Midterm Flashcards
4 Goals of Progressivism
Promote Moral Development, Protect Social Welfare, Create Economic Reform, and Foster Efficiency
Progressive movement
aimed to restore economic opportunities and correct injustices in American life
Protecting Social Welfare
YMCA (Youth Men’s Christian Association) - social welfare reformer that worked to soften some of the harsh conditions of industrialization by building libraries and swimming pools and sponsoring classes; Salvation Army
Promoting Moral Improvement
Some felt the answer to society’s problem was personal behavior: proposed prohibition
Creating Economic Reform
Some questioned capitalist economic system and embraced socialism: Eugene Debs organized the American Socialist Party (opposed uneven balance under the free-market system of capitalism)
Muckrakers
Jouranlists who wrote about the corrupt side of business & public life
Fostering Efficiency
Efforts to make society and the workplace more efficient - assembly lines (Henry Ford), scientific management by clocking in and breaking work into smaller tasks (Frederick Winslow Taylor)
Reform at the state level
Child labor laws, laws to limit working hours, worker’s compensation to aid families of injured workers
Election reform
Initiative - bill organized by citizens, referendum - citizens vote on issues, recall - voters may remove an elected official from office
17th Amendment
Direct election of US Senators
After the Civil War, more women…
were visible in the workforce (by 1900, about one in five worked)
Women & Reform
strove to improve conditions at work and home - targeted workplace, housing, education, and food & drug laws
Three-Part Strategy for Women’s Suffrage
1) Convince state legislatures to adopt vote
2) Pursue court cases to test the 14th amendment (states that deny male citizens the right to vote lose congressional representation)
3) Push for a national constitutional amendment to grant women the right to vote
Upton Sinclair
his book, The Jungle, exposed the sickening conditions of the meat-packing industry
How did Teddy Roosevelt “the Modern Progressive President” become president?
He was the VP when President William McKinley was assassinated - became the 26th president and was the youngest-ever at the time
Teddy Roosevelt’s Trustbusting
filed suits against companies that violated the Anti-Sherman Trust Act
What were the effects of Teddy Roosevelt’s actions in response to a coal miner strike?
set a precedent -if a strike threatens public welfare, federal government should intervene; disputes can be settled in an orderly way with experts
Meat Inspection Act of 1906
Teddy Roosevelt’s response to Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle - cleanliness requirements and federal meat inspection
Pure Food & Drug Act of 1906
banned the sale of contaminated food and medicines and called for truth in labeling, led to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Teddy Roosevelt made conservation a primary concern by…
preserving some wilderness areas (National Parks)
DId Teddy Roosevelt support civil rights for African Americans?
No, but he supported a few African-American individuals, like Booker T. Washington
Booker T. Washington
head of the Tuskegee Normal & Industrial Institute (all-black training school) criticized by other African Americans like W.E.B. Du Bois for not taking enough action
W.E.B. Du Bois
upset by progressive indifference to racial injustice, critic of Booker T. Washington
NAACP
National Association for Colored People - formed by W.E.B. Du Bois and other advocates of equality
Jacob Riis
wrote How the Other Half Lives, used photography to tell the story of poor families living in American tenements
Square Deal
Teddy Roosevelt’s domestic program with 3 C’s: Control of Corporations, Consumer Protection, and Conservation of Natural Resources
Election of 1908
William Howard Taft (Republican, TR’s secretary of war) vs. William Jennings Bryan (Democrat) - Taft wins
William Howard Taft as President
cautiously progressive, busted 80 trusts, signed the Payne Aldrich Tariff (which only moderated the high rates of the Aldrich bill - angered progressives who wanted much lower rates)
How did Teddy Roosevelt react to Taft’s actions as president?
decided to run against him in 1912 as a member of the Bull Moose Party (Progressive Party)
Election of 1912
Debs (Socialist, Communism) vs. Wilson (Democrat) vs. Roosevelt (Bull Moose) vs. Taft… Wilson wins
Woodrow Wilson
former governor of NJ - endorsed a progressive platform (New Freedom) that demanded stronger antitrust legislation, banking reform, and reduced tariffs
16th Amendment
legalized a federal income tax (higher rates for larger incomes)
19th Amendment
women’s suffrage
Imperialism
policy in which stronger nations extend their economic, political, or military control over weaker territories - strong navy is imperative
When did US expansionism/imperialism take place?
