Download US History: Reconstruction Era and Gilded Age - Key Terms and Definitions and more Exams Law in PDF only on Docsity!
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OnRamps Midterm Review Spring 108
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Black Codes - ANSWER Southern laws designed to restrict the rights of the newly freed black slaves
Radical Reconstruction - ANSWER Reconstruction strategy that was based on severely punishing South for causing war
13th Amendment (1865) - ANSWER Abolishes and prohibits slavery
14th Amendment - ANSWER Declares that all persons born in the U.S. are citizens and are guaranteed equal protection of the laws
15th Amendment (1870) - ANSWER U.S. cannot prevent a person from voting because of race, color, or creed
Ku Klux Klan - ANSWER A secret society created by white southerners in 1866 that used terror and violence to keep African Americans from obtaining their civil rights.
Thaddeus Stevens - ANSWER A Radical Republican who believed in harsh punishments for the South. Leader of the Radical Republicans in Congress.
10% Plan of Reconstruction - ANSWER A plan enacted by President Abraham Lincoln in Union-controlled Louisiana in 1863 that offered an amnesty and full restoration of rights, including property except for slaves, to nearly all white southerners who took an oath affirming loyalty to the Union and support for emancipation; when 10 percent of the voters of 1860 had taken the oath, they could elect a new state government, which would be required to abolish slavery.
Cross of Gold Speech - ANSWER An impassioned address by William Jennings Bryan at the 1896 Democratic Convention, in which he attacked the "gold bugs" who insisted that U.S. currency be backed only with gold.
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Frederick Jackson Turner - ANSWER American historian in the early 20th century best known for his essay "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" in which he argued that the spirit and success of the United States was directly tied to the country's westward expansion.
Willliam Jennings Bryan - ANSWER Democratic candidate for President in 1892. Democrats had adopted the populist demand for inflation through free silver. Gave the Cross of Gold speech
Dawes Act - ANSWER 1887 law that distributed reservation land to individual Native American owners
Homestead Act - ANSWER 1862 - Provided free land in the West to anyone willing to settle there and develop it. Encouraged westward migration.
Omaha Platform - ANSWER Political agenda adopted by the populist party in 1892 at their Omaha, Nebraska convention. Called for unlimited coinage of silver (bimetallism), government regulation of railroads and industry, graduated income tax, and a number of election reforms.
Ocala Demands - ANSWER 1890 - The leaders of what would later become the Populist Party held a national convention in Ocala, Florida and adopted a platform advocating reforms to help farmers.
Populist Party - ANSWER U.S. political party formed in 1892 representing mainly farmers, favoring free coinage of silver and government control of railroads and other monopolies
Andrew Carnegie - ANSWER A Scottish-born American industrialist and philanthropist who founded the Carnegie Steel Company in 1892. By 1901, his company dominated the American steel industry.
Henry Frick - ANSWER Chairman of Carnegie Steel (1889) during the Homestead Strike, wanted to introduce new machinery to steel plant. New machines would decrease number of workers. Couldn't agree with unions and set out to break unions and cut costs
Jay Gould - ANSWER United States financier who gained control of the Erie Canal and who caused a financial panic in 1869 when he attempted to corner the gold market (1836-1892)
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Socialism - ANSWER A system in which society, usually in the form of the government, owns and controls the means of production.
Marxism - ANSWER A branch of socialism that emphasizes exploitation and class struggle and includes both communism and other approaches.
Social Gospel - ANSWER A movement in the late 1800s / early 1900s which emphasized charity and social responsibility as a means of salvation.
Chinese Exclusion Act - ANSWER (1882) Denied any additional Chinese laborers to enter the country while allowing students and merchants to immigrate.
Munn v. Illinois - ANSWER (1877) United States Supreme Court Case that ended up allowing states to regulate business within their borders, including railroads
Sherman Anti-Trust Act - ANSWER First United States law to limit trusts and big business. Said that any trust that was purposefully restraining interstate trade was illegal.
McKinley Tariff - ANSWER 1890 tariff that raised protective tariff levels by nearly 50%, making them the highest tariffs on imports in the United States history
Plessy v. Ferguson - ANSWER An 1896 Supreme Court decision which legalized state ordered segregation so long as the facilities for blacks and whites were equal
Interstate Commerce Act - ANSWER Established the ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission) - monitors the business operation of carriers transporting goods and people between states - created to regulate railroad prices
American Federation of Labor - ANSWER 1886; founded by Samuel Gompers; sought better wages, hrs, working conditions; skilled laborers, arose out of dissatisfaction with the Knights of Labor, rejected socialist and communist ideas, non-violent.
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Homestead Strike - ANSWER 1892 steelworker strike near Pittsburgh against the Carnegie Steel Company. Ten workers were killed in a riot when "scab" labor was brought in to force an end to the strike.
Pure Unionism - ANSWER Coined by Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), in a speech at the 1890 AFL convention in Detroit in which he opposed the inclusion of political parties in trade union organizations.
Eugene V. Debs - ANSWER Leader of the American Railway Union, he voted to aid workers in the Pullman strike. He was jailed for six months for disobeying a court order after the strike was over.
Knights of Labor - ANSWER 1st effort to create National union. Open to everyone but lawyers and bankers. Vague program, no clear goals, weak leadership and organization. Failed
Samuel Gompers - ANSWER He was the creator of the American Federation of Labor. He provided a stable and unified union for skilled workers.
