The Gilded Age and the Making of Modern America

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers key historical terms, economic concepts, and social movements of the Gilded Age as discussed in the lecture notes.

Gilded Age

A term coined by Mark Twain to describe the late $19^{\text{th}}$ century as a period that was glittering on the surface but corrupt underneath, characterized by greed, guile, and unfettered capitalism.

Civil Service Act

A reform measure that sought to curb government corruption by requiring applicants for certain governmental jobs to take a competitive examination.

Interstate Commerce Act

Legislation aimed at ending discrimination by railroads against small shippers and regulating railroad rates.

Sherman Antitrust Act

A federal law passed in $1890$ that outlawed business monopolies and combinations in restraint of trade.

Populist Party

A political party joined by many farmers burdened by debt and falling prices which called for an increase in money circulation, a graduated income tax, and government assistance for loans.

Great American Desert

The name by which most Americans referred to the Great Plains in $1860$, a region where settlement averaged just $1$ person per square mile.

New Immigrants

A wave of newcomers around the turn of the $20^{\text{th}}$ century arriving primarily from Hungary, Italy, Poland, and Russia, who were often Catholic or Jewish.

Vertical Integration

A business strategy where a company brings together various phases of production and distribution, such as U.S. Steel taking iron ore from the ground and transporting it to its own mills.

Horizontal Integration

A business growth strategy where a company expands into related fields of business, such as U.S. Steel producing a vast array of different metal goods.

Neurasthenia

A psychological ailment coined by George M. Beard to describe symptoms like nervous exhaustion and insomnia caused by the "over-civilization" and frantic pace of modern life.

Comstock Act

An $1872$ law that banned obscene literature from the mails and was used to prevent the distribution of birth control information and contraceptive devices.

Morrill Act

An $1862$ law that granted land for higher education to teach branches of learning related to agriculture and the mechanic arts.

Gospel of Wealth

A philosophy, associated with Andrew Carnegie, suggesting that the millionaire should be a trustee for the poor and administer wealth for the community’s benefit.

Managerial Revolution

The transformation of business operations where ownership was separated from management and new bureaucratic hierarchies and formal administrative structures were established.

Blue Laws

State laws, such as those reenacted by Massachusetts in $1880$, that prohibited most forms of business on Sundays to enforce moral purity.

Gibson Girl

The tall, athletic cultural ideal of the "New Woman" at the end of the $19^{\text{th}}$ century who supplanted the frail, submissive Victorian woman.

Coney Island

A series of popular amusement parks in New York that offered a loose, free social environment and instant gratification, contrasting with the self-control reinforced by Central Park.

Scientific Management

A theory of business management promoted by Frederick Winslow Taylor that emphasized training workers to follow the laws of science to increase efficiency in tasks like handling pig iron.

William Jennings Bryan

The presidential candidate nominated by the Populists and Democrats in $1896$ who famously opposed the gold standard with his "Cross of Gold" rhetoric.

Robber Barons

A derogatory term used to characterize the business titans of the late $19^{\text{th}}$ century as unscrupulous monopolists who engaged in financial trickery and political corruption.

Women's Christian Temperance Union

A moral reform organization founded in $1874$ that lobbied for a constitutional amendment to prohibit the manufacture and sale of alcohol.

Nickelodeons

Inexpensive movie theaters that became the nation's most popular form of commercial entertainment by $1910$, providing escape and freedom for the young.