US History 1865-Present

Charles Darwin

A British naturalist of the nineteenth century. He and others developed the theory of evolution. This theory forms the basis for the modern life sciences. Darwin's most famous books are The Origin of Speciesand The Descent of Man.is centrally important in the development of scientific and humanist ideas because he first made people aware of their place in the evolutionary process when the most powerful and intelligent form of life discovered how humanity had evolved.

Sharecropping

A sharecropper is someone who would farm land that belonged to a landowner. The sharecropping family would plow, plant, weed, and harvest the land. However, they would only keep a small share of the crop, while the landowner would get the rest.

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was an American statesman and lawyer who served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He is significant because he was the the leader who successfully prosecuted the Civil War to preserve the nation. He played in key role in passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, which ended slavery in America.

John. D Rockafeller

An American businessman of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; a founder of the Standard Oil Company. Rockefeller was the richest man in the world at his retirement and was noted for founding many charitable organizations.he entered the then-fledgling oil business in 1863 by investing in a Cleveland, Ohio, refinery.

Andrew Carnegie

An American industrial leader of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Carnegie, a self-made man, immigrated to the United States from Scotland without money and made millions in the steel industry. Was one of the first "captains of industry." Leader of the American steel industry from 1873 to 1901, he disposed of his great fortune by endowing educational, cultural, scientific, and technological institutions.

Laissez-faire

It describes a system or point of view that opposes regulation or interference by the government in economic affairs beyond the minimum necessary to allow the free enterprise system to operate according to its own laws.

Homestead Act

President Abraham Lincoln, July 4, 1861. The Homestead Act of 1862 was one of the most significant and enduring events in the westward expansion of the United States. By granting 160 acres of free land to claimants, it allowed nearly any man or woman a "fair chance."

Gilded Age

The Gilded Age is defined as the time between the Civil War and World War I during which the U.S. population and economy grew quickly, there was a lot of political corruption and corporate financial misdealings and many wealthy people lived very fancy lives.

Railway Strike of 1877

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 started on July 14 in Martinsburg, West Virginia, in response to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O) cutting wages of workers for the third time in a year. Striking workers would not allow any of the trains, mainly freight trains, to roll until this third wage cut was revoked.

Temperance Movement

The Temperance movement is a social movement against the consumption of alcoholic beverages.important because of these concerns, many people became involved in reform movements during the early 1800s. One of the more prominent was the temperance movement. Temperance advocates encouraged their fellow Americans to reduce the amount of alcohol that they consumed.

13th Ammendment

The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. In Congress, it was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, and by the House on January 31, 1865. Important because it abolished slavery in the United States and was the first of three Reconstruction Amendments adopted in the five years following the American Civil War. The 13th Amendment, passed by Congress January 31, 1865, and ratified December 6, 1865, states: 1.

Eight Hour Day

The eight-hour day movement or 40-hour week movement, also known as the short-time movement, was a social movement to regulate the length of a working day, preventing excesses and abuses. ... French workers won the 12-hour day after the February Revolution of 1848.

Reconstruction

The period after the Civil War in which the states formerly part of the Confederacy were brought back into the United States. During Reconstruction, the South was divided into military districts for the supervision of elections to set up new state governments.

14th Ammendment

United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments. The amendment addresses citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws and was proposed in response to issues related to former slaves following the American Civil War. Important because it granted citizenship and equal civil and legal rights to African Americans and slaves who had been emancipated after the American Civil War, including them under the umbrella phrase "all persons born or naturalized in the United States."

Knights of Labor

a member of a 19th century secret labor organization formed in 1869 to secure and maintain the rights of workingmen in respect to their relations to their employers.

Ku Klux Clan

a secret society in the southern U.S. that focuses on white supremacy and terrorizes other groups. An example of the Ku Klux Klan is a group of men who are anti-black, anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic. the Klan quickly mobilized as a vigilante group to intimidate Southern blacks - and any whites who would help them - and to prevent them from enjoying basic civil rights.

Monopoly

exclusive control of a commodity or service in a particular market, or a control that makes possible the manipulation of prices. an exclusive privilege to carry on a business, traffic, or service, granted by a government.

Black Codes

laws passed by Democrat-controlled Southern states in 1865 and 1866, after the Civil War. These laws had the intent and the effect of restricting African Americans' freedom, and of compelling them to work in a labor economy based on low wages or debt.

15th Ammendment

prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude".Important because it guarantees voting rights to all American males of all races. be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Joseph Smith

religious leader who founded the Mormon Church.organized The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and became its first president.

Seperate Spheres

seperation and idea that men are supposed to go out and do physical activity and work while the women stay at home and cook clean and look after any children or do regular house chores

Social Darwinism

the theory that individuals, groups, and peoples are subject to the same Darwinian laws of natural selection as plants and animals. Now largely discredited, social Darwinism was advocated by Herbert Spencer and others in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and was used to justify political conservatism, imperialism, and racism and to discourage intervention and reform.

Ida. B Wells

was an African-American journalist, newspaper editor, suffragist, sociologist, feminist, Georgist, and an early leader in the Civil Rights Movement. ... Wells was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi.went on to found and become integral in groups striving for African-American justice. She died in 1931 in Chicago, Illinois.

Frances Willard

was an American educator, temperance reformer, and women's suffragist. Her influence was instrumental in the passage of the Eighteenth (Prohibition) and Nineteenth (Women Suffrage) Amendments to the United States Constitution.Temperance was the WCTU's main focus. Later, due to Willard's influence, the WCTU also fought for women's suffrage. Because the outcome of the municipal elections determined whether or not liquor could be sold, Frances Willard thought it was important for women to have the right to vote.

Andrew Johnson

was one of the first "captains of industry." Leader of the American steel industry from 1873 to 1901, he disposed of his great fortune by endowing educational, cultural, scientific, and technological institutions.was one of the first "captains of industry." Leader of the American steel industry from 1873 to 1901, he disposed of his great fortune by endowing educational, cultural, scientific, and technological institutions.

Rutherford B Hayes

was the 19th President of the United States (1877-81). ... As president he ended Army support for Republican state governments in the South, promoted civil service reform, and attempted to reconcile the divisions left over from the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Samuel Tilden

was the 25th Governor of New York and the Democratic candidate for president in the disputed election of 1876.Tilden led the reform movement in the Democratic Party, and played a key role in the Tweed Ring's demise. ... Tilden's successful service as Governor made him a favorite for the 1876 presidential nomination.

Beringia

was the land bridge that existed between Alaska and Siberia that enabled migration of humans and animals to North America.