Unit 1 Flashcards
Freedmen’s Bureau
1865
Took steps to ease the transition from slavery to freedom - ex. helped freed people gain labor contracts, reunited families, established public schools
Black Codes & Jim Crow Laws
1865, ‘66
Black Codes - series of southern state laws passed to keep the impacts of slavery without slavery itself
Jim Crow Laws - legalized racial segregation
Debt Peonage
1860’s *legally outlawed by Congress in 1867, but not eradicated until the 1940’s
Use of laborers bound in servitude because of debt
Reconstruction Era
1863 - 1877
Goal to mend the Union and better lives of freed people, effort to remake the South failed and former rebel Southern states were brought back into the Union.
13th Amendment
1865
Formally abolished slavery across the whole of the U.S., but still allowed for unpaid & underpaid labor
14th Amendment
1868
“All persons born or naturalized in the US… are citizens of the US and the state where they reside in”
Overturned Dred Scott decision & eliminated 3/4 Compromise
15th Amendment
1870
“The right of citizens of the US to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the US or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition if servitude”
Amendment still had its weaknesses as it didn’t mention literacy tests or poll taxes, or women’s suffrage
Turner’s Thesis
1893
Argued that the frontier brought forth a democracy and opportunities to the American people.
Robber Barons
Individual investors of railroads, who came to be some of the wealthiest Americans. Granted the name “robber barons”because of their frequently shady and exploitative business dealings.
Andrew Carnegie
1835-1919
Steel magnate
Rags-to-riches story
Worked his way to managing the Pennsylvania Railroad Company.
John D. Rockefeller
1839-1937
Oil
Also rags-to-riches
Invested in refining crude oil into kerosene
Created the Standard Oil Company of Ohio
Was ruthless in his pursuit of total control of the oil refining business, so his business practices were often predatory and aggressive.
J. Pierpont Morgan
1837-1913
Investment banker
Not rags-to-riches
Created the J. Pierpont Morgan & Company financial firm, bought & sold stock, investing in companies
Enterprise known as a “money trust”, even more powerful that other trusts
Cornelius Vanderbilt
1794-1877
Railroad enterprise
Created New York Central Railroad Company
Compromise of 1877
1877
Settled the 1876 presidential election, decision that all federal troops would be withdrawn from the South, ended Reconstruction.
The Gilded Age
A period during which materialism, a quest for personal gain, & corruption dominated both politics & society. Also a book called “The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today” by Mark Twain & Charles Dudley Warner that satirizes the corruption of post-civil war society & politics
