Unit 6 Vocab (1877-1917) Flashcards
Homestead Lockout
Carnegie began creating new machinery that was replacing skilled workers, so he said that any union members would be locked out - if they wanted to return they had to sign new contracts. The mill was fortified, but the locked-out workers fired on guards and started a fight. Most of those workers eventually lost their jobs, which killed the union
Management Revolution
The revolution where managers invented new systems to solve new problems, departmentalized operations by function, established clear communication lines, and perfected cost accounting
Vertical Integration
A model in which a company controlled all aspects of production from the raw materials to the finished goods - pioneered by Swift
Horizontal Integration
A strategy where a company controls almost all of the nations capacity at one specific product - pioneered by Rockefeller
Trust
A new legal form, that organized a small group of associates to hold stock from a group of combined firms, managing them as a single entity
Deskilling
The process of reducing the amount of skilled laborers needed to make a product, using machinery and unskilled laborers instead - allowed manufacturers to cut costs
Mass production
The term for the process of creating standard goods from standardized parts, using machines that operated with little human oversight
Scientific Management
A new system, where workers were required to do as they are told promptly without questioning it - all decisions were left to management and experts - but wasn’t a great success in practice (workers resigned)
Chinese Exclusion Act
The first illegal immigrant act, it forbid Chinese laborers from entering the US and was passed in 1882
Great Railroad Strike of 1877
When thousands of railroad workers walked off the job, virtually shutting down all railroad transportation and shipping. It prompted large crowds of protesters, which clashed with police, and ultimately caused $40 million in damages
Greenback Labor Party
A third party that worked to promote the ideals of the Greenback movement and improve working conditions and rights. They helped create Granger Laws (economic regulatory actions), but the party was short-lived. They were the foundation for more sustained regulatory efforts
Producerism
The idea that middlemen, bankers, lawyers, and investors were idle people who lived off the sweat of other people, and it was the laborers who made (and deserved) America’s wealth
Granger Laws
A group of economic regulatory actions in the Midwest that were triggered by Greenbacker pressure
Knights of Labor
The most important union of the late 19th century, they had a strong political focus and achieved their reputation through strikes. But just as they reached their pinnacle of influence, violence in Haymarket Square, Chicago, brought them down (they were blamed for it) and they lost all influence and members
Anarchism
The idea that society shouldn’t be organized into states - anarchy instead (also said the violence was needed to achieve this)
Haymarket Square
A protest meeting was called there on May 4th, 1886. When police tried to disperse the crowd, someone threw a bomb into a group, killing several. The police then opened fire. This violence profoundly damaged the American labor movement
Farmers’ Alliance
A new rural movement that arose to take up many of the issues Grangers and Greenbackers had earlier sought to address. They negotiated directly with corporations, and created a new Populist party
Interstate Commerce Act
An 1887 Act that created the ICC, which was charged with investigating interstate shipping, forcing railroads to make their rates public. This and the Hatch Act were Congress’s response to increasing pressure from labor groups
Closed shop
What many unions sought to achieve - it was where all jobs were reserved for union workers, which kept out lower wage workers
American Federation of Labor (AFL)
A new group formed after the Haymarket violence, the AFL was focused on winning a larger share of corporate rewards by negotiating directly with employers, rather than using politics. It was successful, but was predominately for skilled workers
Plessy v. Ferguson
The 1896 case, where Homer Plessy, a New Orleans resident, sued after he refused to move to the “colored” car of a Louisiana train - the Supreme Court ruled this did not violate the 14th Amendment as long as the accommodations were “separate but equal” (however in practice they were flagrantly inferior)
Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA)
One of the earliest and most successful promoters of athletic fitness - introduced in Boston in 1851, they promoted muscular Christianity (evangelism and gyms) - they had a substantial industrial program after 1900
Negro Leagues
The response of black baseball players to being shut out of professional teams - they formed their own league. Players suffered from rundown field and erratic pay, but the leagues thrived till the desegregation of baseball - celebrated black manhood and talent
Sierra Club
Founded by John Muir in 1892, it was dedicated to preserving and enjoying America’s great mountains - this and other groups helped encourage national and state governments to set aside more land for public use and recreation
National Park Service
Created in 1916 by President Woodrow Wilson, the association provided comprehensive oversight over the national parks being created
National Audubon Society
The result of the combination of many state Audubon Societies, they were dedicated to advocating border protections for wild birds. Women played prominent roles in the movement
Comstock Act
1873, it prohibited circulation of basically any information about sex and birth control. Andrew Comstock secured the law by appealing to parents fears, but it had little success in stopping the lucrative and popular trade in contraceptives
Liberal Arts
Colleges for men, that focused on classes that developed “individual reality and power” - didn’t emphasize technical education, instead administrators argued that students who aimed to be leaders needed broad-base knowledge. Pioneered by Harvard president Charles W. Eliot from 1868 to 1909
Atlanta Compromise
A famous address by Booker T. Washington, it got national fame after Washington gave an address that many interpreted as approving racial segregation - said races could remain separate, and it was greeted with enthusiasm by whites. But Washington’s conciliatory and compromising attitude generated conflict with younger black leaders, who were anxious for change
