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139 Cards in this Set

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Gilded Age
Term coined by Mark Twain to describe the Post-Civil War period- especially the politics and corruption of the era
patronage
Rewarding loyal supporters with government jobs and perks
constituents
A party's group of followers (ex: Blacks in the South- Republicans; Union veterans- Republicans)
Republicans/Grand Old Party (GOP)
Political party that appealed to Union veterans, free blacks, and business interests after the Civil War
"waving the bloody shirt"
Tactic used by the Republicans to attract Union veterans by portraying the Democrats as the party of secession and disloyalty
Billion Dollar Congress
1889-1891- period in which the Republicans dominated both the presidency and Congress- Sherman Antitrust Act, increased pensions for vets, etc.
tariffs
Taxes on imports- the #1 source of revenue for the federal government- High supported by GOP- low by Democrats
McKinley Tariff (1890)
Passed during the Billion Dollar Congress- highest tariff of the period
machines
Political organizations, especially at the municipal level, that seek to maintain power through patronage (ex: Tammany Hall in NYC)
Tammany Hall
Most famous of the urban machines- corrupt- led by Boss Tweed
Credit Mobilier Scandal
Most famous of the Grant Administration scandals- fraudulent railroad company that was bribing prominent Republicans
Whiskey Ring/Indian Ring
Other scandals of the Grant administration, involved key members of the Grant administration though he himself was not involved
Liberal Republicans
Third party committed to stopping the corruption of the Republican/Grant administration- Carl Schurz- Election of 1872
Election of 1872
Grant won reelection despite a threat from the Liberal Republicans
Panic of 1873
1st major financial crisis after the Civil War, caused by overspecualtion
Greenbackers
Nickname for the Greenback Labor Party- believed in inflating the economy with paper money to relieve the problems caused by the Panic of 1873
Crime of '73
Term coined by proponents of silver when the government took the metal out of circulation
Election of 1876
Hayes (Rep) vs. Tilden (D)- Tilden probably won but there were three disputed states (FL, SC, LA)- not enough votes to win majority- election decided by Compromise of 1877 in favor of Hayes
Compromise of 1877
Settled the very contentious outcome of the Election of 1876- Hayes (Republican) was granted the presidency in return for an end to Reconstruction
Mugwumps/Stalwarts/Half-Breeds
Various factions of the Republican Party in the mid-1880s
Pendleton Act (1883)
"Magna Carta" of civil service reform- response to Garfield's assassination- required govt. appointees to take competitive civil service exams
Wilson-Gorman Tariff (1894)
During Cleveland's 2nd term- lowered tariffs- also had a clause for an income tax that was declared unconstitutional a year later
Pacific Railway Act of 1862
Passed during the Civil War- provided for the construction of the transcontinental railroad completed in 1869
subsidies
Money given by government: a grant or gift of money from a government to a private company, organization, or charity to help it to function, ex: the government giving generous land grants to help railroads
transcontinental railroad
Built across the U.S. from California to the East. Two lines were built- met in the middle at Promontory Point, Utah in 1869- by 1900 four had been completed
Pullman sleeping cars
Luxurious railcars designed for overnight travel- Pullman was also the site of a notorious strike between American Railway Union and Pullman Company town
standard times
Division of the nation into four time zones- pushed by the railroads to improve and standardize scheduling
standard gauge
gauge = width between rail tracks- but the mid-1880s a standard gauge had been implemented- allowing for rail lines to connect without having to change rail cars
secret rebates
Discounts provided by railroads to large companies to haul their freight (ex: Standard Oil)- opposed by farmers and small business as discriminatory
vertical integration
Controlling the entire production process from the raw materials to the finished goods- cutting out the middle man along the way (ex: Carnegie Steel)
horizontal integration
Buying out rival companies in the same industry (ex: Rockefeller buying out smaller refineries)
steel
Stronger than iron- the commodity that best demonstrated the economic power of a nation. Increasingly important in post-Civil War America building railroads, bridges, skyscrapers, etc.