end of 19th/beginning of 20th century
What were three factors that fueled the new American imperialism? (old American imperialism was fueled by belief in manifest destiny)
1) Desire for military strength
2) Thirst for new markets
3) Belief in cultural superiority (Anglo-Saxons)
Alfred T. Mahan
wrote The Influence of Sea Power Upon History (“Father of the Modern Navy”) - pushed for a strong navy with steel hulls and rifled guns so US could compete with other powerful nations
William Seward
pushed for purchase of Alaska from Russia, became known as “Seward’s Folly”
King Kalakua
king of Hawaii - US pressured him to allow them to have a naval base at Pearl Harbor, forced him to ammend Hawaiin constitution so only wealthy landowners could vote
Queen Liluokalani
King Kalakua’s sister & successor - “Hawaii for Hawaiians” agenda, overthrown by American businessmen
Sanford Dole
American who was installed as the head of Hawaii’s new government, Hawaii became a American territory in 1898 under William McKinley, but not a state until 1959
Yellow Press (Journalism)
exaggerates the news to lure and enrage readers - sensational stories of Spanish atrocities in Cuba
Jose Marti
Cuban poet & journalist who launched a revolution in 1895 against Spain
Valeriano Weyler
sent by Spain to restore order in Cuba & crush the revolution - forced Cubans to relocate to concentration camps, where thousands died
De Lome Letter
leaked letter from the Spanish minister to the US, criticized William McKinley - angered Americans
U.S.S Maine
sent to Cuba by President McKinley to bring home US citizens - blew up in Havana Harbor - American newspapers claimed the Spanish blew it up, pressure placed on McKinley to declare war (“Remember the Maine!”) - he did on April 20, 1898
George Dewey
American commodore at War in Philippines - opened fire on Spanish fleet at Manila (Philippine capital) - destroyed Spanish ships & US landed in the Philippines
Emilio Aguinaldo
led Filipino rebels in revolt against US to protest annexation of the Philippines (Treaty of Paris)
Rough Riders
volunteery calvary under command of Leonard Wood & Teddy Roosevelt
Saint Juan Hill
strategically-important - after victory there by Rough Riders on July 1st, Spanish fleet tried to escape but US destroyed it & invaded Puerto Rico
Treaty of Paris
US/Spain agreement - US received Guam and Puerto Fico, Cuba was freed, US paid 20 million for Philippines
Annexation Debate - Anti Imperialist League
Americans who felt it was wrong to rule other countries without consent (members included Grover Cleveland, Mark Twain, Jane Addams, & Andrew Carnegie)
Teller Amendment
declared that Cuba was independent from Spain & authorized US to use military force to secure Cuba from any other country attempting to control it
Platt Amendment
amendment to Cuban constitution - Cuba could not make treaties
protectorate
country whose affairs are partially controlled by a stronger power
protectorate
country whose affairs are partially controlled by a stronger power
John Hay
US Secretary of State who issued the Open Door notes in 1899
Open Door notes
letters addressed to leaders of imperialist nations proposing that they share their trading rights with the US, so no single nation would have a monopoly on trade with China (they reluctantly accepted)
Boxer Rebellion
Chinese nationalists try & expel foreign influences, attacked foreign embassies; quelled by American soldiers
Panama Canal
cuts across Central America- greatly reduced travel time for commercial and military ships by providing a shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans - construction began in 1904 and was finished in 1914
Roosevelt Corollary
said that the US would use force to protect its economic interests in Latin America
Big Stick (Gunboat) Diplomacy
Teddy Roosevelt’s Latin American policy - warned that disorder in Latin America might force the US to intervene (determined to make US the predominant power in Caribbean and Central America)
Dollar Diplomacy
Taft’s policy of using the US government to guarantee loans made to foreign countries by US business people (used to justify keeping European powers out of the Caribbean)
Joseph Pulitzer
journalist who led fundraising campaign to keep Statue of Liberty in NYC
Gifford Pinchot
head of US Forest Service under TR - beieved that wilderness could be scientifically managed to yield public enjoyment while allowing private development
4 Causes of WWI
1) Nationalism - devotion to interests and culture of one’s nation that often led to rivalries among nations
2) Imperialism - competition for colonies
3) Militarism - development of armed forces and their tool as a use of diplomacy
4) Alliance System - Allies & Central Powers (countries getting involved in each other’s conflicts)
Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary
caused diplomatic crisis - sparked the start of WWI (Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, which was backed by Russia, declares war on Austria-Hungary, Germany aids Austria-Hungary and declares war on Russia, France aids Russia, Britain defends Belgian neutrality when Germany invades)
Trench warfare
WWI - armies fought for mere yards of ground for over three years
Lusitania
British liner with US passengers sunk by a German U-boat - Americans became outraged with Germany, turned against them and the other Central Powers
1916 Election
Wilson wins “He Kept Us Out of War”
Zimmerman note
telegram from Germany to Mexico intercepted by British - proposed alliance between Mexico and Germany
Selective Service Act 1917
required men to register with government in order to be randomly selected by military service… August Fever
Von Schleiffen Plan
Germany strategy for 2-front victory (“Breakfast in Paris, DInner in Moscow”) - thought war would be over by Christmas
Gavrilo Princip
assassinated Franz Ferdinand
armistice
truce
Anti-Immigrant hysteria during WWI
in the US, those from Germany and Austria-Hungary were targeted - schools stopped teaching German language, people with German names lost jobs, etc.
WWI & The Great Migration
accelerated Great Migration (large-scale movement of hundreds of thousands of Southern blacks to cities in the north) - job opportunities increased
Wilson’s Fourteen Points
issues he believed had to be addressed to prevent another war; was rejected by Allied leaders
Where were WWI peace negotiations held?
Versailles (near Paris) in 1918
Effects of WWI in US
strengthened US military and government, accelerated social change, and provoked powerful fears
Which country was heavily punished by Treaty of Versailles?
Germany (War Guilt Clause)
Nativism
prejudice against foreign-born people
Isolationism
policy of pulling away from involvement in world affairs
Communism
economic and political system based on single-party government ruled by a dictatorship
Red Scare
public grew fearful that US Communists were taking over after Bolshevik Revolution
Vladimir Lenin
1st founding head of Soviet Russia
Kaiser Wilhelm
last German emperor and king of Prussia
Nicholas Romanov
last emperor of Russia taken down by Bolsheviks
Warren G. Harding as President
Ohio Republican, served less than a term. called for “A Return to Normalcy,” supported isolationist foreign policy, tried to reduce navy size
Teapot Dome Scandal
Albert B. Fall, secretary of the interior under Harding, leased oil-rich public land to two private oil companies (his friends) - later found guilty of accepting bribery
General John Pershing
American general during WWI - led expeditionary forces to defeat Central Powers and end war in 1918
Calvin Coolidge as President
Vermont Republican, “The Business of America is Business,” isolationist, small government, low taxes. was an introvert, did not have a good enough understanding of the economy to see what was coming/prevent the Great Depression
18th Amendment of 1920
prohibition
Speakeasies
underground hidden saloons and nightclubs were drinkers could obtain liquor illegally
Bootleggers
smuggled in liquor from Canada, Cuba, and the West Indies
Al Capone
gangster, had a bootlegging empire by killing off his competition
Prohibition effects
disrespect for the law, organized crime in cities
Sacco & Vanzetti
arrested and charged with robbery and murder, Italian - sentenced to death - sparked protests (gained attention because the two immigrants were outspoken critics of the government - anarchists)
Flapper
emancipated young woman who embraced the new fashions and urban attitudes of the 1920s
Bessie Smith
“Empress of the Blues” - popular female blues singer
Babe Ruth
New York Yankees baseball player - held home run record
Charles A. Lindbergh
made first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic
Amelia Earhart
inspired by Lindbergh, first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic
Louis Armstrong
American jazz trumpeter and vocalist
Duke Ellington
jazz pianist and composer during Harlem Renaissance
Harlem Renaissance
literary and artistic movement celebrating African-American culture
Langston Hughes
Harm Renaissance’s best-known poet - described difficult lives of working-class Americans
Causes of The Great Depression
tariffs and war debt policies that cut down foreign market for American goods, crisis in the farm sector, availablity of easy credit, uneven distribution of income
buying on margin
borrowing money to buy stocks
Herbert Hoover
Republican president after Coolidge
Black Tuesday
bottom fell out of the stock market and the nation’s confidence (major crash)
Election of 1928
Hoover vs. Smith - Hoover won
Dust Bowl
