History 1865 - Present Mid Term Exam

Describe the industrialization of the American economy from 1860-1900. What technological, legal, and economic innovations made industrialization possible? What impact did industrialization have upon the wealthy, the middle class, and the laboring poor?

-The percentage of Americans living in urban areas increased -equal job opportunities have become increasingly available to women -expansion of the railroads -the growth of the middle class -Abraham Darby smelt iron using coal Less expensive, quality iron to make steam engines James Watt made an efficient steam engine in 1764 Anesthetics reduced pain during surgeries Telegraph could send messages long distances quickly Sewing machine-- sewed faster, more productive Antiseptics killed germs, saved lives

Homestead Act of 1862

1862- gave 160 acres of public land to any settler who would farm the land for five years. The settler would only have to pay a registration fee of $25. Led to expanded white settlement in the Great Plains and hostilities from Plains tribes.

Plessy vs. Ferguson

1896 Supreme Court decision which legalized state ordered segregation so long as the facilities for blacks and whites were equal-- the doctrine was then called "separate but equal"

Lusitania

A British ship that was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat. In firing on a non-military ship without warning, the Germans had breached the international laws known as the Cruiser Rules. Although the Germans had reasons for treating the ship as a naval vessel, the sinking caused a storm of protest in the United States, as 128 Americans were among the dead. The ship's sinking provided Britain with a propaganda opportunity, which helped shift public opinion in the United States against Germany and strongly influenced America's eventual declaration of war two years later, in 1917. -May 7 1915

Fourteen Points

A blueprint for world peace that was to be used for peace negotiations after World War I, January 8, 1918, by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. Concerned policies of free trade, open agreements, democracy and self-determination.

Great Strike of 1877

A group of railroad workers on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad rose up and began to strike due to wage cuts. This spread up and down the railroad line across the nation. Railroad roadhouse were torched. President Rutherford B. Hayes sent in troops to stop the strike. 100 people died in the strike

Streetcar Suburbs

A residential community whose growth and development was strongly shaped by the use of streetcar lines as a primary means of transportation. Early suburbs were served by horse-cars, but by the late 19th century cable cars and electric streetcars, or trams, were used, allowing residences to be built further away from the urban core of a city. Streetcar suburbs, usually called additions or extensions at the time, were the forerunner of today's suburbs in the United States and Canada.

Tenements

A run-down and often overcrowded apartment house, especially in a poor section of a large city. -not all of the improvements of the 1890s were good—the dumbbell tenement was in this category. It was a set of many tenements—housing an average of 37 people—crammed together, six to eight stories high, with narrow ventilation shafts between buildings. Some city blocks housed over 4,000 poor. In addition to overcrowding, poor ventilation, rampant disease, and uncleanliness, the "ventilation" shafts proved to be a fire hazard, and often a single-building fire would spread wildly through these shafts and engulf a whole block.

Fourteenth Amendment

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.

Freedman's Bureau

Established in 1865 by Congress to help former black slaves and poor whites in the South in the aftermath of the U.S. Civil War (1861-65).

Nativism

Nativism = After immigration there was a rise in nativism which meant people who live here feel superior.

Farmers' Alliance

organizations of farmers which provide recreational and social diversions, but more importantly emphasized political action. These spread like wildfire across the country, especially the West, where farmers sought to change things by collective action. Furthermore, unlike the Grange, which was somewhat restricted to wealthier farmers, the Alliances accepted anyone and everyone (that was white). As the Alliance spread throughout the Cotton Belt and all over the West, a white minister in Texas responded to black farmers' demands for an equivalent organization for black farmers. The minister created the Colored Alliance. -The Farmers' Alliance was an organized agrarian economic movement among American farmers that developed and flourished in the 1870s and 1880s.

The Eighteenth Amendment

prohibits (forbid) making, drinking, or selling alcoholic beverage -January 29, 1919

Thirteenth Amendment

Passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865; abolished slavery in the United States and provides that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or ...

Populist Party

Powerful political party that appealed to farmers, supported silver standard, a graduate income tax, railroad regulation, and the direct selection of senators -was organized in St. Louis in 1892 to represent the common folk—especially farmers—against the entrenched interests of railroads, bankers, processors, corporations, and the politicians in league with such interests.

Who were the Progressives and what were their underlying principles? Describe progressive proposals for economic reform, social justice and welfare, and moral reform. What were the limits of Progressive Reform?

Progressives tried to reform American institutions while preserving ideals of the past, such as a sense of community. A major concern of the progressives was the way corporate America did business. Progressives called for new reforms and proposed political measures to make government more responsive to the desires of the voters. Progressives believed in the power of science and technology to solve social problems. -Progressives were mainly upper-middle class educated Americans

Fifteenth Amendment

Ratified on February 3, 1870, as the third and last of the Reconstruction Amendments, it 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."

