U.S. History: Populism, Imperialism, and the Progressive Era

Flashcards covering the Farmers' Alliance, Populist movement, Imperialism and the Spanish-American War, Progressive Era reforms, and World War I.

Farmers’ Alliance

An organization formed to organize and politicize farmers while protecting them economically through collective cooperatives and member-owned stores.

Subtreasury plan

A monetary reform pushed by the Farmers' Alliance designed to relieve crop-debt cycles for family farmers.

People’s Party

A third political movement formed in $1892$ by struggling farmers and workers to fight corporate monopolies and political corruption in favor of economic democracy.

People’s Party Platform

Demanded government ownership of railroads, an expanded silver-backed currency, low-interest government farm loans, direct election of senators, and an eight-hour workday.

Pullman, Illinois

A company town where workers faced severe wage cuts, unsafe working conditions, and employer resistance to unions.

American Railway Union (ARU)

A union founded and led by Eugene V. Debs that united both skilled craftsworkers and unskilled laborers to fight company control.

Coxey’s Army

A mass protest march led by Jacob Coxey consisting of unemployed Americans who wanted the government to put them to work building roads.

Gold Standard

The platform used by William McKinley and the Republican Party in the election of $1896$.

Free Silver

The platform supported by William Jennings Bryan and the Democratic Party in the election of $1896$ and $1900$.

Monroe Doctrine

A U.S. foreign policy declaration warning European powers against future colonization or interference in the Western Hemisphere.

Yellow Journalism

A style of reporting that fueled public outrage and drove the United States into the Spanish-American War by transforming humanitarian efforts into imperialist debates.

USS Maine

An American ship whose sinking enraged the public and prompted Congress to declare war on Spain under the cry "Remember the Maine."

1898 Treaty of Paris

The agreement that ended the war with Spain and transferred power over the Philippines, Guam, Cuba, and Puerto Rico to the United States.

Platt Amendment

Established U.S. relations with Cuba, stipulating no treaties with other nations that might hinder independence and guaranteeing no acquisition of debt.

Muckrakers

Early-$20^{th}$-century investigative journalists and authors who used deep research and facts to expose corporate corruption, government abuses, and urban poverty.

Eugenics

The belief that society could perfect humans through selective processes.

Frederick W. Taylor

An author and expert who wrote about how companies should be managed through specific principles.

Theodore Roosevelt's Trust Policy

Distinguished between "good" and "bad" monopolies, using the Sherman Antitrust Act to dismantle predatory trusts like the Northern Securities Company.

Hepburn Act of 1906

An effective law that gave the ICC the power to examine the records of private businesses and set shipping rates.

The Jungle

A book by Upton Sinclair that exposed unsanitary conditions in the meatpacking industry, leading to the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act of $1906$.

White Man’s Burden

A paternalistic idea used to justify $19^{th}$-century colonial expansion by claiming a duty to civilize non-Western societies.

Bull Moose Party

The informal nickname for the Progressive Party formed by Theodore Roosevelt for the election of $1912$.

New Freedom

Woodrow Wilson’s $1912$ campaign slogan emphasizing limited government, states' rights, and antitrust legislation to help small businesses.

Zimmerman Telegram

A diplomatic communication that impacted the U.S. move toward armed neutrality during World War I.

Shell Shock

A psychological reaction to the intense bombardment experienced by soldiers during World War I.

Committee on Public Information

An agency established to publicize the war and build domestic support.

Espionage and Sedition Acts

Strict legislation enacted by President Wilson to suppress Americans who opposed World War I.

Treaty of Versailles

The peace treaty that assigned Germany sole responsibility for WWI and saddled it with $33$ billion dollars in war damages.

Fourteen Points

Woodrow Wilson’s blueprint for a new democratic world order featuring free trade, self-determination, and the League of Nations.

Great Migration

The movement of a half million Black people from the South to Northern industrial cities during World War I to find economic and social opportunity.