Unit #6 Flashcards
The Great Plains
Untamed, wild, full of Indians, bison and wildlife, and sparsely populated by Mormons and Mexicans.
Exodusters
Name given to African Americans who fled the Southern United States for Kansas in 1879 and 1880 because of racial oppression and rumors of the reinstitution of slavery.
The Homestead Act
an act that allowed a settler to acquire as much as 160 acres of land by living on it for 5 years, improving it, and paying a nominal fee of about $30 - instead of public land being sold primarily for revenue, it was now being given away to encourage a rapid filling of empty spaces and to provide a stimulus to the family
Pacific Railroad Act
an act to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean, and to secure to the government the use of the same for postal, military, and other purposes
The Transcontinental Railroad
completed in 1869 at Promontory, Utah, it linked the eastern railroad system with California’s railroad system
Union Pacific RR
the railroad that started from Omaha in the mid-1860s and was built westward as part of the transcontinental railroad
Central Pacific RR
started in California, and pushed eastward; eventually connected with the Union Pacific Railroad in Promentary Point, Utah
The Plains Indians
Posed a serious threat to western settlers because, unlike the Eastern Indians from early colonial days, the Plains Indians possessed rifles and horses.
The Plains Indians Wars
Native American tribes fought back because they were removed from their ancestral lands and Indian agents were corrupt and pawned off products to their own Indians.
Chivington (Sand Creek) Massacre
1864: Militia massacred about 400 hundred Indians in cold blood - Indians who had though they had been promised immunity and Indians who were peaceful and harmless
Fetterman Massacre
1866: a Sioux war party ambushed Captain Fetterman’s command of 81 soldiers and civilians who were constructing the Bozeman Trail to the Montana goldfields leaving no survivors, Indian Victory
2nd Treaty of Fort Laramie
1868: the government abandoned the Bozeman trail; “Great Sioux Reservation” promised; Ended when Custer found gold on the lands
Reservation System
The federal government tried to pacify the Indians by signing treaties with chiefs of tribes. The US failed to understand that tribes and chiefs didn’t necessarily represent groups of people in Indian culture.
Sitting Bull
Leader of the Sioux
Crazy Horse
chief of the Nez Perce Indians of Idaho; tried to escape to Canada
George Armstrong Custer
Discovered gold in Black Hills of South Dakota, his seventh cavalry division was decimated by the Sioux at the battle of Little Big Horn
Battle of Little Big Horn
Hordes of gold-seekers invaded the Sioux reservation after Colonel Custer found gold in the Black Hill, Indian Win
Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce
After the New Perce Indians revolted the gold seekers made the government shrink their reservation by 90% and after a battle Chief Joseph surrendered his band after a long trek across the continental divide to Canada.
Geronimo
Lead the Apache tribes of Arizona and New Mexico; finally surrendered after being pushed to Mexico and they became successful farmers
Destruction of Buffalo
Many people killed buffalo for their meat and their skins and used the whole body but others hunted for sport. By 1885, fewer that 1000 buffalo were left.
The Carlisle Indian School
Was founded to teach native American children how to behave like whites, completely erasing their culture
Helen Hunt Jackson
Wrote a Century of Dishonor and Ramona; chronicled record of government ruthlessness/love story
Dawes Severalty Act
1887: dissolved the legal entities of all tribes, but if the Indians behaved the way whites wanted them to behave (farmers) and could receive full citizenship is 25 years
The Ghost Dance
a festival that whites thought was the war-drum beating
Wounded Knee
1890: the Ghost Dance was brutally stamped our by US troops who killed women and children and marked the end of Indian War because by then they were on reservations or dead
The Mining Frontier
Gold was discovered n California in the late 1840s and in 1858 in Colorado
Comstock Lode
A fantastic amount of silver and gold worth more that 340 million was mined
Hard Rock Mining
mining Technique that involves sinking deep mine shafts to get at ore in veins of rock. only big businesses could afford to do this
Women in the West
Women found new rights such as gaining suffrage; Women began running boarding houses
Silver Senators
these people used disproportionate influence to promote the interests of silver miners
Open Range Ranching
cattle/livestock grazed on open ranges
Joseph McCoy
livestock owner that used railroads to send meat and built cattle pens called stockyards
Range Wars
Tensions between shepards/ cattleman/ ranchers & farmers
Cattle Kingdom
First legit business in the Great Plains; cowboys were paid to take cattle to railroads
Farming on the Plains
Due to higher wheat prices resulting from crop failures more people pushed westward. It was difficult to grow crops, dry farming was invented.