Muckrakers

Term was used in the Progressive Era to characterize reform-minded American journalists who wrote largely for all popular magazines. They relied on their own investigative journalism reporting; often worked to expose social ills and corporate and political corruption. Helped raise public awareness of chronic urban poverty, unsafe working conditions, and social issues like child labor

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.

Treaty of Versailles

Was signed and ended war between France and Germany. it contained the war clause that punished Germany,and stripped them of everything they had -It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

a disastrous fire on the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors of this company in which 146 women died because the main doors were locked to prevent unions from entering and the rusty fire escape broke early on. -Manhattan, New York City on March 25, 1911

Filipino Insurrection

a guerrilla fighter organization, similar to the Free French during World War II. They used hit-and-run tactics to kill over 4,000 Americans until the movement petered out around 1903 after Aguinaldo was captured.

W.E.B. Du Bois

a heavy critic of Booker T. Washington for his very accommodating view of white supremacy and segregation. He was born in Massachusetts, graduated from Fisk University, and then got a master's degree from Harvard and studied in Berlin for a short while. Throughout his life, was a combative and ardent civil rights activist as well as an author. He attacked Washington for issuing what he called the "Atlanta Compromise" and instead argued that the only successful method of regaining the black vote was "ceaseless agitation" and the way to achieve this was "[b]y voting where we may vote, by persistent, unceasing agitation, by hammering at the truth, by sacrifice and work."

Trust-Busting

any government activity designed to break up trusts or monopolies. Theodore Roosevelt is the U.S. president most associated with dissolving trusts. However, William Howard Taft signed twice as much of this type of legislation during his presidency

Ida B. Wells

one of the most outspoken black activists, she was born into slavery in 1862. She was then educated at a school run by white missionaries, but in 1878 the yellow fever killed most of her family and forced her to seek a job as a country schoolteacher. In 1880, Wells moved to Memphis, TN and became a teacher there. However, in 1883, she found out all about white supremacy. She was denied a seat in a white railroad car and filed suit about it, won, but then lost on appeal. She discovered a passion for journalism and began a fierce tirade against segregation and discrimination, and later against lynching.

Schenck vs. U.S.

one of two Supreme Court cases affirming the Espionage and Sedition Acts. In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that distributing anti draft leaflets was against the Espionage Act and that during time of war, Congress had a right to prevent evils which overly free speech might create. -1919

Zimmerman Note

An internal diplomatic communication issued from the German Foreign Office in January, 1917 that proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico in the event of the United States entering World War I against Germany. The proposal was intercepted and decoded by British intelligence. Revelation of the contents outraged American public opinion and helped generate support for the United States declaration of war on Germany in April of the same year -January 1917

Describe arguments for and against American imperialism. Describe American efforts at formal imperialism from 1867 through 1902.

Anti imperialism: "immoral", "pollute" americans population by introducing asian races, industrial workers feared new cheap labor source, conservatives didnt want a large standing army which they believed would threaten american liverties, sugar growers didnt want competition, Anti-Imperialist League (Carnegie, Twain, Gompers, Sherman) Pro-Imperialism: keep alive "manifest destiny", business opportunities, Republicans thought they would get credit, dominate oriental trade, Ease of annexation. (Roosevelt) Annexation prevailed because McKinley said so.

Assassination at Sarajevo, 1914

Archduke of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand Austria Hungary assassinated by a Serbian in 1914. His murder was one of the causes of WWI.

Knights of Labor

Began as a secret society of tailors in Philadelphia in 1869. The organization grew slowly during the hard years of the 1870s, but worker militancy rose toward the end of the decade, especially after the great railroad strike of 1877, and the Knights' membership rose with it. Grand Master Workman Terence V. Powderly took office in 1879, and under his leadership the Knights flourished; by 1886 the group had 700,000 members. Powderly dispensed with the earlier rules of secrecy and committed the organization to seeking the eight-hour day, abolition of child labor, equal pay for equal work, and political reforms including the graduated income tax.

Compare and contrast Presidential Reconstruction (as it developed under Lincoln and Johnson) with Congressional Reconstruction. What opportunities did Congressional or Radical Reconstruction provide African-Americans?

He said that the Confederate states had never left the Union, which was in direct opposition to the views of Radical Republican Congressmen who felt the Confederate states had seceded from the Union and should be treated like "conquered provinces." Also in Lincoln's proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction in 1863 he said southerners could be pardoned and reinstated as US citizens if they took and oath of allegiance to the Constitution.Johnson issued his own reconstruction proclamation that was largely in agreement with Lincoln's plan. A minority group of Radical Republicans--led by Thaddeus Stevens in the House and Ben Wade and Charles Sumner in the Senate--sharply rejected Lincoln's plan, claiming it would result in restoration of the southern aristocracy and re-enslavement of blacks. They wanted to effect sweeping changes in the south and grant the freed slaves full citizenship before the states were restored. The influential group of Radicals also felt that Congress, not the president, should direct Reconstruction. In June of 1866, the Joint Committee on Reconstruction determined that, by seceding, the southern states had forfeited "all civil and political rights under the Constitution." The Committee rejected President Johnson's Reconstruction plan, denied seating of southern legislators, and maintained that only Congress could determine if, when, and how Reconstruction would take place. Part of the Reconstruction plan devised by the Joint Committee to replace Johnson's Reconstruction proclamation is demonstrated in the Fourteenth Amendment.867, Congress passed the Military Reconstruction Act, which became the final plan for Reconstruction and identified the new conditions under which the southern governments would be formed. Tennessee was exempt from the Act because it had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment.