Maternalism
A way that women justified their reform work, appealing to their special role as mothers. It was seen as an intermediate step between domesticity and modern arguments for women’s equality - “Home is the community. The city full of people is the Family… Badly do the Home and Family need their mother”
Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)
Founded in 1874, it spread rapidly after 1879, it was the main group that launched women into public reform. Placed blame of home violence solely on alcohol, and became the first organization to combat domestic violence. Received lots of support, but also lots of aggression and conflict
National Association of Colored Women
Created in 1896, it arranged care of orphans, founded homes for elderly, advocated temperance, and undertook public health campaigns. These women shared with white women a determination to carry domesticity into the public sphere - used language of domesticity and respectability to justify work
National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)
The reunion of the 2 women’s suffrage associations that had split during Reconstruction, they won many victories in the West for women, winning full ballots in many states. But after 1896, they were discouraged by a decade of state-level defeats, until it picked up momentum after 1911, and by 1913 most women living west of the Mississippi had the ballot
Feminism
By the 1910s, some women moved beyond the idea of just suffrage for women, and began to argue for full political, social, and economic equality. The term feminism was created to describe these ideas
Natural Selection
The idea that new organisms born had slight variations (mutations) from those of previous generations, and the beneficial mutations passed onto the next generation as the organism was more likely to survive, while those with less desirable mutations died out - rejected by many scientists after Darwin created the idea
Social Darwinism
The idea that human society also advanced through “Survival of the Fittest”, it was created by Herbert Spencer. He declared that millionaires were the most successful, so they were “naturally selected”. His ideas were controversial, and were often seen as an excuse for the worst excesses of industrialization
Eugenics
New laws based on the theories of natural selection, it was the science of human breeding. They argued that mentally deficient people should be prevented from reproducing, and sterilized those who were “unfit”. But they often associated mental unfitness with the “lower races”, which lent support to segregation
Realism
A new style of writing, American authors rejected nineteenth-century romanticism and sentimentality, instead striving “to picture daily life in the most exact terms possible”. They wrote about, death, struggles, and other harsh aspects of life
Naturalism
Created by London and Crane, it suggested that human beings were not rational shapers of their own destiny, but rather blind victims to forces beyond their control, such as their own subconscious
Modernism
The first great literary and artistic movement of the twentieth century, modernists focused on the subconscious and “primitive” mind, and sought to overturn convention and tradition
American Protective Association (APA)
A powerful political association created in 1887 by Protestants, they were a virulent nativist group who expressed outrage at the existence of separate Catholic schools and demanded that all public school teachers be Protestant - also called for a ban on Catholic officeholders. It arose partly because Protestants felt that their long term dominance was being challenge by Catholics and Jews
Social Gospel
Another response to the urban immigrant challenge by Protestants, they strove to evangelize the unchurched portion of the population by providing reading rooms, day nurseries, vocational classes, and other services. This goal of renewing religious faith through dedication to justice and social welfare became known as the Social Gospel
Fundamentalism
Some Protestants were disturbed by rising secularism, they held a series of Bible Conferences at Niagara Falls between 1876 and 1897. A new network emerged from these, and they called themselves fundamentalists, because they believed in the fundamental truth of the Bible. They focused on heavenly redemption, and made effective use of revival meetings
Chicago School
A school of architecture, it was dedicated to designing buildings which expressed, rather than masked, their structure and function. Louis Sullivan was the genius of the school, whose “vertical aesthetic” gave skyscrapers a proud and soaring presence. Thus, Chicago pioneered skyscraper construction
Mutual Aid Society
Societies created by people from a particular European province or town, they collected dues from members and then paid support in case of death or injury. They also served as fraternal clubs, as a way for new immigrants to meet and connect with people of their same ethnicity and language
Race Riot
A new urban danger for African Americans, the “race riot” was an attack by white mobs triggered by street altercations or rumors of crime. One of the nastiest, the Atlanta race riot of 1906 killed at least 24 African Americans and wounded more than 100
Tenement
A new housing layout, designed to maximize occupancy in limited space. They were 5 or 6 story buildings that housed 20 or more families in cramped, airless apartments. Tenements fostered horrific infant mortality in rampant disease
Vaudeville Theater
A new attraction that arose in the 1880s and 1890s, customers could walk in anytime and watch a continuous sequence of musical acts, magic shows, skits, or other entertainment. It was first popular among the working class, but quickly broadened to include middle-class audiences
Ragtime
A new, uniquely American music created by African Americans in the 1890s, it was named for its ragged rhythm, which combined a steady beat in the bass with syncopated, off-beat rhythms in the treble. Black performers of it became stars in their own right, and Scott Joplin was the most famous of them all
Blues
Another style of music created by African Americans, it spoke of hard work and heartbreak, and had roots in African American folk songs. Blues spoke to the emotional lives of those who were far from home and experiencing heartbreak
Yellow Journalism
A derogatory term for the mass market newspapers, they were called this because of the “Yellow Kid” comics, one of the most popular of the time.
