FlashcardsChapter20
Term
Description
Ellis Island
Reception center in New York Harbor through which most European immigrants to America were processed from 1892 to 1954. (page 828)
Nativist
A native-born American who saw immigrants as a threat to his way of life and employment. During the 1880s, nativist groups worked to stop the flow of immigrates into the United States. Of these groups, the most successful was the American Protective Association who promoted government restrictions on immigration, tougher naturalization requirements, the teaching of English in schools and workplaces that refused to employ foreigners or Catholics. (page 830)
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)
The first federal law to restrict immigration on the basis of race and class. Passed in 1882, the act halted Chinese immigration for ten years, but it was periodically renewed and then indefinitely extended in 1902. Not until 1943 were the barriers to Chinese immigration finally removed. (page 831)
Frederick Law Olmsted (1822 - 1903)
In 1858, he constructed New York’s Central Park, which led to a growth in the movement to create urban parks. He went on to design parks for Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and many other cities. (page 835)
Herbert Spencer (1820 - 1903)
As the first major proponent of social Darwinism, he argued that human society and institutions are subject to the process of natural selection and that society naturally evolves for the better. Therefore, he was against any form of government interference with the evolution of society, like business regulations, because it would help the ‘unfit” to survive. (page 843)
Social Darwinism
Application of Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection to society; used the concept of the ‘survival of the fittest” to justify class distinctions and to explain poverty. (page 843)
Pragmatism
William James founded this philosophy in the early 1900s. Pragmatists believed that ideas gained their validity not from their inherent truth, but from their social consequences and practical application. (page 844)
William James (1842 - 1910)
He was the founder of Pragmatism and one of the fathers of modern psychology. He believed that ideas gained their validity not from their inherent truth, but from their social consequences and practical application. (page 844)
John Dewey (1859 - 1952)
He is an important philosopher of pragmatism. However, he preferred to use the term instrumentalism, because he saw ideas as instruments of action. (page 844)
Reform Darwinism
A social philosophy that challenged the ruthlessness of Social Darwinism by asserting that humans could actively shape the process of evolutionary social development through cooperation and innovation. (page 845)
