Ch. 10 History

Front 1

Gilded Age

Back 1

The period between 1877 and 1900; also called the Tragic Era and the Dreadful Decades; earned it’s reputation because of widespread corruption in government and business, as well as the failure of the era’s Presidents to solve the persistent economic, social, and political problems plaguing the nation

Front 2

laissez-faire

Back 2

Economic policy under which government takes a hands off approach to economic matters and plays a limited role in business; if the government doesn’t interfere, the strongest businesses will succeed and bring wealth to the nation as a whole

Front 3

blue laws

Back 3

Laws that regulate work, business, or entertainment like drinking alcoholic beverages on Sundays; prohibited certain personal behaviors

Front 4

Pendleton Act

Back 4

Legislation of 1883 that established a Civil Service Commision to control government hiring, ending the patronage system; empowered three civil service commissioners to classify government jobs and test applicants’ fitness for them; it stated that federal employees could not be required to to contribute to campaign funds and could not be fired for political reasons

Front 5

Interstate Commerce Act

Back 5

Law passed in 1887 to curb rate-setting abuses by railroads and regulate other interstate business; required that rates be set in proportion to the distance traveled and that rate schedules be made public; outlawed the practice of giving rebates and favors to powerful customers

Front 6

steerage

Back 6

Large open area beneath a ship’s deck with inadequate toilet facilities, no privacy, and poor food, but where immigrants could buy tickets for as little as $15

Front 7

suburb

Back 7

Residential community on the outskirts of a city

Front 8

ghetto

Back 8

Section of a city where defacto segregation limits residents to a certain ethnic or racial group

Front 9

political machines

Back 9

Unofficial organizations designed to keep a particular party or group in power

Front 10

political boss

Back 10

a single, powerful boss who presided over political machines

Front 11

Tammany Hall

Back 11

Political machine controlling New York City politics from the 1860s to the 1920s; controlled NYC’s Democratic party; William Marcy Tweed

Front 12

social gospel movement

Back 12

Social movement of the early 1900s that applied the christian gospel to social problems; supported improved living conditions and a larger share in the nation’s wealth for all workers

Front 13

Jacob S. Coxey

Back 13

Populist who led Coxey’s Army in a march on Washington D.C. in 1894 to seek government jobs for the unemployed

Front 14

William Marcy Tweed

Back 14

Boss of Tammany Hall political machine in NYC; convicted of forgery and larceny in 1873 and died in jail in 1878

Front 15

Jane Addams

Back 15

Co-founder of Hull House, the first settlement house, in 1889; remained active in social causes through the early 1900s

Front 16

Ellen Gates Starr

Back 16

Co-founder of Chicago’s Hull House, the first settlement house, in 1889

Front 17

Ellis Island

Back 17

a huge reception center for steerage passengers that the federal government opened in 1892; received European immigrants

Front 18

Angel Island

Back 18

where a detention center was built in 1910 in San Francisco Bay, where immigrants’ claims of prior residents or relationship received lengthy examination; received Asian immigrants

Front 19

Hull House

Back 19

opened doors to immigrants and it turned into a center of constructive activities and programs