Unit 7 APUSH Terms with Significance

Lochner v. New York

This 1905 Supreme Court decision declared a New York law unconstitutional for limiting bakers to a ten-hour work day and limiting the number of hours that a baker could work each week to 60. It held that the "Right to free contract" was implicit in the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment. SIGNIFICANCE: a setback for labor reformers

The Wasteland

A novel by T.S. Elliot, highlighting the disillusionment of the age as well as the collapse and blandness of the typical, old school America that was evident after the fighting of World War I. SIGNIFICANCE: bluntly displays the disillusionment and frustration felt by the American people after World War I.

George Creel/Committee for Public Information

Created by Woodrow Wilson, and headed by journalist George Creel, during World War I to mobilize public opinion for the war, this was the most intensive use of propaganda that the United States had ever seen. The image of Uncle Sam was created for this propaganda campaign. SIGNIFICANCE: this campaign was enormously successful, using not only still pictures, but moving ones. One propaganda film, To Hell With The Kaiser, was so popular that Massachusetts riot police were summoned to deal with an angry mob that had been denied admission.

"Roosevelt Panic of 1907"

featured frightened "runs" on banks, suicides, and indictments against speculators The financial world blamed Roosevelt for the storm, Roosevelt accused wealthy of engineering the monetary crisis to force government to relax assaults on trusts. SIGNIFICANCE: This panic laid need for fiscal reforms such as the Aldrich-Vreeland Act, which authorized national banks to issue emergency currency backed up by collateral. The path was thus smoothed for the momentous Federal Reserve Act of 1913.

Main Street

A 1920 novel written by Sinclair Lewis, his first successful novel of five. A book in which American values are skewered as a bright but frustrated young woman tries to change her life for the better after feeling stuck in her dull situation. SIGNIFICANCE: This novel is a satire on the dullness and lack of culture in a typical American town.

Babbitt

A 1922 novel written by Sinclair Lewis. This novel focuses on a typical small business person's futile attempts to break loose from the confinements in the life of an American citizen. When the main character's son elopes with the girl next-door, Babbitt is proud of his son for not giving in to social pressures, despite people criticizing the marriage. Even though Babbitt might feel like he's too old to live his own life, he knows there's still hope for his son. SIGNIFICANCE: highlights the frustration felt by many Americans who can't fit into the box of the "ideal American family" but shows that there is hope, even if life isn't perfect.

Harlem Renaissance

Black literacy and artistic movement centered in Harlem that lasted from the 1920s into the early 1930s that both celebrated and lamented black life in America; Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston were two famous writers of this movement. SIGNIFICANCE: this movement celebrated the achievements of blacks, and black culture as a whole, which contrasted the fear felt throughout history by blacks, and the need to fit in the status quo.

Ballinger-Pinchot Controversy (And how it effected progressives view on Taft)

A crisis that occurred when Taft was president, further distracting him from the progressive supporters of Roosevelt. Ballinger, Taft's secretary of the interior, allowed private businessmen to purchase large amounts of public land in Alaska. Forest Service Head Gifford Pinchot (A Roosevelt supporter) protested to Congress and was fired by Taft. SIGNIFICANCE: The controversy over the Ballinger-Pinchot affair became a major factor in splitting the Republican Party. After Taft fired Pinchot, progressives were driven further away from Taft and back towards Teddy Roosevelt.

Five Power Naval Treaty

A detailed agreement that fixed the respective numbers and tonnages of capital ships to be possessed by the navies of each of the contracting nations: 5 each for the United States and Great Britain, 3 for Japan, and 1.67 each for France and Italy. The contracting nations also agreed to abandon their existing capital-ship building programs for a period of 10 years SIGNIFICANCE: This treaty halted the post-World War I race in building warships and even reversed the trend; it necessitated the scrapping of 26 American, 24 British, and 16 Japanese warships that were either already built or under construction.

Referendum

A general term which refers to a measure that appears on the ballot. There are two primary types of referenda: the legislative referendum, whereby the Legislature refers a measure to the voters for their approval, and the popular referendum, a measure that appears on the ballot as a result of a voter petition drive. SIGNIFICANCE: allows more democratic participation among the common people

Niagra Movement

A meeting of African Americans at Niagara Falls in 1905, including founder of the movement W.E.B. DuBois. At this meeting a list of demands was created including the unrestricted right to vote, end to segregation and equality of economic opportunities. Failed after a major race riot made members realize a more powerful, interracial organization was now needed to combat racism. SIGNIFICANCE: considered the precursor to the NAACP.

