Chapter 18 APUSH Study Guide
Short Definitions:
New South: A term referring to the Southern United States after the Civil War, emphasizing modernization, industrialization, and economic diversification away from dependency on slavery.
Redeemers: Southern Democrats who aimed to reclaim control over the South post-Reconstruction, promoting white supremacy and economic policies favoring the elite.
Crop-lien system: A credit system used by farmers who pledged part of their harvest to lenders in exchange for supplies and loans.
Sharecropping: A system where farmers work land owned by someone else in exchange for a share of the crops produced rather than wages.
Mississippi Plan: A Democratic strategy in the late 19th century to suppress black voting through violent intimidation and discriminatory practices.
Poll Tax: A fee required to vote, used to disenfranchise poor and African American voters.
Literacy Test: An evaluation to determine a voter’s reading and writing ability, often applied in discriminatory ways to disenfranchise black voters.
Grandfather Clause: A legal provision that allowed individuals to bypass literacy tests and poll taxes for voting if their grandfathers had been eligible to vote before 1867.
Segregation: The enforced separation of different racial groups in public and private facilities, institutionalized in the Jim Crow laws.
Civil Rights Cases: A series of Supreme Court cases in the late 19th century that weakened the federal government's ability to enforce Civil Rights laws, particularly the Civil Rights Act of 1875.
Separate but Equal: A legal doctrine that justified racial segregation as long as equal facilities were provided for both races, established in Plessy v. Ferguson.
Plessy v. Ferguson: An 1896 Supreme Court case that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws under the “separate but equal” doctrine.
Jim Crow system: A series of laws and practices that enforced racial segregation and discrimination against African Americans in the Southern United States.
Mob rule: Lawless behavior by a group of people that leads to violence or chaos, often in the context of lynchings and racial violence.
Wilmington insurrection: A violent overthrow of Wilmington's elected government in 1898 by white supremacists, resulting in the deaths of many African Americans and significant racial violence.
Lynching: The illegal execution of individuals, particularly African Americans, by mobs, often for accusations of crimes without trial.
Ida B. Wells: An African American journalist and activist who led an anti-lynching campaign and advocated for civil rights and women's suffrage.
NAACP: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, founded in 1909 to combat racial discrimination and promote civil rights.
Booker T. Washington: An African American leader who promoted vocational education and economic advancement for black people as a means to achieve social equality.
W.E.B. DuBois: An African American intellectual and civil rights activist who advocated for the pursuit of higher education and civil rights, opposing Booker T. Washington's approach.
Great Plains: A broad expanse of flat land in North America, significant for agriculture and ranching development in the late 19th century.
Exodusters: African Americans who migrated from the Southern United States to Kansas in the late 19th century seeking land and better opportunities.
Mining: The extraction of minerals and resources, particularly significant during the Gold Rush era and later in boomtown developments.
Boomtowns: Communities that experienced rapid population growth and economic development, typically due to a sudden influx of miners or explorers.
Comstock Lode: A significant silver ore deposit in Nevada discovered in 1859, resulting in a mining boom and the establishment of Virginia City.
Transcontinental railroads: Rail lines that crossed the continental United States, enhancing trade, movement, and communication from the East to the West.
Cattle boom: The surge in cattle ranching and beef production in the late 19th century, fueled by demands for beef in the growing urban markets.
Open range: Land where livestock could graze freely, leading to cattle ranching practices and range wars over land use.
Range wars: Conflicts between farmers and ranchers regarding land, water, and resource use in the Western states.
Chicago: A pivotal city for trade and transportation in the late 19th century, particularly after the establishment of railroads.
Homesteading vs. commercial farming: Homesteading refers to settling on and developing land for personal use, while commercial farming is focused on large-scale production for profit.
Homestead Act of 1862: Legislation that offered 160 acres of public land to settlers for a small fee, promoting westward expansion and farming.
Indian Wars: Conflicts between Native American tribes and U.S. settlers/military during the westward expansion of the United States.
Sand Creek Massacre: A tragic event in 1864 where U.S. soldiers killed a significant number of Cheyenne and Arapaho people in a surprise attack.
Reservation system: A policy that designated specific areas for Native American tribes, often resulting in loss of traditional lands and resources.
Great Sioux War: Conflicts between the U.S. government and the Sioux tribe in the 1870s over land and treaty violations.
Custer, Little Bighorn: Lieutenant Colonel George Custer's defeat by a coalition of Native American tribes at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876.
Buffalo: A vital resource for Plains Native Americans, providing food, shelter, and tools; its near extinction greatly impacted Native cultures.
Chief Joseph, Nez Perce: A leader of the Nez Perce tribe known for his resistance against U.S. government policies and his famous surrender speech.
Ghost Dance movement: A spiritual movement among Native Americans aimed at restoring their culture and way of life through ritual dance, leading to tensions with the U.S. government.
Wounded Knee: The site of a massacre in 1890 where U.S. troops killed hundreds of Lakota Sioux, marking the end of armed Native American resistance.
Helen Hunt Jackson, A Century of Dishonor: A book published in 1881 highlighting injustices faced by Native Americans and advocating for reform.
Dawes Severalty Act: An 1887 law aimed at assimilating Native Americans by allotting them individual plots of land and granting U.S. citizenship.
Frederick Jackson Turner, frontier thesis: A 1893 argument that American democracy was formed by the frontier experience, promoting the idea of opportunities in Western expansion.
Populist movement: A political movement in the late 19th century advocating for the interests of farmers and working-class citizens against the elites and corporations.