APUSH: Unit 5

Tenement

"A tenement is a multi-occupancy building of any sort. However in the United States it has come to mean a run-down apartment building, a slum" (wikipedia). Immigrants, especially in New York, were shoved into horrendous apartment buildings with little space and water.

Edward Bellamy

"Edward Bellamy (March 26, 1850 - May 22, 1898) was an American author and socialist, most famous for his utopian novel, Looking Backward, a tale set in the distant future of the year 2000. Bellamy's vision of a harmonious future world inspired the formation of at least 165 "Nationalist Clubs" dedicated to the propagation of Bellamy's political ideas and working to make them a practical reality." (wikipedia) The trusts of the 1800s increased so much that they combined into a single federal trust that absorbed all business of citizens. The government distributed all the economy equally. "Society had become a great machine, 'so logical in its principles and direct and simple in its workings' that it almost ran itself." Competition was replaced by "Fraternal cooperation." Bellamy referred to this as nationalism.

Jacob Riis

"Jacob August Riis (May 3, 1849 - May 26, 1914) was a Danish-American social reformer, "muckraking" journalist and social documentary photographer. He is known for using his photographic and journalistic talents to help the impoverished in New York City; those impoverished New Yorkers were the subject of most of his prolific writings and photography. He endorsed the implementation of "model tenements" in New York with the help of humanitarian Lawrence Veiller. Additionally, as one of the most famous proponents of the newly practicable casual photography, he is considered one of the fathers of photography due to his very early adoption of flash in photography. While living in New York, Riis experienced poverty and became a police reporter writing about the quality of life in the slums. He attempted to alleviate the bad living conditions of poor people by exposing their living conditions to the middle and upper classes." (wikipedia)

"honest graft"

"Taking advantage of the money-making opportunities that might arise while holding public office. Tammany Hall boss George Washington Plunkitt defined "dishonest graft" as actual theft from the public treasury or taking bribes for making certain public decisions. "Honest graft," however, simply meant pursuing the public interest and one's personal interests at the same time. For instance, Plunkitt made most of his money through land purchases, which he knew would be needed for public projects. He would buy such parcels, then resell them at an inflated price. Said Plunkitt in a famous defense of his actions: "I seen my opportunities and I took 'em." " (political dictionary.com)

American Protective Association

"The American Protective Association (APA) was an American anti-Catholic secret society established in 1887 by Protestants. The organization was the largest anti-Catholic movement in the United States during the latter part of the 19th century, showing particular regional strength in the Midwest. The group grew rapidly during the early 1890s before collapsing just as abruptly in the aftermath of the election of 1896. Unlike the more powerful Know Nothing movement of the 1850s, the APA did not establish its own independent political party, but rather sought to exert influence by boosting its supporters in campaigns and at political conventions, particularly those of the Republican Party. The organization was particularly concerned about Roman Catholic influence in the public school system as well as unfettered Catholic immigration and what was seen as growing Catholic control of the political establishments of major American cities. Attaining a six figure membership at its peak in early 1896, the organization's collapse was rapid, with only a hollow shell remaining by 1898. The rump organization was finally terminated in 1911 with the death of its founder." (wikipedia)

Xenophobia

"Xenophobia is the fear and distrust of that which is perceived to be foreign or strange.[1][2] Xenophobia can manifest itself in many ways involving the relations and perceptions of an ingroup towards an outgroup, including a fear of losing identity, suspicion of its activities, aggression, and desire to eliminate its presence to secure a presumed purity.[3] Xenophobia can also be exhibited in the form of an "uncritical exaltation of another culture" in which a culture is ascribed "an unreal, stereotyped and exotic quality".[3] The terms xenophobia and racism are sometimes confused and used interchangeably because people who share a national origin may also belong to the same race.[4] Due to this, xenophobia is usually distinguished by opposition to foreign culture.[4] Xenophobia is a political term and not a recognized medical phobia." (wikipedia)

"yellow journalism"