Recall

A procedure that allows citizens to remove and replace a public official before the end of a term of office. Recall differs from another method for removing officials from office - impeachment - in that it is a political device while impeachment is a legal process. SIGNIFICANCE: allows more direct participation in government but in removing political leaders, not electing them.

Mueller v. Oregon

A well known Supreme Court case in which forceful upcoming, future Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis persuaded the Supreme Court to accept the constitutionality of limiting the hours of women workers by presenting much evidence showing a direct link between long hours of work and women's health. Coming on the heels of Lochner vs. New York, it established a different standard for male and female workers. Female workers receiving a less harsh standard. SIGNIFICANCE: enabled the Court to approve some state reforms. (Others were struck down under Lochner's reasoning.) It also showed that making the justices aware of social and economic conditions could help win their approval. Lawyers in Brown v. Board of Education and many other cases followed the path Brandeis created.

Immigration Act of 1924

AKA the "National Origins Act", this act limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the United States through a national origins quota. The quota provided immigration visas to two percent of the total number of people of each nationality in the United States as of the 1890 national census. It completely excluded immigrants from Asia. SIGNIFICANCE: this act violated the Gentleman's Agreement with Japan, who was very offended by this law, resulting in an increase in existing tensions between the two nations. Despite the increased tensions, the U.S. Congress had decided that preserving the racial composition of the country was more important than promoting good ties with Japan.

Emergency Quota Act of 1921

Also called the Johnston Act, this 1921 bill limited immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe by stating that in a year, total immigration from any country could only equal 3 percent of the number of immigrants from that country living in the United States in 1910. SIGNIFICANCE: another act of the 1920s created out of fear of overwhelming numbers of immigrants in the America by attempting to limit the influx of immigrants in order to calm the fears of the WASPS (white anglo-saxon protestants).

Charles Lindbergh

An American aviator who rose to fame while piloting his plane (The Spirit of Saint Louis) on the first non-stop flight from New York to Paris in 1927. After his infant son was kidnapped and murdered he moved to Europe and began involvement in German Aviation projects. Opposed voluntary American entry into World War II and was called a Nazi sympathizer for accepting a medal of honor from a high Nazi official for his work in aviation in Germany. SIGNIFICANCE: had many accomplishments- went on 50 combat missions for America, wrote a book about his transatlantic flight called The Spirit of Saint Louis, and invented an artificial heart.

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

On March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in New York City burned, trapping young women workers inside locked exit doors. Nearly 50 ended up jumping to their death, while 100 died inside the factory. SIGNIFICANCE: remembered as one of the most infamous incidents in American industrial history, as the deaths were largely preventable-most of the victims died as a result of neglected safety features and locked doors within the factory building. The tragedy brought widespread attention to the dangerous sweatshop conditions of factories, and led to the development of a series of laws and regulations that better protected the safety of workers.

Payne-Aldrich Tariff (and how it affected progressives view of Taft)

Tariff passed by the Taft Administration whose purpose was to lower tariffs, later Aldrich a republican senator revised the act and did not lower the tariff as much as originally proposed. When the progressives uncovered the behind the scenes "dirtiness" of this act, they rebelled and a compromise was achieved consisting of moderately lowered rates. The progressives announced that this was the "Best" act the republican party has ever passed. The republicans in horror that it was passed. SIGNIFICANCE: Through this tariff, President Taft alienated both the Progressive and conservative Republicans and gained a reputation for being weak and indecisive.

NAACP

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was an organization formed in 1909 (founded by W. DuBois), which fought for and continues to fight for the rights of blacks in America. The NAACP originally went to court for the plaintiff in the Brown v. Board of Education Case, and Thurgood Marshall, the NAACP's Chief Counsel and later a supreme court justice, was the main attorney in the case. SIGNIFICANCE: a strong organization (created to firmly combat racism and fight for rights for blacks) which still exists today.

Elkins Act

This piece of legislation was championed by the Pennsylvania Railroad as a way to end the practice of rebates. Rebates were refunds to businesses which shipped large quantities on the railroads, and many railroad companies disliked it. Shippers could demand rebates and threaten to take their business elsewhere in the overbuilt and highly competitive American railroad network of the late nineteenth century. Urged by the Pennsylvania Railroad, Elkins placed the bill bearing his name before the Senate in early 1902 and it passed in February 1903, moving unanimously out of the Senate and passing by a 250 to 6 vote in the House. SIGNIFICANCE: This law strengthened the Interstate Commerce Act of 1897.

