HONORS U.S. HISTORY

Robert La Follette

Robert Marion "Fighting Bob" La Follette, Sr. was an American Republican politician. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, was the Governor of Wisconsin, and was also a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin

The Grange, Granger laws

The Granger Laws were promoted primarily by a group of farmers known as the Grange. The main goal of the Grange was to regulate rising fare prices of railroad and grain elevator companies after the American Civil War

WCTU

The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was the first mass organization among women devoted to social reform with a program that "linked the religious and the secular through concerted and far-reaching reform strategies based on applied Christianity

Wright Brothers

The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, were two American brothers, inventors, and aviation pioneers who were credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the

mugwumps

a person who remains aloof or independent, esp. from party politics.

Free silver

denoting a US political movement for the free coinage of silver, esp. that of the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

disenfranchisement

the act of withdrawing certification or terminating a franchise

Conservation

the action of conserving something, in particular.

Upton Sinclair, The Jungle

"The Jungle", which was written by Upton Sinclair in 1906 and which struck readers with its exposure of the corruption of the American meatpacking industry during the early 20th century. Not only did the novel lead to awareness of the plight of the American factory worker, but also triggered the passage of the Meat Inspection Act (1906) and the Pure Food and Drug Act (1906) as well as the establishment of the Bureau of Chemistry, which became the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1930.

secret (Australian) ballot

A printed ballot that bears the names of all candidates and the texts of propositions and is distributed to the voter at the polls and marked in secret. Also called secret ballot.

Social Gospel movement

Because the Social Gospel was primarily concerned with the day-to-day life of laypeople, one of ways in which it made its message heard was through labor movements. Particularly, the Social Gospel had a profound effect upon the American Federation of Labor (AFL).

Booker T. Washington

Booker Taliaferro Washington was an African-American educator, author, orator, and advisor to presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American

Carrie A. Nation

Carrie Amelia Moore Nation (first name also spelled Carry; November 25, 1846 - June 9, 1911) was an American woman who was a radical member of the temperance movement, which opposed alcohol before the advent of Prohibition. She is particularly noteworthy for promoting her viewpoint through vandalism.

Colored Farmers Alliances

Colored Farmers' National Alliance and Cooperative Union was formed in 1886 in the American state of Texas.

Jacob Coxey, Coxey's army

Coxey's Army was a protest march by unemployed workers from the United States, led by Ohio businessman Jacob Coxey. They marched on Washington D.C. in 1894, the second year of a four-year economic depression that was the worst in United States history to that time. Officially named the Army of the Commonweal in Christ, its nickname came from its leader and was more enduring. It was the first significant popular protest march on Washington and the expression "Enough food to feed Coxey's Army" originates from this march.

Muller v. Oregon

Curt Muller, the owner of a laundry business, was convicted of violating Oregon labor laws by making a female employee work more than ten hours in a single day. Muller was fined $10. Muller appealed to the Oregon Supreme Court and then to the U.S. Supreme Court, both of which upheld the constitutionality of the labor law and affirmed his conviction.

Pendleton Act

Following the assassination of President James A. Garfield by a disgruntled job seeker, Congress passed the Pendleton Act in January of 1883.

Ida Well Barnett

Ida Bell Wells-Barnett was an African-American journalist, newspaper editor, suffragist, sociologist and, with her husband, newspaper owner Ferdinand L. Barnett, an early leader in the civil rights movement

Ida Tarbell

Ida Minerva Tarbell was an American teacher, author and journalist. She was one of the leading "muckrakers" of the progressive era. She wrote many notable magazine series and biographies.

Interstate Commerce Act

In 1887, Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act, making the railroads the first industry to be regulated by the federal government. After the Civil War, railroads were privately owned and entirely unregulated, creating a natural monopoly with the power to set prices and control the market. The Act -- which established the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) -- was created largely in response to public demand that the railroads conduct should be constrained. It was intended to prevent unfair business practices and required that railroad and other shipping rates be reasonable and just, that rates had to be published, and that a railroad had to give at least ten days notice before changing its rates.

NAACP, Niagara Movement

In February 1905, W.E.B. Dubois, John Hope, Monroe Trotter, Frederick McGhee, C. E. Bentley and 27 others met secretly in the home of Mary B. Talbert, a prominant member of Buffalo's Michigan Street Baptist Church. For more on the Michigan Street Church also see 1836, 1845, and 1892) to adopt the resolutions which lead to the founding of the Niagara Movement. The Niagara Movement renounced Booker T. Washington's accommodation policies set forth in his famed "Atlanta Compromise" speech ten years earlier. The Niagara Movement's manifesto is, in the words of Du Bois, "We want full manhood suffrage and we want it now.... We are men! We want to be treated as men. And we shall win." They invited 59 well know African American businessmen to a meeting that summer in western New York. On July 11 thru 14, 1905 on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, twenty-nine men met and formed a group they called the Niagara Movement. The name came because of the location and the "mighty current" of protest they wished to unleash.