Bessemer Process
Improved the process of converting iron to steel by removing impurities by blowing air through molten iron- produced cheaper and more durable steel
U.S. Steel
The name of Andrew Carnegie's company after it was purchased by J.P. Morgan
Spindletop
Massive oil discovery in SE Texas in 1901- spewed oil for days
philanthropy
Donating money to charitable causes (ex: to colleges and universities)- ex: Carnegie's Gospel of Wealth
Gospel of Wealth
Idea the rich should donate their riches to charitable causes like libraries, theaters, and higher education- Andrew Carnegie- also an idea God had given them their riches
Munn v. Illinois (1877)
Upheld the state Granger laws to regulate railroads
Wabash Case (1886)
Reversed Munn (1877) by ruling states could not regulate interstate commerce- which most railroads conducted
Interstate Commerce Act (1887)
1st major attempt by Congress to regulate railroads, created the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC); several loopholes
Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)
1st major attempt by Congress to regulate trusts, several loopholes which were exacerbated by the E.C. Knight Case (1895). Actually best used against labor unions.
United States v. E.C. Knight (1895)
Supreme Court case which gutted the Sherman Anti-trust Act (1890) by ruling the act did not apply to manufacturing
scabs
Workers hired to replace striking workers
yellow dog contracts
Prohibited workers from joining unions
blacklists
Lists of union members or troublesome workers circulated among bosses so those laborers would not be hired
Great Railroad Strike of 1877
Railroads such as the Baltimore and Ohio cut wages and railroad workers went on strike over a wide area in solidarity. President Hayes called out the army/militia to put it down. Caused a lot of damage.
Haymarket Square Riot (1886)
Workers from the McCormick Harvester Works went on strike which created underlining tensions in Chicago. There was a peaceful demonstration with speakers at the Haymarket Square. A bomb was thrown killing some policemen and others. This act was blamed on anarchists. More than anything the Haymarket Square Riot killed off the Knights of Labor
Homestead Strike (1892)
Workers at one of Carnegie's steel mills went on strike. Henry Clay Fricke, Carnegie's right-hand man, sent Pinkerton detectives to take over the factory. The workers and Pinkertons waged a battle but in the end the steel workers union was broken
Pinkertons
Private detective force often hired by business leaders against strikers (ex: during the Homestead Strike)
Pullman Strike (1895)
The Pullman company town increased the price of goods in company town- American Railway Union led by Debs went on strike- court injunction and federal troops (mail) were called out and ended it
National Labor Union
The first major union after the Civil War- many weaknesses- basically over shortly after the Panic of 1873, led by William Sylvis
Molly Maguires
Radical Irish coal miners in Pennsylvania who resulted to violence and terrorism to achieve their goals
Knights of Labor
Broad based union of the late 1870s-mid-1880s- allowed skilled and unskilled workers- doomed by the Haymarket Square Riot (1886)- Uriah Stephens and Terrence Powderly
American Federation of Labor
Led by Samuel Gompers- allowed only skilled workers (trade unionism)- believed in basic demands- "bread and butter unionism"- replaced the Knights in importance
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)
Also known of the Wobblies- radical, anti-capitalist union of the 1890s-1910s- led by Big Bill Haywood- doomed by World War I
closed shop vs. open shop
Closed shop requires labor force to be union members- the open shop is the opposite. Unions favor closed shop while employers prefer open shop.
Socialist Party
Led by Eugene V. Debs and to a lesser extent Daniel DeLeon- opposed the capitalist excesses of the post-Civil War period- really never gained broad based popularity
socialism
Political/economic philosophy were government owns the means of production to avoid capitalist excesses (ex: owning the railroads and telegraphs)
anarchy
Political philosophy where there is no government- increased popularity in the post-Civil War period and in Europe- often resort to violence (Ex: assassination of President McKinley)
City Beautiful Movement
Push to beautify urban areas with public parks and natural spaces (ex: Frederick Law Olmstead and Central Park in NYC)
suburbs
Areas of cities outside the central core of the city- this is where the wealthy tended to live- growth enabled by transportation developments
dumbbell tenements
Design of urban tenements (basically apartment buildings) that maximized space to allow for maximum occupancy- led to urban areas having very high population densities
New Immigration
Describes the wave of immigrants of the 1880s-1920 that was from Eastern and Southern Europe (Italy, Greece, Russia, etc)- different from previous waves in terms of origin, religion, culture, etc.
