Unit 6

Armory Shoe, 1913

An art show in the U.S. organized by the Ashcan School. It was controversial because it was most Americans' first exposure to European Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art, and caused a modernist revolution in American art.

Pool

An illegal arrangement made between business leaders in an industry to set prices above a certain level. Pools, used for centuries to avoid ruinous competition, were largely replaced by mergers in the late nineteenth century

Phillip Armour, late 1800s

Armour built the Armour & Company meat packing corporation in the late 1800s. He began shipping hogs to Chicago for slaughter and was a pioneer in the use of refrigeration in the meat industry and in the canning of meat

Granger Party, 1870's

1873 Depression politicized the Granger Movement and the Granger political party was created. • They opposed corrupt business practices and monopolies, and supported relief for debtors. • The Granger Party had 800,000 members and gained control of most of the state legislatures throughout the Midwest. • They passed laws to regulate railroads in early 1870s which Court strikes down.

Winslow Homer, 1836-1910

A Realist painter known for his seascapes of New England. Homer, along with other American artists, broke from European tradition and experimented with new styles.

Andrew Mellon, late 1800s-early 1900s

A business tycoon involved in coal, iron, oil, and banking. Mellon was a well-known philanthropist who left his art collection to the American people (this became the National Gallery of Art). He served as secretary of the treasury fewer than three successive presidents, Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover.

Oligopoly, late 1800s

A competitive system in which several large corporations dominated an industry by dividing the market so each business had a share of it. • More prevalent than outright monopolies during the late 1800s, the oligopolies of the Gilded Age successfully muted competition and benefited the corporations that participated in this type of arrangement. • By the 1920s oligopolies were the norm in American business.

Sherman Antitrust Act, 1890

A federal law that committed the American government to opposing monopolies. The law prohibited contracts, combinations and conspiracies in restraint of trade. The act was ineffective due to intentionally vague language by Congress who passed it to placate the public rather then really restrain corporate power.

Robber barons, late 1800s

A group of industrialists who dominated social, political, and economic life in the late nineteenth century. During this period, the unregulated nature of industrial capitalism favored the rise of competitive risk takers who employed questionable tactics such as labor exploitation and shady stock market deals to amass their fortunes.

political machine, 1800s

A highly organized nineteenth-century political group, often compared to a new technological innovation because of its efficiency and complexity. • Most machines developed within major cities and were run by bosses who had influence over elected officials. • Politicians within a machine provided services or favors for their constituents in exchange for votes, sometimes resulting in their being brought up on charges of bribery or corruption. Tammany Hall, New York City's Democratic Party political machine was a famous example of a machine.

Injunction

A judicial order forcing a person or group to refrain from something. • This was a tool used by industry that frequently sought and got injunctions ordering unions to stop striking. • This indicated the substantial support of the courts and govt. on supporting industry rather than unions.

Great Railroad Strike, 1877

A large number of railroad workers went on strike because of wage cuts. • Becomes the first major strike and the bitterness and violence of the strike demonstrated the increasing chasm between workers and industry. • The strike is put down by the govt. and the strike's failure seriously weakened the railway unions.

Haymarket Square Riot, 1886

A large rally was held in Haymarket Square in Chicago shortly after striking began at the McCormick Harvesting Machine Co. • After the police tried to disperse the crown, a-bomb exploded killing or injuring many of the police. • The Chicago workers and the man who set the bomb were immigrants, so the incident promoted anti-immigrant and anti-union feelings among Americans. • The Knights of Labor was labeled as radicals due to this incident and it severely hurt the organization.

Mugwumps, late 1800s

A late-nineteenth-century branch of reform-minded Republicans from Massachusetts and New York who deplored the spoils system of rewarding party loyalists with govt. jobs and advocated civil service reform. • During the Republican convention of 1884, James Blaine was the leading contender for the presidential nomination, although his reputation was tarnished by charges of graft in a railroad deal and he had been denied the nomination in 1876 and 1880 because of the allegations. • When he was nominated on the first ballot despite these allegations, the Mugwumps left the Convention and promised to vote for the Democratic nominee. During the campaign, the Mugwumps kept Blaine's alleged misconduct in the public eye, and he lost the crucial state of New York and with it the election. • The name Mugwump came from the Algonquin word for "chief," but critics used the term derisively, punning that the Mugwumps straddled the fence on issues of party loyalty, "with their mug on one side and their wump on the other."

Tom Watson, 1890s

A leader of the Populist Party in the South. Watson epitomized the 'southern demagogue" and urged poor whites to seize political power from the planter aristocracy. He was one of the founding members of the Georgia Populist Party and labored to unite farmers across class and racial lines. He also supported the right of African American men to vote. Watson's failed efforts disillusioned him, blaming the minorities in the South for Populism's failures; he became a die-hard racist as well as being anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic

James McNeil Whistler, 1834-1903

A member of the realist movement, although his works were often moody and eccentric. Best known for his Arrangement in Black and Grey, No.1, also known as Whistler's Mother.

Gold Standard

A monetary system in which the circulating currency is exchangeable for a specific amount of gold. • Advocates for the gold standard believed that gold alone should be used for coinage and that the total value of paper banknotes should never exceed the govt.'s supply of gold. • The triumph of the gold standard advocated by Wm. McKinley in the 1896 presidential election was a big victory for supporters of this policy

American Protective Association, 1887

A nativist group of the 1890s which opposed all immigration to the U.S. Founded by Henry Bowers, its membership reached 500,000 by 1894.

Immigration Restriction League, 1894

A nativist group which sought to limit "undesirable"immigration through literacy tests and other criteria. Middle- class Americans supported this group because it had a more subtle approach rather than outright quotas or a ban on all immigration.

Gilded Age, 1875-1900

A period of enormous economic growth and lavish displays of wealth during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. • The social and economic reorganization brought about by the industrial revolution resulted in dramatic changesin U.S. society, including a newly dominant group of rich entrepreneurs and an impoverished working class. • Increasingly, wealth became concentrated in the hands of fewer people. • The phrase "Gilded Age" was coined by writer Mark Twain to symbolize all the problems brought by industrialization that lay below the glittering surface wealth and power of the nation. • America emerged as the world's leading industrial and agricultural producer.

Rebates

A practice by which a railroad would give money back to its favored customers, rather than charging them lower prices, so that it could appear to be charging a flat rate for everyone

Johns Hopkins University, 1876

A private university in Baltimore, Maryland founded as a research university whose professors were expected to research and write as well as instruct students. John Hopkins revolutionarized higher education in America and led to the creation of the research university system as it currents exists.

Collective bargaining, late 1800s.

A process of negotiation between labor unions and employers, particularly followed by the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in the late 1800s. Led by Samuel Gompers, the AFL accepted the new industrial order but fought for a bigger share of the profits for workers.

Sub Treasury System, 1890

A proposed plan under which the federal govt. would provide localized banking functions for farmers, allowing them credit and marketing opportunities that were not controlled by private firms. This banking reform was promoted by the Populist Party in the late nineteenth century.

