Module 7 Test Flashcards
Muckrakers
Investigative journalists of the Progressive Era who exposed corruption and social injustices; the term was coined by President Theodore Roosevelt.
Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle
A muckraking novel that exposed unsanitary and inhumane conditions in the meatpacking industry, spurring food safety reforms.
Ida Tarbell – Standard Oil
A journalist whose detailed exposé of Standard Oil’s monopolistic practices helped fuel antitrust reforms.
Jacob Riis’s How the Other Half Lived
A photographic and written account highlighting the deplorable living conditions of New York City’s urban poor.
Expanding Democracy
An effort to make government more responsive to the people through reforms that increased voter power and reduced corruption.
Secret ballots (to fight machines)
A voting method ensuring voter privacy to counter political machine corruption and voter intimidation.
17th amendment – direct election of senators
An amendment that shifted the election of U.S. senators from state legislatures to a direct vote by the people.
18th amendment – Prohibition (Anti-Saloon League, American Temperance Society)
An amendment that banned the manufacture, sale, and transport of alcohol, influenced by temperance organizations.
19th amendment (1920) – women’s suffrage
An amendment granting women the right to vote, marking a major victory in the struggle for women’s rights.
Initiative
A process allowing voters to propose legislation directly when lawmakers ignore important issues.
Referendum
A procedure that lets citizens vote directly on whether to adopt or reject laws passed by the legislature.
Recall
A mechanism permitting voters to remove elected officials from office before their term ends if they are deemed corrupt or ineffective.
Niagara Movement – W.E.B. DuBois
A civil rights group founded in 1905 by W.E.B. DuBois and others, advocating for full civil rights and an end to racial discrimination.
NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, established to fight for civil rights and equality for African Americans.
Square Deal & Anthracite Coal Strike
Roosevelt’s domestic policy focused on fairness for workers, consumers, and businesses, illustrated by his intervention in the Anthracite Coal Strike.
“Trust buster” – Sherman Antitrust Act, good vs. bad trusts
Refers to Roosevelt’s use of the Sherman Antitrust Act to break up monopolies, distinguishing between harmful and benign business practices.
Consumer protection – Pure Food & Drug Act, Meat Inspection Act
Legislation enacted to ensure the safety and quality of food and drugs, protecting consumers from unsafe products.
Conservation – Forest Reserve Act (1891)
Policy initiatives aimed at preserving natural resources by establishing forest reserves and protecting public lands.
Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (July 1914)
The killing of the Austro-Hungarian heir, an event that triggered a chain reaction leading to World War I.
Triple Entente (Britain, Russia, France) [Allies] vs. Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy) [Central Powers]
The two major alliance systems in World War I that divided European powers into opposing camps.
Woodrow Wilson
The U.S. President during World War I, known for his idealistic Fourteen Points and efforts to create a League of Nations.
1915: Sinking of the Lusitania by Germans
The torpedoing of a British passenger liner by a German submarine, which increased anti-German sentiment and pushed neutral countries toward war.
German unrestricted submarine warfare
A naval strategy in which Germany targeted all ships, including civilian vessels, in designated war zones during World War I.
Interception of the Zimmerman Telegram
The discovery of a secret German proposal to Mexico for an alliance against the U.S., which inflamed American public opinion.
American Expeditionary Forces (led by John J. Pershing)
The U.S. military forces sent to Europe during World War I under General Pershing to support the Allied effort.
November 11, 1918: Treaty of Versailles
The peace treaty that ended World War I, imposing severe reparations and territorial losses on Germany.
Wilson’s Fourteen Points
A set of principles proposed by President Wilson aimed at establishing a just and lasting peace after World War I.
Freedom of the seas, self-determination of nations, League of Nations
Key principles of Wilson’s Fourteen Points advocating open navigation, national self-governance, and international cooperation, even though the U.S. never joined the League.
Total War – full mobilization, war industry, Food Administration
A strategy involving the complete mobilization of a nation’s resources, including industry and agriculture, for the war effort.
Restrictions of Civil Liberties
Limitations on individual freedoms enacted during wartime to suppress dissent and ensure national security.
1917 Espionage Act & 1918 Sedition Act
Laws making it a crime to interfere with military operations or criticize the government during wartime, curbing free speech.
Schenck vs. United States
A landmark Supreme Court case that upheld restrictions on free speech during wartime, establishing the “clear and present danger” standard.
Spanish flu
A devastating influenza pandemic in 1918 that caused widespread illness and death during the final year of World War I.