Muckrakers
The term for the urban journalists who focused on exposing injustices and corruption in industrial life. Their influence was profound, and the inspired thousands of readers to get involved in reform movements and tackle the problems of new industrial life
Political Machines
Local party bureaucracies that kept a grip on both elected and appointed public offices, the most infamous of which was New York’s Tammany Hall. Machines stayed in power by promising services to the often-ignored immigrant population, in exchange for votes. They would find you a job if you needed one, or provide help if you got injured, in exchange for your vote
National Municipal League
A reform group experimenting with new ways to organize municipal government, they advised cities to elect small councils and hire professional managers who would direct operations, similar to an executive. They had difficulty persuading politicians to use their business-oriented model, and won its greatest victories in younger cites
Progressivism
An overlapping group of movements designed to combat the downsides of industrialism, it had its roots in big cities. Reformers invented new forms of civic participation, and advocated for better sanitation, disease prevention, better housing, clean food and water, and more
“City Beautiful” Movement
Created in the turn of the 20th century, it arose to advocate for more and better urban park spaces. It led parks to create room for things like skating rinks and tennis courts, intended to help keep children and adults safe and healthy
Social Settlement
A creative new institution created by reformers, these were community welfare centers that investigated the plight of the urban poor, raise funds to address needs, and helped give neighborhood residents a voice
Hull House
The most famous and one of the first social settlements, it was founded in 1889 on Chicago’s West Side, and was standard in offering a bathhouse, kindergarten, day care center, and more
Pure Food and Drug Act
Passed in 1906, it created the federal Food and Drug administration to oversee compliance with the new law against rotten meat and filthy packing conditions present in many industrial factories
National Consumers’ League
Created in 1899, it encouraged shoppers to only shop at stores where wages and working conditions were known to be fair. Under the leadership of Florence Kelley, it became one of the most powerful progressive organizations in advocating for worker protection laws
Women’s Trade League
Founded in New York in 1903, it was financed by wealthy organizations and trained working-class leaders to organize unions among workers. These trade-union workers joined together in the broader struggle for women’s rights. They provided strong support, hoping that enfranchised women would use their ballots to help industrial workers
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
On a Sunday afternoon on March 25, 1911, a fire broke out in the Triangle Shirtwaist factory. It quickly spread through the 3 floors the company occupied, and panicked workers discovered that despite fire safety laws, the employers had locked the emergency doors to prevent theft. Dozens of workers were trapped, and many leaped to their deaths (146 died, and the average age was just 19). New Yorkers responded with outrage and grief in response the state created a commission to develop a remarkable program of labor reform – they created the most advanced labor code in the US, and provided a model for other states to follow
“Waving the bloody shirt”
The term for when politicians tried to apply to Civil War loyalties – people accused them of whipping up old animosities that should be set aside. But for some people (those who had fought or were struggling for African American rights), these war issues remained crucial
Gilded Age
A term used by historians for the late 19th century. It’s supposed to represent how politics were corrupt and stagnant, and suggested that America had a glittering coat of prosperity but underneath suffered from corruption and decay. However, some disagree on the accuracy of this term
Pendleton Act (1883)
After President Garfield’s assassination, people argued that he was assassinate because of the spoils system and party patronage. In response, Congress passed this act, to create a nonpartisan Civil Services Commission to fill federal jobs by examination – laid groundwork for a sweeping transformation of public employment
Mugwumps
After the liberal Republicans left the party in 1884 because of the scandal-tainted candidate James Blaine, their enemies ridiculed them as “mugwumps” who had their “mugs” on one side and their “wumps” on the other.; But in that election, they helped elect Democrat Grover Cleveland
Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)
The first attempt by the federal government to forbid any “combination, in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade”. Unfortunately, it was difficult to enforce and was soon weakened by the Supreme Court
Lodge Bill (1890)