"Yellow journalism, or the yellow press, is a US term for a type of journalism that presents little or no legitimate well-researched news and instead uses eye-catching headlines to sell more newspapers. Techniques may include exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering or sensationalism. By extension, the term yellow journalism is used today as a pejorative to decry any journalism that treats news in an unprofessional or unethical fashion. Joseph Campbell describes yellow press newspapers as having daily multi-column front-page headlines covering a variety of topics, such as sports and scandal, using bold layouts (with large illustrations and perhaps color), heavy reliance on unnamed sources, and unabashed self-promotion. The term was extensively used to describe certain major New York City newspapers around 1900 as they battled for circulation. Frank Luther Mott identifies yellow journalism based on five characteristics: -scare headlines in huge print, often of minor news -lavish use of pictures, or imaginary drawings -use of faked interviews, misleading headlines, pseudoscience, and a parade of false learning from so-called experts -emphasis on full-color Sunday supplements, usually with comic strips -dramatic sympathy with the "underdog" against the system."

Helen Hunt Jackson

An American poet born in 1830. She became an advocate for Native Americans, arguing for better treatment and more rights for the tribes. Her poems were published in pieces like the Atlantic, New York Independent, and Nation. She attended a lecture held by Ponca Chief Standing Bear, where he talked about the removemal of Natives out of their own lands. After this, she began publicizing government misconduct, circulating petitions, raising money for lawsuits and writing letters to help the Native Americans. "Helen Maria Hunt Jackson, born Helen Fiske (pen name, H.H.; October 15, 1830 - August 12, 1885), was an American poet and writer who became an activist on behalf of improved treatment of Native Americans by the United States government. She described the adverse effects of government actions in her history A Century of Dishonor (1881). Her novel Ramona (1884) dramatized the federal government's mistreatment of Native Americans in Southern California after the Mexican-American War and attracted considerable attention to her cause. Commercially popular, it was estimated to have been reprinted 300 times and most readers liked its romantic and picturesque qualities rather than its political content.[1][2] The novel was so popular that it attracted many tourists to Southern California who wanted to see places from the book." (wikipedia)

"Long drives"

An extremely romanticized, mythologized aspect of life in the West. It consisted of cattlemen and cowboys meeting up to round up stock from the open range. Cowboys began representing the major ranchers of the West, and were mostly veterans of the Confederacy. Long Drives provided cattle for the east and formed communities between people who worked for ranchers and lived on the trail.

Chief Joseph

Chief Joseph, or Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain, was the leader of Nez Perce and lived with his tribe in the Wallowa Valley. The federal government tried to force the tribe onto a reservation in Idaho, but he refused. General Howard and his cavalry tried to forced them to move -> 20 Nez Perce warriors fought back. A 1,400 mile chase followed. They almost made it to Canada when Chief Joseph surrendered. They were promised that they could go back to their old lands, but they were taken to current day Oklahoma, where they died from diseases and poor living conditions.

Taylorism (also known as scientific management)

Frederick Winslow Taylor was a theoretician who helped transform the process of production. Taylor emphasized subdividing tasks in order to speed up production. Workers would be interchangeable, "and thus diminish a manager's dependence on any particular employee" (467). Factories would no longer need skilled laborers, only skilled managers. Laborers would be efficient at working machines repetitively. Taylor researched and theorized in order to help "manage human labor to make it compatible with the demands of the machine age" and to give more control to managers/make laborers less independent (would prevent union and strike). "Production efficiency methodology that breaks every action, job, or task into small and simple segments which can be easily analyzed and taught. Introduced in the early 20th century, Taylorism (1) aims to achieve maximum job fragmentation to minimize skill requirements and job learning time, (2) separates execution of work from work-planning, (3) separates direct labor from indirect labor (4) replaces rule of thumb productivity estimates with precise measurements, (5) introduces time and motion study for optimum job performance, cost accounting, tool and work station design, and (6) makes possible payment-by-result method of wage determination." (business dictionary.com) "It was one of the earliest attempts to apply science to the engineering of processes and to management. [...] These include analysis; synthesis; logic; rationality; empiricism; work ethic; efficiency and elimination of waste; standardization of best practices; disdain for tradition preserved merely for its own sake or to protect the social status of particular workers with particular skill sets; the transformation of craft production into mass production; and knowledge transfer between workers and from workers into tools, processes, and documentation." (wikipedia)

