundred.

American Federation of Labor

• 1886; founded by Samuel Gompers

• First federation of labor unions

• Wanted better wages, hrs, working conditions; skilled laborers

• Arose out of dissatisfaction with the Knights of Labor, rejected socialist and communist ideas, non-violent.

Samuel Gompers

• He was the creator of the American Federation of Labor.

• He provided a stable and unified union for skilled workers. (That is a great last name)

Molly Maguires

• Secret organization of Irish miners that campaigned, at times violently, against poor working conditions in the Pennsylvania mines. (Interesting name choice...)