Ghost Dance, 1890

A religious movement among the Plains Indians. As part of the effort to assimilate Indians and also due to the influence of Protestant religious groups the federal govt. began suppressing Indian religions in the 1880s. • Indians believed the Ghost Dance would reunite them with friends and relatives in the ghost world. • Eventually, desperate Indians began dancing and singing the songs they believed would cause the world to open up and swallow all other people while the Indians and their friends would remain on this land, which would return to its beautiful and natural state. • The unity and fervor that the Ghost Dance Movement created fear and hysteria among white settlers which ultimately contributed to the events ending in the massacre at Wounded Knee.

Comstock Lode, 1859

A rich deposit of gold and silver discovered in Nevada on Mount Davidson, a peak in the Virginia Range. • It was named for the California prospector Henry T. P. Comstock, who first laid claim to the land on which the lode was found. • Following the discovery prospectors rushed to the area, and mining camps in the vicinity, such as the boomtown Virginia City (now a virtual ghost town), became thriving centers of fabulous wealth. • Over $300 million in gold and silver were extracted from the lode in the first 20 years. • Wasteful and intensive exploitation of the mines and the halt in silver dollar coinage started a decline in excavations about 1874 that ended in the virtual abandonment of the lode in 1898.

Mesabi Range

A section of low hills in Minnesota owned by Rockefeller in 1887, it was a source of iron ore for steel production.

"Pitchfork" Ben Tillman

A senator from South Carolina, he compared Cleveland's betrayal of the Democratic party to Judas' betrayal of Jesus.

Supreme Court: Legal Tender cases, 1870-1871

A series of cases that challenged whether the paper "greenbacks" issued during the Civil War constituted legal tender, i.e., whether they were valid currency. The Supreme Court declared that greenbacks were not legal tender and their issuance had been unconstitutional.

Social Darwinism, late 1800s

A social application of Darwin's biological theory of evolution by natural selection, or survival of the fittest. This late-nineteenth-century theory encouraged the notion of human competition and opposed govt. intervention in the natural human order. Social Darwinists justified the increasing inequality of late-nineteenth-century industrial U.S. society as natural. They claimed that reform was useless because the rich and poor were precisely where nature intended them to be and intervention would slow the progress of humanity.

Vertical integration

A system in which a single person or corporation controls all processes of an industry from start to finished product. • Andrew Carnegie first used vertical integration in the 1870s, controlling every aspect of steel production from the mining of iron ore to the manufacturing of the final product, thereby maximizing profits by eliminating the use of outside suppliers or services.

Laissez- faire, late 1800s

A theory that the economy should be governed by the rules of the market and govt. has an obligation not to intervene in economic affairs. • This was a fundamental creed of capitalism in the late 1800s

Industrial Union

A union composed of workers in a single industry, for ex. automobile, railroad, or mining, rather than into separate craft-based associations. • The American Railway Union, formed in the 1880s, was one of the first industrial unions in the nation.

Closed Shop

A working establishment where only people belonging to the union were hired. It was done by the unions to protect their workers from cheap labor

Yellow Dog contracts

A written contract between employers and employees in which the employees sign an agreement that they will not join a union while working for the company. • This was a tool used by employers to prevent unionization.

Dawes Severalty Act of 1887

Act intended to force American Indians to assimilate into white culture. • It provided for tribal land to be divided among individual Indians. • Each head of the family received 160 acres, each single adult or orphan received 80 acres, and each dependent child 40 acres. • Indians did not want to farm or ranch and no instruction was given to them. In conjunction with the distribution of land, Indian children were sent to boarding schools to be educated to abandon tribal culture. 5 • The act was a failure and ultimately abandoned by the govt. due to incompetent and corrupt administration of the program. Under this "reform" the amount of land held by Indians declined by more than half by 1900.

"Sockless" Jerry Simpson

After losing his cattle herd, farmer Jerry Simpson turned to politics and ran on the Populist Congressional ticket in Kansas. • Simpson ridiculed his wealthy Republican opponent J.R. Hallowell as a man who wore "silk hosiery" and Halloway retorted silk socks were better than having none at all. • Simpson told Republicans, "You can't put this movement down by sneers or by ridicule, for its foundation was laid as far back as the foundation of the world. It is a struggle between the robbers and the robbed." • With the help of populist campaigner Mary Ellen Lease, Simpson won a new nickname, "Sockless Jerry," and won the race. • Simpson served three Congressional terms and was a forceful advocate for populist causes

Andrew Carnegie / late 1800s

Along with his business associate, Henry Frick, he built a huge steelworks corporation. • In 1901 he sold his corporation to J. P. Morgan, who merged the Carnegie corporation with others to create the United States Steel Corporation.

Farmer's Alliance, mid 1870's.

Along with the Granger Movement the Farmer's Alliances was the building blocks of the Populist Movement. • Both the Southern and Northwestern Alliances focused on cooperation between farmers. • They all agreed to sell crops at the same high prices to eliminate competition and form cooperatives, banks, and processing plants. Just as is the case with the Grange they are not successful.

Ashcan School, 1908

Also known as The Eight, a group of American Naturalist painters formed in 1907, most of whom had formerly been newspaper illustrators, they believed in portraying scenes from everyday life in starkly realistic detail. Their 1908 display was the first art show in the U.S. and included artists such as George Bellows and Edward Hopper

Henry James, 1843-1916

American writer who lived in England. Wrote numerous novels around the theme of the conflict between American innocence and European sophistication/ corruption, with an emphasis on the psychological motivations of the characters. Famous for his novel Washington Square and his short story "The Turn of the Screw."

Westward Expansion

Americans' settlement moved westward, particularly in the nineteenth century. • Until the 1840s, the overwhelming majority of Americans lived east of the Mississippi River, but by 1850 the boundaries of the United States stretched to the Pacific and the nation had more than doubled its size. • The revolution in transportation and communication, a growing population, and a booming economy propelled the western surge. • The cost of westward expansion was bloody wars with both the native populations and the Spanish in addition to the conflict over slavery prior t the Civil War.

William Graham Sumner, 1906

An American disciple of Herbert Spencer. Just as Spencer, Sumner opposed any govt. intervention in society. He was an influential Yale professor in the late 1800s and wrote the influential book Folkways that advocated Social Darwinism.

Knights of Labor / Uriah Stephens / Terence Powderly, 1869

An American labor union originally established as a secret fraternal order and noted as the first union of all workers (skilled and unskilled along with women and blacks) • It was founded in Philadelphia by Uriah Stephens and a number of fellow workers. • Powderly was elected head of the Knights of Labor in 1883. • The K of L wanted a cooperative system to replace the wage system. The K of L wanted an eight-hour work day, an end to child labor, equal pay for equal work, and the elimination of private banks. It had over 700,000 by 1886 - the loss of major strikes led to its disappearance by the 1890s.

