American YAWP Chapters 15-16

Term: Gilded Age Immigration

Definition:
Who: A massive wave of immigrants, especially "New Immigrants" from Southern and Eastern Europe (Italians, Poles, Russian Jews).
What: The movement of millions to the U.S., driven by "push" factors like poverty and persecution, and "pull" factors like industrial jobs.
When/Where: Late 1800s, concentrating in industrial cities like New York, Chicago, and Pittsburgh.
How: Made possible by affordable steamship travel and the high demand for cheap labor in American factories.

Term: Political Machines

Definition:
Who: Urban political organizations, like New York's Tammany Hall led by "Boss" Tweed.
What: Groups that controlled city politics by providing social services and jobs to immigrant communities in exchange for their votes.
When/Where: Major American cities during the Gilded Age.
How: They operated on a system of patronage, trading favors for political loyalty, which was effective but often highly corrupt.

Term: Andrew Carnegie

Definition:
Who: A Scottish immigrant who became a titan of the steel industry.
What: He built a massive steel empire and promoted the "Gospel of Wealth," the idea that the rich should use their fortunes for the public good.
When/Where: Gilded Age America.
How: He mastered "vertical integration," controlling every phase of steel production from raw materials to transportation.

Term: Social Darwinism

Definition:
Who: An idea promoted by thinkers like Herbert Spencer.
What: The theory that "survival of the fittest" applied to human society, justifying wealth inequality and arguing against government aid for the poor.
When/Where: A popular idea among the wealthy in late 19th-century America.
How: It provided a seemingly scientific reason for why industrial titans were rich and powerful while many others were poor.

Term: Great Railroad Strike of 1877

Definition:
Who: Railroad workers across the United States.
What: The nation's first major national strike, which erupted in violence after companies cut wages.
When/Where: Started in West Virginia and spread nationwide in 1877.
How: The strike was so disruptive that President Hayes sent in federal troops to crush it, showing the growing conflict between labor and capital.

Term: Knights of Labor

Definition:
Who: A large, inclusive union that welcomed skilled and unskilled workers, as well as women and African Americans.
What: A labor organization that aimed for broad reforms like the eight-hour workday and worker-owned factories.
When/Where: Reached its peak popularity in the mid-1880s across the U.S.
How: They grew powerful after successful strikes but were unfairly blamed for the Haymarket Affair, which led to their decline.

Term: Haymarket Affair

Definition:
Who: Labor protesters, anarchists, and police in Chicago.
What: A labor rally that ended in chaos when a bomb was thrown at police, leading to a deadly riot.
When/Where: Chicago's Haymarket Square in 1886.
How: The event created a national backlash against the labor movement, which became associated with radicalism and violence.

Term: The People's Party (Populists)

Definition:
Who: A political party formed by farmers, laborers, and reformers.
What: A third party that demanded government action against monopolies, calling for nationalized railroads and a graduated income tax.
When/Where: Gained significant influence in the South and West during the 1890s.
How: It emerged from the Farmers' Alliance to give a political voice to Americans who felt left behind by the industrial economy.

Term: Omaha Platform

Definition:
Who: Adopted by the People's Party (Populists) at their 1892 convention.
What: The Populist Party's official list of goals, like government-owned railroads, a fairer tax system, and direct election of senators.
When/Where: Created in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1892.
How: It was their detailed plan to give power back to farmers and workers and take it away from big corporations and corrupt politicians.

Term: Colored Farmers' Alliance

Definition:
Who: A union for Black farmers in the South.
What: A separate organization for Black farmers who were excluded from the white-only Southern Farmers' Alliance.
When/Where: Active in the South in the late 1880s and early 1890s.
How: It was crushed by white violence after organizing a strike, showing how difficult and dangerous it was for Black and white farmers to unite.

Term: Panic of 1893

Definition:
Who: Affected the entire American economy, from farmers to factory workers and business owners.
What: The worst economic depression the country had seen up to that time, causing massive unemployment and business failures.
When/Where: Started in 1893 and lasted for several years across the U.S.
How: It was caused by railroad bankruptcies and a run on the nation's gold supply. The crisis made the Populist Party's message even more popular.

Term: William Jennings Bryan

Definition:
Who: A charismatic Nebraska politician and three-time presidential candidate.
What: He became the nominee for both the Democratic and Populist parties in 1896 after his famous "Cross of Gold" speech.
When/Where: A leading figure in American politics at the turn of the 20th century.
How: He championed the cause of "free silver" to help indebted farmers and became the voice of the Populist movement.

Term: Gold Standard Act

Definition:
Who: Passed by the U.S. Congress and President William McKinley.
What: A law that officially made gold the only standard for U.S. currency, ending the "free silver" debate.
When/Where: Passed in 1900.
How: It represented a major victory for conservative, pro-business Republicans over the Populists after the election of 1896.