Henry George

Henry George was a best-selling nonfiction author of California. His book Progress and Poverty in 1879 was one of the most "best-selling nonfiction works in American publishing history." George worked to explain why despite there being wealth in the world, poverty persisted. George believed that monopolists became rich as a result of budding communities surrounding their land. Thus, their wealth belonged to society. He believed a "single tax" should replace all other taxes and would return the money to the people. He wanted to "destroy monopolies, distribute wealth more equally, and eliminate poverty" (page 476). "progress [...makes] sharper the contrast between House of Have and the House of Want, progress is not real and cannot be permanent" - George "Henry George (September 2, 1839 - October 29, 1897) was an American political economist and journalist. His writing was immensely popular in the 19th century, and sparked several reform movements of the Progressive Era. His writings also inspired the economic philosophy known as Georgism, based on the belief that people should own the value they produce themselves, but that the economic value derived from land (including natural resources) should belong equally to all members of society. His most famous work, Progress and Poverty (1879), sold millions of copies worldwide, probably more than any other American book before that time. The treatise investigates the paradox of increasing inequality and poverty amid economic and technological progress, the cyclic nature of industrialized economies, and the use of rent capture such as land value tax and other anti-monopoly reforms as a remedy for these and other social problems." (wikipedia)

Herbert Spencer

Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher and the first philosopher to propel the idea of "Social Darwinism." He believed society benefited from the "elimination of the unfit and the survival of the strong and talented" (pg. 472). He (and Sumner- a famous author) taught that "individuals must have absolute freedom to struggle, to compete, to succeed, or to fail." He argued God's law and nature allowed for the expansion of big businesses and the expulsion of small ones. Spencer coined the term "survival of the fittest" in Principles of Biology (1864).

Frederick Jackson Turner

Historian, argued end of "frontier" marked end of American democracy. Assessments were inaccurate. "Frederick Jackson Turner (November 14, 1861 - March 14, 1932) was an American historian in the early 20th century, based at the University of Wisconsin until 1910, and then at Harvard. He trained many PhDs who came to occupy prominent places in the history profession. He promoted interdisciplinary and quantitative methods, often with a focus on the Midwest. He is best known for his essay "The Significance of the Frontier in American History", whose ideas formed the Frontier Thesis. He argued that the moving western frontier shaped American democracy and the American character from the colonial era until 1890. He is also known for his theories of geographical sectionalism. In recent years historians and academics have argued strenuously over Turner's work; all agree that the Frontier Thesis has had an enormous impact on historical scholarship and the American mind." (wikipedia)

Horatio Alger

Horatio Alger wrote about American success stories - that one can make himself or herself rich and make himself or herself someone. After a sex scandal, the minister left his pulpit in Massachusetts and went to New York. He wrote 100 novels and sold more than 20 million copies, including Andy Grant's Pluck and Tagged Dick, and Sink or Swim. They were all about a poor boy who moves to a big city and becomes rich through diligence, hard work, and luck. He became a symbol: anyone could become rich through hard work. Alger himself became rich from his books. "Horatio Alger Jr. was a prolific 19th-century American writer, best known for his many young adult novels about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of middle-class security and comfort through hard work, determination, courage, and honesty. His writings were characterized by the "rags-to-riches" narrative, which had a formative effect on America during the Gilded Age. All of Alger's juvenile novels share essentially the same theme, known as the "Horatio Alger myth": a teenage boy works hard to escape poverty. Often it is not hard work that rescues the boy from his fate but rather some extraordinary act of bravery or honesty. The boy might return a large sum of lost money or rescue someone from an overturned carriage. This brings the boy—and his plight—to the attention of a wealthy individual. " (wikipedia)

Horizontal Integration

Horizontal Integration refers to "the combining of a number of firms engaged in the same enterprise into a single corporation" (pg.470). It involved consolidation. This method was employed by Vanderbilt and Rockefeller. "What is 'Horizontal Integration' Horizontal integration is the acquisition of additional business activities that are at the same level of the value chain in similar or different industries. This can be achieved by internal expansion through a reinvestment of operating profits or by external expansion through a merger or acquisition (M&A). Since the different firms integrating are involved in the same stage of production, horizontal integration allows them to share resources at that level." (investopedia.com)

