Gilded Age and Progressive 2025

Gilded Age: A period (late 1800s to early 1900s) of rapid economic growth, industrialization, and wealth, marked by political corruption and stark social inequality.

Progressivism: A reform movement aiming to address problems caused by industrialization, urbanization, and corruption through government action and social change.

Capitalism: An economic system where private individuals own businesses and operate them for profit.

Laissez-Faire: A hands-off approach to the economy, where the government avoids interfering in business affairs.

Invisible Hand: A concept by Adam Smith that suggests self-interest in a free market benefits society as a whole.

Supply and Demand: An economic model where prices are determined by how much of a product is available and how much people want it.

Monopoly: A single company or group that controls an entire industry, limiting competition.

Trust: A group of companies combined to reduce competition and control prices.

Trust Busting: Government efforts to break up monopolies and restore competition.

Corporation: A business owned by shareholders who invest money and share in profits or losses.

Stock Market: A place where shares of public companies are bought and sold.

Market Economy: An economy based on free enterprise, where supply and demand determine prices and production.

Vertical Integration: When a company controls all steps of production and distribution of a product.

Horizontal Integration: When a company merges with or takes over competitors in the same industry.

Robber Barons: Wealthy industrialists who were seen as using exploitative practices to gain their fortunes.

Captains of Industry: Business leaders seen as positively contributing to the economy through innovation and philanthropy.

Andrew Carnegie: A steel tycoon who used vertical integration and promoted the "Gospel of Wealth."

John D. Rockefeller: Founder of Standard Oil; known for using horizontal integration and forming monopolies.

J.P. Morgan: A powerful banker who financed railroads and helped stabilize the U.S. economy during crises.

Gustavus Swift: Revolutionized the meatpacking industry with refrigerated railroad cars.

Gospel of Wealth: Carnegie's idea that the wealthy have a moral duty to give back to society.

Philanthropy: Charitable giving by the wealthy to support education, the arts, or public services.

Goals of Progressivism: Promote social welfare, reduce corruption, regulate big business, and expand democracy.

Muckrakers: Investigative journalists who exposed corruption and social injustices during the Progressive Era.

16th Amendment: Allowed Congress to collect income taxes.

17th Amendment: Established direct election of U.S. Senators by voters.

Wets vs. Drys: Wets opposed Prohibition; Drys supported banning alcohol.

18th Amendment: Prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transport of alcohol (Prohibition).

19th Amendment: Gave women the right to vote (women’s suffrage).

Suffrage: The right to vote in political elections.

Old Immigration: Immigrants from Northern and Western Europe before 1880.

New Immigration: Immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe after 1880.

Angel Island: Immigration station in San Francisco, mainly processing Asian immigrants.

Ellis Island: Main immigration station in New York for European immigrants.

Chinese Exclusion Act: 1882 law that banned Chinese immigration.

Gentleman’s Agreement: 1907 deal between the U.S. and Japan to limit Japanese immigration.

Urbanization: The growth of cities due to industrialization and immigration.

Jane Addams: Social reformer who founded Hull House to help immigrants and the poor.

Upton Sinclair: Author of The Jungle, which exposed meatpacking industry horrors.

Xenophobia: Fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers.

Eugenics: A belief in improving the human race through selective breeding, often with racist implications.

Public School Education: Government-funded education meant to assimilate immigrants and prepare citizens.

Meat Inspection Act: 1906 law requiring sanitary conditions in meatpacking plants.

Pure Food and Drug Act: 1906 law banning mislabeling and harmful additives in food and medicine.

American Federation of Labor (AFL): A union of skilled workers focusing on wages, hours, and working conditions.

Knights of Labor: An early labor union open to all workers, focused on broad social reforms.

IWW (Industrial Workers of the World): Radical labor union that wanted to unite all workers and overthrow capitalism.

Unions: Organizations formed by workers to fight for better wages, hours, and conditions.

Strikes: Work stoppages by employees to protest working conditions or wages.

Scabs: Replacement workers hired during strikes.

Collective Bargaining: Negotiations between employers and workers as a group over employment terms.

Great Railroad Strike: 1877 national strike protesting wage cuts, ended with federal troops.

Pullman Strike: 1894 nationwide railroad strike over wage cuts and high rents in company housing.

Haymarket Bombing: 1886 labor protest in Chicago that turned violent and hurt the labor movement's image.

Homestead Strike: Violent 1892 strike at Carnegie’s steel plant; ended union presence there.

Boycott: Refusal to buy or use goods/services to protest policies or practices.

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire: 1911 fire that killed 146 women; led to improved safety laws.

Ida Wells: Journalist who exposed lynching and fought for civil rights.

Booker T. Washington: African American leader who promoted vocational education and gradual equality.

W.E.B. DuBois: Civil rights activist who demanded immediate equality and helped found the NAACP.

Teddy Roosevelt: Progressive president known for trust-busting, conservation, and the Square Deal.

Square Deal / 3 Cs: Roosevelt’s domestic policy: Control of corporations, Consumer protection, Conservation.

Social Darwinism: The belief that strong people or businesses naturally rise to power, justifying inequality.

Disenfranchisement: Denying people (especially African Americans) the right to vote.

Oligarchy: A government ruled by a few powerful individuals or groups.