Period 6 Flashcards
Gospel of Wealth
Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth argued that the wealthy had a divine duty to invest their money back into society. (Universities, research, etc.)
Transcontiental railroad
Completed in 1869 thanks to contributions from Chinese Immigraints. Though the railroads were often subjects to the trusts, they often overcharged farmers to transport their goods.
Gilded Age
Gilded means covered in gold, and is not an indicator of what lies underneath. An analogy to describe this era of wealthy elites and crushed working class.
Chinese Immigration
Staring the Gold Rush, Chinese immigration flourised in California, however they often faced discrimnation and were subjected to unsual tax and kicked out of some industry. (Majorily built the transcontiental railroad)
“old” immigrants
Immigrants who came from Northwestern Europe, were proestant already had a skill, lived in rural areas, and assimilated easily.
“new” immigrants
Were Catholic or Eastern Orthodox mostly coming from Eastern Europe, and lived in urban areas for meager income. They often faced discrimination.
Labor Unions
The collective effort of employees to demand better conditions of employment. tactics: Slow-downs, strikes, political action,
Quota Act of 1924
Limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the United States through a national origins quota
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
Banned any further Chinese Immigration into the United States.
Ellis Island
The entry point for immigrants coming from Europe.
Angel Island
Entry point for Immigration from Asia.
Monopoly/trust
The exclusive possession or control of the supply of or trade in a commodity or service.
Laissez-faire Capitalism
Translates to “let alone”. Used to describe the a economy with little or none governmental intervention. (This may have been due to corruption and bribes from shrwed businessmen)
Robber Barons/Captians of Industry
Captians of Industry: A favorable title given to the millionaires of the day. Robber Barrons: Shrewd businessmen
Andrew Carneige
Philanthropist (See: Gospel of wealth) and steel business mogul. Instead of hroizational integration, Carnegie utilized vertical integration where he owned every step of the production process; dominating the industry.
John D. Rockfeller
Founder of the Standard Oil Trust, he employed shrewd business tactics to eliminate competition. (Horizontal integration: Buying out your compeititors.)
Taylorism
The principle of breaking down production into simple steps, so unskilled workers could be utilized, and thus paid less.
Tenement
Poorly constructed, and poorly ventialied housing located near business districts. Home to immigrants and the poor and infectious diseases.
Granges
An organized movement for farmer resistance for socialization and education. (They passed the Commerce Act established Interstate commerce comission and reasonable/just railroad rates.)
Populist Party/populism
Wanted to correct the concentration of power held by elites. - Anti-traiffs and anti-gold standard
They were anti-traffis because when traiffs were enacted, retalitaory traiffs soon follow, which hurt farmers international sales.
William Jennings Bryan
A politician who was a dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. Did not support the Gold Standard, railroads, or banks. Supporter of populist Dem. Promoted Free Silver, anti-imperialism, and trust-busting.
Progressive Movement
Sought to reform socities problems caused by the industrial age. Populist movement, City-beautiful, Temperance, Social Gospel, Social work.
Muckrakers
journalists and novelists of the Progressive Era who sought to expose corruption in big business and government
National Child Labor Comittee
the National Child Labor Committee set out on a mission of “promoting the rights, awareness, dignity, well-being and education of children.
The Jungle
The Jungle is a novel written by Upton Sinclair, published in 1906, which exposes the harsh conditions and exploitation of immigrant workers in the meatpacking industry in Chicago.
NAACP
Founded by WEB Dubois, for the advancement of Colored people.
NAACP
Founded by WEB Dubois, for the advancement of Colored people.
Booker T. Washington
Argued Black people didn’t need to fight politically for equality but rather should focus on becoming economically self-sufficent.
Margaret Sanger
Margaret Higgins Sanger also known as Margaret Sanger Slee, was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse.
Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy, a man who had trace African ancestry, rode in a whites-only railcar. He was asked to leave and refused. The case went up to the supreme court, which ruled that segregation was constiutional, as long as it was “Separate but equal” Resulted in a wave of Jim Crow laws.