Barbed Wire
invented by Samuel Glidden; fences that erased the open-range days of the long cattle drives
Turner’s Frontier Thesis
The closing of the frontier inspired this thesis which stated that Americans needed a frontier. The frontier is a safety valve.
Foreign Policy Pre-1880
The frontier was a state of mind. When areas became packed the frontier allowed folks to move west.
Seward’s Folly
Purchase of Alaska from Russia which was considered stupid at the time. It was later used for oil resources.
Expansionist Arguments
the growth in population, wealth and productive capacity causes labor violence agrarian unrest so, overseas markets seemed the solution
Josiah Strong
Missionary; wrote Our Country: It’s Possible Future and Its Present Crisis; he spoke for civilizing and Christianizing savages
Henry Cabot Loge
Sr Applied Darwin’s survival of the fittest theory to nations-Was the order of things for the strong to conquer the weak
Pan American Conference
James Blaine pushed his Big Sister policy which sought better relations with Latin America. He presided over this conference.
Alfred T. Mahan
Wrote the Influence of Sea Power Upon History which argued that every successful world power once held a great navy.
Naval Act of 1890
Authorized 3 sea going battleships (carrying heaviest armor) caused America to rank 3rd in the word in terms of naval power
Annexation of Hawaii
Americans in Hawaii revolted and caused Hawaii to seem ready for annexation. Cleveland investigated and ground that it was wrong and delayed annexation of office util he left office.
McKinley Tariff
Raised the prices on Hawaiian sugar.
Queen Lililoukalani
Opposed annexation of Hawaii; Queen of Hawaii
Sanford Dole
used US marines to remove the queen from power then declared Hawaii a republic, American plantation owner in Hawaii
Samoan Islands Treaty
America and Germany almost went to war over the Somoan Islands.
Jose Marti
leader of Cuban rebels, against US occupation of Cuba
Valeriano Weyler
Spanish General that came to Cuba to crush the revolt and ended up putting many civilians into concentration camps that were terrible
Yellow Journalism
Yellow presses competed against each other to come up with more sensational stories.
William Randolph Hearst
Yellow journalists that sent and artist to draw picture of functional atrocities.
Joseph Pullitzer
Yellow journalists that influenced overseas expansion.
DeLome Letter
A letter written by the Spanish Minister to Washington that ridiculed President McKinley.
USS Maine
The US battleship that mysteriously exploded in Havana Harbor killing 260 officers and men. Spain received blame despite the unknown cause.
Rickover Report
US Navy admiral found evidence that the initial explosion had resulted from spontaneous combustion in a coal bunker near magazines
Teller Amendment
Proclaimed that when the US had overthrown Spanish misrule, it would give the Cubans their freedom and not conquer it.
Spanish American War
McKinley though war with Spain seemed inevitable, America had to defend Democracy and opposing a war could split the Republican party and America.
Theodore Roosevelt
Assistant Secretary to the Navy that modernized the US navy and made it look sleek.
Commodore George Dewey
Commanded the American Asiatic Squadron at Hon Kong and told him to take over the Philippines. Dewey did so brilliantly, completely taking over the islands from the Spanish.
Manila Bay
Nations were moving their ships into the harbor to protect their men. The German navy defied american blockade regulations and Dewey threatened the navy commander with war, but it blew over.
Emilio Aguinaldo
Led American troops to Manila and in collaboration with Filipino insurgents to overthrow the Spanish rulers.
Rough Riders
A regiment of soldiers led by Theodore Roosevelt and Colonel Leonard Wood rushed to Cuba and battled at El Caney stormed up in San Juan Hill.
The Splendid Little War
John Hay called the Spanish American War this because they were cocky. The American army took over Puerto Rico and soon after they signed an armistice. Finally, TR wrote a round-robin letter demanded that the US government take the troops out before they all died.
Treaty of Paris
1989: America got Guam an Puerto Rico and freed Cuba but the Philippines could not be honorably give it back to Spain after decades for misrule, but th US couldn’t just take it like an imperialistic nation.
Imperialism Debate
The US got the Philippines and imperialists wanted to keep the Philippines so it doesn’t succumb to anarchy.
Anti-Imperialist Debate
Opposed the new imperialism of America that was sparked from the Philippines; opponents argued that such a step would destroy American’s venerable comittments to self-determination
Leonard Wood
Set up an American military government in Cuba which brought miracles in government, public health, public education and finance.
