Unit 5 ID's APUSH

"Waving the bloody shirt"

"Waving the bloody shirt" was an insulting term coined by critics used in the 1880s and 1890s (during the Gilded Age) to poke at politicians (especially Republicans) who tried to take advantage of old animosities from the Civil War era that should be left alone. This came during an era of intense conflict between the parties. Union war veterans would often put on their old uniforms and march in support of the Republican party, while ex-Confederate Democrats would do likewise. This intense partisan competition and the lasting animosities left by the Civil War helped to encourage this conflict. For veterans or those who lost loved ones to the war, and African Americans who were still trying to fight for rights, the issues of the Civil War still remained prevalent. Many voters had strong views on the policies that Congress was turning out, hence a higher-voter turnout during this time period.

political machine

A political machine was a hierarchical, complicated party organization whose candidates remained in office based on the strength of their political organization and their personal relationship with voters. Political machines frequently had ties with working-class immigrants who did not have another way to access political power. Political machines were local bureaucracies that had an iron-grip on elected and appointed public offices, making them the place that most people turned to for political favors. They could help in ways such as helping contractors get a city business, or getting licenses. Political machines themselves often had many layers. Machines helped give out jobs and patronage, arranged for urban services, and devoted their energies to staying in office. Most political machines were successful in their quest to stay in the office for consecutive years, due to their political power and popularity among urban voters. For constituents, political machines acted as a quick service agency, providing jobs for the jobless or a helping hand for a bereaved family. These favors came from a system of boss control that was often viewed as corrupt, and most of these corruptions from bribes and kickbacks came in cities. Many middle class Americans criticized urban immigrants for supporting political machines, but although they were not perfect, urban immigrants still could rely on them for help. However, they were limited in their power as they could only provide services to the richer side, and people began to oust machines after they were unable to be effective.

Billy Sunday

Billy Sunday was Moody's successor who believed that eternal life could be obtained if it were asked for and he helped bring evangelism into the modern era. Sunday often took a more political stance on his beliefs as well. Sunday often condemned alcohol abuse, unrestricted immigration, and labor radicalism. However, Sunday also supported some more progressive reforms, such as opposing child labor and voting rights for women. Billy Sunday tried to assert his leadership in a masculinized American world. He was a commanding presence on the stage, but he also advertised his revivals through baseball teams and playing in their games. Through this and the sermons that he gave, Sunday served as a model of spiritual inspiration, manly strength, and political engagement. His revivals were modern, providing mass entertainment and the opportunity to meet a pro baseball player. Like other cultural developments of the industrialization era, Billy Sunday's popularity showed how Americans adjusted to modernity: they adapted older beliefs and values, giving them the opportunity to adapt in new ways.

Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington was responsible for pioneering one of the most famous educational projects in the South called the Tuskegee Institute. Washington both taught and exemplified the goal of self-help, and he believed that a "book" education was a waste of time, so he instead focused on industrial education. Tuskegee sent female graduates into teaching and nursing, and men into industrial trades or farmed by the latest scientific methods. Washington gained national fame with his Atlanta Compromise address. His address was controversial, as it seemed to support segregation, but he urged the white people that blacks stood by their sides and that they should work together to improve on the overall human race. Whites loved this address, and he became one of the most prominent black leaders of his time. He believed that whites would respect economic success of the blacks, and that economic prosperity could be achieved by all races. However, as disenfranchisement and segregation persisted, Washington would be criticized for accommodating too much white racism.

Ellis Island

Ellis Island was an immigration station for European immigrants set up at the New York Harbor 1892-1954. New arrivals had to pass extensive medical and document examinations and pay for their entry before being allowed into the US. America's cities had become a home to millions of overseas immigrants, and each had to pass through Ellis Island. After going through Ellis Island, immigrants often faced a lot of harsh times, and most felt hopeless and alone. Trying experiences like Ellis Island helped to explain why many immigrants banded together, causing a high degree of ethnic clustering. Despite the rigorous qualifications of Ellis Island, most immigrants were allowed through.

Eugene V. Debs

Eugene V. Debs was a socialist, who presented another challenge to established political parties. In the 1890s, Debs founded the American Railway Union (ARU), which was a broad group that had both skilled and unskilled workers. In 1894, in support of striking workers of the Pullman company, the ARU began to boycott luxury railway cars, and this action landed him in prison. His time in prison helped to further radicalize him, and he later created the Socialist Party of America. Debs advocated that socialism was a way to use the democratic process as a means to defeat capitalism. Debs's party eventually managed to secure a minor but persistent role in politics. Both the Progressive and Socialist parties drew support from the West, which was a region that supported vigorous urban reform movements and farmer-labor activism.

Exodusters

Exodusters were African Americans who walked or rode out of the Deep South following the Civil War, with many of them settling on farms in Kansas in hopes of finding peace and prosperity. Many African Americans viewed the plains as a land of freedom, and many of them left Mississippi and Louisiana to try to escape the white violence and poverty that they were facing. Many blacks departed together, taking almost no possessions, the clothes that they were wearing, and their faith in God. There was a mass exodus to Kansas, which soon turned out to have the highest concentration of blacks in the West. Newcomers to the West faced different circumstances than they used to, as the industry of farming had rapidly changed with its new technology, borrowed money, cash crops, and land speculation.

Free silver

Free Silver was the idea to expand the money supply to include silver coinage as well as gold. People supported the "free silver" policy because they believed it would bolster industry and increase borrowing. However, when Democratic presidential candidate (William Jennings Bryan) lost the election, it caused the end of the "free silver" movement, giving the Republicans the ability to maintain the gold standard. During the time when the Free Silver idea was being formulated, Cleveland was facing an economic panic and he was becoming increasingly out of touch with the demands of the public. While more of the public was supporting the idea of Free Silver (because the US would not charge a fee for creating silver coins and it would help the economic situation), Cleveland refused and remained firm in his idea that the gold standard was ideal.

Fundamentalism

Fundamentalism is a term adopted by Protestants, between the 1890s and the 1910s, who rejected modernism and historical interpretations of scripture. Instead, they advocated and believed the literal truth of the Bible. Fundamentalists have historically seen secularism and religious relativism as markers of sin that will be punished by God. Disturbed by what they saw as rising devotion to empirical findings instead of religious faith, conservative ministers and their allies held a series of Bible Conferences, reaffirming the fundamental principles of the Bible and the damnation of those not reborn in Christ. By the 1910s, a network of churches and Bible institutes emerged from these very conferences. They called their movement fundamentalism. Fundamentalists and their allies made particularly effective use of revival meetings, and revivalists focused mainly on heavenly redemption, avoiding talk of poverty or earthly justice.