Mechangization
- People were relying more on machines rather than manual labor to harvest crops. (Led to the obsolences of smaller farmers, and decreasing value of crops)
Pacific railroad acts
An incentive in which the government gave swaths of land to railroad companies to build railroads upon it.
Homestead Act
160 acres on the condition they would farm it and settle it.
“New South”
The industrialization of the South post-Civil war. However, this was seen as unsuccessful as money was not being reinvested into the South, the South was still largely agricultural.
Ida B. Wells
A journalist who was openly against lynching, which was met with many death threats. Though, she continued her work in the North.
Henry Turner
Founded the international migration society which Facilitated migration of Black Americans to Liberia.
Alexander Graham Bell & Thomas edison
Both inventors of this time who invented the telephone and light bulb respectively.
Social Darwinism
An errenous application of Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” to society. Essentially stating that people in power (WASPS) are innately better. And the poor and Non-wasps should not be helped.
Pullman Strike
The Pullman Strike was a nationwide railroad strike that occurred in 1894, which began at the Pullman Company in Chicago when workers protested wage cuts and high rents in company-owned housing. This event escalated into a major conflict involving thousands of workers leading to federal intervention.
Knights of Labor
Advocated for the destruction of trusts, and child-labor. At its peak it had over 700,000 members. However, the union fell apart due to the Haymarket square riot.
Sherman Anti-trust Act
the first federal law that placed limits on concentrations of power deemed harmful to trade and competition. When it was first passed, the Sherman Antitrust Act was largely ineffective at stopping industrial monopolies.
Haymarket square riot
During a peaceful demonstration during the Knights of Labor were protesting for a 10 hour work day. However a bomb was soon denotated by anarchist at Hay Market, because of the Knights close proximity they were blamed and their membership soon decreased.
American Federation of Labor
Founded by Samuel Gompers, an association of craft workers, reached 1 milion members and had many of the same goals as the Knights of Labor.
Nativism & Unions
- Unions often resented immigrants because they would work for meager wages, which undermines the power of the unions.
- Nativists wanted to retain much of their ethnic homogeny.
Jane Addams
A reformer and early social worker, Addams opened up the Hull House (Settlement house) to help immigrants and their children better assimilate to American society.
Growth of the middle Class
The Growth of the Middle class gave way to white-collar workers, and leisurely activives such as spectator sports and the formation of country clubs.
Social Gospel
Christian principles should be applied to help the ills of society (the urban poor).
The wealth of Nations
Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations” argued that economies are best ran by the laws of supply and demand. And if you let people make their own descions that is when the market will flourish best. (Smith was a believer in competition in the markets.)
Panic of 1893
During this panic, President Grover Cleveland did little to allivate the economic crsis.
Democrats
- Mainly Southerners
- Championed states rights and segregation
- Counted on votes from big city political machines immigrants.
Republicans
- Mostly Northerners
- More industrial party (Businessmen)
- “Party of Lincoln” so it attracted black and abolitionist voters
- Middle class
- Protestants
Patronage
During this era, both parties had no clear legislative agenda. Instead they were more focused on securing seats and awarding federal jobs to their supporters.
Pendleton Act
Replaced the patronage system with a competitive examination. (This was due to the assassination of James Garfield)
Funding
Funding also shifted from party faithfuls, to wealthy individuals.
Gold Standard
Money is backed by gold! Farmers did not want this because they wanted more inflation to quickly pay back loans, and increase the dollar amount they received for their crops. (Silverites)
Political Machines
A infamous example is Tammany Hall ran by Boss Tweed, they organized the needs of businesses and immigrants which effectively put them in debt, and owed them their vote. They also embezzled public funds.
Omaha Platform
- Direct election of senators
- Use of intiatves and referendum which allowed people the people to propose and vote on legislation.
- Graduated income tax
- Unlimited coinage of silver
- 8-hr work day