California Miner's Tax, 1852

As a result of white "American" miners interest California passed two taxes against foreign miners. • The first was the Foreign Miners License Law (1850), charging all non-U.S. citizens $20 per month. The fee proved so high the law was repealed the next year. • However, prior to the repeal of the law many Chinese had already left the mining camps for San Francisco, where they soon established themselves in the city's business community and created America's first "Chinatown." • Some new Chinese immigrants continued to prospect (approximately 1/3 of immigrants to California in 1852 were Chinese). Chinese prospectors faced increasingly harsh treatment at the hands of their fellow miners. The legislature adopted the California Miner's Tax which charged non-U.S. citizens a tax of $4 per month. • Both of these taxes illustrated the strength of Nativism and racism in the American West (white miners were usually willing to tolerate non-English speaking white Europeans)

Bland- Allison Act, 1878

Authorized coinage of a limited number of silver dollars and "silver certificate" paper money. First of several government subsidies to silver producers in depression periods. Required government to buy between $2 and $4 million worth of silver. Created a partial dual coinage system referred to as "limping bimetallism." Repealed in 1900.

American Federation of Labor (AFL), 1886

Began with about 140,000 members; by 1917 it had 2.5 million members. It organized craft unions made up of skilled workers and was a federation of different unions. Samuel Gompers was the president and the AFL supported "pure and simple unionism" that sought to get the best deal for workers in the existing capitalist economy rather than trying to alter the entire system.

Bessemer process, 1850s

Bessemer invented a process for removing air pockets from iron, and thus allowed high quality steel to be made. This made skyscrapers possible, advances in shipbuilding, construction, etc

Herbert Spencer, 1820-1903

British writer who argued for that social Darwinism, by eliminating the unfit and assuring the survival of the strongest and talented benefited human society.

Stalwarts and Half-Breeds, 1880s

By the of Rutherford Hayes' presidencies two groups were competing for control of the Republican party. • Roscoe Conkling's (New York) Stalwarts, supporters of traditional machine politics, and U.S. Senator James G. Blaine's (Maine) Half-Breeds, who favored reform. In reality, little separated the two groups. Both were primarily interested in a bigger piece of the patronage pie. • In 1880 the Stalwarts wanted to nominate former President Grant for a third term, while the Half-Breeds supported Blaine. The two factions were so evenly matched that neither candidate could gain the necessary majority. As a compromise, the party agreed on Senator James A. Garfield of Ohio, a Half-Breed. To gain the support of Conkling and his Stalwarts, the convention chose Chester Arthur, a Stalwart, as the vice-presidential candidate. • Garfield tried to defy the Stalwarts on appointments and was soon in a public dispute with Conkling and other Stalwarts. His assassination ended the quarrel. The Stalwarts were astounded when Arthur, an ally of Conkling, followed his own course and even promoted reform. • The political struggle between the two groups was typical of the period because it was over who would get the bigger share of political patronage.

Andrew Carnegie/ Gospel of Wealth- late 1800s

Carnegie was a steel tycoon who became a famous philanthropist later in life. He advocated the Gospel of Wealth social theory that held the wealthy were merely trustees of their money and they must use their efforts to benefit society. Carnegie endowed Carnegie Hall and libraries across America

"Long Drives" / Cattle Drives, 1866-1887

Cattle drives consisted of 2000-5000 head of cattle and covered hundreds of miles from Texas to northern railheads. • By 1866 Texas longhorns numbered about 5 million head, but cattle prices in Texas were at rock bottom. • However, industrial expansion in the East and Midwest meant there was a market for beef. The key was to establish a shipping point on the railroads west of the settled farming regions. • The first step was taken by Joseph McCoy who established stockyards at Abilene, Kansas which was the western railhead of the Kansas Pacific Railroad. • Numerous trails were used for the "Long Drives" but some of the most famous were the Chisholm Trail, the Goodnight-Loving Trails, the Western Trail, and the Sedalia and Baxter Springs Trails.

Holding Companies

Companies that hold a majority of another company's stock in order to control the management of that company. They can be used to establish a monopoly.

Compromise of 1877

Compromise struck during the contested Election of 1877, in which Democrats accepted the election of Republican Rutherford Hayes in return for the withdrawal of federal troops from the South and the ending of Reconstruction. This was the "formal" end to Reconstruction - Northern efforts to remake the South had actually ended far earlier.

Frank Lloyd Wright/ "Prairie Style", 1967-1959

Considered America's greatest architect. Pioneered the concept that a building should blend into and harmonize with its surroundings rather than following classical designs. His most famous building are a series of residences with low horizontal lines and strongly projecting eaves that echoed the rhythms of the surrounding landscape; it was termed his "Prairie Style."

Transcontinental Railroad, 1862-1869

Construction of the Railroad started with the passage of the Pacific Railroad Act in 1862. Many Irish and Chinese immigrants worked on the railroad. The two companies hired to build the railroad, the Union Pacific and Central Pacific completed the line in Promontory, Utah, in 1869. The railroad aided the development of the Great Plains and the integration of the western territories into the rest of the Union.

Russell Conwell, "Acres of Diamonds" 1880s-1890s

Conwell, a Baptist minister, became a spokesman for the popular idea that great wealth was in the reach of all industrious Americans. He delivered the "Acres of Diamonds" lecture over 6000 times in 10 years. His thesis was that untold wealth was available to any intelligent and industrious American willing to seize opportunities. Conwell said "I say that you ought to get rich, and that it is your duty to get rich." He represented school of thought that wealth was available to anyone willing to work hard.

Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1824

Created in 1824, it was added to the U.S. Department of the Interior in 1849. The Bureau was responsible for distributing land, making payments, and overseeing the shipment of supplies. It was corrupt and most of the agents were appointed through patronage. The agents were incompetent and corrupt, but even the honest ones had no understanding of Indian culture. The Bureau's corrupt and incompetent administration of the reservations was responsible a great amount of the conflict between whites and Indians.

Election of 1884: Blaine vs. Cleveland

Democrat - Grover Cleveland - 219 electoral, 4,911,017 popular. Republican - James Blaine - 182 electoral, 4,848,334 popular. Cleveland was the first Democrat to be president since Buchanan. This election was typical of the time period because personalities rather then issues dominated the election. Cleveland benefited from the split in the Republican Party (Republican dissenters Mugwumps supported Blaine).

William James, 1842-1910

Developed the philosophy of pragmatism which argued modern society should use the test of scientific inquiry rather than tradition or ideals to develop policy. One of the founders of modern psychology, and the first to attempt to apply psychology as a science rather than a philosophy.

Sherman Silver Purchase Act, 1890

Directed the Treasury to buy even larger amounts of silver than specified in the Bland-Allison Act and at inflated prices. The introduction of large quantities of overvalued silver into the economy led to a run on the federal gold reserves, leading to the Panic of 1893. Repealed in 1893.

Edwin Lawrence Godkin, 1831-1902

Editor who established the Nation magazine in 1865. I n 1881 he became an editor of the New York Evening Post and in 1883 editor in chief, carrying the Nation, by then an influential critical weekly, with him as a weekly in connection with the Post. • Godkin was a political independent and attacked the carpetbag regime, corruption under President Grant, free silver, organized labor, and high tariffs. • Godkin's integrity gave his opinion weight. He was an important spokesman of laissez-faire in economic policy.