U.S. vs. E.C. Knight & Co

In United States v. E. C. Knight (1895), the Supreme Court interpreted the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, which was designed to limit the dangerous growth of corporate monopoly in the last quarter of the 19th century. The act provided that "every person who shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several States ... shall be deemed guilty of a felony."

18 amendments

In the 1920's, the amendment went into affect and prohibited the invent and sale of alcohol in America. Many Americans supported the law in the beginning, but there were not enough police to stop the drinking habits of so many Americans

Whiskey ring scandal

In the United States, the Whiskey Ring was a scandal, exposed in 1875, involving diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, politicians, whiskey distillers, and distributors. The Whiskey Ring began in St. Louis but was also organized in Chicago, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, New Orleans, and Peoria. Before they were caught, a group of mostly Republican politicians were able to siphon off millions of dollars in federal taxes on liquor; the scheme involved an extensive network of bribes involving distillers, rectifiers, gaugers, storekeepers, and internal revenue agents.

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.

Jane Addams, Hull House

Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 - May 21, 1935) was a pioneer settlement social worker, public philosopher, sociologist, author, and leader in women's suffrage and world peace. In an era when presidents such as Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson identified themselves as reformers and social activists, Addams was one of the most prominent[1] reformers of the Progressive Era. She helped turn the US to issues of concern to mothers, such as the needs of children, public health, and world peace. She said that if women were to be responsible for cleaning up their communities and making them better places to live, they needed the vote to be effective in doing so. Addams became a role model for middle-class women who volunteered to uplift their communities. She is increasingly being recognized as a member of the American pragmatist school of philosophy

19 amendments

Joint Resolution of Congress proposing a constitutional amendment extending the right of suffrage to women, May 19, 1919; Ratified Amendments, 1795-1992; General Records of the United States Government; Record Group 11; National Archives.

Lincoln Steffens

Lincoln Steffens was a New York reporter who launched a series of articles in McClure's that would later be published together in a book titled The Shame of the Cities

Northern Securities v. U.S

Northern Securities Co. v. United States, 193 U.S. 197 (1904), was a case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1903. The Court ruled 5 to 4 against the stockholders of the Great Northern and Northern Pacific railroad companies, who had essentially formed a monopoly, and to dissolve the Northern Securities Company.

16 amendments

On June 16, 1909, President William Howard Taft, in an address to Congress, proposed a two percent federal income tax on corporations by way of an excise tax and a constitutional amendment to allow the previously enacted income tax.

17 amendments

Passed by Congress May 13, 1912, and ratified April 8, 1913, the 17th amendment modified Article I, section 3, of the Constitution by allowing voters to cast direct votes for U.S. Senators.

Plessy v. Ferguson

Plessy (P) attempted to sit in an all-white railroad car. After refusing to sit in the black railway carriage car, Plessy was arrested for violating an 1890 Louisiana statute that provided for segregated "separate but equal" railroad accommodations. Those using facilities not designated for their race were criminally liable under the statute

Recal

Recall is the process of having essentially a 're-vote" on an office-holder, such as a Governor or a Mayor. (Example: the recall vote against former California Governor Gray Davis, resulting in the simultaneous election to office of the Governator.) These happen when an individual gets elected to office by the people, then does something that pisses off the voters. Usually, a recall is started by petition, once enough valid signatures are collected and verified, then the question is put on the ballot and if the recall is successful, then the disappointing elected official is removed from office, and another person assumes the office. The situation in California was unique in that the special election to choose Gov. Davis's successor was held simultaneously with the recall vote.

referendum

Referendum (plural: referenda) is where the legislature (state, usually) votes on a bill, but is too chicken-sh*t to send the bill to the governor to sign (maybe they think the Governor will veto it and don't want to risk that) will instead place the bill on the ballot and let the voters take the blame for its passage or failure.

Sherman Anti-Trust Act

Sherman Antitrust Act, 1890, first measure passed by the U.S. Congress to prohibit trusts; it was named for Senator John Sherman.

initiative

The "initiative process" is a citizen or group of citizens who want to propose a law to the people and organize, draft (write) the proposed law, then circulate petitions to be signed to get the law placed on the ballot in the upcoming election.

Atlanta Compromise speech

The Atlanta Cotton States and International Exposition Speech was an address on the topic of race relations given by Booker T. Washington on September 18, 1895

Anthracite Coal Strike

The Coal Strike of 1902, also known as the Anthracite Coal Strike,[1][2] was a strike by the United Mine Workers of America in the anthracite coal fields of eastern Pennsylvania. Miners were on strike asking for higher wages, shorter workdays and the recognition of their union. The strike threatened to shut down the winter fuel supply to all major cities (homes and apartments were heated with anthracite or "hard" coal because it had higher heat value and less smoke than "soft" or bituminous coal). President Theodore Roosevelt became involved and set up a fact-finding commission that suspended the strike

William Jennings Bryan, cross of gold speech

The Cross of Gold speech was delivered by William Jennings Bryan, a former United States Representative from Nebraska, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on July 9, 1896. In the address, Bryan supported bimetallism or "free silver", which he believed would bring the nation prosperity. He decried the gold standard, concluding the speech, "you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold".[1] Bryan's address helped catapult him to the Democratic Party's presidential nomination; it is considered one of the greatest political speeches in American history.

