Unit 2: Gilded Age/ Progressive Era Flashcards
Industrial Revolution
Transformed the American Economy
electricity lit streets, homes and empowered machines of new industries
Farming and immigration
Newcomers came from Poland, the farming industry was booming and they needed people for hand picking of certain crops
Cornelius Vanderbilt and Jay Gould
Railroad empires
Andrew Carnegie
Dominated the nations steel industries
John D. Rockefeller
Dominated the oil industries
Laissez-faire
The gilded age is referred to as laissez-faire
A time of minimal government and freedom of the market
“Millionares’ Club”
The US Senate known as the millionaires club because corporate lobbyists paid its members large sums in exchange for land grants, tariffs, and other favors
Corporate Personhood
Supreme Court Case- Santa Clara v. Southern Pacific Railroad
the railroad claimed a business could be treated as a person and the 14th amendment rights can apply to the corporation
Loss of Native Territory
Greatest loss for Natives was in the 4 decades after the civil war
Chinese Exclusion Act
Banned entry of immigration workers from China and denied people of Chinese origin the possibility of citizenship
Jim Crow Laws
Segregation of public places such as school, transportation, bathrooms, etc.
Mark Twain
Co authored the Gilded Age, a satiric novel about business and politics
Fraternities, Unions, Leagues, and Clubs
millions of ordinary citizens built these organizations
these organizations served as a major role in the making of modern America
The Grange
Since the farmers were getting low prices for crops and high interest rates on debt, the Grange was created
The Grange set up cooperative stores, grain elevators, cotton gins, insurance agencies to improve farmers lives and position in America
Granger Laws
regulations of the railroads, freight rates, and grain elevators
Farmers’ Alliance
Conducted a massive campaign to of rural education
experimented with large scale cooperative marketing schemes
pressed for government intervention in economy to better serve interests of farmers
Subtreasury
Plan for federal gov. to build warehouses in farm districts across the country
provide low cost loans to farmers in their stores farm products
Knights of Labor
Largest labor organization on either side of the Atlantic
Organized women, African American, immigrants, and unskilled workers who were excluded from the craft of unions
Women’s Christian Temperance Union
Org. mainly of Protestant and middle class women
Against alcohol viewed as a menace to health
Populist Party
Brought together multiple currents of Gilded reform such as the farmers alliance, knights of labor, WCTU, and tax and currency reform
Corporate Trusts
Presidential power tilted against the corporate trusts
Theodore Roosevelt
McKinley assassinated then Roosevelt became president
believed in gov. action got the public good
Middle class
In progressive era, middle class expansion with new economy employing new white collar professions
1912 Election
Republican Party split with incumbent Wilson, Taft and Roosevelt
16th Amendment
Opened the way for the graduated federal income tax
17th Amendment
Ended the old system of choosing US senators and established the direct election of senators by popular vote
19th Amendment
Women’s right to vote
South and Progressive Era
Southerners defended the hierarchical system of white supremacy and seen as conservatives
southerners accepted reform agenda of progressive era
War and Progressive Era
1st world war divided progressives
sharecropping
who worked the land of white landowners for a percentage of the crop
industrialization and immigration
there was a rising demand for unskilled and semiskilled workers (immigrants) for the industrialization to increase and continue
how did big business and government cooperate with each other?
corporations emerged as central institutions of economic and political life
new corporate order relied on governmental intervention
how did big business and government cooperate with each other?
corporations emerged as central institutions of economic and political life
new corporate order relied on governmental intervention; same with the courts they intervened against legislation unfavorable towards corporations
provided corporations with great subsidies
Haymarket Riot
labor protest, bomb thrown at police viewed as a set back to the organization labor movement
where did we get the name “Gilded Age” for this period
Mark Twain wrote a book called the Gilded Age
what does the gilded age mean?
scholars would apply the term “Gilded Age” to focus on the power of money, political corruption, and the deep economic inequities of the late 19th century
Upton Sinclair
wrote a book called The Jungle which unveiled the unsanitary packaging of the meat industry
Eugene Debs
in the 1912 election received many votes as the Socialist candidate
Federal Reserve System
Congress gave authority to regulate banking and control the currency
Federal Income Tax
Originally, this was a tax to be placed only on upper incomes. Its purpose was to finance a more active federal government, narrow the gap between rich and poor, and balance private wealth with public good