Also known as the Federal Elections Bill, it proposed that whenever 100 citizens in a district appealed for intervention, a bipartisan federal board could investigate and seat the rightful winner. The house passed the measure, but it meant resistance in the Senate from classical liberals, machine bosses, and Western Republicans. The defeat was a crushing blow to the those defending black voting rights
Omaha Platform
The founding declaration of the Populist party, they declared that the power of government should be expanded, public ownership of railroads and telegraphs, programs against injustice and poverty, protection of land, progressive income tax, and loose monetary borrowing. The Populists represented a grassroots
Free silver
The belief that the government should switch over to a bimetallic standard, rather than only gold (called “free” because the government wouldn’t charge a fee for minting silver coins). Advocates of this said that it would increase the amount of currency in circulation which would help the economy and the poor
WIlliams v. Mississippi (1898)
The Supreme Court decision where they allowed poll taxes and literacy tests to stand in elections – allowed the disenfranchisement of black voters in the South and the exclusion of immigrants and poor people in other states
Solid South
The name for the almost exclusively Democrat controlled south. They exercised almost complete control of politics, the economy, and society as a whole, and all racist developments and laws depended on this
Lochner v. New York (1905)
A Supreme Court decision, in which the judges told New York State that they could not limit the baker’s workday to 10 hours, because that would violate their right to make contracts. Found support in the “due process” clause of the 14th Amendment, even though those laborers they were “protecting” WANTED the government regulation to protect themselves
Newlands Reclamation Act
Passed under Roosevelt (he lent support to it), it was similar to earlier Republican policies – sold public lands to raise money for irrigation projects that expanded agriculture on the arid lands in the West. Helped promote western economic development
Wisconsin Idea
Promoted by Wisconsin governor Robert La Follette (1901-1905) – it supported greater government involvement in the economy with reliance on experts for new policies – combined respect for experts with “more Democracy”
Recall
The right of being able to vote to remove unpopular politicians from office – part of the Wisconsin Idea
Referendum
The people voting directly on a new proposed law, rather than leaving it in the hands of legislatures to decide – part of the Wisconsin Idea
National Child Labor committee
Created in 1907, they hired photographer Lewis Hines to take photos of brutal conditions in mines and mills where children worked – Theodore Roosevelt, impressed by their work, first brought national attention to child welfare issues. 1912, moment from this committee resulted in the creation of the Children’s Bureau in the US Labor Department
Muller v. Oregon (1908)
A Supreme Court decision that upheld the Oregon law limiting women’s workday to 10 hours – it was a stunning victory. To win, the NCL relied on Louis Brandeis, the “people’s lawyer”. He used social science in his legal brief, describing the toll of long hours on women’s health – cleared the way to use social science in other court decisions
Talented tenth
An idea by W. E. B. Du Bois, that called for the top 10% of educated blacks to develop new strategies – compromise wasn’t working, they need new strategies
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
After a 1908 race riot in Springfield, Illinois, a New York social worker named Mary White Ovington called together a group of protesters to formulate a response. This led to the created of the NAACP, and many leaders of the Niagara movement joined – the fledgling group found many allies
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)
1905, the Western Federation of Miners (WFM), led by fiery leaders, created a new movement. They were called “Wobblies”, and they fervently supported the Marxist class struggle and the eradication of Capitalism – envisioned a new society run directly by workers
New Nationalism
After Roosevelt returned from an African safari, he found Taft wrangling the Republican party, and itched to jump in. In a 1910 speech, he called for “New Nationalism”, promoting control of private property, child labor laws, more recognition of labor rights, and a national minimum wage for women – he also endorsed women’s suffrage
Federal Reserve Act (1913)
Created to give the nation a banking system that was more resistant to financial crises, it created 12 district reserve banks funded and controlled by their member banks, with a central board to impose regulation. The Reserve could issue currency and set the interest rate
Clayton Antitrust Act (1914)
An amendment to the Sherman Act, it left the definition of illegal practices more flexible (whether an action “substantially lessened competition”), and the new Federal Trade Commission received broad powers