William Gorgas & Walter Reed
Exterminated yellow fever in Havana, Cuba
Platt Amendment
US encouraged Cuba to write and pass this. Stated that the US could intervene and restore order in case of anarchy, the US could trade freely with Cuba ad the US could get two bays for naval bases.
Guantanamo Bay
A Bay for US Naval Bases created by Platt Amendment
Foraker Act
1900: gave Puerto Rico a limited degress of popular government and in 1917 granted Puerto Ricans full American citizenship
Insular Cases
The Supreme Court barely ruled that the constitution did not have full authority on how to deal with the islands essentially letting Congress do what it wanted with them, Basically, the cases said the islands residents do not necessarily share the same rights and Americans.
Filipino Insurrection
Began in 1899: revolted when they assumed they would receive freedom from the US after the Spanish American War.
William H. Taft
Headed the Philippine Commission to deal with Filippinos. He developed a strong attachment to them.
Spheres of Influence
China was split into these. Americans were alarmed because missionaries worried about their strongholds while businesses feared they would not be able to export products to China.
John Hay
Dispatched the Open Door Notes; Secretary of State
Open Door Notes
Urged the European nations to keep fair competition open to all nations willing and wanting to participate. All the power already holding spots of China were squeamish. Russia didn’t accept at all but all others did.
Boxer Rebellion
A super patriotic group revolted and took over the capital of China taking all foreigners hostage including diplomats.
2nd Open Door Notes
the open door would embrace the territorial integrity of China and commercial integrity
Election of 1900
McKinley the Republican ran against Bryan the Democrat. Theodore Roosevelt was McKinley’s VP and he actively campaigned. Bryan concentrated on imperialism which was bad because Americans were tired of the subject. McKinley won easily.
Assassination of McKinley
A deranged murderer shot and killed William McKinley making TR the youngest president ever.
Panama Canal
TR decided to create this canal because during the Spanish American War the battleship was forced to steam all of way around the rip of SA.
Big Stick Policy
TR’s belief that you should let your actions to the talking.
Clayton-Bulwar Treaty
US with Britain forbade the construction by either country of a canal in the Americas without the other’s consent and help.
Hay-Paeuncefote Traty
Nullified the Clayton Bulwar Treaty; British allowed the US to build the canal and, if they wanted, to fortify it
Hay-Bunau Varilla Treaty
The Panama Minister gave a widened zone to the US for 15 million dollars.
Roosevelt Corollary
Addition to Monroe Doctrine which state that tin future cases of debt problems, the US would take over and handle any interventions in Latin America on behalf of Europe
Russo-Japanese War
Since Russia was in Manchuria, Japan attacked Russia. Russia wanted Fort Arthur and the Japanese fought until they ran short of men.
Treaty of Portsmouth
Japan asked Roosevelt to sponsor peace negotiations. Russia left Sakhalin Island Compensation and Japan got cash.
The Gentleman’s Agreement
Tokyo would stop flow of laborers to US by witholding passports.
The Great White Fleet
Roosevelt’s fleet used to impress the Japanese; he sailed it around the world
Progressives
Fought against monopolies, corruption, inefficiency an social injustice. Had roots in the Greenback labor Party.
Thorstein Veblen
Criticized the new rich in the Theory of the Leisure Class
Henry Demarest Lloyd
Exposed corruption of the monopoly of the Standard Oil Company with his book Wealth Against Commonwealth
Muckrakers
Nickname given to young reporters that exposed corruption
Jacob Riis
Write of How the Other Half Lives, a book about the NY slums and its inhabitants
Lincoln Steffens
launched a series of articles in McClure’s entitle The Shame of the Cities in which he unmasked the corrupt alliance between big business and the government
Ida Tarbell
launched a devastating expose against Standard Oil and its ruthlessness
David Graham Phillipis
charged that 75 our of the 90 US Senators did not represent the people but actually the railroads and trusts
Ray Stannard Baker
Wrote Following the Color Line about the illiteracy of Blacks
John Spargo
wrote the The Bitter Cry of the Children which exposed child labor
Upton SInclair
wrote The Jungle appalled public with unsanitary work practices in the meat industry
Direct Primary
Elections to undercut power hungry bossses
Intiative
voters could directly propose legislation
Referendum
the people could vote on laws that affected them
Recall
to remove bad officials from office
17th Amendment
direct election of senators
Woman Suffrage Status
Some Western states legalized it.