Sand Creek Massacre

Indians attacked white miners settling in region. Whites threatened revenge. Governor urged friendly Indians to stand post as protection. Black Kettle and army responded and camped near Fort Lyon on Sand Creek. Chivington led militia to camp, massacring 133 Indians. Black Kettle was a peace-maker chief who wanted to keep peace with whites and agreed to move to Sand Creek despite its desolation and terrible soil. Despite their chief's treaty, some Indian boys wanted to prove their manhood and fight. The governor of colorado asked for troops but instead got volunteers to fight under Chivington. Chivington claimed he was authorized to make peace. Black though he would be safe, but Chivington wanted war. "The Sand Creek massacre (also known as the Chivington massacre, the Battle of Sand Creek or the massacre of Cheyenne Indians) was a massacre in the American Indian Wars that occurred on November 29, 1864, when a 675-man force of Colorado U.S. Volunteer Cavalry attacked and destroyed a village of Cheyenne and Arapaho in southeastern Colorado Territory, killing and mutilating an estimated 70-163 Native Americans, about two-thirds of whom were women and children. The location has been designated the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site and is administered by the National Park Service." (wikipedia)

"Ghost Dance"

Inspired visions believed to by mystical, like images of whites retreating from plains and restoration of buffalo. Whites feared dances. "The Ghost Dance (Caddo: Nanissáanah,[1] also called the Ghost Dance of 1890) was a new religious movement incorporated into numerous American Indian belief systems. According to the teachings of the Northern Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka (renamed Jack Wilson), proper practice of the dance would reunite the living with spirits of the dead, bring the spirits of the dead to fight on their behalf, make the white colonists leave, and bring peace, prosperity, and unity to Indian peoples throughout the region" (wikipedia). First practiced by the Nevada Paiute but spread to most of the West

Standard Oil

John D. Rockefeller created a small refinery in Cleveland after the Civil War. On the verge of bankruptcy, he aligned himself with wealthy capitalists, including Vanderbilt, and build an oil refinery empire. He bought out rival refinery companies and created the Standard Oil Company of Ohio in 1870. The company used horizontal integration to acquire refineries in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore. He expanded vertically by building "barrel factories, terminal warehouses, and pipelines" as well as marketing organizations and freight cars. Rockefeller eventually owned 90% of all American refineries and become the national symbol of monopoly. Rockefeller became the richest man in the world and retired to focus on philanthropy. (page 470) "Its controversial history as one of the world's first and largest multinational corporations ended in 1911, when the United States Supreme Court ruled that Standard Oil was an illegal monopoly. Standard Oil dominated the oil products market initially through horizontal integration in the refining sector, then, in later years vertical integration; the company was an innovator in the development of the business trust. The Standard Oil trust streamlined production and logistics, lowered costs, and undercut competitors. "Trust-busting" critics accused Standard Oil of using aggressive pricing to destroy competitors and form a monopoly that threatened other businesses." (Wikipedia)

Chinese Exclusion Act

Passed by Congress. Halted Chinese immigration, barred naturalization. Aimed to help American labor, who feared Chinese would replace them in workplace. "This act provided an absolute 10-year moratorium on Chinese labor immigration. For the first time, Federal law proscribed entry of an ethnic working group on the premise that it endangered the good order of certain localities." (our documents.gov) It was extended for another 10 years and then made permanent in 1902 until 1943. "The Chinese Exclusion Act was a United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers. The act followed the Angell Treaty of 1880, a set of revisions to the US-China Burlingame Treaty of 1868 that allowed the US to suspend Chinese immigration. The act was initially intended to last for 10 years, but was renewed in 1892 with the Geary Act and made permanent in 1902. The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first law implemented to prevent a specific ethnic group from immigrating to the United States. It was repealed by the Magnuson Act on December 17, 1943." (wikipedia)

Laissez-faire

Private capitalism without government involvement, especially in markets and international trade. "Laissez-faire (/ˌlɛseɪˈfɛər/; French: [lɛsefɛʁ] (About this sound listen); from French: laissez faire, lit. 'let do') is an economic system in which transactions between private parties are free from government intervention such as regulation, privileges, tariffs, and subsidies. The phrase laissez-faire is part of a larger French phrase and basically translates to "let (it/them) do", but in this context usually means to "let go"." (wikipedia).

