Unit 4 Study Guide

W.E.B. DuBois-  a sociologist, historian, and Pan-African rights activist 

Robert LaFollette - a governor of Wisconsin that passed progressive laws  

• Focused on throwing off the control exercised by the railroads 

• Introduced initiative, recall, and referendum  

• Initiative- allowed citizens to introduce a bill into the legislature 

• Referendum- established a procedure by which votes cast ballots for or against a proposed law 

• Recall- gave citizens the power to remove an elected official before his term in office came to  an end 

Thomas Edison- Invented typewriter, lightbulb, and  etc (inventor) 

Alexander Graham Bell- Invented the telephone  

Orville and Wilbur Wright- created the first airplane 

Upton Sinclair- wrote a novel called the Jungle, a progressive, wrote about the meat industry and how brutal it was  

• An author and political activist which was a democratic nominee to be the governor of California  

• Created The Jungle which showed the sickening conditions of the meatpacking industry  

• Believed to end labor exploitation

John D. Rockefeller-  rich oil owner, one of the richest people   

• Philanthropist 

• The First Billionaire 

• Ruled the oil industry  

• Used social darwinism and philanthropy 

Henry Ford- invented the first automobile

Boss Tweed-  

• Owned the Tammany Hall machine 

• Had control over the entirety of New York

•  Had the most powerful and corrupt political machine in the (mid 1800s)

Andrew Carnegie-  

• Led the steel industry in America in the late 1800s 

• Was philanthropist 

• Used vertical integration and horizontal integration to get on top of the steel industry

Cornelius Vanderbilt- 

-was one of the business owners on top of the railroad industry 

-Founded  Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee  

- used social darwinism to his own advantage

Teddy Roosevelt/Theodore Roosevelt-  

• The 26th president of the U.S.   

• Combated the Great Depression  

• Created the “Square Deal” which called fairness for all citizens, breaking bad trust, regulating railroads, and pure food and drugs    

• Attacked the ties between business and government and refused to appoint Platt’s choice for state commissioner      

• Roosevelt made a commission to settle the coal strike; first time the federal government intervened in a strike in order to protect the public welfare. 

 -Created the Sherman-Anti Act to attack trusts that became trust for public interest 

 - Made the “Square deal”  Roosevelt urged Congress to pass the following acts:

  - Elkins Act, 1903:  Make rebates to railroad officials and shippers illegal.

- Hepburn Act, 1906: Give the Interstate Commerce Commission the power to set maximum railroad rates. Instruct  railroads to use uniform methods of accounting. 

• Created the  Meat Inspection Act, 1906:  Have the Federal Government inspect meats.

 - Pure Food and Drug Act, 1906:  List the contents of cans and of packages on the label.

• Lowered the power of railroads  

• Made ethical restrictions for the stake of consumer health 

• Improved labor laws and rights of women and children. 

• Gave education to children

J.P. Morgan:

• -an american financier that dominated corporate finance 

• -became rich through railroads 

• -reorganized business to make them more profitable rather than gaining control over them 

McKinley Asaassination- Mckinley was assassinated by Leon Czologsz and was replaced by Teddy Roosevelt  the next day 

Ida Tarbell-  

• A journalist who expanded the role of newspaper in society and stimulated a Progressive reform movement 

• Exposed Rockefeller’s unethical practices 

• Founded the American Magazine 

Ida B. Wells-    

-help found the NAACP 

-founded the national association for advanced or colored people 

Jane Addams- leader of social reform and women suffrage

Sitting Bull - one of the leaders that went against white colonization 

Jacob Riis- wrote a book about poverty in New York (How the Other Half Lives)  

Joisah Strong- told followers that immigration was a social evil which could only be corrected to the conversion process  

• Anti-immigrant only worsened so, immigrants formed their own ethnic communities 

• People turned to other pursuits to supplement their income (gambling, robbery, extortion, drugs, prostitution,gang violence) 

•   Cities were not prepared to deal with these problems (few police, few firefighters, no sanitation department) 

• Criminals could run the city, fires burned out of control 

• Many parent could not afford their rent  

• People who could move out of tenements when to the suburbs (White people) 

• Example of white flight 

Industrialization, Urbanization, And Consumerism

 Inventions- industrializations led to inventions such as the typewriter, lightbulb, etc 

