History chapter 14/15

Melting Pot

A mixture of people from different cultures and races who blend together by abandoning their native languages and cultures.

Chinese Exclusion Act

A law, enacted in 1882, that prohibited all Chinese except students, teachers, and government officials from entering the United States.

Gentlemens' Agreement

A 1907-1908 agreement by the government of Japan to limit Japanese emigration to the United States.

Social Gospel Movement

A 19th-century reform movement based on the belief that Christians have a responsibility to help improve working conditions and alleviate poverty.

Settlement House

A community center providing assistance to residents-particularly immigrants-in a slum neighborhood.

Graft

The illegal use of political influence for personal gain.

Political Machine

An organization group that controls a political party in a city and offers services to voters and businesses in exchange for political and financial support.

Tammany Hall

The Democratic political machine that dominated New York City in the late 19th century.

Tweed Ring

A group of corrupt New York politicians, led by William Marcy "Boss" Tweed, who took as much as $2 million from the city between 1869 and 1871.

Pendleton Civil Service Act

A law enacted in 1883, that established a bipartisan civil service commission to make appointments to government jobs by means of the merit system.

Ellis Island

Immigrants arriving on the East Coast in the late 1800s gained entry into the United States through this.

Angel Island

The immigration station on the west coast where Asian immigrants, mostly Chinese gained admission to the U.S. at San Francisco Bay.

Nativism

A policy of favoring native-born individuals over foreign-born ones

Americanization Movement

An education program designed to help immigrants assimilate to American culture.

Tenement

A multi-family dwelling in the urban core, usually old and occupied by the poor. Had terrible living condition and were overpopulated.

poverty and persecution

What caused millions of people to leave Europe, China, Japan, the Carribean and Mexico for the United States?

Forced to learn new language and culture; many faced discrimination when trying to find jobs and housing.

What were problems immigrants faced

emigration

The act of leaving a country to settle in another.

immigrate

To enter and settle in a new country.

Housing shortage; transportation issues - how to move so many people; lack of safe drinking water; difficulty keeping cities clean (sanitary); increase of crime; limited water meant increase in fire danger.

What problems did rapid growth pose for cities?

The machines helped immigrants get citizenship (naturalization), housing and jobs, and in return the immigrants gave them votes.

Why were immigrants such strong supporters of political machines?

Bessemer Process

A cheap and efficient process for making steel, developed around 1850. Created by Henry Bessemer

Transcontinental Railroad

A railroad line linking the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States, completed in 1869.

Interstate Commerce Act

A law that said the federal government could control railroads.

A law, enacted in 1887, that reestablished the federal government's right to supervise railroad activities and created a five-member Interstate Commerce Commission to do so.

Vertical Integration

When one company controls the whole process of making a product.

A company's taking over its suppliers and distributors to gain total control over the quality and cost of it products.

Horizontal Integration

The merging of companies that make similar products, buying out the competition

Monopoly

A complete control over an industry, achieved by buying up or driving out all competitors.

Trust

A method of consolidating competing companies, in which participants turn their stock over to a board of trustees, who run the companies as one large corporation.

Sherman Antitrust Act

A law, made in 1890, that was made to prevent monopolies by making it illegal to establish trusts that interfered with free trade.

American Federation of Labor

An alliance of trade and craft unions, formed in 1886. Collective Bargaining

Negotiations between the representatives of workers and employers to reach an agreement on wages, benefits, hours, and working conditions.

John D. Rockefeller

Owner of Standard Oil, the first monopoly in the oil industry

Andrew Carnegie

Mogul (a very rich, important and powerful person) of the steel industry

Haymarket Affair

Protest of police brutality when someone set off a bomb, a riot ensued and officers and strikers were killed.

Robber Barons

Refers to the industrialists or big business owners who gained huge profits by paying their employees extremely low wages. They also drove their competitors out of business by selling their products cheaper than it cost to produce it. Then when they controlled the market, they hiked prices high above original price.

Social Darwinism

The belief that only the fittest survive in human political and economic struggle.

Laissez-faire

Idea that government should play as small a role as possible in economic affairs.

Urbanization

An increase in the percentage and in the number of people living in urban settlements.

Credit Mobilier

a joint-stock company organized in 1863 and reorganized in 1867 to build the Union Pacific Railroad. It was involved in a scandal in 1872 in which high government officials were accused of accepting bribes.

Samuel Gompers

American Federation of Labor. He provided a stable and unified union for skilled workers.

Knights of Labor

labor union that sought to organize all workers and focused on broad social reforms

row house

single-family dwelling that shared side walls with other houses

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

a factory fire in 1911 that killed 146 workers trapped in the building; led to new safety standard laws