William Dean Howells, 1837-1920

Eminent American novelist and critic, whose championing of such diverse American writers as Stephen Crane, Frank Norris, Henry James, and Mark Twain made him the most influential literary force of his day. • Howell wrote over 30 novels. His most famous novel is The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885); it is a study of a self- made businessman who is ultimately ruined but never loses his integrity. -In the mid-1880s Howells became concerned with social issues of his time. These social concerns were reflected in his fiction. He risked public denunciation in 1887 when he expressed his belief that the Chicago anarchists tried for their involvement in the Haymarket Square Riot were convicted and executed for their political beliefs, not for their crimes

In Re Debs, 1894

Eugene Debs organized the Pullman strike. A federal court found him guilty of restraint of trade, stopping US mail, and disobeying a government injunction to stop the strike. The strike is broke up by federal troops and a disillusioned Debs decided the only way to make effective reforms for labor was to get involved in politics. He was a founder of the Social Democratic Party and ran president as a Socialist candidate five times between 1900-1920.

Monopoly

Exclusive control and domination by a single business entity over an entire industry through ownership, command of supply, or other means. • During the Gilded Age, businesses monopolized their industries quite profitably, often organizing holding companies and trusts to extract higher profits.

James J. Hill, late 1800s

Financier and empire builder who tried to monopolize the northern railroads. Hill created the Great Northern Railroad. Hill's banking activity as president of Northern Securities Co. was declared in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1904.

J.P. Morgan, late 1800s

Financier who arranged the merger which created the U.S. Steel Corporation, the world's first billion dollar corporation that controlled two-thirds of the total U.S. steel production. After the panic of 1893, Morgan created a syndicate to supply the U.S. Treasury's depleted gold reserves. He led the financial community in averting a general financial collapse following the stock-market panic of 1907.

National Labor Union, 1866

First attempt to combine various unions into a single labor organization. Founded by William Sylvis, it claimed a membership of 640,000 and fell apart after the Panic of 1873.

Oklahoma Land Rush, 1889

Former Indian territory was opened to white settlement in 1889. Possession was through a land run - whoever could stake their claim first. Some 50,000 settlers competed in the race and it marked the last of the govt. lands being opened for settlement in the West.

Horace Greeley, 1840s-1873

Founder and editor of the New York Tribune. He popularized the saying "Go west, young man." Greeley maintained people who were struggling in the East could make their fortunes by going west.

John D. Rockefeller, late 1800s-early 1900s / Mesabi Range

Founder of Standard Oil Company in 1870 and built an industrial empire. • Rockefeller was notorious for using ruthless business methods to destroy competition and was viewed by many Americans as a robber baron. • Ida Tarbell, a muckraker, wrote an expose of Rockefeller's ruthless practices.

Nouveau Riche, late 1800s

French for "new rich." Referred to people who had become rich through business rather than through having been born into a rich family. The nouveau riche made up much of the American upper class of the late 1800s.

Boomtowns, 1850s -1890s

Frontier settlements created practically overnight following the news of a gold or silver strike. A high ratio of men to women and a transient population contributed to their rough-and-tumble atmosphere. An 1879 business census of Leadville, Colorado reported 10 dry-goods stores, 4 banks, 4 churches, but 120 saloons, 19 beer halls, and 118 gambling houses.

Hamlin Garland, 1880s-1940

Garland grew up on farms and knew the hardships of Midwest farming. • His personal experiences prompted his advocacy of economic reform and furnished the central themes of his numerous short stories. These stories, bitter denunciations of the grim conditions of American farm life, were collected and published under the titles Main-Travelled Roads (1890) and Other Main-Travelled Roads (1910). • His best-known work is Son of the Middle Board (1917) and Daughter of the Middle Border (1921) autobiographical novels about the frustrations of farm life. • Garland was also a supporter of Indians and was one of the first authors to write accurately and sympathetically about them.

Battle of Little Big Horn, 1876

General George Custer and his regiment of 264 men were killed in Montana by a combined force of 2500 Sioux under the leadership of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull. • The Sioux had left the reservation over anger at white miners coming into the Indian Black Hills and the corrupt administration of the reservation by Bureau of Indian Affairs agents. • One of the last great battles because the Sioux lacked the material and political resources to keep their force intact and the bands were then hunted down individually by the U.S. Army. • The Sioux were unable to follow up their victory because they had to divide their forces to find grass for their horses and to hunt for food. The Army hunted down the separate bands.

"Cross of Gold" Speech, 1896

Given by Bryan on June 18, 1896 at the national convention of the Democratic Party. • The speech criticized the gold standard and supported the coinage of silver. • The last words of his speech became famous - "You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold."

Black Hills, 1874

Gold was discovered in the Black Hills of southwestern Dakota Territory. Just as with other strikes the boom period is shortlived and the Dakotas ultimately has a largely agricultural economy.

Pike's Peak, 1859

Gold was discovered in what would soon be the the territory of Colorado. 50,000 prospectors came in from Calfornia and the East. Denver and other mining camps became "cities" overnight, although the boom ended as quickly as it started.

Coxey's army, 1894

Group of unemployed workers led by Jacob Coxey who marched from Ohio to Washington to draw attention to the plight of workers and to ask for government relief. Government arrested the leaders and broke up the march in Washington.

Election of 1888: Cleveland vs. Harrison

Grover Cleveland (Democrat) vs. Benjamin Harrison (Republican). Election revolved around the issue of protective tariffs. Harrison won the electoral vote, although Cleveland won the popular vote.

Election of 1892: Harrison vs. Cleveland

Harrison (Republican) supports tariff protection and the sky high McKinley Tariff and Cleveland (Democrat) opposes it. The Populist party also ran its first presidential candidate - James Weaver. Cleveland wins and Democrats carry both house of Congress for first time since 1878.

Joseph Pulitzer, 1847-1911, William Randolph Hearst, 1863-1951

He designed the modern newspaper format (factual articles in one section, editorial and opinion articles in another section). • He and his rival William Randolph Hearst owned the most important newspaper chain in the country. • Both men also used sensational reporting, known as "yellow journalism," to boost newspaper sales.

Barbed wire, / Joseph Glidden, 1873

He marketed the first barbed wire, solving the problem of how to fence cattle in the vast open spaces of the Great Plains where lumber was scarce, thus changing the American West.

Tenements, late 1800s-early 1900s

High-density, cheap, five- or six-story housing units built in the late nineteenth century and designed for large urban populations. In the United States, tenements were built in northern cities to house the growing immigrant and later African American population in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Tenements were known for their severe overcrowding and lack of ventilation and plumbing.

McKinley Tariff, 1890

Highest protective tariff up to that point in America history. Backlash against the tariff brought Republicans a stunning defeat in the 1890 congressional election.

Fetterman Massacre, 1866

In 1866 there was an army campaign against the Sioux that failed completely. No Plains Indian tribe was more powerful than the Sioux and entire units deserted in fear and frustration during this offensive. • The worst defeat of the campaign happened when an army force of 80 men under Captain Fetterman is killed by Cheyenne and Sioux Indians when he led his men into an ambush on the Bozeman Trail. • The Fetterman massacre, as the incident became known, was second only to Custer's defeat in 1876.