Exodusters

when Radical Republican rule collapsed, tens of thousands of blacks began to move west to Kansas from Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas. They sought better opportunities in the Plains as homesteaders. They were known as "such because they were on an exodus from racism and poverty and were heading towards the "dust" of the "Great American Desert".

Crop Lien System

a system where country merchants bartered goods to farmers for mortgages on their crops, charging interest rates ranging "from 24% to grand larceny." Very much like a planter, a merchant could require farmers to grow a popular cash crop. Basically, this system forced many poor people—both white and black—to remain in ignominy.

Pendleton Act

an act which transformed the government by reducing the spoils system: about 14% of government workers would no longer be chosen by party loyalty, but instead by competitive examination. Further, the President could enlarge this category at his own discretion. This was a huge victory for civil service reform because each president, in order to protect his interests, enlarged the group to keep some of his appointees. -established in 1883 that decided that government jobs should be awarded on the basis of merit instead of political affiliation.

Dawes Severalty Act

an attempt at Indian reform which ended up destroying their culture. Under this act, the president could divide the lands of a tribe an present 160 acres to each head of family and small quantities to others. To ensure the protection of the property, the U.S. government held the property in trust for 25 years, after which it would award the land and citizenship to the Indian owning the land. -adopted by Congress in 1887

Formal Imperialism

colonialism; where one country establishes a government and dominates over the people of another country by military rule

Vertical Integration

corporate structure brought together into a single company several of the activities in the process of creating a manufactured product. Andrew Carnegie Steel Co.

Horizontal Integration

corporate structure involved in merging one or more companies doing the same or similar activities as a way of limiting competition. - monopolies - trust. Rockefeller Standar Oil Company

Platt Amendment

gave the US the right to control Cuba's foreign policy and intervene militarily to maintain domestic order -March 2, 1901

Isolationism

having little to do with the political affairs of other nations

Iron Law of Wages

idea that companies could pay as little as possible as long as there were workers willing to accept the wages -mid 29th century

Laissez Faire Capitalism

is French for "leave alone" which means that the government leaves the people alone regarding all economic activities. It is the separation of economy and state. There are two ways that a government typically is tempted to interfere with the economy.

Black Codes

laws passed in the South just after the Civil War aimed at controlling freedmen and enabling plantation owners to exploit African American workers. Thousands of freedmen became sharecropper farmers, which led them to becoming indentured servants, indebted to the plantation owner and resulting in generations of people working the same plot of land.

Hull House

most prominent American settlement house, mostly for immigrant founded my Jane Adams -1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Located in the Near West Side of Chicago, Illinois

Yellow Journalism

sensationalist reporting and writing that was designed to reach a mass audience Ex. Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst were known as this . Strong trumpeted the superiority of Anglo-Saxon civilization and summoned Americas to spread their religion and their values to the backward people. They were opposite then the View of virile Americans like Theodore Roosevelt and congressman Henry Cabot Lodge were interpreting Darwinism.

Queen Liliuokalani

the Hawaiian queen who was forced out of power by a revolution started by american business interests. the queen of Hawaii who gave the u.s. naval rights to pearl harbor in 1887. she was deposed by american settlers in 1893, leading to Hawaii's annexation by the us in 1898.

Ellis Island

the federal-run immigrant processing center outside of New York. Theoretically, all immigrants came through here (though the wealthiest managed to skip this) on their way into the U.S. and underwent a highly impersonal, brusque examination. From there, they were ferried over to the United States, arriving in New York. Despite all of the horror stories about Ellis Island, only about 2% of immigrants were rejected, mostly because of disease or being (serious) criminals.

American Federation of Labor

the loose organization of trade unions (unions for a specific craft) led by Samuel Gompers until 1924. This was the most successful of the national unions, and still exists today, Perhaps one reason for this was that Gompers did not frown upon unskilled workers and took all applicants in. Even so, the union grew slowly at first, but could boast 500,000 members around the nation by 1900, 2 million by 1914, and 4 million (though only 15% of U.S. workers) in 1920. -It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in May 1886

Pure Food and Drug Act

this was another act congress passed in response to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, and it forbade the manufacture, sale, or transportation of altered substances which were not what was advertised to be on the inside as well as harmful food, medicines, or liquors. -1906