Term: "New South"

Definition:
Who: Promoted by Southern editors and boosters like Henry Grady.
What: The idea that the South should modernize by embracing industrialization and moving beyond its agriculture-based economy.
When/Where: An ideology in the South after Reconstruction.
How: While some industry grew, the vision largely failed to materialize as the region remained poor and trapped by the legacy of slavery and racism.

Term: Jim Crow Laws

Definition:
Who: Enacted by white-dominated state and local governments.
What: A system of laws that mandated racial segregation in all public facilities under a "separate but equal" doctrine.
When/Where: Prevailed across the American South from the late 1800s to the 1960s.
How: These laws legally enforced white supremacy after the protections of Reconstruction were removed.

Term: Ida B. Wells

Definition:
Who: A pioneering African American journalist and anti-lynching crusader.
What: She used investigative journalism to expose that lynching was a tool of racial and economic control, not a punishment for crime.
When/Where: Began her activism in Memphis in the 1890s.
How: She was driven to action after the lynching of her friends, launching a lifelong campaign to document and condemn this form of racial terror.

Term: Freedpeople's Conventions

Definition:
Who: Assemblies of Black delegates from across the South.
What: Political meetings where freedpeople defined freedom on their own terms, demanding suffrage, education, and legal equality.
When/Where: Held in southern states in 1865 and 1866.
How: It was a crucial form of Black political self-organization that articulated a vision of full citizenship immediately after the Civil War.

Term: Black Churches

Definition:
Who: Founded and controlled by formerly enslaved African Americans.
What: The first and most important autonomous institution for the Black community, serving as a center for worship, education, and political organizing.
When/Where: Established throughout the South following emancipation.
How: By pooling their resources, freedpeople created spaces free from white control that became the foundation of community life and leadership.

Term: American Equal Rights Association (AERA)

Definition:
Who: An alliance of abolitionists and women's rights activists, including Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony.
What: An organization dedicated to securing voting rights for all citizens, regardless of race or gender.
When/Where: Formed in 1866.
How: The group split apart over the 15th Amendment, which granted suffrage to Black men but continued to exclude all women.

Term: The Lost Cause

Definition:
Who: An ideology created and promoted by white Southerners.
What: A revisionist history that portrayed the Confederacy as a heroic cause and downplayed the central role of slavery in the Civil War.
When/Where: Became a dominant cultural narrative in the South after Reconstruction.
How: It served as a way for white Southerners to justify the war and the re-establishment of white supremacy.

Term: Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

Definition:
Who: A secret organization that served as the paramilitary arm of the Democratic Party in the South.
What: A white supremacist group that used terrorism, violence, and murder to intimidate Black voters and their Republican allies.
When/Where: Active across the South during the Reconstruction era.
How: Its goal was to overthrow Republican governments and restore white supremacy by suppressing Black civil and political rights.

Term: Enforcement Acts

Definition:
Who: A series of laws passed by the Republican-led Congress.
What: Also known as the Ku Klux Klan Acts, these laws made it a federal crime to use violence to interfere with a citizen's voting rights.
When/Where: Passed between 1870-1871 to combat terrorism in the South.
How: They gave the president the authority to use federal troops to suppress the Klan, showing a federal commitment to protecting Black rights.

Term: Sharecropping

Definition:
Who: A system involving landless farmers (often freedpeople) and landowners.
What: An agricultural system where farmers worked a plot of land in return for a share of the crop, but were often trapped in a cycle of debt.
When/Where: The dominant labor system in the rural South after the Civil War.
How: Through high-interest loans for tools and supplies from a "furnishing merchant," landowners kept sharecroppers economically dependent and unable to leave.

Term: Redeemers

Definition:
Who: A coalition of conservative white Southern Democrats.
What: The political group that sought to "redeem" the South by ousting Republican governments and ending Reconstruction.
When/Where: Gained control of all Southern state governments by 1877.
How: They used political pressure and violent intimidation from groups like the KKK to suppress the Black vote and restore white supremacy.

Term: Compromise of 1877

Definition:
Who: A backroom deal between Republican and Democratic party leaders.
What: An agreement that settled the disputed 1876 presidential election: Republican Rutherford B. Hayes won the presidency.
When/Where: Negotiated in Washington D.C. in 1877.
How: In exchange for the presidency, Hayes agreed to withdraw the last federal troops from the South, marking the official end of Reconstruction.

Term: Eugene V. Debs

Definition:
Who: A famous American labor organizer and leader of the American Railway Union.
What: The most well-known socialist in the U.S., who ran for president five times for the Socialist Party.
When/Where: Active from the late 1800s through the early 1900s.
How: He was radicalized after being jailed for his role in the Pullman Strike and concluded that the entire capitalist system needed to be replaced.

Term: Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)

Definition:
Who: A radical labor union, whose members were called "Wobblies," founded by socialists like "Big Bill" Haywood.
What: A union that wanted to unite all workers into "One Big Union" to overthrow capitalism. It welcomed everyone, regardless of race or gender.
When/Where: Founded in Chicago in 1905.
How: They were more confrontational than other unions, using tactics like general strikes, which made them a target of the government.