Samuel Gompers

Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and led the AFL from 1886 until his death in 1924. He promoted harmony among the different craft unions that comprised the AFL, and opposed industrial unionism. He focused on higher wages and job security, heading the AFL for the next thirty years. He believed the Knights relied too much on electoral politics and believed that the chances for victory were much smaller through trying to take political action, and he did not share the Knights's dislike of capitalism. Gompers created out a doctrine that he called pure-and-simple unionism. The Pure part referred to membership, which he limited strictly to workers, organized by craft and occupation, with no reliance on outside advisors or allies. The Simple part was in reference to his goals, which were those that only brought immediate benefits to workers, like better wages, hours, and working conditions. Pure-and-simple unionists distrusted politics, and their goal was more oriented toward collective bargaining with their employers.

Granger laws

Granger Laws were economic regulatory laws passed in some midwestern states in the late 1870s, triggered by pressure from farmers and the Greenback-Labor Party. The Greenback movement was beginning to become more radicalized by farmers, miners, and industrial workers of all races. Greenback-Labor candidates began to become elected to Congress and gaining votes, leading to these Granger Laws. Due to these laws, twenty-nine states created railroad commissions to supervise railroad rates and policies, while others formed commissions to regulate insurance and utility companies. While some of these regularatory efforts were not always successful, they laid the foundation for reform. Although the Greenback movement was short-lived, it created the foundation for more sustained efforts to regulate large businesses.

Haymarket Square

Haymaket Square was the May 4, 1886, conflict in Chicago in which both workers and policemen were killed or wounded during a labor demonstration called by local anarchists. The incident created a backlash against all labor organizations, including the Knights of Labor. When police tried to disperse the crowd, someone threw a bomb that killed several policemen, and the latter responded with gunfire. Eight anarchists (who were people who believed in a stateless society) were convicted and tried as a result of this protest. The violence at Haymarket Square severely harmed the American labor movement. Capitalizing on anti-union feelings, employers took the offensive through breaking strikes with mass arrests, crippling the Knights in expensive court proceedings, and forcing workers to sign contracts pledging to not join labor organizations. The Knights of Labor never returned to their former glory because public perception linked them with anarchism. These conflicts between industrialists and workers created bitter divisions throughout American society.

Henry George

Henry George was a controversial reformer whose book Progress and Poverty was influential and a best seller. Watching the upheavals of industrialization, George pointed out the impacts on workers in his book, writing that Americans had been too eager about the impact of railroads and manufacturing, which they hoped would bring prosperity to everybody. George believed the developing industrial order meant permanent poverty, writing that a wedge was forming in society, lifting the fortunes of the upper classes but degrading the working class by forcing them into deskilled and low-paid labor. George's proposed solution, a federal "single tax" on landholdings, did not win widespread support, but his insightful diagnosis of the problem helped encourage radical movements for economic reform.

horizontal integration

Horizontal integration was a business concept invented in the late nineteenth century to pressure competitors and force rivals to merge their companies into a conglomerate. John D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil pioneered this business model. When Rockefeller drove his competitors to the brink of bankruptcy through the method of predatory pricing, he then offered them the opportunity to merge with his conglomerate, with most companies agreeing becuase they lacked another option. Through this horizontal integration, Rockefeller was able to take control of most of the oil industry, and this development led to the creation of a trust. A trust is where a small group of associates organized to hold stock from a group of combined firms, managing this stock as a single entity. People began to resent these trusts, who they viewed as large corporations that seemed to possess excessive power.

Hull House

Hull House was one of the first and most famous social settlements, founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and her companion Ellen Gates Starr in a poor neighborhood that was mostly populated by Italian immigrants on Chicago's West Side. The Hull House was a social settlement, which was a community welfare center that tried to help the urban poor, raise funds for emergencies, and helped helpless residents to advocate for themselves. The Hull House was a ruined mansion that served as a center for community reform and political improvement. To try to fulfill the needs of urban residents, the Hull House provided employment counseling, medical clinics, day care centers, and sometimes athletic facilities. Hull House served as a bridge between the classes and a bonding place between urban residents, and often was a bathhouse, playground, kindergarten, and day care center.

Ida B. Wells

Ida B. Wells was a radical voice of this time period and member of the National Association of Colored Women, who sued the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad for denying her a seat in the ladies' car. Wells also had three of her friends lynched for defending themselves against an angry mob. Grieving their deaths, Wells urged other African Americans to boycott the city's white businesses. Using her position as a journalist, she launched a solo campaign against lynching. Wells's investigations debunked the lie that lynchers were reacting to the crime of interracial rape. She proved that the real cause of lynching was actually economic competition, a labor dispute, or a consensual relationship between a white woman and a black man. Wells became a famed and accomplished reformer, but in the time period of increasing racial injustice, few whites supported her cause.

Ida Tarbell

Ida Tarbell was a leading muckraker who wrote in a magazine called McClure's in 1921. Tarbell made her reputation by publishing the History of the Standard Oil Company in 1904 which exposed the monopolistic practices of John D. Rockefeller through his Standard Oil Company. She helped to strengthen the movement for outlawing monopolies. She was a skilled reporter who exposed the schemes of Rockefeller, and she reached national audiences. Although she was dismissed as a muckraker, she was still able to have a profound impact through her writing.

Jacob Riis

Jacob Riis came during a time when news reporters exposed corrupt city governments, large corporations abusing their power, and threats to public health. Deciding to use the advantage of flash photography to his advantage, journalist Jacob Riis included photographs of the inside of tenements in his famous 1890 book, How the Other Half Lives. Due to these photographs and the influence he had through exposing the poor conditions of these tenements, Riis had an immense influence on Theodore Roosevelt while the latter was the New York City's police commissioner. Roosevelt asked Riis to lead him on tours around the tenements, to help him understand the problems of poverty, disease, and crime.

Jane Addams

Jane Addams was a middle class reformer. She was one of the people who realized that political bosses remained in power because they helped the people. Although people were aware that the political boss was corrupt, he displayed "village kindness," so people voted for him. She advocated that middle-class reformers would only have an effect if they were able to stop their condescending attitudes and learn to stand by the rest of the typical Americans. She concluded that reformers needed to help the people better than these political bosses if they wanted to have any influence. She also founded the Hull House. She was a reformer for the people, and often worked with others to try to improve the lives of the urban poor.

