II Flashcards
Andrew Carneige
Innovator and founder of Carneige Steel Company w/invention of “bessemer converter”. Mill did smelting, refining, & rolling in one unified operation. made monopoly off steel industry.
Standard Oil Trust (1882)
small oil companies sold stock and authority to Rockefeller’s standard oil comp (consolidation) & cornered world petroleum market
John D. Rockefeller
Founder of standard oil comp and used survival of the fittest to dominate
Vertical integration
beginnings of trusts (destruction of competition); controls every aspect of production (control quality, eliminate middlemen - Rockefeller)
Horizontal integration
consolidating w competitors to monopolize a market (v detrimental)
Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890)
tried to dissolve trusts and stop monopoly businesses to protect consumers by keeping prices low & quality high. also prohibited anything that tried to restrict foreign commerce.
United States vs EC Knight Comp
decision under Sherman where Anti-Trust Act was shot down by Supreme Court - sugar refining was manufacturing rather than trade/commerce (decided anti-trust act could not apply to manufacturing)
National Labor Union (1866)
founded by William Sylvis which supported 8-hour workday, convict labor, federal department of labor, banking reform, immigration restrictions to increase wages, women; excluded blacks
Knights of Labor (1869)
one of the most important American labor organizations of the 19th century. Founded by seven Philadelphia tailors in 1869 and led by Uriah S. Stephens, its ideology may be described as producerist, demanding an end to child and convict labor, equal pay for women, a progressive income tax, and the cooperative employer-employee ownership of mines and factories. Leaderships under Powderly, successful with Southwest Railroad System, failed after Haymarket Riot
Terrence V. Powderly
Leader of Knights of Labor 1874 who Persuaded the pope to remove sanctions against Catholics who joined unions, believed works should be able to own & operate factories, mines/railroads, included women, blacks & hispanics
American Federation of Labor (1886)
craft unions that left the Knights; led by Samuel Gompers, women left out of recruitment efforts & pitted whites against blacks & chinese
Samuel Gompers
Union leader and president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) who focused on concrete economic gains, avoiding involvement with utopian ideas or politics.
Yellow Dog Contracts
fearing the rise of labor unions, corporations forced new employees to sign and promise not to be part of a union
Pinkertons
detectives hired by employers as private police force, often used to end strikes
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)
10-year moratorium on Chinese immigration to reduce competition for jobs (Chinese willing to work for cheap salaries)
Haymarket Bombing (1886)
bomb thrown at protest rally, police shot protestors, caused great animosity in employers for workers’ unions
Eugene V. Debs
led railroad workers in Pullman Strike (1894), arrested; Supreme Court (decision in re Debs) legalized use of injunction (court order) against unions and strikes
Social Darwinism
natural selection applied to human competition, advocated by Herbert Spencer, William Graham Sumner
Henry George, Progress and Poverty
single tax on speculated land to ameliorate (to make better) industrialization misery
Edward Bellamy, Looking Backwards (novel)
state-run economy to provide conflict-free society
Karl Marx, Das Kapital
working class exploited for profit, proletariat (workers) to revolt and inherit all society
Thomas Edison
American inventor best known for inventing the electric light bulb, acoustic recording on wax cylinders, and motion pictures
Louis Sullivan
led architectural movement to create building designs that reflected buildings’ functions, especially in Chicago
Interstate Commerce Act
created Interstate Commerce Commission to require railroads to publish rates (less discrimination, short/long haul), first legislation to regulate corporations, ineffective ICC
Social Gospel movement
stressed role of church and religion to improve city life, led by preachers Walter Raushenbusch and Washington Gladen; influenced settlement house movement and Salvation Army
Young Men’s and Young Women’s Christian Association (YMCA & YWCA)
provided housing and recreation to city youth, imposing Protestant morals, unable to reach out to all youth
Jane Addams
helped lead settlement house movement, co-founded NAACP, condemned war and poverty
Hull House
Jane Addams’s pioneer settlement house (center for women’s activism and social reform) in Chicago
Salvation Army
established by “General” William Booth, uniformed volunteers provided food, shelter, and employment to families, attracted poor with lively preaching and marching bands in order to instill middle-class virtues
Declining Death Rate
sewer systems and purification in water
New immigrants vs old immigrants
old immigrants from northern and western Europe came seeking better life; new immigrants came from southern and eastern Europe searching for opportunity to escape worse living conditions back home and often did not stay in the US
Cult of Domesticity
Victorian standards confined women to the home to create an artistic environment as a statement of cultural aspirations
William Marcy Tweed
leader of Tammany Hall, gained large sums of money through the political machine, prosecuted by Samuel Tilden and sent to jail
Tammany Hall
New York democratic party/political machine; gained notoriety for corrupt practices; political machines came to power because of the rapid growth of cities-machines traded services to city-dwellers for votes at the polls
Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie, The Financier
attacked industrial elite, called for business regulation, publisher refused works breaking with Victorian ideals
Regionalist and naturalist writers
writing took a more realistic approach on the world, regionalist writers focused on local life (Sarah Orne Jewett), naturalist writers focused on economy and psychology (Stephen Crane)
Bland-Allison Act (1878)
government compromised to buy and coin $2-4 million/month; government stuck to minimum and inflation did not occur (lower prices); economy grew
Sherman Silver Purchase Act (1890)
government to buy silver to back money in addition to gold
James G. Blaine
Republican candidate for president in 1884, quintessence of spoils system; highly disgusted the mugwumps (many Republicans turned to Democrat Cleveland)
Pendleton Civil Service Act
effectively ended spoils system and established civil service exams for all government positions, under Pres. Garfield
Farmer’s Alliance movement
Southern and Midwestern farmers expressing discontent, supported free silver and subtreasury plan (cash advance on future crop — farmers had little cash flow during the year), criticized national banks
Greenback Party
supported expanded money supply, health/safety regulations, benefits for workers and farmers, granger (farmer)-supported
Populist Party
emerged from Farmers’ Alliance movement (when subtreasury plan was defeated in Congress), denounced Eastern Establishment that suppressed the working classes; Ignatius Donnelly (utopian author), Mary E Lease, Jerry Simpson. aka the Peoples party
Convict-Lease system
Civil Rights Act of 1875 declared unconstitutional by Supreme Court, as the fourteenth amendment protected people from governmental infringement of rights and had no effect on acts of private citizens
Plessy vs Ferguson
Supreme Court legalized the “separate but equal” philosophy
Munn vs Illinois
private property subject to government regulation when property is devoted to public interest; against railroads
Jim Crow Laws
educational and residential segregation; inferior facilities allotted to African-Americans, predominantly in South
Coxey’s Army
Coxey and unemployed followers marched on Washington for support in unemployment relief by inflationary public works program
Panic of 1893
8,000 businesses collapsed (including railroads); due to stock market crash, overbuilding of railroads, heavy farmer loans, economic disruption by labor efforts, agricultural depression; decrease of gold reserves led to Cleveland’s repeal of Sherman Silver Purchase Act
William Jennings Bryan
repeat candidate for president, proponent of silver-backing (16:1 platform), cross of gold speech against gold standard; Democratic candidate (1896)
Free Silver
Populists campaigned for silver-backed money rather than gold-backed, believed to be able to relieve working conditions and exploitation of labor. Supported by William J. Bryan
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
workers unable to escape (locked into factory), all died; further encouraged reform movements for working conditions
Gifford Pinchot
head of federal Division of Forestry, contributed to Roosevelt’s natural conservation efforts
Frederick W. Taylor, Principles of Scientific Management
increase working output by standardizing procedures and rewarding those who worked fast; efficiency
Industrial workers of the world
supported Socialists, militant unionists and socialists, advocated strikes and sabotaging politics, aimed for an umbrella union similar to Knights of Labor, ideas too radical for socialist cause. aka Wobblies
“Big Bill” Haywood
leader of the Western Federation of Miners (WFM), a founding member and leader of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and a member of the Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of America.
Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class
satirized wealthy captains of industry, workers and engineers as better leaders of society
Herbert Croly, The Promise of American Life
activist government to serve all citizens (cf. Alexander Hamilton); founded New Republic magazine
John Dewey
social ideals to be encouraged in public school (stress on social interaction), learning by doing
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
law meant to evolve as society evolves, opposed conservative majority
Booker T. Washington
proponent of gradual gain of equal rights for African-Americans
Atlanta Compromise speech
a speech given by Booker T. Washington in 1895 at the Cotton States and international Exposition that proposed that blacks and whites should agree to benefit from each other. Challenged by DuBois
WEB Dubois, Souls of Black Folk
opposed BTW’s accommodation policies, called for immediate equality, formed Niagara Movement to support his ideas
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Founded by W.E.B. Du Bois, it emerged out of the Niagara Movement in 1909. It worked for equal rights for all Americans, but it failed to achieve lasting civil rights legislation during the early 1990s.
Muckrackers
journalists who wrote about corruption in business and politics in order to bring about reform.
Upton Sinclair, The Jungle
revealed unsanitary nature of meat-packing industry, inspired Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)
Thomas Nast
political muckraking cartoonist, refused bribes to stop criticism
Robert La Follette
progressive governor (1900-1904) and senator (1906-1925); he established the “Wisconsin idea” that reformed the state through direct primaries, tax reform, and anticorruption legislation. La Follette was the Progressive Party’s presidential nominee in 1924.