Alice Paul
Leader of the National Woman’s Party and the Congressional Union, campaigned for an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution and led protests
City Commission Form
a form of city government where exectutive power is invested in a group of professional commissioners chosen for their skills and expertise
City Managers
a professional city manager who is hired (usually by the city council) to run each department of the city. Meant to check the power of the mayor and the city council
Municipal Socialism
used to describe public ownership of streetcar lines, waterworks, and other local utilities
Hiram Johnson
Lead regulation of railroads and trusts; broke souther pacific RR’s grip on politics
Charles Evans Hughes
Governor of NY that gained fame by investigating the malpractices of gas and insurance companies
Robert LaFollette
In Wisconsin, he wrestled control from the trusts and returned power to the people becoming a progressive leader in the process.
Louis Brandeis
Attorney that persuaded the Supreme Court to accept the constitutionality of laws that protected women workers
Muler v. Oregon
A landmark Supreme Court case that protected women workers.
Florence Kelly
Former resident of Jane Adam’s Hull House became the first chief factory inspector advocate
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
1911: fire in a company which killed 146 workers
NY State Factory Investigating Committee
Created after the shirtwaist fire; investigate factory conditions in this and other cities and to report remedial measures of legislation to prevent hazard or loss of life among employees through fire, unsanitary conditions, and occupational diseases
WCTU and Anti-Saloon League
prohibitionist movements that were formed
18th Amendment
prohibited the sale and drinking alcohol
The Square Deal
TR’s three Cs: control of the corporations, consumer protections and conservation of the US natural resources
1902 Coal Strike
140,000 workers demanded a 20% increase and the reduction of the workday to nine hours
Department of Commerce and Labor & Bureau of Corporations
A part of the Bureau of Corporations which was allowed to probe businesses engaged in interstate commerce
Elkins Act
Fined railroads that gave rebates and shippers that accepted them.
Hepburn Act
Restricted the free passes of railroads.
Trustbuster
Any government activity designed to break up trusts or monopolies. Theodore Roosevelt is the U.S. president most associated.
Bully Pulpit
the presidency’s name as Roosevelt called it; the platform from which to advocate ideas
Pure Food and Drug Act
To prevent the adulteration and mislabeling of foods and pharmaceuticals.
Meat Inspection Act
Decreed that the preparation of meat shipped over the state lines would be subject to federal inspections.
Election of 1904
- Theodore Roosevelt (Progressive Republican), Alton B. Parker (Democrat), Eugene V. Debs (Socialist)
- it was an electoral landslide for Roosevelt, and he won 56% of votes
- Roosevelt in his second term called ever more loudly for regulating the corporations, taxing incomes, and protecting workers.
John Muir
Naturalists who was a member of the Boy Scouts of America and the Sierra Club
Gilford Pinchot
Conservationist that influenced Roosevelt; head of the federal Division of Forestry
US Forest Service
46 million acres of forests were set aside
National Park Srvice
San Fran received permission to build a dam in Hetchy hetch Valley, a part of Yosemite National Park
Panic of 1907
a short but sharp panic on Wall Street placed TR at the center of its blame with conservative criticizing him and the panic died down
Election of 1908
TR chose William Howard Taft as his Successor and he beat out William Jennings Bryan/ Eugene V. Debs gained votes as a socialist.
William Howard Taft
passed 16th amendment; progressive but more mild than TR
Payne-Aldrich Act
to lower the tariff and fulfill a campaign promise this was a moderately reductive bill; tacked a lot of provisions and it betrayed Taft’s promise and incurred the wrath of his party
Mann-Elkins Act
it bolstered the regulatory powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission and supported labor reforms. It gave the ICC the power to prosecute its own inquiries into violations of its regulations.
Taft’s Relationship with Progressives
Taft was a mild progressive.
Mid-Term Elections - 1910
Fighting back against his Progressive critics, Taft openly supported conservative candidates for Congress in the midterm elections of 1910. It was a grievous mistake. Progressive Republicans from the Midwest easily defeated the candidates endorsed by Taft.
Insurgents
This was the nickname for a small group of reformist Republicans. The separation between progressive and conservative republicans was caused by this group.
Election of 1912
Theodore Roosevelt the Progressive Republican vesus William H. Taft the Old Guard Republican the Democratic candidate was Woodrow Wilson. Wilson won easily.
The Progressive Party
Theodore Roosevelt would run as the Progressive candidate in 1912
New Nationalism
1912 Progressive party platform–favored a more active government role in economic and social affairs
Herbert Croly
The Promise of American Life (1910); stated that
the government should control the bad trusts, leaving the good trusts
alone and free to operate.