John Wesley Powell

John Wesley Powell was a U.S. soldier, geologist, and explorer of the American West. He is famous for the 1869 Powell Geographic Expedition, which was a three-month river trip down the Green and Colorado rivers that included the first passage through the Grand Canyon. In his Report on the Lands of the Arid Region of the United States (1879), Powell predicted that 160-acre homesteads would not work in dry regions. Impressed with the success of Mormon irrigation projects in Utah, he also urged the United States to follow their model. He wanted the government to develop the West's water resources, building dams and canals and organizing landowners into local districts to operate them. He also wanted massive cooperation under government control, but Congress eventually rejected Powell's plan. Critics accused him of playing into the hands of large ranching corporations because many people still wanted small homesteads, but Powell eventually ended up being right.

Lincoln Steffens

Lincoln Steffens was a writer for McClure's who wrote a series of articles titled The Shame of the Cities. Through his article, he exposed the alliance between big business and municipal government, denouncing the corruption found in urban governments. He claimed that politicians were "swindling" the public, and that government officials were being corrupted by "outlaws" or succumbing to bribery. Although he is often viewed as taking an extreme view on urban politics, the charges of corruption that he brought up were still valid, and as cities began to grow during this era of industrialization, they began to bring about problems in the government. Lincoln Steffens also charged political machines as corrupt.

Margaret Sanger

Margaret Sanger was a nurse who moved to New York City in 1911 and volunteered with a Lower East Side settlement. The true impact of her work can be displayed in these social settlements. She was horrified by women's suffering from constant pregnancies, and had a personal connection to this struggle because her devout Catholic mother died young due to having eleven children. Sanger launched a crusade for what she termed as birth control. Her newspaper column, "What Every Girl Should Know," soon obtained an indictment for violating obscenity laws. The publicity that came from Sanger's column helped her launch a national birth control movement.

Modernism

Modernism was a movement that questioned the ideals of progress and order, rejected realism, and emphasized new cultural forms. Modernism became the first great literary and artistic movement of the twentieth century and remains influential today. Clemens (also known as Mark Twain) helped to shape modernism and by the time of his death, realist and naturalist writers had laid the groundwork for modernism, which rejected traditional perceptions of literature. Interrogating the whole idea of progress and order, modernists focused on the subconscious mind and sought to go against convention and tradition. Modernism became the first great literary and artistic movement of the twentieth century. Many leading writers and artists in the realism and modernism movement were men. Through making their work strong, they also tried to assert their masculinity, and they ended up contributing to a the further masculinization of American culture.

muckrakers

Muckrakers were an insulting term, originating from Theodore Roosevelt, for investigative journalists who published exposés of political scandals and industrial abuses. Muckrakers often exposed scandals and injustices, with their goal believing that their journalism should challenge those in power. Muckrakers believed that they were speaking for ordinary Americans who lacked a voice to speak for themselves. This inspired many other urban journalists to try to advocate for reform. Roosevelt tried to dismiss these writers as muckrakers, who focused too much on the negative side of American life. Although the derogatory term stuck, the influence of the muckrakers was immense, inspiring countless readers to get involved in reform and tackle the problems of industrial life.

Mugwumps

Mugwumps were a group of more radical and reform-hungry Republicans who broke away from them in 1884 to support Grover Cleveland, who was the Democratic presidential candidate. Most Mugwumps were liberal, and they scorned corruption and wanted less governmental interference and civil service reform. Many Mugwumps were former Republicans who had become fed up with Reconstruction and wanted a smaller and more professional government. They also were horrified with the Republican party's choice of James Blaine, who had a history of scandal. This caused them to turn to the Democratic party and help get their candidate elected, and he mostly shared their views.

Muller v. Oregon

Muller v. Oregon was a major win for those who were supporting working-class women. This case upheld Oregon's law, which had restricted women's workdays to 10 hours. This case was a major victory, especially because it contradicted Lochner v. New York, which had only happened years earlier. Arguments during this case included social science research, demonstrating that longer work days took a toll on women's health. This case paved the way for not only the use of social science in further cases, but also encouraged women's organizations to continue advocating for more reforms. Although it was successful, the Supreme Court decision only applied to women and did not protect men, as the Court viewed protecting women's motherhood (and future offspring) as a priority. This case discouraged labor advocates and also divided women's reformers for years to come. This also reflected a growing pattern of trying to "protect" women while treating them differently from men.

Munn v. Illinois

Munn v. Illinois was a 1876 case in which the Supreme Court affirmed that states could regulate key businesses, such as railroads and grain elevators, if those businesses were "clothed" in the public interest. The Munn case allowed states to regulate certain businesses within their borders, including railroads, and is commonly regarded as a milestone in the growth of federal government regulation. State legislatures had begun to pass regulatory laws, but interstate companies challenged them, leading to this ruling from the Supreme Court. The justices feared that too many state and local regulations would harm the national marketplace and hurt business, and also extended the 14th amendment to include protecting corporations from excessive regulation.

New Nationalism

New Nationalism was a term coined by Roosevelt in his 1910 speech. He called for a "New Nationalism" that encouraged the government to intervene to improve public welfare. This included a federal child labor law, a stronger acknowledgement of labor rights, a national minimum wage for women, women's suffrage, and restrictions on the power of federal courts to stop reform. The most radical part of his speech was the attack on the legal system, as he believed that courts were curbing reform and wanted a limitation to their powers. He also advocated that private property should be controlled to the needs of the public welfare. New Nationalism became the base of Roosevelt's new political party, the Progressive Party.

Plessy v. Ferguson

Plessy v. Ferguson was an 1896 Supreme Court case that ruled that racially segregated railroad cars and other public facilities, if they claimed to be "separate but equal," were permissible according to the Fourteenth Amendment. During this time period, colored people often faced discrimination from train conductors when they tried to take first-class seats. In 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court settled these issues with the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, and was brought by civil rights advocates on behalf of Homer Plessy, a New Orleans resident who was one-eighth black. Plessy was ordered to leave a first-class car and move to the "colored" car of a Louisiana train, and when he refused, he was arrested. The Court ruled that this type of segregation did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment as long as blacks had access to accommodations that were "separate but equal" to those that were given to whites. These facilities were not "equal," however: segregated facilities in the South were obviously inferior. Jim Crow segregation laws clearly was discriminatory, but the Court allowed them to stand. This case basically placed a governmental approval on segregation.

progressivism

Progressivism was a term for political reformers, frequently from the elite and middle classes, who wanted to improve the political system, combat poverty, preserve environmental resources, and increase government involvement in the economy. Progressivism during this time period led to it being called the "Progressive Era." Reformers were typically incited into action because of their fear that mass protests by workers and farmers would spread, and they also had a desire to improve on social welfare and social justice. Due to the struggles that were often found in urban life, especially for the poor and children, this presented a great opportunity for experimentation and reform. Progressivism was an overlapping set of movements to combat the ills of industrialization and had strong ties to the city. In the slums and tenements of the metropolis, reformers helped to create new forms of civic participation that helped shape national politics.