Espionage Act of 1917

World War I era regulation passed in 1917 that ordered severe penalties for citizens who criticized the war efforts or the government. Mandatory prison sentences were also proclaimed for those who interfered with the draft process. Nearly 700 Americans were arrested for violating this act. SIGNIFICANCE: withdrew some of the first amendment rights for the sake of the World War I effort

Hepburn Act (1906)

a bill that fortified the powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) and strengthened federal regulation of railroads. The Act passed after a series of unpopular rate increases by railroad corporations. The railroads, enjoying improved demand for their services and victims of their own economic sophistication, realized by the turn of the century that costs were increasing, due to inflation. In an effort to attract much-needed investment capital to improve efficiency and safety, the railroads raised the rates they charged for their services. Passengers and shippers reacted with anger at the announcement of the rate hikes. This act restricted railroad "free passes" and expanded the Interstate Commerce Commission to include in its powers the prosecution of express companies, sleeping-car companies, and pipelines. For the first time gave the ICC the ability to nullify existing rates and set maximum rates. SIGNIFICANCE: Roosevelt thought improved government regulation of the industry was a middle way between the chaos of unfettered competition (which included the formation of monopolies) and government ownership of the railroads.

Initiative

a process that enables citizens to bypass their state legislature by placing proposed statutes and, in some states, constitutional amendments on the ballot. The first state to adopt the initiative was South Dakota in 1898. Since then, 23 other states have included the initiative process in their constitutions, the most recent being Mississippi in 1992. There are two types of initiatives: direct and indirect. In the direct process, proposals that qualify go directly on the ballot. In the indirect process, they are submitted to the legislature. SIGNIFICANCE: allows more direct political input and participation.

Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty

agreement between the United States and Panama granting exclusive canal rights to the United States across the Isthmus of Panama in exchange for financial reimbursement and guarantees of protection to the newly established republic. Philippe Bunau-Varilla, representing Panama, gave the United States a strip 10 miles (16 km) wide across the isthmus for canal construction. The United States was allowed to govern and fortify this Canal Zone. In return Panama was guaranteed its independence and received $10,000,000 outright plus an annuity of $250,000 beginning nine years later. SIGNIFICANCE: Leads to a faster growth in American economy, as well as faster means to imperialize the Asian Islands.

Ida Tarbell

an American journalist and leading muckraker of the Progressive era, Tarbell is best known for her pioneering investigative reporting that led to the breakup of the Standard Oil Company's monopoly. Tarbell wrote for McClure's magazine and was an investigative reporting pioneer; her efforts exposed unfair practices of the Standard Oil Company, leading to a U.S. Supreme Court decision to break its monopoly. She wrote a 19-part series titled "The History of the Standard Oil Company" which grew instantly popular with readers as Tarbell bluntly called out the company, its practices, and its owner, Rockefeller, as being hypocritical and money-mad. SIGNIFICANCE: Tarbell's endeavors in writing were significant and led to justice, and she often exposed risky topics, unwavering even if consequences were possible. However, she could have been so much more than just a gutsy writer. Surprisingly, even as a working woman, Tarbell did not support the suffragette movement and argued that traditional female roles were being belittled by the women's right's activists.

Root-Takihira Agreement

an accord between the United States and Japan that averted a drift toward possible war by mutually acknowledging certain international policies and spheres of influence in the Pacific. Signed in November of 1908, the USA and Japan agreed to respect each others territorial possessions in the Pacific and to uphold the Open Door in China. SIGNIFICANCE: This agreement was credited with easing tensions between the two nations, but it also resulted in a weakened American influence over further Japanese hegemony in China. A basic principle of Pres. Theodore Roosevelt's foreign policy: the preservation of good relations with Japan.

Gentleman's Agreement

an understanding between the U.S. and Japan, in which Japan agreed not to issue passports to emigrants to the United States, except to certain categories of business and professional men. In return, President Theodore Roosevelt agreed to urge the city of San Francisco to rescind an order by which children of Japanese parents were segregated from white students in the schools. SIGNIFICANCE: This issue reflected the prejudices of Californians who feared that Japanese immigrants would depress wages and gain control of most of the good farming land. The Japanese government faithfully carried out its part of the agreement and the San Francisco school board repealed the segregation order, but the bias and discrimination against Japanese in California continued.

Sedition Act of 1918

made the language of the Espionage Act more specific by making it illegal to use disloyal, profane, or abusive language to criticize the U.S. Constitution, the government, the military, the flag, or the uniform. The government had the authority to punish a wide range of speech and activities such as obstructing the sale of U.S. bonds, displaying a German flag, or giving a speech that supported the enemy's cause. Persons convicted of violating these laws could be fined amounts of up to ten thousand dollars and also be sentenced to prison for as long as twenty years. SIGNIFICANCE: withdrew some of the first amendment rights for the sake of the World War I effort