Bureau of Indian Affairs

Responsible for the redistribution of land, making payments to tribes, and supervising supplies shipments to the tribes. Created in 1836 by Calhoun, they were supposed to be in charge of the relocated Indians. It had the potential to be a very helpful and productive agency, except the workers in the agency were very corrupt and did not favor the Indians. This created more conflict between white society and the natives. "One of the most controversial policies of the Bureau of Indian Affairs was the late 19th to early 20th century decision to educate native children in separate boarding schools, with an emphasis on assimilation that prohibited them from using their indigenous languages, practices, and cultures. It emphasized being educated to European-American culture. Some were beaten for praying to their own creator god." (wikipedia)

Samuel Gompers

Samuel Gompers founds the AFL - the American Federation of Labor - in 1881/1886, composed of craft unions. It was an association of essentially autonomous craft unions and represented skilled workers. Gompers believed that because women were weak, they would be taken advantage of and would, thus, drive wages down. Gompers once said, "There is no necessity of the wife contributing to the support of the family by working. Female labor was believed to be "the knife of the assassins, aimed at the family circle." Nonetheless, the AFL sought equal wages for women and female unionization in order to drive women out of the work force. Gompers supported capitalism to stop government involve, improve wages, better hours and conditions. He was fine with using stake to get management results. "Samuel "Sam" Gompers[1] (January 27, 1850 - December 13, 1924) was an English-born, American labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history. Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL), and served as the organization's president from 1886 to 1894 and from 1895 until his death in 1924. He promoted harmony among the different craft unions that comprised the AFL, trying to minimize jurisdictional battles. He promoted thorough organization and collective bargaining to secure shorter hours and higher wages, the first essential steps, he believed, to emancipating labor. He also encouraged the AFL to take political action to "elect their friends" and "defeat their enemies". He mostly supported Democrats, but sometimes Republicans. He strongly opposed Socialists. During World War I, Gompers and the AFL openly supported the war effort, attempting to avert strikes and boost morale while raising wage rates and expanding membership." (wikipedia)

"molly Maguires"

The "Molly Maguires" were a militant labor organization in a coal region of Pennsylvania. The group sometimes used terrorism in order to scare coal operators. The public used the group to denounce "radical" labor activists. Many of the acts of the Molly Maguires were actually committed by agents of employers who wanted reasons and background to stop unionization. (page 481) "The Molly Maguires was an Irish 19th-century secret society active in Ireland, Liverpool and parts of the eastern United States, best known for their activism among Irish-American and Irish immigrant coal miners in Pennsylvania. After a series of often violent conflicts, twenty suspected members of the Molly Maguires were convicted of murder and other crimes and were executed by hanging in 1877 and 1878. This history remains part of local Pennsylvania lore." (wikipedia).

Homestead Strike

The Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers was the most powerful trade union (the AFL) - skilled workers or "little shop floor autocrats" that had control over working conditions that angered managers. Henry Clay Frick and Carnegie wanted to rid the Homestead steel plant of the Amalgamated Union by cutting wages. The company refused to negotiate with the Union and cut wages down again. Strike erupted and Frick had Pinkerton Detective Agency (which was publicly hated) to bring guard and let the company to hire nonunion workers. Te strikers fought and beat the Pinkertons. The governor got troops to protect the strikebreakers. The public stopped support of the strikers when a radical tried to assassinate Frick. Four months later the Amalgamated surrender. During 1900, the major steel plants broke from the Amalgamated. This symbolized a general erosion of union strength and increasing use of unskilled labor workers/factory labor. "The Homestead strike, also known as the Homestead Steel strike, Pinkerton rebellion, or Homestead massacre, was an industrial lockout and strike which began on June 30, 1892, culminating in a battle between strikers and private security agents on July 6, 1892.[3] The battle was one of the most serious disputes in U.S. labor history, third behind the Ludlow Massacre and the Battle of Blair Mountain. The dispute occurred at the Homestead Steel Works in the Pittsburgh area town of Homestead, Pennsylvania, between the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers (the AA) and the Carnegie Steel Company. The final result was a major defeat for the union and a setback for their efforts to unionize steelworkers." (wikipedia)

