Unit VII Terms Flashcards
The Reservation Policy
Pushing tribes onto reservations. Made Indians wards of the government until they were deemed “ready” for white culture. Reservations were often inhospitable – many resisted being put on them.
The Dawes Act
1887, divided reservation lands into individually owned plots. Forced them to have private dwellings/ middle class life – way of abolishing their culture. Was very damaging.
Wounded Knee Massacre
1890, Lakota Reservation, where Indians were camped protesting Dawes Act. US forces were sent, killed over 200 men, women and children.
Other Native American Intergration
Indian Boarding Schools - designed to strip Native American children of their culture. Forced to assimilate to white culture – “Kill the Indian, save the man.”
Homestead Act of 1862
Government encouraged Western expansion by providing settlers with 160 acres of land (public), only had to pay a small fee and live on it for at least 5 years.
Pacific Railroad Acts
1860s
Promoted government bonds and land grants to railroad companies to complete rail lines to Pacific Ocean.
1869
First transcontinental railroad.
Morrill Land Grant Act
1862, transferred substantial public acreage to the state governments, who were to sell the lands and use proceeds to finance public education.
Chinese Discrimination
Workers did jobs many avoided. 90% of railroad workforce. Federal naturalisation laws denied citizenship to Asian immigrants. Blamed for the Panic of 1873.
Workingmen’s Party formed in 1876 to argue for prevention of Chinese immigration.
The Chinese Exclusion Act
1882, legislation excluding Chinese from entrance into the US. A result of activism such as Workingmen’s Party.
Mining, Ranching and Lumber
Mining Boomtowns in the west: very ethnically and racially diverse, resembled established industrial cities.
Ranching on Great plains, drove large heard of cattle.
Timber – homesteaders would receive more land if they grew trees on a portion of it.
Farming
Homestead Act and transcontinental railroad helped bring settlers. Hard conditions, many found themselves isolated and impoverished. Very different climate then the South/East.
Frederick Jackson Turner’s “Frontier Thesis”
Expansion west was responsible for key characteristics of American culture – individualism, political democracy and economic mobility.
Decimation of Bison/Salmon
Buffalo: railroads sponsored buffalo hunts, mass killing for hides, decimated parts of Native American culture.
Salmon: commercial fisheries began overfishing salmon, competing with Native Americans. Not enough breeding.
Formation of National Parks
Overcutting of forests, expansion of timber and mining industries, decrease of animal population. John Muir wrote articles bringing attention to the problem. Teddy Roosevelt transferred 125 million acres to reserves, created 5 national parks (the Sierra Club).
Yellowstone in 1872, Yosemite 1890
John Muir, Sierra Club
Was a naturalist, writer, and explorer, conservationist. Started the Sierra Club w/ Teddy Roosevelt – environmental organisation/preservationists. Wrote about the importance of Nature - established Yellowstone, preserved others too.
Innovations
Henry Ford and the automobile industry: spawned massive industry, set up assembly line so products would cost less.
Electricity: indoor lighting, sound and images, dynamic and flexibility helped companies and home life.
Steel: new, stronger, harder metal. Machines needed to be stronger, fostered mass production of steel.
Chemicals: fertilisers, gunpowder, dyes and other chemicals.
Assembly line: requires less specialisation – faster, more efficient, cheaper production, could pay workers less.
Titans of Industry
Andrew Carnegie: Carnegie Steel Company, used vertical monopoly.
John D. Rockefeller: Standard Oil Company Inc, monopoly.
JP Morgan: corporate finance and industrial consolidation – huge influence.
Cornelius Vanderbilt: railroads and steamships, bought many companies and made new ones.
Gustaves Swift: Swift and Company, meat-packing industry – complete monopoly, vertical.
Pools and Trusts
Pools: alliances between companies who agreed on how much to sell their products and sharing profits.
Trust: one company could control an industry by luring or forcing stockholders of smaller companies to yield control of their stock “in trust” to larger companies – horizontal integration.
Holding Companies
Company which owned partial or complete interest in other companies and merged their holding’s assets under single management. Vertical integration
Social Darwinism
William Graham Sumner.
Argued that inequalities of wealth were due to survival of the fittest, that government should be laissez-faire, should not interfere in social and economic spheres.
Gospel of Wealth
Carnegie argued that rich must be modest, and invest their wealth by providing jobs, giving back to the community.
Industrial Workers
Unions
Knights of labour: 1863, Philly garment cutters recruited workers, welcomed skilled and unskilled workers, provided alternative to industrial capitalism. Wanted workers to own factories, mines and railroads. Wanted higher wages and union recognition.