WASPs
White Anglo-Saxon Protestants
birds of passage
Term for immigrants who did not remain permanently in the U.S.- returned at some point- after the Civil War it was estimated to be 1/3
Ellis Island
Immigration processing depot in New York City, opened in 1892- many of the New Immigrants came through Ellis Island
anti-Semitism
Hatred/discrimination/prejudice of Jews
American Protective Association
Powerful nativist organization in the 1890s
settlement houses
Ex: Hull House run by Jane Addams. Provided opportunities for college-educated women to provide services to immigrant neighborhoods (ex: English classes)
Protestant fundamentalism
Literal interpretation of the Bible- ex: the Genesis as the story of creation rather than evolution/Darwinism
Social Gospel
Protestant reform movement of churches trying to tackle the problems of urban America- Washington Gladden and Walter Rauschenbusch
Salvation Army
Organization that typified the Social Gospel
YMCA
Young Men's Christian Association- example of the Social Gospel
Darwinism
Theory of evolution and natural selection to describe origins of man
Chautauqua Movement
Education- travelling lecture circuits across the United States (ex: Russell Conwell and William Jennings Bryan)- very popular
Morrill Land Grant Act (1862)
Provided for federal funds for the creation of state land grant colleges- typically agricultural and mechanical colleges such as Texas A&M
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
Upheld the constitutionality of "separate but equal" facilities for whites and blacks in the South- overturned by Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
Tuskegee Institute
Founded by Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver- education institute for blacks in Alabama- industrial training in line with Washington's philosophy
Vassar, Wellesley, Bryn Mawr
Famous women's colleges
Johns Hopkins
Graduate school in Baltimore based on the German model of specialized research
Comstock Act (1873)
Morality law which prohibited mailing obscene materials, including information on birth control
Gibson Girl
Cartoon character by Charles Dana Gibson idealizing the woman as sleek, athletic, and curvy
National American Woman Suffrage Association
Pushed for woman suffrage- included Susan B. Anthony and Carrie Chapman Catt
Minor v. Happersett (1875)
A setback for the women's suffrage movement by upholding state restrictions on women suffrage
chain and department stores
Changed the shopping experience and provided standard goods across the country- dominated smaller stores
Sears and Roebuck
Mail-order store that used catalogs sent via mail to attract a nation-wide market
Social Darwinism
"Survival of the fittest'- Spencer and Sumner- applied Darwin's theories to man- used to justify big trusts, racism, imperialism, etc.
baseball
The most popular spectator sport of the late 1800s, 1903- 1st World Series
vaudeville
Influenced by immigrant culture- shows with a variety of acts such as singing, dancing, comedy, ventriloquists, etc.
minstrel shows
White actors in black face- very popular among whites in lampooning blacks
Realism
A shift away from Romanticism- emphasis on life as it is- not as it is idealized- ex: Ashcan School of art and literature of Dreiser and Twain
dime novels
Cheap novels, typically about the Wild West (ex: the novels of Bret Hart)
Californios
The Mexican natives of California- discriminated against with the flood of Anglos with the California Gold Rush
Chinese
First came with the Cal. Gold Rush- later worked on transcontinental railroad- target of racism and discrimination on the West Coast
Workingman's Party
Nativist organization led by Denis Kearney- directed their anger at Chinese on the West Coast
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)
First law to restrict an immigrant group - response to nativist sentiments and racism on the West Coast
Angel Island
The "Ellis Island" for the Chinese- located in San Francisco
reservation system
The plan for sequestering Indians on certain areas of land where they can be out of the way of white expansion (ex: Oklahoma)
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Often corrupt federal agency entrusted with dealing with Native Americans and managing reservations
Sand Creek Massacre (1864)
Led by Col. J.M. Chivington- attack on largely defense Cheyenne village in Colorado
Sioux/Cheyenne
Tribes that dominated the northern part of the Great Plains- Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse
The Black Hills
Located in the Dakotas- sacred/holy land for the Sioux and Cheyenne- discovery of gold led to settlers led to Little Big Horn (1876)
Battle of Little Big Horn (1876)
Massacre of Custer's command at the hands of Sioux and Cheyenne- last great victory of the Plains Indians
Buffalo Soldiers
Term for Black cavalrymen fighting on the Great Plains- term of respect given by the Native Americans
Nez Perce
Led by Chief Joseph- failed in their flight to the sanctuary of Canada
Comanche
Dominated the southern Great Plains (ex: Texas)- led by Quannah Parker
Apache
Led by Geronimo- resilient people of the Southwest (Arizona and New Mexico)
Ghost Dance
Religious movement introduced by Wovoka- scared the whites because the Indians believed the buffalo would return, the white's bullets would not harm them, and their ancestors would return- led to the tensions that led to Wounded Knee
Wounded Knee
December 1890- massacre of Sioux village (precipitated by Ghost Dance) basically marked the end of the Plains Indian Wars
extermination of the buffalo
The #1 reason for the defeat of the Plains Indians- wholesale slaughter by white hunters make the buffalo almost extinct
Carlisle Indian School
One of many institutions to try to assimilate Indian youth
Dawes Severalty Act (1887)
Major attempt by the federal government to assimilate Indians attempting to make them into small farmers by breaking up tribal lands into individual plots. Ultimately proved disastrous to Native Americans.