Woodrow Wilson
A Democratic candidate in 1912.
New Freedom
favored small enterprise, desired to
break up all trusts—not just the bad ones—and basically
shunned social-welfare proposals.
Underwood Tariff
substantially reduced import fees
and enacted a graduated income tax (under the approval of the recent
16th Amendment)
16th Amendment
Amendment to the United States Constitution (1913) gave Congress the power to tax income
Federal Reserve Act/Board
1913 Federal Reserve Act, which created
the new Federal Reserve Board, which oversaw a nationwide system of
twelve regional reserve districts, each with its own central bank, and
had the power to issue paper money (“Federal Reserve
Notes”)
Federal Trade Commission
1914: empowered a president-appointed position to investigate the activities
of trusts and stop unfair trade practices such as unlawful competition,
false advertising, mislabeling, adulteration, & bribery
Clayton Anti-Trust Act
lengthened the Sherman Anti-Trust
Act’s list of practices that were objectionable, exempted labor
unions from being called trusts (as they had been called by the Supreme
Court under the Sherman Act), and legalized strikes and peaceful
picketing by labor union members
Keating Owen Act
Ended child labor, and ended selling products made from child labor
It was signed by Woodrow Wilson
Also gave congress the responsibility of regulating interstate commerce.
Workmen’s Compensation Act
1916: granted assistance
of federal civil-service employees during periods of instability but
was invalidated by the Supreme Court
Federal Farm Loan Act and Federal Warehouse Act
made credit available to
farmers at low rates of interest and permitted loans on the security of staple crops, respectively
Federal Highway Act
provided dollar-matching contributions to states with highway departments that met certain federal standards, a sharp departure from Jacksonian opposition to internal improvements at federal expense.provided dollar-matching contributions to states with highway departments that met certain federal standards, a sharp departure from Jacksonian opposition to internal improvements at federal expense.
Mann Act
prohibited the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcoholic beverages.
Socialist Party
Eugene V. Debs had racked a lot of votes in 1912 for this party
International Workers of the World
This radical union aimed to unite the American working class into one union to promote labor’s interests. It worked to organize unskilled and foreign-born laborers, advocated social revolution and led several major strikes. Stressed solidarity.
Emma Goldman
An outspoken radical who was deported after being arrested on charges of being an anarchist, socialist, or labour agitator.
Margaret Sanger
American leader of the movement to legalize birth control during the early 1900’s. As a nurse in the poor sections of New York City, she had seen the suffering caused by unwanted pregnancy.
19th Amendment
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1920) extended the right to vote to women in federal or state elections
Eugenics
The idea that a “bad” genetic traits could be bred out and good traits could promoted in order to improve society.
Limits of Progressivism
efficiency v. democracy, progressives are anti-immigration, birth control averted catholics, supreme court was conservative, progressives dont support desegregation
The “New South”
A vision for a self-sufficient southern economy built on modern capitalist values, industrial growth, and improved transportation. Henry Grady,
Henry Grady
The editor of the Atlanta Constitution, spread the gospel of the New South with editorials for economic diversity and laissez-faire capitalism.
Civil Rights Cases
1883: A case in which the court ruled that Congress could not legislate against the racial discrimination practiced by private citizens, which included railroads, hotels, and other businesses used by the public.
Wilmington Race Riots
1898: Democratic party wins and tells blacks to leave or be lynched. Wilmington coup of 1898 inspired Jim Crow
Atlanta Compromise
A speech made by Washington in Atlanta that outlined the philosophy that blacks should focus on economic gains, go to school, learn skills, and work their way up the ladder and that Southern whites should help out to create an unresentful people.
Niagara Movement
a meeting of blacks at Niagara Falls in 1905, including Du Bois, where they created a list of demands (ex. unrestricted right to vote, end to segregation, etc)
Booker T Washington
Prominent black American, born into slavery, who believed that racism would end once blacks acquired useful labor skills and proved their economic value to society.
WEB Dubois
First African-American to receive a doctorate. America’s foremost black intellectual at the turn of the twentieth century, and an outspoken leader of the black cause. He disagreed with Booker T. Washington’s accommodationist posture and called upon blacks to insist on equal rights.
NAACP
founded in 1909 to fight segregation,discrimination, and racism and to gain civil rights for African Americans
The Crisis
Written by Dubois; argued that black should insist on equal rights