drought beginning in the early 1930s that wreaked havoc on the Great Plains
Hoover’s reaction to Great Depression
too little, too late
Bonus Army
In 1932, between 10,000 and 20,000 WWI veterans and their families arrived in DC to receive their war compensation - disbanded by Hoover (feared they would become violent)
Election of 1932
Hoover (Republican) vs. FDR (Democrat)… FDR won (Hoover lost popularity during Great Depression)
FDR as President
“Action & Action Now” - New Deal program to alleviate problems of Great Depression - more than 15 major pieces of New Deal legislation in first 100 days
New Deal Goals
1) Relief for needy
2) Economic recovery
3) Financial reform
Dorothea Lange
photographer who documented American life during the Great Depression (Migrant Mother)
Brain Trust
FDR’s cabinet with numerous perspectives - often fought with each other
21st Amendment
repealed 18th amendment in 1933
Civilian Civil Corps (CCC)
put young men to work building roads, developing parks, planting trees, and helping in soil-erosion and flood control products
Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)
sought to raise crop prices by lowering production (gov’t paid farmers to leave a certain amount of every acre unseeded)
Works Progress Administration (WPA)
employed 9 million (including women)- built public works like bridges, roads, murals, and monuments
FDR’s court-packing effort
believed public opinion trumps minority views of the court, requested legislation to appoint more judges, opposed by Republicans & Democrats
Social Security Act
pension, provided substantial benefits to millions of Americans
Wagner Act
allowed workers to unionize - solidifed Democratic Party for FDR
Frances Perkins
America’s first female cabinet member (FDR)
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
regulates banking and investment activities - established by Banking Act of 1933 (protected depositors from financial losses by guaranteeing $5,000 if banks failed)
Tennesse Valley Authority (TVA)
harnessed water power to generate electricity and help prevent disastrous floods in Tennessee Valley
Totalitarian
government that tries to exert complete control over its citizens
Joseph Stalin
Soviet Union dictator
Benito Mussolini
Italian totalitarian dictator
Fascism
stressed nationalism and placed interests of the state above those of individuals
Adolf Hitler
German dictator
Nazism
German brand of fascism based on extreme nationalism
Scopes Trial
high school teacher John Scopes charged with violating state law for teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution (1925)
WWI was also known as…
The Great War
Ohio Gang
politicians and industry leaders closely surrounding Warren G. Harding during his presidency - not always looking out for his best interests
Propaganda
communication used to persuade audience to further an agenda
Propaganda
communication used to persuade audience to further an agenda
Harlem Hellfighters
most celebrated African-American regiment in WWI - helped defeat Germany
League of Nations
formed to prevent repetition of WWI - US never joined
Rugged Individualism
individual is self-reliant and independent from government assistance
When did radio become popular?
late 1920s and early 1930s
Eleanor Roosevelt
FDR’s wife - helped him advance the New Deal
Monroe Doctrine
American Foreign Policy regarding Latin America that dates back to 1823
Which country tried to build a canal through Panama 20 years before the US?
France
Mitchell Palmer
Attorney General in early 1920’s who actively investigated Communist groups in the US
Volstead Act
enforced 18th Amendment (prohibition)
Who opposed WWI because they saw it as an imperialist struggle?
socialists
Temperance
movement that called for a modification of an all-out ban on selling and consuming alcohol in the US
Members of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union fought for…
prohibition
What did John Maynard Keynes believe about deficit spending in order to pay for New Deal Programs?
Gov’t policies that put cash in hands of citizens would lead to purchasing of consumer goods, which would enable business owners to hire more workers to produce more goods (priming the pump)
Hoover’s Policies
public works program (Hoover Dam), Glass-Steagall Act of 1932, and increased labor protections and agricultural subsidies
*also signed ill-advised Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act
Shantytowns
“Hoovervilles” emerged because out-of-work Americans were unable to pay mortgages or rent, so they were evicted and made homeless (built in public parks and vacant lots)
Shantytowns
“Hoovervilles” emerged because out-of-work Americans were unable to pay mortgages or rent, so they were evicted and made homeless (built in public parks and vacant lots)