A Century of Dishonor (1881)
By Helen Hunt Jackson- documented the long history of broken treaties by the federal govt. against the Indians
Homestead Act (1862)
Provided 160 acres of land in the Great Plains as long as settlers remained 5 years and improved the land, lots of fraud and 160 was too little for arid Great Plains
Timber Culture Act (1873)
Addition to the Homestead Act which granted an additional 160 acres for planting trees
Oklahoma/Sooners
Indian Territory was opened to Anglo settlement in 1889- "final fling of settlement"- some jumped the gun early and were known as Sooners
barbed wire
Invented by Joseph Glidden- enabled fencing on the treeless Great Plains- led to fencing wars of farmers vs. ranchers vs. ranchers
sodbusters
Nickname for settlers on the Great Plains- after the material their homes were often made of
Comstock Lode
Major discovery of silver in Nevada
Yonder-siders
Miners who left California for strikes in the Rocky Mountains
Texas longhorns
Tough, semi-wild animal roaming Texas- driven by enterprising cowboys to rail hubs in Kansas where they could be shipped via rail to meatpacking plants in the West
The Long Drive
The term for the cattle drives from Texas to rail hubs in Kansas and Nebraska (ex: Goodnight-Loving Trail, Chisholm Trail)
Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show
Very popular in the East- had real life cowboys, Indians, and animals- great example of Easterners fascination with the Wild West
Frederick Jackson Tuner's "Frontier Thesis"
Written in response (1893) to the closing of the frontier (Census of 1890)- argued the frontier was an essential character of American culture and identity- safety valve for the discontent
bonanza wheat farms
Massive wheat farms with thousands of acres- ex: Oliver Dalrymple's in the Dakotas
Hatch Act (1887)
Federal law which established agricultural research stations
inflation
Currency loses its value- it depreciates; farmers and other debtors wanted inflation (greenbacks or silver) to easier pay back their debts
Bland-Allison Act (1878)
Required the federal government to buy a certain amount of silver to issue as currency- victory for proponents of inflation
The Grange
Farmers organization that provided social activities and travelling lectures, increasingly became political (ex: state laws to regulate railroads)
Granger Laws
State laws, often in Great Plains states, to regulate railroads. Upheld in Munn v. Illinois (1877) but overturned by the Wabash Case (1886)
Farmers' Alliance
Successor to the Grange in the late 1880s and early 1890s, increasingly political, C.W Macune, platform articulated in the Ocala Demands (1890)
Ocala Demands (1890)
Platform of the Farmers' Alliance; called for subtreasury system, free and unlimited coinage of silver, an end to tariffs, direct election of senators, government regulation of railroads
Populist Party
Political party of the 1890s that ran candidates in 1892 and 1896. Strong among farmers, especially in the Great Plains. #1 issue was inflation through free and unlimited coinage of silver; prominent leaders included Ignatius Donnelly, Mary E. Lease, Tom Watson, and William Jennings Bryan
Omaha Platform (1892)
Platform of the Populist Party in 1892, mirrored the Ocala Demands (1890)- #1 issue was the free and unlimited coinage of silver
Panic of 1893
Worst financial crisis in U.S. History prior to the Great Depression, lasted for almost 5 years
Coxey's March (1894)
March of an unemployed "army" led by Jacob Coxey that came to Washington D.C. demanding public works jobs to offset the unemployment of the Panic of 1893
Election of 1896
William Jennings Bryan (Democratic and Populist) vs. William McKinley (Republican). The Democrats and Populists merged behind Bryan ("Cross of Gold" Speech). The #1 issue was the free and unlimited coinage of silver. McKinley and the Republicans' victory spelled the end of the Populist Party- one of the most important elections in U.S. History
Gold bugs
Supporters of the gold standard, in the Democratic Party specifically (ex: Grover Cleveland)
Cross of Gold Speech
William Jennings Bryan's acceptance speech in 1896- urged for the free and unlimited coinage of silver