Red Scare – anti-Communist sentiment after Russian Revolution (xenophobia)
A period of intense fear of communism in the U.S., leading to widespread suspicion, government crackdowns, and xenophobia.
Palmer Raids & J. Edgar Hoover
Government actions during the Red Scare targeting suspected radicals and anarchists, coordinated by Attorney General Palmer and led by J. Edgar Hoover.
Nativism → Emergency Quota Act (1921) & National Origins Act (1924)
Laws reflecting nativist attitudes that limited immigration by establishing quotas based on national origin.
Sacco and Vanzetti case
A controversial trial of two immigrant anarchists in the 1920s that became a symbol of injustice influenced by nativism and anti-radical sentiment.
Great Migration
The movement of millions of African Americans from the rural South to urban centers in the North in search of better economic opportunities and to escape segregation.
Poll taxes, literacy tests
Obstacles implemented primarily in the South to disenfranchise African American voters as part of Jim Crow policies.
Tulsa Race Riots/Massacre (1921)
A violent racial conflict in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in which a prosperous Black community was attacked, resulting in numerous deaths and widespread destruction.
Harlem Renaissance & New Negro
A cultural and artistic movement during the 1920s where African American writers, artists, and musicians celebrated Black identity and creativity.
New Woman
A term describing the emerging modern, independent woman of the 1920s who embraced new freedoms in education, work, and social life.
Eugenics
A set of beliefs and practices aimed at improving the genetic quality of a population, often used to justify discriminatory policies.
Black Tuesday – October 29, 1929
The day the stock market crashed, marking the beginning of the Great Depression.
Dust Bowl
A period of severe dust storms and ecological disaster in the Great Plains during the 1930s, worsened by drought and unsustainable farming.
Hoovervilles
Shantytowns built by homeless people during the Great Depression, named derisively after President Hoover.
Bonus Army
A group of World War I veterans who marched on Washington, D.C., in 1932 to demand early payment of promised bonuses.
FDR’s Fireside Chats
Informal radio addresses by President Franklin D. Roosevelt that communicated his policies directly to the American people.
New Deal & Roosevelt’s Three R’s
The series of programs and reforms introduced by FDR to provide Relief, Recovery, and Reform during the Great Depression.
Glass-Steagall Act (1933) & FDIC
Legislation that separated commercial and investment banking and created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to safeguard bank deposits.
Securities & Exchange Commission, Public Works Administration, Civilian Conservation Corps, National Industrial Recovery Act, Social Security Act, Fair Labor Standards Act (1938)
A collection of New Deal agencies and laws aimed at economic recovery, financial regulation, job creation, and social welfare.
Court packing plan
FDR’s unsuccessful proposal to expand the Supreme Court to obtain favorable rulings for New Deal legislation.
Allied & Axis Powers; Pacific & European Theaters
The two opposing military alliances during World War II, with conflicts fought in both European and Pacific regions.
Kellogg-Briand Pact
An international agreement signed in 1928 that attempted to renounce war as a national policy, though it lacked enforcement.
Isolationism
A policy of avoiding foreign entanglements and conflicts, prevalent in U.S. foreign policy between the World Wars.
America First Committee
An organization that advocated U.S. neutrality and opposed involvement in World War II before Pearl Harbor.
Neutrality Acts; “cash-and-carry”
Legislation in the 1930s designed to keep the U.S. out of foreign wars by restricting arms sales and requiring cash payment for goods.
Lend-Lease Act (1941)
A policy that allowed the U.S. to supply Allied nations with war materials on credit during World War II, aiding their defense while remaining officially neutral.
Attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941)
A surprise military strike by Japan on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor that led directly to the U.S. entry into World War II.
Island hopping
A military strategy in the Pacific during World War II, targeting specific enemy-held islands to gradually advance toward Japan.
Tuskegee Airmen
The first African American military aviators in the U.S. Army Air Corps, noted for their exemplary service during World War II.
D-Day (June 6, 1944)
The Allied invasion of Normandy in World War II that marked a turning point by establishing a Western front against Nazi Germany.
Holocaust
The systematic, state-sponsored persecution and genocide of six million Jews and millions of others by Nazi Germany during World War II.
Manhattan Project & Atomic Bombs
The secret U.S. project during World War II to develop nuclear weapons, culminating in atomic bombs dropped on Japan.
Hiroshima & Nagasaki (1945)
The Japanese cities devastated by the atomic bomb.