Protective Tariff

Protective Tariffs were a tax or duty on foreign producers of goods coming into or imported into the US. This gave manufacturers a competitive advantage in America's gigantic domestic market because they did not have to pay the fees. Protective tariffs were placed on agricultural products, like wool and sugar, and on manufactured goods, like textiles and steel. At foreign customs houses, foreign manufacturers were forced to pay a fee on the goods that they brought into the US. The Republicans in Congress established protective tariffs because they were determined to avoid the economic hardships that they believed had contributed to the cause of the Civil War, and they wanted to use their federal power. Tariffs also helped to provide the bulk of treasury revenue. While Democrats argue that tariffs raised the prices of goods and forced consumers to pay more, Republicans argue that tariffs provided more jobs and protected the average civilian. Although protective tariffs did play a large part in economic growth, they also mainly served to only increase the wealth of corporations that did not pass the money on to their workers.

Realism

Realism was a movement that called for writers and artists to picture daily life as precisely and truly as possible. Many American authors set out on a mission to relate facts to society, and rejected romanticism and sentimentality. Through this rejection, they took up literary realism. By the 1890s, a younger generation of writers pursued this goal. They often frowned upon novels that had a "happy ending." Some authors believed realism did not go far enough to overturn sentimentalism. Realism was the 19th century artistic movement in which writers and painters sought to show life as it is rather than life as it should be. Writers were encouraged to describe the daily life in the most accurate terms possible.

referendum

Referendums were the process of voting directly on a potential policy measure, instead of letting elected legislators decide. Referendums were a progressive reform. The referendum was directly advocated for by Robert LaFollette, as he was wildly focused on trying to increase democracy and bringing more power to the people. The ability of the people to participate in a referendum first was given to Wisconsin citizens, and soon spread to other places. The referendum is one of the results of Republicans strengthening in their demands for grassroots change.

Robert LaFollette

Robert LaFollette was the Republican governor of Wisconsin. He is credited with turning Wisconsin into a "laboratory of democracy." He was an avid supporter of what he termed as the Wisconsin Idea, which was a proposal for more government intervention in the economy, with policy recommendations being formulated by experts and progressive economists. He wanted to increase democracy while also following the ideas of experts. LaFollette was able to restrict lobbying and give citizens the right to recall and referendum. He later became a senator, and strived toward limiting corporations and protecting workers.

scientific management

Scientific management is a system of organizing work developed by Frederick W. Taylor in the late nineteenth century. It was designed to coax maximum output from the individual worker, increase efficiency, and reduce production costs. Managers sought to further reduce costs through this program of industrial efficiency. Through the system of scientific management, employers were advised to take away all the brain work from manual labor and instead have laborers be governed by rules and instructions of the educated experts. Workers were supposed to do what they were told without question, and in return they were given higher earnings (in an extreme form, they were paid better if they were able to perform their tasks under a certain amount of time). Although it seemed to be impressive in philosophy, scientific management was not a big success, as it was expensive to implement and workers resented it, but corporate managers took parts of this system and applied it to their own workplace. Through systems like these, corporate America was beginning to form a wide gap between blue collar workers and their managers. This method was one of the many examples of managers trying to deskill production.

Scott Joplin

Scott Joplin was the master of the genre of ragtime. Ragtime was a way for black performers to become stars, and it was a music that had a "ragged" rhythm that became wildly popular among all classes and races, and started a popular urban dance craze too. He was the son of former slaves, and he and other performers helped to make ragtime a national trend. A skilled pianist, he wanted to elevate African American music and bring it to a broader audience. Soon, many young Americans were embracing ragtime. He helped to bring black music into a central part of American culture.

Sitting Bull

Sitting Bull was a Lakota Sioux religious leader who became a war leader in battles against the U.S. Army. He took part in many battles, including the Battle of the Little Bighorn. When he was pressured by troops, he often crossed into Canada where he told the media that the life of the white man was dull and much like slavery. The Lakota were in Black Hills, and when there was rumored to be gold in this area, the US government tried to force them to evacuate the area, but the Indians refused and instead formed one large village in order to resist. In the Battle of Little Bighorn, Custer tried to plan a surprise attack on Sitting Bull's camp, but instead the Indians were ready and killed every single US attacker. However, the media took this up and portrayed the Indians as savages and used this battle against them to justify taking their land. Sitting Bull also announced that he wanted his children to be educated like white children in order to adapt to the new world that they were living in.

Social Darwinism

Social Darwinism was an idea, formulated by British philosopher and sociologist Herbert Spencer, that human society advanced through ruthless competition and the "survival of the fittest." Social Darwinism was further taken up and developed in America by William Graham Sumner. Sumner believed that competition was a law of nature, and that the fittest members of society were the millionaires. Their success in Industrial America showed they were "naturally selected" to succeed. However, Sumner's views were controversial because many philosophers objected to the extrapolation of biological findings to society and government. They pointed out that Darwin's theories were formulated based on animals, not humans. Social Darwinism, they argued, served as an excuse for the worst effects of industrialization. Although intellectuals revolted against Sumner and his allies, the philosophy of Social Darwinism helped to justify and increase immigration restrictions.

Social Gospel

Social Gospel was a movement to renew religious faith through dedication to public welfare and social justice, reforming both society and the self through Christian service. Some Protestants responded to the urban, immigrant challenge by putting their efforts to converting the non-religious people of America. They provided reading rooms, day nurseries, vocational classes, and other facilities. The idea of renewing religious faith through dedication to justice and social welfare became known as the Social Gospel. The goals of the Social Gospel were highlighted in Charles Sheldon's novel In His Steps (1896), which followed the story of a congregation who resolved to live by Christ's precepts for one year.