Horizontal Integration- control all products of the same type (ex. Control all airlines)

Vertical Integration- Controlling all means of production and raw materials (Ex. production of metal→ the production of metal pans) 

Homestead Steel Crisis- Frick treated his workers unethically which led them to start a rebellion and protest (led to Frick firing over 3k workers)

Union goals, methods, and membership 

• National Farmers’ Alliance (1876-1889) - all about money 

• Direct elections of senators 

• Lowering the tariff 

• More money in circulation 

• Branch federal treasuries in the west and south for easy loans to farmers 

• Regulation in railroads  

The Populist Party (1889-1908)- The Populist party grew out of the Grange movement , The Greenback Labor Party, and the National Farmers’ Alliance 
- wanted to print more paper money for inflation  

• Control railroads 

• Democratize the economic and financial system of the U.S. 

• The Populist party and its ideals were absorbed by the Democrats. The Democrats were able to use their political clout to make progress towards many of the Populist goals. 

• Absorbed by the Democratic Party 

Merger- two companies combined to one 

Monopoly- have almost full control of the industry 

Trust- gain mutual trust with consumers 

Political Machines/Corruption-  an unofficial system of political organization based on patronage, the spoils system, and the behind-the-scenes control within the structure of a representative democracy 

Philanthropy- belief of being  generous to people

Social Darwinism- amount of wealth is survival of the fittest 

Laissez-Faire- belief where the government shouldn’t show economy 

Tenements-  Crowded high rise apartments  (Immigrants tended to live here) 

-Immigrants, Whites, and Blacks  lived in tenements (up to 10 people per a room) 

White Flight- White people ability to live in suburban homes 

The Transcontinental Railroad- one of the biggest railroads that helped boost the U.S. economy 

National Markets- demand of good and services targeted towards a certain country 

Consumerism- people becoming more reliant of  buying things instead of making them themselves 

“Gilded Age”-  period of economic prosperity in the U.S.

Nouveau Riche- people who recently acquired wealth 

Immigration-

-Before 1880,  

1. 85% came for Northern/Western Europe  

1880-1920 

• Eastern and Southern Europe 

• Most were Catholic and Jewish  

• Many of the customs and languages of these immigrants were different and not well accepted in the US  

Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)- restrict immigration to Asian individuals 

The “American Dream”-  People wanting to go to America to have better opportunities and lives for themselves and their families

Causes Of Immigration-  

-Warfare (came from wartorn countries)

- Famine (not enough food in their countries) 

-  Religious Persecution  

Why People Move into Cities 

-Overpopulated   

- More Opportunities   

- Conveniences not found in rural life (electricity, shopping, jobs)  

- Big Cities also allowed people to maintain their anonymity  

- Groups of people coming to cities: Whites, Blacks, Immigrants 

- Some immigrants came from Northern and Western Europe (Gerat Britain, Ireland, Germany, Scandiana, but most came from Italy, Greece, Poland, Russia) 

Why Immigrants Came over Here:

• Voyage usually costs the family's lives

• Goal for every immigrant was the same: better life for now and for future generations  

• Ships crowd, smelly, disease ridden 

• Diverse groups looking for a better future

Ethnic Neighborhoods- built for oppressed immigrant groups to gather together 

Quota System- method on setting a limit on how much a country is allowed to import, produce, etc 

Ellis Island- immigration station  

• 40% of Americans can trace their family’s point of entry to Ellis Island 

Angel Island-served as an entry point for most Asian immigrants (1910-1940) 

• Chinese Exclusion Act made immigration very difficult and some families spent as long as two years in temporary holding facilities, often only have their immigration request turned down  

• Native born Americans feared and resented the new immigrants (Nativists)

• Despite for work, immigrants often took the “bad” jobs at very low pay  

• Immigrants lived in tenements (up to 10 people shared a room)  

• By 1900, 1 in 25 americans lived in cities  

The West

The Homestead Act (1862)- a law that passed where any adult citizen can claim 160 arcs of land  

• Created to improve economy 

Ft. Laramie Treaty (1868)- the U.S. recognized Black Hills as part of an Great Sioux Reservation, set aside use for the Sioux people 

The Sheridan Campaign/Winter Campaigning- used total war strategies to take down the Native Americans 