The Pullman Strike

The Pullman Palace Car Company founded the city of Pullman. Pullman rented houses - orderly and trim - to employees. During the winter of 1893 -1894, wages were slashed by 25% and rents didn't go down. Eugene v. Debs and his militant American Railway Union joined them and refused to handle Pullman cars and equipment. The General Manager's Association - 24 Chicago railroads - fought against Debs. Thousand son rail workers went on strike and transportation was paralyzed. Governor of Illinois, John Peter Altgeld, was sympathetic to the protestors. But the railroad operators asked the government for troops because the strike stopped railroad traffic. President Cleveland complied, and Debs and his refers were arrested. "The Pullman Strike was a nationwide railroad strike in the United States on May 11, 1894, and a turning point for US labor law. It pitted the American Railway Union (ARU) against the Pullman Company, the main railroads, and the federal government of the United States under President Grover Cleveland. The strike and boycott shut down much of the nation's freight and passenger traffic west of Detroit, Michigan. The conflict began in Pullman, Chicago, on May 11 when nearly 4,000 factory employees of the Pullman Company began a wildcat strike in response to recent reductions in wages. Most factory workers who built Pullman cars lived in the "company town" of Pullman on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois.[1] The industrialist George Pullman had designed it ostensibly as a model community.[1] Pullman had a diverse work force. He wanted to hire African-Americans for certain jobs at the company. Pullman used ads and other campaigns to help bring workers into his company.[2] When his company laid off workers and lowered wages, it did not reduce rents, and the workers called for a strike. Among the reasons for the strike were the absence of democracy within the town of Pullman and its politics, the rigid paternalistic control of the workers by the company, excessive water and gas rates, and a refusal by the company to allow workers to buy and own houses. They had not yet formed a union.[1] Founded in 1893 by Eugene V. Debs, the ARU was an organization of unskilled railroad workers. Debs brought in ARU organizers to Pullman and signed up many of the disgruntled factory workers.[1] When the Pullman Company refused recognition of the ARU or any negotiations, ARU called a strike against the factory, but it showed no sign of success. To win the strike, Debs decided to stop the movement of Pullman cars on railroads. The over-the-rail Pullman employees (such as conductors and porters) did not go on strike.[1] Debs and the ARU called a massive boycott against all trains that carried a Pullman car. It affected most rail lines west of Detroit and at its peak involved some 250,000 workers in 27 states.[3] The Railroad brotherhoods and the American Federation of Labor (AFL) opposed the boycott, and the General Managers Association of the railroads coordinated the opposition. Thirty people were killed in response to riots and sabotage that caused $80 million in damages.[4][5] The federal government obtained an injunction against the union, Debs, and other boycott leaders, ordering them to stop interfering with trains that carried mail cars. After the strikers refused, President Grover Cleveland ordered in the Army to stop the strikers from obstructing the trains. Violence broke out in many cities, and the strike collapsed. Defended by a team including Clarence Darrow, Debs was convicted of violating a court order and sentenced to prison; the ARU then dissolved." (wikipedia)

Vertical Integration

Vertical Integration refers to "the taking over of all the different businesses on which a company relied for its primary function." This method was employed by Carnegie and Rockefeller. "What is 'Vertical Integration' Vertical integration is a strategy where a company expands its business operations into different steps on the same production path, such as when a manufacturer owns its supplier and/or distributor. Vertical integration can help companies reduce costs and improve efficiencies by decreasing transportation expenses and reducing turnaround time, among other advantages. However, sometimes it is more effective for a company to rely on the established expertise and economies of scale of other vendors rather than trying to become vertically integrated." (investopedia.com)

Dawes Severalty Act (1887)

Whites wanted more land -> gradual elimination of tribal ownership of land and allotments of tracts to individual owners. Whites believed they were helping a "vanishing race." To do so, they had to rid Native Americans of their culture and tradition and adopt the nuclear family of the time. The Dawes Act abolished reservations and forced Indians to become landowners and farmers in 1887. Indians were made citizens, but hey could not gain full title to the land/property for 25 years. The process involved assimilation - Christianity, white schools, etc. The Burke Act of 1906 finally abolished the Dawes Act.