Solid South

Solid South was the goal the Democratic party gaining the majority of electoral control in the South. Although the Populist party was presenting some opposition to the vote, the Democratic party was determined to take them down. They took the position of white supremacy and started aggressively enforcing this, such as increasing segregation laws, literacy tests, and poll taxes. The racial climate was dangerous, with lynchings becoming more frequent and public. Some populists even joined the Democratic party and started advocating for white supremacy, and voting turnout plummeted, with many blacks and poor whites giving up on voting. This gave the Democratic party almost unrivaled control over the South.

tenement

Tenements were extremely crowded, cheap, five- or six-story living spaces for working-class urban populations. Tenements soon became a symbol of urban immigrant poverty. No matter where their origins were, laboring residents needed cheap housing that was close to their jobs. Their choices were limited. Due to increasing prices on urban land, speculators destroyed houses that were left vacant by middle-class families moving away from the urban core. In their place, speculators began constructing tenements that housed twenty or more families in tiny, cramped apartments. Tenements was the breeding site of rampant disease and caused horrific infant mortality. African Americans also suffered a lot due to tenements, as they often received the buildings with the worst conditions. Due to these poor conditions, reformers often called for tenements with better conditions, and tried to enact housing codes. However, citizens had to have housing near their jobs, and urban development pushed up land prices, so landlords only earned a profit through cheap, unsafe housing.

"City Beautiful" movement

The "City Beautiful" movement was movement toward the turning of the twentieth century that pushed for beautification of the landscape, playgrounds, and an increased number of improved urban parks. People wanted to make urban cities a healthier and more beautiful place to live in, to combat the diseases and pollution that had been ravaging the cities. Recreation, where people could stroll in parks and appreciate the beautiful landscape, began to receive attention. The movement was dedicated to advocate for more and better park spaces, and this included features such as flower gardens, tree-lined paths, tennis courts, baseball fields, etc. There was also an increase in the number of playgrounds, to keep urban children safe and healthy.

American Federation of Labor

The American Federation of Labor was a union of skilled laborers formed by Samuel Gompers in 1866 that coordinated the activities of craft unions and called for direct negotiation with employers in order to achieve benefits for skilled workers. Many trade unionists joined the Knights coalition, but in the wake of the Haymarket Square event, they quickly turned to the AFL. The AFL became one of the most powerful unions in the United States and achieved success by focusing on smaller issues such as shorter workdays and higher wages for union members, and lasted a lot longer than other labor movements. The AFL, made up of relatively skilled and well-paid workers, was less interested in challenging the corporate order and just wanted to gain a larger share of the rewards that corporate America could provide. The AFL's stance worked well during this time period, as Congress and the courts were more hostile toward labor movements. Although successful, the AFL was not as inclusive as the Knights, with membership being excluded to mostly skilled craftsmen with far less women and blacks, leading to them having a very narrow base.

American Protective Association

The American Protective Association was a powerful political organization of militant Protestants, which for a brief period in the 1890s counted more than two million members. In its virulent anti-Catholicism and calls for restrictions on immigrants, the APA prefigured the revived Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s. Chauvinism elsewhere in the world often the attitudes that appeared at home, where Protestants started believing they were superior. Militant Protestants created a powerful political organization, the American Protective Association. This nativist group were outraged at the existence of separate Catholic schools while demanding that all public school teachers be Protestants. The APA called for a ban on Catholic officeholders, arguing that they were beholden to a "power" that was not able to be controlled by Americans. The APA arose partly because Protestants found their dominance challenged, as millions of Americans, especially in the industrial working class, were now Catholics or Jews.

Burlingame Treaty

The Burlingame Treaty was an agreement with China. It encouraged Chinese immigration to the United States at a time when cheap labor was in demand for U.S. railroad construction, doubling the influx of Chinese immigrants. The Burlingame treaty guaranteed the rights of U.S. missionaries in China and set official terms for the emigration of Chinese laborers to work in the United States. Many Chinese laborers were already clearing farm lands and building railroads in the West. The Burlingame Treaty was pioneered by Seward and later approved by Congress in 1868. This was among Seward's bid to increase the global power of the United States.

Chinese Exclusion Act

The Chinese Exclusion Act was the 1882 law that barred Chinese laborers from entering the United States. It continued in effect until the 1940s, and was the foundation for many other far-reaching exclusionary policies. Through the Burlingame Treaty, many Chinese immigrants came to the US to escape the poverty and upheaval of Southern China, and took low-paying jobs or opened restaurants and laundries. They often faced violence and discrimination. Congress continued to renew the law and tighten the provisions, even making it so that Chinese women were not allowed to enter the US, separating husbands and wives while the husband took a job in the US. There was a lot of discrimination against Asians, preventing them from applying for citizenship, and to enforce the law, Congress gave increasing powers to immigration officials, making the Chinese the first illegal immigrants. However, despite the law, there were many Chinese immigrants who snuck across the border to find jobs.

Clayton Anti-trust Act

The Clayton Anti-Trust Act was a policy, passed in 1914, that broadened the federal definitions of "monopoly" and gave more power to the Justice Department to pursue antitrust cases. It also specified that labor unions could not generally be prosecuted for harming trade, basically ensuring that antitrust laws would only apply to corporations and not affect unions. This act came when Wilson and the Democratic Congress was trying to take economic reform measures, setting their sights on attacking large trusts. This act also stemmed from the idea that monopolies were inefficient, and this act was supposed to help promote free competition, which is supposedly important in a healthy economy. The definition of an illegal act was left fairly broad, as anything that inhibited competition, amending the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The new Federal Trade Commission was given broad powers of decision-making and judgement, and they were given the power to investigate companies and issue "cease and desist" orders against any corporation that they felt was harming competition.

Comstock Act

The Comstock Act was an 1873 law that prohibited circulation of "obscene literature," defined as including most information on sex, reproduction, and birth control. During Reconstruction, Anthony Comstock, secretary of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, secured a federal law banning "obscene materials" from the U.S. mail. The Comstock Act (1873) outlawed the circulation of almost all information about sex and birth control. Comstock won support for the law mostly by appealing to parents' fears that young people were receiving sexual information through the mail, promoting the rise of "secret vice." Though critics believed that Comstock was wrongly interfering in private matters, others supported his work, scared of the rising spread of pornography, sexual information, and contraceptives made available by industrialization. A committee of the New York legislature declared Comstock's efforts as "wholly essential to the safety and decency of the community." However, that Comstock was largely unsuccessful in stopping the lucrative and popular trade in contraceptives.