Haymarket Riot - ANSWER 1886 labor-related protest in Chicago which ended in deadly violence
Pullman Strike - ANSWER In Chicago, Pullman cut wages but refused to lower rents in the "company town", Eugene Debs had American Railway Union refuse to use Pullman cars, Debs thrown in jail after being sued, strike achieved nothing
Great Railroad Strike of 1877 - ANSWER A large number of railroad workers went on strike because of wage cuts. After a month of strikes, President Hayes sent troops to stop the strike (example of how government always sided with employers over workers in the Gilded Age). The worst railroad violence was in Pittsburgh, with over 40 people killed by militia men
Alfred Thayer Mahan - ANSWER Navy officer whose ideas on naval warfare and the importance of sea- power changed how America viewed its navy; wrote "The influence of Sea Power upon History"
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William Howard Taft - ANSWER 27th president of the U.S.; he angered progressives by moving cautiously toward reforms and by supporting the Payne-Aldrich Tariff; he lost Roosevelt's support and was defeated for a second term.
Woodrow Wilson - ANSWER 28th president of the United States, known for World War I leadership, created Federal Reserve, Federal Trade Commission, Clayton Antitrust Act, progressive income tax, lower tariffs, women's suffrage (reluctantly), Treaty of Versailles, sought 14 points post-war plan, League of Nations (but failed to win U.S. ratification), won Nobel Peace Prize
17th Amendment - ANSWER Established the direct election of senators (instead of being chosen by state legislatures)
Johnson-Reed Act - ANSWER Also known as the Immigration Act of 1924 Federal law limiting the number of immigrants that could be admitted from any country to 2% of the amount of people from that country who were already living in the U.S. as of the census of 1890.
Progressive Movement - ANSWER An early 20th century reform movement seeking to return control of the government to the people, to restore economic opportunities, and to correct injustices in American life
19th Amendment (1920) - ANSWER Ratified on August 18, 1920 (drafted by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton), prohibits any United States citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex. The Constitution allows the states to determine the qualifications for voting, and until the 1910's most states disenfranchised women. The amendment was the culmination of the women's suffrage movement in the U.S.
Madison Grant - ANSWER Passing of the Great Race, was known primarily for his work as a eugenicist and conservationist; Scientific racist
Red Scare (1919-1920) - ANSWER A brief wave of fear over the possible influence of Socialists/Bolsheviks in American life.
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Elkins Act - ANSWER (1903) gave the Interstate Commerce Commission more power to control railroads from giving preferences to certain customers
Melting Pot Theory - ANSWER Analogy of American Immigration in which the ingredients in the pot (people of different cultures, races and religions) are combined so as to develop a multi-ethnic society.
Scopes Trial - ANSWER 1925 court case in which Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan debated the issue of teaching evolution in public schools
Eugenics - ANSWER Study of factors that influence the hereditary qualities of the human race and ways to improve those qualities
Modernism - ANSWER A cultural movement embracing human empowerment and rejecting traditionalism as outdated. Rationality, industry, and technology were cornerstones of progress and human achievement.
Sedition Act - ANSWER Made it a crime to criticize the government or government officials. Opponents claimed that it violated citizens' rights to freedom of speech and freedom of the press, guaranteed by the First Amendment.
Fourteen Points - ANSWER A series of proposals in which U.S. president Woodrow Wilson outlined a plan for achieving a lasting peace after World War I.
Muckrakers - ANSWER 1906 - Journalists who searched for corruption in politics and big business
George Creel - ANSWER Headed the Committee on Public Information, for promoting the war effort in WWI
Square Deal - ANSWER Economic policy by Roosevelt that favored fair relationships between companies and workers
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Flappers - ANSWER Young women of the 1920s that behaved and dressed in a radical fashion
Marcus Garvey - ANSWER African American leader during the 1920s who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and advocated mass migration of African Americans back to Africa. Was deported to Jamaica in 1927.
Warren Harding (1921-1923) - ANSWER Party: Republican
Major Events: Normalcy period; Political and personal scandals; Died in office
Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929) - ANSWER Republican
Domestic Affairs:
Laissez-faire/ Predestination
Immigration Act of 1924
Coolidge Opposed
Veteran's Bonus Act
Farm Relief Laws
Foreign Affairs:
Kellogg-Briand Pact
Assertive influence in Latin America
Herbert Hoover (1929-1933) - ANSWER Party: Republican
Major Events: Great Depression strikes; Promoted attitude of rugged individualism
League of Nations - ANSWER An organization of nations formed after World War I to promote cooperation and peace.
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Triangle Shirtwaist Fire - ANSWER March 1911 fire in New York factory that trapped young women workers inside locked exit doors; nearly 50 ended up jumping to their death; while 100 died inside the factory; led to the establishment of many factory reforms, including increasing safety precautions for workers
Sharecropping - ANSWER A system used on southern farms after the Civil War in which farmers worked land owned by someone else in return for a small portion of the crops.
Convict leasing - ANSWER Notorious system, begun during Reconstruction, whereby southern state officials allowed private companies to hire out prisoners to labor under brutal conditions in mines and other industries.
Peonage - ANSWER The practice of making a debtor work for his creditor until the debt is discharged
Pig Laws - ANSWER Unfairly penalized poor African Americans for crimes such as stealing a farm animal. And vagrancy statutes made it a crime to be unemployed. Many misdemeanors or trivial offenses were treated as felonies, with harsh sentences and fines.
Great Migration - ANSWER Movement of African Americans from the South to the North for jobs.
Robber Barons - ANSWER 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.
Captains of Industry - ANSWER Owners and managers of large industrial enterprises who wielded extraordinary political and economic power
Jacob Riis - ANSWER Early 1900's muckraker who exposed social and political evils in the U.S. with his novel "How The Other Half Lives"; exposed the poor conditions of the poor tenements in NYC and Hell's Kitchen