Little BigHorn- battle between the Native Americans and Americans for their rights and freedoms; led to Lakota and Cheyenne winning 

Dawes Severalty Act- allowed the government to divide lands for Native American reservations 

The Ghost Dance-   a spiritual movement created by Native Americans where they believed in the extinction of white people so they can live in peace 

Wounded Knee- the Americans murdered 300 Lakota people 

Middlemen- men who buy goods from companies and sell them to consumers 

Homesteading- production of agriculture, clothing which are produced at home and sold to consumers 

Populists And Progressives

Early 1900s social problems- issues with working ethics, racism, misogyny, economy etc   

-political machines controlled everything

-Black Suffrage- The rights guaranteed to blacks by the 14th to 1th Amendments were constantly being ignored in the South 

- The NAACP and another organization tried to fight for their rights and freedoms 

- Economic Reform- The Progressives believed that political reform would lead to economic reform which would improve public condition 

- The government began to regulate the railroads in an effort to present them from taking bribes from factories to overcharge small operations in order to put them out of business 

- The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire- Factory burnt down;  NY passes the first building codes

Populist Party-  a party created where it focused on agricultural needs of farmers 

Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)

Paper Money

Progressives-   Believed that society should be reformed socially, economically, racial, etc 

-rapid industrialization caused a variety of social problems 

- Progressive ideals- the machines which had created great prosperity had also created great misery.   

Social Gospel-  a religious wing of the progressives who used Christianity to fix social issues 

- The corruption in the big cities was impossible in small towns. A blacksmith could not control a town like a factory owner! 

-Progressives like the Populists before them, feared power inn the hands of the wealthy few 

-Progressives wanted to establish a urban environment   

- Social reform- children are educated and women 

- Experts of Progressive Movement - Social Scientists (studied how people interacted/society), Women(mostly middle class and stays at home, fought for rights), Authors (muckrakers, employ the increasing literacy of Americans by creating messages on the social houses ), photographers (powerful tool for Progressives), religious reformers(Social Gospel Movement began in the late 1800s as a response to Urbanization, emphasize role of the church in improving life on earth) , African Americans (created organizations to advance Blacks in society) 

-Temperance Movement -attempted to stop the abuse of alcohol  

-Frances Willard founded and ran the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) (1874)  

- WCTU pushed for voting rights, world peace, access to birth control, and of course prohibition of alcohol 

The Wisconsin Plan-  a progressive movement  created by Wisconsin create 

Settlement Houses- organizations that provided support to urban poor and European immigrants supplying with healthcare, food and etc

Muckrakers-  writers, photographers etc who were progressive  

• Asserted that the Senate was a purchasable option

NAACP- an organization led by W.E.B. DuBois and Ida. D. Wells and fought for racial inequality among African Americans 

Painting- Began to be popular and depicted nature 

• Hudson River School - Developed out of European Romanticism  

• Beauty of untamed nature 

• Use light effects to increase drama 

• Attempts to show the awesome beauty of the american landscape 

• HIghlights power and serenity of nature mist sunset waterfalls, coasts, etc  

• Romantic Music- expresses the beauty of life   

• Ashcan School: 

• Develops out of urbanization 

• Focused on city life, particularly in NYC 

• Paintings of “ordinary people” 

• Provides a critical look at life within the urban environment 

• Artistic equivalent of literary realism 

•  Atonal Movement- Reaction to urbanization and industrialization 

• Unions formed and begin to fight for better hours, increase pay, and improving working conditions 

• Mass Culture-  RIse of Consumer Culture, Nationwide Advertising Campaigns, New Recreational Activities   

SPORTS 

• Boxing 

• Olympics started   

• Baseball (formed out of private clubs) 

• Basketball- Invented by Dr. James Naismith in 1898 

• College Football- Clubs formed at major East Coast college in the late 1800s 

• These clubs would travel to other schools to play their clubs 

• By the 1890s schools were officially supporting these clubs 

• Schools like Harvard and Yale dominated until the 1930s  

• Tennis (British sport)

•  Hockey (mid 1800s spreads to US) 

• Soccer- (came from Britain) 

Ragtime (music)- was Invented by Scott Joplin 

• Amusement Parks started in America 

17th Amendment- an amendment to allow senators to be directly elected by the people of the state… not state legislators