Dawes Severalty Act

The Dawes Severalty Act was the 1887 law that gave Native Americans individual ownership of land by dividing reservations into homesteads. The law was a disaster for the Native Americans, however, resulting in the loss of two-thirds of their lands over several decades. Senator Henry Dawes was a leader in the Indian Rights Association, and strongly disliked the reservation system, so he hoped to force Indians onto individual landholdings to try to get them to assimilate and increase their independence. However, this act was a disaster because it was taken advantage of by whites who wanted Indian land and persuaded the government to sell them land that was not needed for the individual Indian allotments. The Bureau of Indian Affairs implemented the law carelessly, and native peoples lost much of their land through fraud, BIA mismanagement, and pressure to sell land to whites.

Ghost Dance Movement

The Ghost Dance Movement was a religion of the late 1880s and early 1890s that combined elements of Christianity and traditional Native American religion. It fostered a hope in that Plains Indians that they could, through sacred traditions, resurrect the great bison herds and call up a storm to drive whites back across the Atlantic. Many Indian children had strong bonds of kinship and ties to their culture, so schools were hard pressed to be able to fully convert the children. This often led to a syncretic blend of culture, exemplified in the Ghost Dance movement. This movement spread across reservations, and native peoples began to form a new identity. However, this movement (along with other cultural practices) were often misunderstood by the whites and ended up even resulting in events like Wounded Knee.

Gilded Age

The Gilded Age was a term created in the 1920s that describes the late 19th century as a period of huge shows of wealth, increasing poverty, and government inaction in the problem of income inequality. Commentators advocated that the Gilded Age was followed by the "Progressive Era," through which citizens started advocating for reform. Although it was unclear on the dates from when the Gilded Age turned into the Progressive Era (since the 1870s and 1880s had mass protests of farmers, industrial laborers, and middle-class women for reform), it is usually agreed upon that the era after 1900 was filled with more laws to address industrial poverty, working conditions, and the power of monopolies and trusts. The Gilded Age is often associated with a time period of corrupt politics and focus on all the wrong issues, having gotten its name because it was a time period of huge displays of wealth, while America was morally corrupt underneath. The Gilded Age also brought with it increasing poverty, a lack of workers' rights, and pollution.

Gold standard

The Gold Standard was the practice of backing a country's currency with its reserves of a mineral. In 1873 the US, following Great Britain and other European nations, began converting to this practice. Due to the era of rapid nation-building, the US looked to different ways to try to rationalize markets, adopting the gold standard. The United States also switched to the gold standard because geologists had predicted a rapid influx of silver from western expansion, which would endanger the stability of silver (as they had formerly been using silver coins as well). Congress chose gold, and instructed the treasury to stop minting silver dollars and retire the Civil War era greenbacks, and instead replace them with new notes that could be later exchanged for gold on request. By adopting this standard, policymakers were able to sharply limit the money supply and lower the amount in circulation, although this would be dangerous to an economy that was growing at very quick rates. Also, by adopting the gold standard, the US was also able to attract investment from other European nations that were using the gold standard, which made it easier to exchange currency and encouraged European investors to use their money in the US.

Great Railroad Strike of 1877

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 was a nationwide strike of thousands of railroad workers and labor allies, who protested the growing power of railroad corporations and the steep wage cuts imposed by railroad managers amid a severe economic depression that had begun in 1873. As the labor class had been traditionally weak in the American political system, the option available to them in order for them to gain political influence was to organize and negotiate with their employers directly. The problem that came with industrial labor was made readily apparent in the Great Railroad Strike. Believing railroad companies were conspiring against them to keep them from uniting and robbing them of their pay, railroad workers walked off the job. This strike brought railroad commerce and travel to a grinding stop. People flooded into the streets to protest the economic injustice of the railroad system, and also the dangers brought about by the fires started by the sparks given off from locomotives or the deaths and injuries that had occurred on the railroad tracks. When confronted with police, workers reacted by burning property and overturning locomotives. After the strike, many workers lost their jobs, and people were starting to become fearful of the social and economic upheaval of industrial America, and the US government created the National Guard to control what was happening in America internally.

Hatch Act

The Hatch Act was a law that provided federal funding for agricultural research and education, meeting farmers' demands for government aid to agriculture. Around this time, farmer-labor coalitions had a considerable impact on state politics, but state laws and commissions were proving to be ineffective against corporations of national scope. Responding to the pressure of demands for federal action, Congress created two acts, one of them being the Hatch Act. The Hatch Act established agricultural experiment stations to communicate new developments in agriculture to farmers in every state, and provided funding for agricultural experiments on land-grant agricultural schools. This was a landmark law passed by Congress and President Cleveland.

Homestead Act

The Homestead Act gave 160 acres of free western land to any applicant who occupied and improved the property. Republicans hoped this policy would lead to the expansion of the interior West, and it did end up leading to rapid development. However, this land was also already inhabited by Indians, but the government had regarded this land as "empty." Facing arid conditions in the West, however, many people found themselves unable to live on their land. Republicans desperately wanted to encourage the growth of farms along with factories, leading to the making of this act. The plan to rapidly develop the West called for lots of innovative policies, leading Congress to create a slew of related acts.

Homestead lockout

The Homestead Lockout was the 1892 lockout of workers at the Homestead, Pennsylvania, steel mill after Andrew Carnegie refused to renew the union contract. Supporters of the union soon opened fire on the private guards who were hired to defend the plant, and soon the National Guard was involved, and Homestead, like other steel plants, became a non-union mill. In the beginning, the skilled workers at Homestead were given fair wages and were allowed to organize, but as Carnegie began to obtain more advanced machinery, he started to believe that collective bargaining was too expensive for the company. He soon locked out members of the workers' union and would only allow them back to work if they signed individual contracts, and as replacement workers were beginning to be hired, the war began. This Homestead Lockout showed that industrialization was a violent and controversial process, and the working conditions began to change dynamically, causing many workers to organize to defend their interests.

Industrial Workers of the World

The Industrial Workers of the World was union and radical political group that was created in 1905, with the goal to unite unskilled workers against capitalism. Also known as the Wobblies, they encouraged direct action by workers, including sabotage and strikes. The Wobblies began to avidly support the Marxist class struggle. They thought that if they showed their resistance in the workplace and launched a general strike, workers could defeat capitalism. A new society would emerge, run directly by workers. The IWW had thousands of members at its peak, and although they were divided by internal conflicts, they helped to start a number of local protests during the 1910s. Through protests like the IWW, labor issues soon came to the forefront of America's politics.