"Seward's Icebox"/"Seward's Folly"/ Purchase of Alaska, 1867

In December, 1866, the U.S. offered to buy Alaska from Russia. • Russia was eager to give it up, as the fur resources had been exhausted, and, expecting friction with Great Britain, they preferred to see defenseless Alaska in U.S. hands. • Since Americans viewed Alaska unfit for farming or settlement, Alaska was called "Seward's Folly" and "Seward's Icebox" since Secretary of State William Seward, an eager expansionist, was an energetic supporter of the Alaskan purchase and negotiator of the deal. The U.S. brought it in 1867 for $7,200,000 and this gave the U.S. Alaska's resources of fish, timber, oil and gold.

Charles Darwin, 1859

In his Origin of Species he presented the theory of evolution, which proposed that creation was an ongoing process in which mutation and natural selection constantly give rise to new species. The theory sparked a long-running religious debate over the issue of creation. Darwin's theory was applied to society in the late 1800s in the Social Darwinism theory.

Gustavus Swift, late 1800s

In the 1800s he enlarged fresh meat markets through branch slaughterhouses and refrigeration. He created a monopoly in the meat industry

Sand Creek Massacre / John Chivington, 1864

Infamous massacre of Cheyenne women, children, and men by the Colorado militia at Sand Creek, Colorado. • Recent gold discoveries pushed Cheyenne and Apache Indians off land the federal govt. had recently guaranteed to them. Instead of enforcing Indian land rights, the govt. forced Indians to relinquish the land except for a small piece designated as the Sand Creek Reservation. • White settlers wanted the Reservation land too and sent Colorado militia under the command of Colonel John Chivington to the Sand Creek camp of a band of Cheyennes. • Chivington ordered his men to "kill and scalp all, big and little." The sleeping Indians were attacked and slaughtered and their bodies mutilated. • The Massacre outraged many easterners, but westerners, however, justified the brutality as necessary for white opportunity.

Louis Sullivan, 1856-1914

Known as the father of the skyscraper because he designed the first steel-skeleton skyscraper. Sullivan also brought large windows and limited ornamentation to skyscrapers. Sullivan was the mentor of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Molly Maguires, 1870s

Labor organization comprised of miners in Pennsylvania that occasionally used violence. Although mine owners used informers and agents to carry out the violence so they would have an excuse to use force to stop unionization, it convinced many middle-class Americans that unions were radical and violent.

Timber and Stone Act, 1878

Land that was labeled unfit for farming was sold to settlers who wanted to use it for logging and mining. • Western timberland was sold in 160 acre blocks at $2.50 an acre. • wealthy companies obtained title for thousands of acres by hiring men to buy 160 acres blocks and then deeding the land to the companies.

Trusts

Large business mergers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These combinations became a problem because their size allowed them to inhibit competition and control the market for their products.

Chinese Migration / Chinese Exclusion Act

Large scale migration to the United States started after the 1848 Gold Rush. • Worsening political and economic conditions as well as the search for opportunity resulted in over 200,000 Chinese migrating by 1880. They primarily came to the West Coast. • They worked in prospecting and mining for gold and other precious metals until the California Miner's Tax (see below) forced them out of the field. • They Chinese also worked in orchards, vineyards, and fishing. • Chinese laborers made up 90% of the Central Pacific's work force that built the transcontinental railroad. • Native American backlash resulted in "anti-coolie" clubs by the 1860s and 1870s and culminated in the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 that prohibited Chinese immigration to the United States and was renewed in 1892.

Frederick Law Olmsted/ Calvert Vaux/ New York Central Pacific, late 1850s

Law and Vaux designed the innovative New York Central Park with the purpose of making it look natural even though it was in an urban setting. Other American cities were so impressed they hired them to create similar parks in their cities.

Geronimo, 1875-1886

Leader of the Chiricahua Apaches which was the last Indian tribe that maintained organized resistance. • When the United States government attempted to move the Chiricahua Apache people to San Carlos Reservation from their traditional land, Geronimo started a series of raids on white settlements that lasted ten years. • In 1886 Geronimo finally surrendered and this ended the warfare between whites and Indians. Federal troops then moved the Apache and many other tribes to Oklahoma Territory. Geronimo died in 1909 at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, three years after he published his memoirs.

Mary Ellen Lease

Lease was a writer, lecturer, and political activist. Most of her work was in support of temperance, but after she and her husband failed at farming ventures, she got involved in the Populist Party. • She advised Kansas farmers to "raise less corn and more hell." • Lease argued "Wall street owns the country. It is no longer a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, but a government of Wall Street, by Wall Street, and for Wall Street. The great common people of this country are slaves, and monopoly is the master." • Lease was renowned for her oratorical skills. She was more an agitator than a politician and by 1896 was alienated from the Populist Party and spent her time on personal interests

Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific RR Company v. Illinois, 1886

Legal decision which stated that individual states could control trade in their states, but could not regulate railroads coming through them. • The decision nullified an earlier victory for states in Munn vs. Illinois which had allowed for regulation. • This put an effective end to the effort of states to regulate interstate railroad traffic. Congress had exclusive jurisdiction over interstate commerce and the decision made it clear railroad regulation would have to come from the federal government.

Taos Rebellion, 1847

Little resistance was offered to the occupation of New Mexico by U.S. forces under the command of Gen. Stephen Kearny during the Mexican-American War, largely because most of the local elite cooperated with the American army. • What resistance was given came from the poorer Mexicans and the Pueblo Indians who feared their land would be confiscated. • The largest uprising, ruthless put down, was the Taos Rebellion, led by Jesus Trujillo and Tomasito, a Pueblo chieftain. • The significance of the Rebellion is the high cost paid by indigenous people for American expansion. In short, the American West was not "empty" and waiting for Americans to occupy it.

Wounded Knee, 1890

Massacre that occurred when the U.S. Army, jittery over the Indian religious revival that promised a restoration of Indian power and featured a "Ghost Dance," were sent to round up 350 starving Sioux. Whoever fired the first shot, it ended with 200 Indians, included women and children, dead from machine gun fire.

Mark Twain, 1870s-1910

Master of satire. A regionalist writer who gave his stories "local color" through dialects and detailed descriptions. His works include The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, "The Amazing Jumping Frog of Calaverus County," and stories about the American West. He also wrote Roughing It, his account of the mining camp of Virginia City in Nevada.

Wilson-Gorman Tariff, 1894

Meant to be a reduction of the McKinley Tariff, it created a graduated income tax, which was ruled unconstitutional.

Leland Stanford, late 1800s

Multimillionaire railroad builder who invested heavily in the plan to build a transcontinental railroad, and founded the Central Pacific Railroad. • During his presidency of the railroad its track was built eastward to join that of the Union Pacific at Promontory, Utah. • He and his wife, Jane, founded Stanford University in 1885.

Buffalo soldiers, 1870s-1880s

Name American Indians gave to African American cavalrymen, most of them Civil War veterans stationed in the West to fight the Indians of the 1870s-1880s. Buffalo soldiers served in segregated units and made up the Ninth and Tenth Calvary Units.