American Federation of Labour
1886, alliance of national craft unions, most skilled workers. Wanted concrete goals: higher wages, shorter hours, and right to bargain collectively. Did not want unskilled workers or women.
Ghost Dance Movement
Tribes adapted the spiritual practice of the Ghost Dance, created by a Northern Paiute prophet known as Wovoka, which emphasised cooperation among tribes, cleaning living, and honesty that led to a spiritual revival for natives.
Immigrants in the West
There were known to be Irish, Chinese, German, Italians, Mexicans, Scandinavians, African Americans immigrants hoping to gain wealth in the West, as well as Native Americans.
Desert Land Act 1877
The federal government offered discounted land in the west to people if they agreed to irrigate it.
Election of 1896
Bryan and McKinley were very close in popular vote. Big cities support Republicans and farming areas (South and Midwest) support Democrats. Since Democrats absorbed the Populist party, the farmers were very supportive of the Democrats.
Free Silver
Populists wanted free coinage of silver in order to end rich privilege and return the government to the people.
Coxey’s Army
Jacob Coxey believed that the government should issue $500 million of “legal tender” paper money and make lower interest loans to local governments, who would use the funds to pay unemployed men to build roads and other public works. He protested for these ideals with an army of 200 began marching from Ohio to Washington. When they arrived, they had 500 supporters and tried to speak from the Capitol steps, but was dragged away by the police. His supporters were arrested and clubbed, ending the protest for more jobs and better living conditions.
Eugene Debs
Eugene Debs headed the American Railway Union and became a socialist leader. The group united around him and became the Socialist Party of America in 1900. He participated in a strike that he refused to end and went to the Supreme Court. This decision gave the government the ability to control interstate commerce.
Depression of 1893
There were large unemployment rates and poverty due to the currency problems. People could not afford basic necessities. This continued until gold was discovered in Alaska in the late 1890s.
Gold vs. silver (repeal of Sherman Silver Act
The Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 had committed the government to use of Treasury notes (silver certifications) to buy 4.5 million ounces of silver each month. Because silver was more plentiful than gold, holders of certificates for silver and greenback wanted to to be repaid in gold, causing the nations gold reserve to drop and investors to fear for the economy because they believed the gold reserve was almost gone. President Cleveland repealed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act to protect the gold reserve, but the run on gold continued. Cleveland agreed to sell the government’s remaining gold to J.P. Morgan in return for $65 million dollars worth of bonds that the bankers would resell to the public. This angered the public because the government was interacting with large businesses.
the Grange
The Patrons of Husbandry, or the Grange, was an group of farmers dedicated to improving economic and social conditions. As membership flourished, they began backing the Greenback Labour Party, formed in 1876, who advocated for the expanding of the money supply. Their ability to challenge the power of business interests was lost after the Supreme Court overturned the Granger law by denying states the power to regulate transportation and storage rates.
Federal Reserve Act
Out of suspicion that banks were working more for the stock market than the people, President Wilson passed this act in 1913, which created the Federal Reserve Bank. They bank was a national bank that was partially private controlled partially public controlled, which was meant to regulate economic growth.
Federal Trade Commission
Created in 1914, the FTC regulated business practices by reducing the power of trusts and guarding against unfair practices.
Clayton Antitrust Act
Strengthening the antitrust powers of the Sherman Antitrust Act, Wilson passed this act in 1914, which was meant to exempt labour unions from being targeted by antitrust actions, as the Sherman Act had often been used to break up strikes.
Election of 1912
Tensions were high between Roosevelt and Taft, despite Roosevelt’s previous backing of him. This caused tension within the Republican party and division. Roosevelt and his supporters walked out of the Republican Party nominating convention after the party voted Tuft for reelection. The democratic candidate, Woodrow Wilson, won the presidency due to the split within the Republican party.
Women’s Suffrage
The National American Woman Suffrage Association formed in 1890 successfully gained the right for women to vote with the 19th Amendment passed in 1920
Trust-busting
Roosevelt used the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) to pursue trusts that interfered with commerce and challenging monopolies
The Jungle
In a novel by Upton Sinclair written in 1906, depictions of the horrible conditions of the meatpacking industry were captured. The story brought to light the unsanitary and dangerous conditions of the industry. This caused a public cry for legislation that fixed the meat-processing conditions.
The Meat Act
The Meat Inspection Act passed in response to The Jungle made it illegal to misbrand meat, requiring sanitary practices.
The Pure Food and Drug Act
Passed in response to The Jungle, establishing the Food and Drug Administration.