Mann Act
made it illegal to transport women across state borders for “immoral purposes,” violated by black boxer Jack Johnson (w/ white woman)
Women’s Christian Temperance Union
led by Francis Willard, powerful “interest group” following the civil war, urged women’s suffrage, led to Prohibition
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
women must gain economic rights in order to impact society (cf. rising divorce rates)
Northern Securities Case
Northern Securities Company (JP Morgan and James G. Hill - railroads) seen by Roosevelt as “bad” trust, Supreme Court upheld his first trust-bust
Theodore Roosevelt
first “modern” president, moderate who supported progressivism (at times conservative), bypassed congressional opposition (cf. Jackson), significant role in world affairs. Big stick policy, square deal
Square Deal
Progressive concept by Roosevelt that would help capital, labor, and the public. It called for control of corporations, consumer protection, and conservation of natural resources. It denounced special treatment for the large capitalists and is the essential element to his trust-busting attitude. This deal embodied the belief that all corporations must serve the general public good.
Preservationism vs. Conservationism
Roosevelt and Pinchot sided on conservation rather than preservation (planned and regulated use of forest lands for public and commercial uses)
William H. Taft
“trustbuster” (busted twice as many as Roosevelt), conservation and irrigation efforts, Postal Savings Bank System, Payne-Aldrich Tariff (reduction of tariff, caused Republican split)
Bull Moose Party
party formed from Republican split by Roosevelt, more progressive values, leaving “Republican Old Guard” to control Republican party
New Nationalism
federal government to increase power over economy and society by means of progressive reforms, developed by Roosevelt (after presidency)
New Freedom
ideas of Wilson: small enterprise, states’ rights, more active government, trust busting, left social issues up to the states
Woodrow Wilson
Democratic candidate 1912, stood for antitrust, monetary change, and tariff reduction; far less active than Roosevelt, Clayton Anti-trust Act (to enforce Sherman), Child Labor Act
Federal Reserve Act
created Federal Reserve System, regional banks set up for twelve separate districts, final authority of each bank lay with the Federal Reserve Board, paper money to be issued “Federal Reserve Notes”
Pan-Americanism
James G. Blaine sought to open up Latin American markets to the U.S.; rejected by Latin America due to fear of U.S. dominance and satisfaction with European market
Yellow Journalism
One of the causes of the Spanish-American War (1898) - this was when newspaper publishers like Hearst and Pulitzer sensationalized news events (like the sinking of the Maine) to anger American public towards Spain. Journalism that exploits, distorts, or exaggerates the news to create sensations and attract readers
Jingoism
belligerent (hostile & aggressive) nationalism against other threatening nations
Secretory of State John Hay
ex-Lincoln secretory; worked to gain Open Door Notes’ acceptance from the major powers
Open Door policy
sought to eliminate spheres of influence and avoid European monopolies in China; unaccepted by the powers in mind
Spanish American War (1898)
McKinley reluctant; armed intervention to free Cuba from Spain; Roosevelt’s “Rough Riders” made attack on Spanish at Cuba
Explosion of USS Maine
meant to provide evacuation opportunity for Americans in Cuba; internal accidental explosion blamed on Spanish mines, leading to Spanish-American War
Platt Amendment
U.S. would ensure that Cuba would be protected from European powers and maintain a place in Cuban affairs; provided coal and naval stations
US acquisitions: Philippines, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam
granted to U.S. at the end of Spanish-American War; Philippines were captured after treaty, and thus not part of spoils, but kept as territory with an inevitable movement for independence; Philippines and Hawaii steps toward Asia
Naval battle in Manila Bay, Philippines
Admiral Dewey defeated Spanish initially; American troops (aided by Aguinaldo’s insurgents) captured Manila, leading to annexation
TR mediates Russo-Japanese War
secretly sponsored peace negotiations so as to prevent Japanese or Russian monopoly on Asia; concerned with safety of Philippines
President Theodore Roosevelt
military and naval preparedness
Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine
U.S. felt it was its duty to “watch out” for the interests of other countries in the Western hemisphere; provided justification for invasions of Latin America.
Panama Canal
Crucial for American economic growth, the building of this canal was begun by American builders in 1904 and completed in 1914; the United States had to first engineer a Panamanian revolt against Colombia to guarentee a friendly government in Panama that wuld support the building of the canal. It was one of Roosevelt’s most significant foreign policy accomplishments.
Gentlemen’s Agreement (1908)
in response to Japanese discrimination in San Fran schools; Japanese to stop laborers into U.S., Californians forbidden to ban Japanese from public schools
Dollar Diplomacy
Foreign policy created under President Taft that had the U.S. exchanging financial support ($) for the right to “help” countries make decisions about trade and other commercial ventures. Basically it was exchanging money for political influence in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Moral Diplomacy
intervention in Mexican Revolution (Madero overthrew dictator Diaz) to overthrow Madero out of fear of property confiscation, General Huerta (seen as “brute” by Wilson, sought new leader) replaced Madero
Invasion of Mexico, Pancho Villa
Huerta’s enemy, reluctantly supported by U.S.; U.S. sought Villa’s submission due to terrorism, eventually assassinated; Wilson’s policy highly unpopular
Lusitania
a British passenger ship that was sunk by a German U-Boat on May 7, 1915. 128 Americans died. The sinking greatly turned American opinion against the Germans, helping the move towards entering the war.