Concentration" Indian Policy, 1851-1867

New federal govt. policy that divided Indian Territory into defined reservations for each tribe through individual treaties. • The treaties were often negotiated with Indians who were not acknowledged as leaders by their own people. • The purpose of the policy was to divide the tribes and make them easier to control. • This was replaced in 1867 by the division of all tribes into two large reservations - one in Indian Territory (Oklahoma), the other in the Dakotas.

Thomas Nast, 1804-1902

Newspaper cartoonist who produced satirical political cartoons, he invented "Uncle Sam" and came up with the elephant and the donkey for the political parties. He nearly brought down Boss Tweed.

Jacob Riis, 1890

Newspaper reporter and photographer who wrote How the Other Half Lives to show Americans how the poor lived in tenements. The book shocked Americans with its stark depiction of poverty.

James B. Duke, late 1800s-early 1900s

North Carolina businessman who brought up tobacco companies around the country, creating a trust to reduce industry competition. This practice gave Duke a virtual monopoly on the U.S. tobacco industry. Duke made tobacco products a profitable product in the modern South. Duke was a philanthropist and became a major contributor to Duke University.

Frank Norris, late 1800s-early 1900s

Novelist who wrote in a naturalistic style. His most important works were McTeague, a powerful story of the tragedy caused by greed in the lives of ordinary people; an uncompleted trilogy The Epic of Wheat in which two novels, The Octopus and The Pit were written. The Octopus depicted the struggle between oppressed wheat farmers and powerful railroads in California.

Chautauqua Movement 1874

One of the first adult education programs. Started as a summer training program for Sunday School teachers, it developed into a traveling lecture series and adult summer school which crisscrossed the country providing religious and secular education through lectures and classes.

Thomas A. Edison, 1847-1931

One of the most prolific inventors in U.S. history. Among other things, he invented the phonograph, first practical light bulb, electric battery, mimeograph, and the moving picture. Great popular hero of the day.

Frederic Remington, (1861-1909)

Painter and sculptor whose work romanticized the Old West. His works were action-packed and colorful, often containing heroic portrayals of cowboys, Indians, soldiers, prospectors and the settlers of the Great Plains. His paintings are admired for their unsentimental naturalism. Two of his best known sculptures are Bronco Buster (1895) and Comin' Through the Rye (1902) in which four cowhands on horseback charge at the observer in glee.

Interstate Commerce Act, 1887

Passed under public pressure to regulate railroads. The act established a five-member Interstate Commerce Commission to carry out this duty. The law was largely ineffective because it had to rely on the courts to enforce its rulings and pro-business courts interpreted it in a very limited sense.

Election of 1896: Bryan vs. McKinley

Pivotal election. Democrats nominate William Jennings Bryan and Populists also endorse Bryan. • Republicans nominate William McKinley and support industry and high tariffs. • The Democrats support farmers and low tariffs. The main issues were the coinage of silver and protective tariffs. • In a bid to defeat Bryan the financial community spends a fortune on the election. McKinley wins 271 electoral votes to Bryans' 176 votes. • This election establishes the Republican Party as the majority party for over thirty years.

Ignatius Donnelly, 1890s

Politician, author, editor, and one of the founders of the People's Party (Populist Party). Donnelly got into politics in the 1850s as a Republican. In 1874 he broke with the Republicans and got in the 1880s got active in the Minnesota Farmers' Alliance. He worked for land grants to railroads, helped create a national bureau of education, and made the first speech in Congress urging the forestation of public lands.

"Stock watering" late 1800s

Price manipulation by strategic stock brokers of the late 1800s. The term refers to selling more stock than they actually owned in order to lower prices, then buying it back.

Blacklist, late 1800s.

Procedure used by employers to label and identify undesirable workers. Industrialists used this in the late 1800s to punish workers trying to organize unions or gain better working conditions.

Ohio Idea, 1868

Proposal to redeem American Civil War bonds in paper money instead of gold. • The plan was part of the debate between hard-money advocates and soft-money or Greenback movement supporters after the Civil War. • It was especially popular in the Midwest. Endorsed by the Democratic Party in 1868, it died with the election ofGrant

"Crime of 1873"

Referred to the coinage law of 1873 which eliminated silver money from circulation. At the time not much attention was given to the law because it simply seemed to recognize that silver had more commercial value for jewelry that the current 16 to 1 ratio for coinage (16 oz. of silver equaled 1 oz. of gold). But in the late 1870s the market value of silver fell well below the 16 to 1 ratio which meant it would once again be viable for currency if this law had not 7 been passed. As a result many Americans believed a conspiracy of bankers had been behind this law they called the "Crime of 1873."

Open Range Ranching, 1866-late 1880's

Referred to the great grasslands of public land on the Great Plains where ranchers could graze their cattle at no charge. It ended by the late 1880s when farmers moved into the region and the open range is destroyed. The end of open range ranching hurt small, independent farmers.

"New Immigration" 1865-1910

Refers to the second major wave of immigration to the United States. • Between 1865-1910, 25 million new immigrants arrived. Unlike earlier immigration, which had come primarily from Western and Northern Europe, the New Immigrants came mostly from Southern and Eastern Europe, fleeing persecution and poverty. • Many of the new immigrants were non-English speaking and Catholic or Jewish. Americans of the time contrasted this to "Old Immigration" (prior to 1865 which was primarily Northern and Western Europe and Protestant). • Cultural and religious prejudice brought many native Americans to condemn the "new immigrants."

Great American Desert, 1820-1850

Region between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains. Vast domain became accessible to Americans wishing to settle there. Atlases in the 1820s-1850s called the region the "Great American Desert" and many people were convinced this land was a Sahara habitable only to Indians. The phrase was coined by a Major Long during his exploration of the middle of the Louisiana Purchase region.

Homestead Act of 1862

Republican act passed during Lincoln's first term. • Granted 160 acres of land to anyone who paid a $10 fee and pledged to live on and farm it for five years. • Although there was a good deal of fraud, the act encouraged a large migration to the West. Between 1862-1900, almost 600,000 families claimed homesteads under its provisions. • Many homesteaders do not make a go of it due to difficult farming conditions 160 acres was not really enough land for a viable farm in the arid West) and low crop prices

Election of 1880: Garfield vs. Hancock

Republican candidate James Garfield is a compromise candidate that Stalwarts and Half-Breeds can agree on. Hancock was a minor Civil War general. Garfield wins a clear electoral victory, but his popular vote was not that clear.

James Garfield, 1880-1881

Republican president who supported civil service reform and was then shot by a deranged office seeker. Chester A. Arthur then became president. Arthur also supported civil service reform. (see Stalwarts / Half-Breeds)

Alexander Graham Bell, 1847-1922

Revolutionized communication with the invention of the telephone in 1876.

John A. Roebling, 1806-1869 / Brooklyn Bridge, 1880s

Roebling pioneered the development of suspension bridges and designed the Brooklyn Bridge, but died before its construction was completed. The bridge was a technological feat in the 1880s.