Interstate Commerce Act

The Interstate Commerce Act was an 1887 act that created the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), a federal regulatory agency designed to oversee the railroad industry and prevent collusion and unfair rates. This act counteracted a Supreme Court decision of the previous year, Wabash v. Illinois (1886), that had struck down states' authority to regulate railroads. The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was charged with investigating interstate shipping, forcing railroads to make their rates public, and suing in court when necessary to make sure companies charged fair rates. The creation of the ICC was a response to the demands of farmers and laborers, but it ended up being more of a compromise between radical congressmen, who wanted direct rules, and more lenient members who advocated for an expert commission. In the beginning, the ICC faced challenges, as although the new law outlawed railroads from reaching secret rate-setting agreements, evidence was difficult to gather and their collusion continued. A hostile Supreme Court also lessened the commission's powers, as many Supreme Court cases ended in the Court siding with private railroad companies. However, Congress would later stengthen the power of this commission and it would become one of the most powerful commissions that oversees private industries.

Knights of Labor

The Knights of Labor was the first, and most important, mass labor organization created among America's working class. It was a coalition of workers and farmers. Founded in 1869 and peaking in strength in the mid-1880s, the Knights of Labor attempted to bridge boundaries of ethnicity, gender, ideology, race, and occupation to build a "universal brotherhood" of all workers. Some Knights even became politically involved, believing that electoral action could bring about many of their goals, and also participating in the Greenback movement, and they believed that ordinary people should have control over the businesses in which they worked, so they wanted to create shops that were owned by employees. The Knights also practiced open membership meaning a person of any race, gender, or job could join (although excluding Chinese immigrants, like many other labor groups). The Knights wanted workplace safety laws, prohibition of child labor, a federal tax on the nation's highest incomes, public ownership of telegraphs and railroads, and government recognition of workers' right to organize. Growing rapidly, the Knights union was expansive and decentralized, and demonsrated the grassroots basis of labor activism.

Morrill Act

The Morrill Act set aside 140 million federal acres that states could sell to raise money for public universities. The goal of these colleges was to widen the educational opportunities to those who migrated to the West, and try to make Western expansion more appealing. Congress also wanted to foster and encourage technical and scientific expertise for the next generations. While policies like the Morrill Act were successful in incorporating these western lands, moving out to the West seemed to not be a wise choice for families. The US exploited this land for raw materials, and well-financed corporations often succeeded, but individual prospectors and citizens often suffered in the Great Plains and had tough lives.

National American Woman Suffrage Association

The National American Woman Suffrage Association was an organization created in 1890 by the union of the National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association. Up to the national ratification of suffrage in 1920, the NAWSA played a central role in campaigning for women's right to vote. Though it had split into two rival organizations during Reconstruction, women's suffrage movement reunited in 1890 in the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Soon afterward, suffragists built on their earlier wins, gaining full ballots for women in places such as Colorado, Idaho, and Utah. Afterward, movement leaders were disheartened by a long-period of state-level defeats and Congress's rejection of the idea of a constitutional amendment. But suffrage picked up momentum after 1911, and by 1913 most women living west of the Mississippi River could vote. In other places, women could vote in municipal elections, school elections, or liquor referenda.

National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry

The National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry (also known as the Grange) organized in 1867 and was led by Oliver H. Kelley. Kelley's first objective was to enhance the lives of isolated farmers through social, educational, and fraternal activities. Rural people too were at the mercy of larger corporations, as their profits were being lessened and their power being stripped away, and they were becoming angry at the high tariffs as they believed that high tariffs were forcing rural families to pay too much for basic necessities while failing to protect America's crops. The National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry was a rural protest group that formed in opposition to these conditions, planning to fight the growing power of corporate workers through cooperation and mutual aid. The Grange set up its own banks, insurance companies, and grain elevators, and many members also advocated for political action, and Grangers, labor advocates, and local workingmen's parties forged a national political movement called the Greenback-Labor Party.

Sand Creek Massacre

The Sand Creek Massacre was the killing of more than a hundred peaceful Cheyenne, most of them being women and children, by John M. Chivington's Colorado militia in 1864. With the Civil War, many members of the Union army were busy fighting the Confederacy, and western whites felt vulnerable to Indian attacks, and they were also able to attack Indians due to the little federal oversight. Worried Coloradans formed a military campaign against the Cheyennes, who were allies of the Sioux, in lieu of the uprising that the Sioux had conducted. Chivington thought he was going to rise as a politician and squelch public fears by leading this attack on the Cheyenne camp while most men were out hunting. Many people believed that the Indians were obstacles to be killed, but they killed mainly women and children, which tainted the conscience of many who participated. The northern plains were extremely infuriated, and Cheyennes carried war pipes to their allies, and they began attacking and burning white settlements. Putting down these people presented a serious problem to the army.

Sierra Club

The Sierra Club was an organization founded in 1892 whose purpose was to maintain the enjoyment and preservation of America's great mountains (such as the Sierra Nevadas) and other wilderness environments. Based on pressure from such groups, the national and state governments began to set aside more public lands for preservation and recreation. In an industrial society, the outdoors became associated with leisure and pleasure instead of danger and hard work. John Muir became the most famous voice for wilderness and had a deeply spiritual relationship with the natural world. Muir founded the Sierra Club, and it dedicated itself to preserving and enjoying America's great mountains. The Sierra Club came around during a time period of environmentally conscious citizens who wanted to preserve the outdoors and spend more leisurely time in nature. The United States substantially expanded its park system and, during Theodore Roosevelt's presidency, extended the reach of national forests.

Transcontinental Railroad

The Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869 at Promontory, Utah, linking the eastern railroad system with California's railroad system. This revolutionized transportation in the west because it was a railroad that stretches across a continent from coast to coast. The Transcontinental Railroad made it so that it was easier for mail and goods to travel faster and cheaper, but it also took land away from Native Americans and many were killed in the earlier stages of the railroad's construction. The railway line was completed on May 10, 1869, and it connected the Central Pacific and Union Pacific lines, enabling goods to move by railway from the eastern United States all the way to California. The railroad provided jobs and money, and Republicans believed that the railroad was the key to national economic progress and keeping the Union together. However, there were negative consequences to the railroad in the form of loss of Native American life, favored international investors at the cost of domestic investors, and exaggerated the US's rivalry with Europe and increased exploitation.

