American Reconstruction Era Flashcards
A law passed in 1882 refusing entry to further Chinese immigrants, who were blamed for taking jobs away from Americans and keeping wages low.
Chinese Exclusion Act
A sharp increase in low-wage, low-skill industrial jobs fueled massive population growth in cities.
Effect of industrialization on American cities during the Gilded Age:
The growth of population and concentration of people in cities. This fueled economic expansion, but conditions for workers were often crowded, dirty, and unhealthy.
Urbanization in the late 19th and early 20th century
The effort of the US federal government to rebuild the South and reintegrate Southern states into the union after the Civil War.
Reconstruction
A tax levied only on an imported product. Protective tariffs aim to encourage people to buy domestic goods by making imported products expensive.
Protective tariff
Split up reservation territory so that it was the property of individuals, not tribes. This was intended to reduce tribal power and force Native Americans to assimilate.
Dawes Act of 1887
Prohibited any discrimination in voting rights based on race. In practice, this meant that African-Americans now had the right to vote (1870).
Fifteenth Amendment to the US Constitution
Southern states were readmitted into the Union; Black Americans got voting rights and elected to public offce; slavery was outlawed.
Successes of Reconstruction
Networks that maintained the power of a boss or political group. Political machines gained power as urban populations grew during the Gilded Age.
Political machines (as used in reference to gilded age politics)
The invention of barbed wire; a series of dangerous blizzards; expansion of railroads, which made long cattle drives obsolete.
Reasons for the decline of cattle ranching in the U.S. West around the the 1880s
Faster travel across the country; more opportunities for American businesses; growth of white-collar jobs; economic problems for Chinese immigrants and Native Americans.
Consequences of completing the transcontinental railroad (1869)
A system where government jobs went to people who had done favors for powerful politicians, not people who were the most qualified.
The ‘spoils system’ during the American Gilded Age:
Granted 160 acres of land to anyone who would live there and farm the land for 5 years.
Homestead Act of 1862
Increased westward migration of European settlers.
Major effect of the Homestead Act of 1862
Part of the transcontinental railroad built after the American Civil War.
It started in Nebraska and moved westward from there.
Union Pacific Railroad
Permanently outlawed slavery in the entire country (1865).
Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution
Patented a cheap method for processing steel, which allowed it to be used on a much greater scale and ultimately reduced the need for skilled labor.
Henry Bessemer
Reservations did not have enough resources to support native populations; US soldiers constantly broke treaties if they found gold or anything valuable on tribal land.
Reasons why Native American tribes struggled to fight back against American expansion to the west after the Civil War:
Declared that anyone born in the US was a US citizen; prohibited states from denying people their constitutional rights without due process, or from denying them equal protection of the law - 1868
Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution
A misapplication of the theory of evolution that gave rise to the belief that people who are less ‘fit’ should not reproduce.
Social Darwinism
Tribal lands were split up among individual owners; children were taken from their parents and sent to boarding schools; adults were forced to live as farmers.
Ways that Native Americans were forced to assimilate to Anglo- American culture:
The Native American victory prompted violent retaliation from the
U.S. government.
Effects of the Battle of Little Bighorn (June 1876)