Election of 1876: Hayes vs. Tilden

Rutherford B. Hayes - liberal Republican, Civil War general, he received only 165 electoral votes. Samuel J. Tilden - Democrat, received 264,000 more popular votes that Hayes, and 184 of the 185 electoral votes needed to win. 20 electoral votes were disputed, and an electoral commission decided that Hayes was the winner (see the Compromise of 1877) - fraud was suspected.

Adam Smith, "The Wealth of Nations" 1776

Scottish philosopher whose work, The Wealth of Nations, created the theory of capitalism and attacked mercantilism. Smith argued that invisible forces ruled the marketplace and the law of supply and demand determined price. He saw the desire for profit as a powerful tool driving the marketplace and maintained government should stay out of the economy.

Desert Act, 1877

Settlers could buy 640 acres at $1.25 an acre if they irrigated part of their land within three years.

Scab

Someone who works in place of a striking worker; scabs were also called strikebreakers. Corporations hired scabs to break strikes by union workers. In 1877, the U.S. federal govt. protected scab train crews in the great railroad strike.

Ocala Demands, 1890

Southern and Northwestern Alliances merge and issue these demands. The leaders of what later became the Populist Party held a national convention in Ocala, Florida and adopted a platform advocating reforms that included • Free and unlimited coinage of silver • A graduated income tax • Govt. ownership of the telephone, telegraph, and railroad industries • Establishment of sub treasuries • An end to absentee ownership of land.

Chester Arthur, 1881-1884

Stalwart political henchmen who was Garfield's vice- president. Arthur becomes president after Garfield dies from an assassin's bullet. Arthur tries to follow his own course and even supports some reform. It is under his presidency that the Pendleton Act that starts the civil service method of filling offices is passed in 1883.

Pullman Strike, 1894

Started by enraged workers who were part of George Pullman's "model town." It began when Pullman fired three workers on a committee. • Pullman refused to negotiate and troops were brought in to ensure that trains would continue to run. • The strike widened when the American Railway Union, whose president was Eugene V. Debs supported the strike by refusing to handle Pullman cars. • The strike was broken by the use of govt. troops on the grounds that the strike was stopping the mail. • The strike illustrated the conflict between labor and industry. It also demonstrated the role the federal govt. played in supporting industry and intervening on behalf of industry.

Morrill Land Grant Acts, 1862 and 1890

The 1862 Act was passed by the Republicans during the Civil War. • Each state govt. was given substantial grants of public land, based on their number of representatives in Congress, to sell and use the proceeds to endow and maintain public colleges. • At least one college had to be founded in each state. also had to offer mechanical and engineering programs. • A second Morrill Act in 1890 provided annual federal appropriations to help support the colleges. • The Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862 was responsible for the creation of many new state colleges and universities - the land grant colleges. • Land-grant colleges include the state universities of California, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Ohio. • Texas A&M got its start as a small land grant college founded in 1876 named the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas.

Granger Movement, 1860's

The Granger Movement and the later Farmer's Alliances were the building blocks of the Populist Movement. National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry. A group of agrarian organizations that worked to increase the political and economic power of farmers.

E.C. Knight Company, 1895

The Supreme Court ruled that since the Knight Company's monopoly over the production of sugar had no direct effect on commerce, the company couldn't be controlled by the government. It also ruled that mining and manufacturing weren't affected by interstate commerce laws and were beyond the regulatory power of Congress. This ruling further weakened the Sherman Antitrust Act.

Munn v. Illinois, 1877

The Supreme Court upheld legislation that had been urged by the grangers to regulate railroad and grain elevator rates, declaring that businesses affecting the public interest must be controlled for the sake of the common welfare. The decision was a significant one for states attempting to regulate railroad rates within their own state.

Dillingham Commission Report, 1911

The U.S. Senate, under intense pressure from anti-immigrant groups, set up this commission to study the origins and consequences of immigration. • The Report linked the rise of social and economic problems to the shift in immigration patterns. The Report argued before the 1880s most immigrants came from northern and eastern Europe. After the 1880s, however, "inferior" immigrants from southern and eastern Europe became the norm. • The Report blamed the nation's social problems on these new migrants and recommended that the federal govt. use literacy tests to stop poor and uneducated immigrants from entering the U.S. and causing additional social unrest. • Anti-immigrant groups used the Report as ammunition in their quest to stop or severely restrict immigration.

Assimilation

The absorption of dominant cultural values and customs by a minority group. Immigrant groups and Indians throughout U.S. history have struggled with pressures to assimilate into U.S. society.

Horizontal integration

The acquisitions of a number of businesses selling a similar product to gain added strength in that market. • In the late 19th century, Standard Oil Company purchased forty oil refineries, giving it a virtual monopoly over the oil refinery business. • Rockefeller then began to use the vertical integration strategy of steel producer Andrew Carnegie, becoming involved in other parts of the oil production process.

Money supply

The amount of money circulating in the economy. Disagreements over how to manage the money supply led to the rise of Populism in the late nineteenth century, as impoverished debtors (mostly farmers) called for expansion of the money supply through the coinage of silver.

Currency Gold or Silver Act, 1900

The apex of Republican monetary conservatism. It made gold the standard for all of the nation's currency. The Treasury was required to maintain a minimum of $150 million in gold reserves and the price of gold was set at $20.67 per ounce.

Streetcar suburbs, 1870s

The appearance of the streetcar made living within the heart of the city unnecessary. People began moving to the edges of the cities and commuting to work by streetcar. Led to growth of suburbs.

Labor theory of value

The belief that the price of a product should reflect the work that went into making it and should be paid mostly to the person who produced it. This idea was popularized by the National Trades' Union in the mid-nineteenth century.

Pendleton Civil Service Act, 1883

The first federal regulatory commission. Office holders would be assessed on a merit basis to be sure they were fit for duty. Brought about by indignation over Garfield's assassination by a deranged office seeker. The act applied to few offices in the beginning, but steadily expands in the 1900s to include more offices. • This was the foundation of the current civil service system used to fill most federal jobs.

Dingley Tariff

The highest protective tariff in U.S. history with an average duty of 57%. It replaced the Wilson - Gorman Tariff, and was replaced by the Payne - Aldrich Tariff in 1909. It was pushed through by big Northern industries and businesses.

Free Sliver

The late 19th century call by silver barons and poor U.S. farmers for the widespread coinage of silver and for silver to be used as a base upon which to expand the paper money supply. • The coinage of silver created an inflationary monetary system that benefited debtors so business and social conservatives generally opposed free silver.

People's (or Populist) Party / Populism, 1890s

The late-nineteenth-century political movement of farmers, most notably in the West and South, that identified laissez-faire capitalism (in which the govt. had limited involvement) and big business as responsible for the worsening economic circumstances in rural America. • In 1892, the People's (or Populist) Party captured a million votes and carried four western states, representing the first agrarian protest to truly challenge the entrenched two-party system. In their Omaha platform, they called for free coinage of silver and paper money: a national income tax; a direct election of senators; regulation of railroads; and other govt. reforms to help farmers. • In 1896 the Populists gambled on endorsing the Democratic Party presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan since he endorsed the important issue of free silver. By doing so the Populists sacrificed their independent party identity which they never effectively regained even though Bryan lost the election.