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire was a devastating fire that quickly spread through the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in New York City on March 25, 1911, killing 146 people. In this fire, workers were horrified to learn that despite fire safety laws, employers had sealed off the emergency exits to prevent theft, trapping many workers in the flames, and causing many young workers to leap out of the windows to their deaths. This horrible event incited rage across ethnic, religious, and class boundaries. The incident inspired fifty-six state laws to be passed, dealing with regulating problems such as fire hazards, unsafe machines, and wages and working hours for women and children, and the resulting labor code was one of the most advanced codes of its time. The fire also lit a fire underneath a national movement for industrial reform, showing the need for broader action from reformers. The action taken by Congress helped to acknowledge that the industrial conditions needed to be reformed, and that the problems of the city outweighed the power of political machines.

Women's Christian Temperance Union

The Woman's Christian Temperance Union was an organization that advocated for the prohibition of liquor that spread rapidly after 1879, when Frances Willard became its leader. Advocating suffrage and a host of reform activities, it helped thousands of women into public life and was the first nationwide organization to identify and condemn domestic violence. During this time period, women were steadily expanding their place in the household, building reforms and taking political action. One common goal among activist women was to lessen alcohol abuse by prohibiting liquor sales. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union spread rapidly after 1879, when Frances Willard started leading it. The WCTU launched women into the political sphere, more successfully than any other women's group during this time period. WCTU members gave detailed descriptions of the struggle of abused wives and children when men were drunk. These women typically placed all of the blame on alcohol rather than other reasons, but the WCTU was still the first organization to try to fight against domestic violence. WCTU activism led some leaders to question the effects of industrial society, and taught women how to lobby, raise money, and run for office.

Lochner v. New York

The case of Lochner v. New York was when the Supreme Court ruled that New York could not limit bakers' workdays to 10 hours because that took away the rights of the bakers to make contracts. Labor organizations were facing a harder time trying to make progress in this new political era, as the federal courts overturned many regulatory laws that were designed to protect workers. In this case, judges used the 14th amendment to justify their decision, ruling that the "due process" clause prohibited states from interfering with contract rights. The judges advocated that they were protecting the workers from government interference, and this case was an example of how the 14th amendment would be used to prohibit the regulation of private businesses. Many farmers and labor advocates were unhappy with these rulings, as they believed that the judges were overreaching and not the state legislatures.

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt was a man who gained an adequate understanding of how all levels of government functioned. He was extremely progressive and unpredictable, and he was an advocate for avid reform. He supported civil service reform and wanted a tax on corporations. He was a Republican, who when he took office, facilitated a major shift in the party. Roosevelt combined reform with the needs of private enterprise, but he also often challenged major corporations. Although he was tolerant of large-scale enterprise, he was against big corporations abusing their power, and often sought to regulate trusts. He also took many steps to protect the environment and was able to issue many executive orders and create national parks, and some of the conservation laws he passed also benefited businesses.

Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison came during a time period where the United States was rapidly industrializing. With this industrialization came a phase where technological innovations were celebrated and inventors were praised. Thomas Edison was one of the most famous inventors of this time period, and he worked in an independent laboratory instead of a large-scale corporation. Edison's inventions especially appealed to the working class, and he was an intelligent entrepreneur who focused on commercial success. He helped to invent products like the incandescent light bulb and the phonograph, which started appearing in many typical American households. Edison also invented moving pictures, which first became popular among the urban working class.

Frederick Jackson Turner

Turner was an American historian who said that humanity would continue to progress as long as there was new land to move into. The frontier provided a place for the homeless and solved social problems. He was famous for his "Frontier Thesis," where he argued that American expansion into the frontier helped to progress American individuality and their independence and shape America's national character, and helped to form a new and all American culture. During a time of transition, he declared the end of the frontier, as there used to be a westward-moving line that had been the border between "civilization and savagery," and proclaimed that Americans had claimed "empty" land. While Turner had acknowledged that the frontier had good and evil elements (such as the frontier lacking an effective government), eager listeners to his publication only acknowledged the positives. They saw expansion into the West as an example of America's individuality, believing that they had conquered the West peacefully and in a different way than the Europeans had performed their imperial expansion.

Upton Sinclair

Upton Sinclair was a prominent journalist who moved to expose some of the most extreme forms of labor exploitation. Although reform efforts had an impact, the issues brought about by industrialization continued to cause pain for workers in urban workplaces and environments. Through his novel The Jungle, Upton Sinclair commented on and described the disgusting conditions in Chicago meat-packing plants. Although Sinclair tried to focus on the struggles of the workers, what caught the national audience's attentions were his descriptions of rotten meat and filthy packing conditions. The national uproar over these filthy conditions caused Congress to pass the Pure Food and Drug Act (1906) and to create the federal Food and Drug Administration to oversee compliance with the new law. Although not successful in his original goal, The Jungle showed how urban reformers had an impact on national politics.

vertical integration

Vertical Integration was a business model in which a corporation controlled all aspects of production from raw materials to packaged products. Industrial innovators, like Gustavus Swift and Andrew Carnegie, pioneered this business form at the end of the Civil War. Swift pioneered this strategy through owning all steps of the meat production industry, and other packers began to follow his example until he possessed significant control over the market. Because of the control that Swift gained through vertical integration, he also began to develop a new sales tactic, which included lowering prices in markets to below production costs to harm independent distributors. The large firm that Swift owned was able to survive the temporary losses, then was able to raise the prices again once the competition went under.

William Jennings Bryan

William Jennings Bryan was the Democratic party candidate, who was a surprising choice as the party seemed to be moving in a more radical direction with their nominee. Bryan advocated for the rights of farmers and despised the gold standard. He is most famous for his convention speech, where he declared that "You shall not crucify mankind on a cross of gold." Supporters also took his position of supporting Free Silver and imposing a federal income tax on the wealthy, which would take the place of tariffs. With Bryan, it seemed that Democrats were moving away from their stance of limited government and moving toward a more activist stance. He was also endorsed by the populists, as a lot of his stances were similar to their ideals. However, Republicans were horrified by Bryan's stances and believed that he was promoting anarchy.

William Seward

William Seward was the Secretary of State who was responsible for purchasing Alaskan Territory from Russia. By purchasing Alaska, he expanded the territory of the country at a reasonable price. He was also active in the Burlingame Treaty, and believed that Asia was at the center of the world events and that carrying out commerce in Asia was the key to prosperity. He pioneered the process of expanding the influence of the US not through conquest, but through trade. He urged Congress to buy sites in the Pacific and the Caribbean for naval bases, and he also urged the annexation of Hawaii. Although ambitious, he only had two real short-term achievements as the citizens of the United States were exhausted after the grueling Civil War and were not interested in more military exploits. These two achievements were the Burlingame Treaty and purchasing Alaska.