Southern Alliances

The Farmers' Alliance was an organized agrarian economic movement among American farmers that developed and flourished in the 1870s and 1880s.

Meat Inspection Act, Pure Food & Drug Act

The Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906 (FMIA) is a United States Congress Act that works to prevent adulterated or misbranded meat and meat products from being sold as food and to ensure that meat and meat products are slaughtered and processed under sanitary conditions. and Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 (34 Stat. 768) was the first federal law prohibiting the interstate transportation and sale of adulterated food enacted by Congress pursuant to its power under the Commerce Clause.

Federal Reserve Act

The Federal Reserve Act (ch. 6, , enacted December 23, 1913) is an Act of Congress that created and set up the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States of America, and granted it the legal authority to issue Federal Reserve Notes (now commonly known as the U.S.

Gilded Age

The Gilded Age, which spanned the final three decades of the nineteenth century, was one of the most dynamic, contentious, and volatile periods in American history. America's industrial economy exploded, generating unprecedented opportunities for individuals to build great fortunes but also leaving many farmers and workers struggling merely for survival.

Great Migration

The Great Migration was the movement of 6 million African Americans out of the rural Southern United States to the urban Northeast, Midwest, and West that lasted up until the 1960s. Some historians differentiate between the first Great Migration (1910-1930)

Prohibition Act

The National Prohibition Act of 1919 is the official shortened title of "An act to prohibit intoxicating beverages, and to regulate the manufacture, production, use, and sale of high-proof spirits for other than beverage purposes, and to insure an ample supply of alcohol and promote its use in scientific research and in the development of fuel, dye, and other lawful industries."

Payne-Aldrich Tariff

The Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act of 1909 (ch. 6, 36 Stat. 11), named for Representative Sereno E. Payne (R-NY) and Senator Nelson W. Aldrich (R-RI), began in the United States House of Representatives as a bill lowering certain tariffs on goods entering the United States

United States v. American Tobacco Company, 221 U.S. 106 (1911), was a decision by the United States Supreme Court, which held that the combination in this case is one in restraint of trade and an attempt to monopolize the business of tobacco in interstate commerce within the prohibitions of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890.

The Sherman Antitrust Act is a landmark federal statute on United States competition law passed by Congress in 1890. It prohibits certain business activities that federal government regulators deem to be anticompetitive, and requires the federal government to investigate and pursue trusts, companies, and organizations suspected of being in violation

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, was one of the deadliest industrial disasters in the history of the city of New York and resulted in the fourth highest loss of life from an industrial accident in U.S. history. It was also one of the deadliest disasters that occurred in New York City - after the burning of the General Slocum on June 15, 1904 - until the destruction of the World Trade Center 90 years later.

muckraking, muckrakers

The term muckraker refers to reform-minded journalists who wrote largely for popular magazines, continued a tradition of investigative journalism reporting, and emerged in the United States after 1900 and continued to be influential until World War I, when through a combination of advertising boycotts, dirty tricks and patriotism, the movement, associated with the Progressive Era in the United States, came to an end

Omaha Platform

Throughout his time as editor of the Wealth Makers, George H. Gibson used the Omaha Platform of 1892 as the basis of his social and political ideology. The platform was adopted at the founding convention of the Populist Party in Omaha, Nebraska on July 4, 1892, and essentially launched the party into national politics.

American Tobacco vs. U.S.

United States v. American Tobacco Company, 221 U.S. 106 (1911), was a decision by the United States Supreme Court, which held that the combination in this case is one in restraint of trade and an attempt to monopolize the business of tobacco in interstate commerce within the prohibitions of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890.

W.E. B. Dubois

William Edward Burghardt "W. E. B." Du Bois was an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author and editor. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a relatively tolerant and integrated community.

"greenbacks"

a dollar bill

Greenback Party

a former political party in the United States; organized in 1874; opposed any reduction in the amount of paper money in circulation

settlement houses

an institution in an inner-city area providing educational, recreational, and other social services to the community.

lynching

by hanging, for an alleged offense with or without a legal trial.

National Farmer Alliances

he National Farmers' Alliance and Industrial Union, more commonly known as the Southern Farmers' Alliance (or simply the Alliance), began in the mid-to-late 1870s. The organization began spreading eastward through Arkansas and beyond in 1887

Rebates

pay back.

Populism

the political doctrine that supports the rights and powers of the common people in their struggle with the privileged elite

Wobblies (IWW)

the. an international revolutionary federation of industrial unions founded in Chicago in 1905: banned in the US in 1949

Literacy test, poll test, grandfather clause

were test that the government was asking that people need to pass to be able to vote.