Tammy Hall/ William Macy ("Boss") Tweed, 1800s

The most notorious political machine of the nineteenth century, located in New York City and run by Democrat Boss- The excesses of the Tweed ring (such as expensive bribes made at the taxpayers' expense) led to an outcry for political reform. Tweed fled to Europe in 1871 to avoid prosecution but was eventually convicted and died in jail.

Frederick Jackson Turner/ "Frontier thesis"/ "Safety Valve thesis", 1893

The opinion offered by historian Frederick Jackson Turner, arguing that the existence of a frontier shaped American identity. • Turner feared that westward expansion had eroded the frontier and that, without it, American would lose the high drama of struggle that made it unique. • Jackson's thesis was also sometimes referrer to as the "safety-valve thesis" as he argued the frontier, as a place of opportunity and escape, acted as a "safety valve" to defuse social discontent in America.

Greenbacks-Labor Party, 1878

The party was primarily composed of prairie farmers who went into debt during the Panic of 1873. • The Party fought for increased monetary circulation through issuance of paper currency (greenbacks) and bimetallism (using both gold and silver as legal tender) supported inflationary programs in the belief that they would benefit debtors. • It also sought benefits for labor such as shorter working hours and a national labor bureau. • Several labor groups also supported the party.

Division of labor

The separation of tasks in a larger manufacturing process. Although designed to improve efficiency and productivity, division of labor also limited workers' control over the conditions of their labor. • Division of labor was a vital component of the industrial revolution in the 1800s. • It was also used to limit worker autonomy and power since unskilled workers could easily be replaced.

Merger, late 1800s

The voluntary combining of two or more companies to create one company. After the Panic of 1893, over a thousand mergers took place. This "merger mania" was fueled largely by the finance capitalist J.P. Morgan, who hated economic competition, believing it wasteful and inefficient.

Homestead Strike, 1892

The workers at a steel plant in Pennsylvania went on strike, forcing the owner to close down. Armed guards were hired to protect the building. This strike was typical of the period in that it was broken by the use of govt. power (8000 National Guard soldiers were sent to protect the strikebreakers.)

Timber Culture Act, 1873

This was passed partially on the false theory that growing timber increased humidity and maybe rainfall. The act encouraged tree planting and increased the number of acres a homesteader could claim. • Any settler who planted at least 40 acres in trees could get an additional 160 acres of land. • 10 million acres were given out under this act, but fraud prevented real tree growth. The act was repealed in 1891

Williams Jennings Bryan

Three-time candidate for president for the Democratic Party, nominated because of support from the Populist Party. He never won, but was the most important Populist in American history. He later served as Woodrow Wilson's Secretary of State (1913-1915).

Ulysses S. Grant

U.S. president from 1873-1877. Military hero of the Civil War, he led a corrupt administration, consisting of friends and relatives. Although Grant was personally a very honest and moral man, his administration was considered the most corrupt the U.S. had up to that time. Grant was ill-equipped to handle the problems of the era - his political skills were minimal.

Bimetallism

Use of two metals, gold and silver, for currency as America did with the Bland-Allison Act and the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. Bimetallism ended in 1900 with the enactment of the Gold Standard Act.

Cornelius Vanderbilt, 1794-1877

Vanderbilt started out in the steamship business in the 1820s and from there moved into the railroad business. By 1867 he controlled the New York Central Railroad. • Later in life, Vanderbilt was an important financier and noted philanthropist: his endowments included $1 million to Vanderbilt University. • Vanderbilt became synonymous with great wealth and unbridled corporate power in the eyes of the public. At the time of his death his wealth was estimated to exceed $100 million.

Chief Joseph and Nez Perce War, 1877

When the United States govt. attempted to enforce a 1863 treaty to confine the Nez Perce tribe to a reservation, fighting broke out. • Ordered to take his people out of the Wallowa Valley of the Oregon territory and relocate to a reservation in Idaho, Joseph reluctantly agreed to do so. • However, following the attack of a few Nez Perce warriors on a group of whites, he decided to lead several hundred people on a march to find refuge in Canada. • He defeated United States Army units that tried to stop him on the Big Hole River in Montana, but was stopped a few miles from the border by a U.S. army force. The Nez Perce surrendered after a five-day battle. • His speech "I will fight no more forever" mourned the young Indian men killed in the fighting. • The govt. broke its promise that the band could return to their original reservation and sent them to Oklahoma. Eventually, the few survivors were returned to Washington and Idaho.

Owen Wister, early 1900s

Wister was a Harvard educated lawyer who established a literary career by the mid 1890s. His best known work was The Virginian (1902), a Western novel which romanticized the cowboy as a man at ease with nature, little formal education, but endowed with a natural decency and courage. One of the most known and best of the new western literature that became so popular during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

Depression of 1893

Worse depression in the nation's history. • Causes included weak agriculture prices, loss of American markets abroad due to an earlier European depression, and a too rapid expansion of industry. • Over 20% of the workforce was unemployed and full prosperity doesn't return until 1901.

Stephen Crane, 1871-1900

Writer who introduced grim realism to the American novel. • His book Maggie, A Girl of the Streets starkly depicted slum life and created a sensation when it was published in 1893. • His best known work was The Red Badge of Courage (1895), a realistic psychological study of a young soldier in the Civil War.

Helen Hunt Jackson, 1881

Writer whose book A Century of Dishonor exposed the unjust manner in which the U.S. government had treated the Indians. • Jackson noted that while several American presidents appointed commissions to find solutions to the problems of the Indians, no real actions were taken on the their findings. • She argued one key was to make Indians citizens so their property and civil rights were protected. It was 1924 before Indians were made citizens. • Jackson's book was one of the first to argue the Indians' case and ignore white stereotypes about Indians.

Edward Bellamy, 1888

Wrote Looking Backward, a Utopian novel which predicted the U.S. would become a socialist state in which the government would own and oversee the means of production and this would unite all people under moral laws. • This best-selling novel inspired the formation of many socialistic clubs; • In order to gain a current forum to expound his views, Bellamy founded the journal New Nation in 1891.

Henry George, 1879

Wrote Progress and Poverty which argued that poverty was the inevitable side-effect of progress. • George blamed poverty on the wealth of monopolists as a result of increasing land values. • He argued that a "single tax" be adopted. This tax would be a flat tax (one in which every person pays the same amount, regardless of their income) that would distribute wealth more evenly and eliminate poverty.

Upton Sinclair, 1906

Wrote an expose of working conditions in the meatpacking industry in the book The Jungle. Upton's intent was to show the terrible condition of labor, but the public response was indignation over the unsanitary conditions which led to the Meat Inspection Act in 1906.

Bret Harte, 1860s-1902

Wrote humorous short stories about the American West, popularized the use of regional dialects as a literary device. Notable stories included "The Outcasts of Poker Flat." Harte set a style in America fiction that veered away from preachy characters to sketchier characters with a heart of gold.

Horatio Alger, 1832-1899

Wrote popular novels depicting the rise of young men "from rags to riches." The books were intended for young people and extolled the virtues of laissez faire capitalism.