US History Era 11: The Industrial Revolution
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jreznick on September 23, 2009
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Based on SparkNotes Study Cards. Improved for Reznick's students.
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U.S. History, SAT Subject Test - US History, US History, Reznick AP US History
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33 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Transcontinental railroad | construction project completed in 1869 when the Union Pacific and Central Pacific RRs joined at Promontory Point, Utah; this innovation facilitated western settlement, shortening to a week the coast-to-coast journey that had once taken 6-8 months by wagon |
| Boss Tweed | the leader of the Tammany Hall political machine in NYC who maintained his power through illegal means; in 1871, political cartoonist Thomas Nast helped to expose his corruption; future NY governor/pres. candidate Samuel Tilden also helped break up this man's ring |
| American Federation of Labor (AFL) | (1) moderate labor organization founded in 1886 by Samuel Gompers to organize unions of skilled craftsmen; (2) this organization advocated strikes for higher wages but avoided political issues; (3) it differed from the KOL by allowing only skilled workers and by maintaining a loose structure that allowed individual unions to remain autonomous; (4) In 1955, this organization merged with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, allowing unskilled laborers to join |
| Chinese Exclusion Act | 1882 federal law (amid a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment among laborers) that banned Asian immigration for ten years (and that was renewed many times) |
| Gospel of Success | a belief system that provided justification for the growing gap between rich and poor during the Gilded Age; this belief (made popular by writers like Horatio Alger) centered on the claim that anyone could become wealthy with enough hard work and determination |
| Homestead strike | (1) 1892 Pittsburgh steel workers' strike against the Carnegie Steel Company that led to a riot in which ten workers were killed when Pinkertons brough 300 "scabs" from NY to break the strike; (2) soldiers were eventually called in to suppress the violence, an action that highlighted the labor strife in this era & the government's lack of sympathy for workers |
| Haymarket riot | (1) 1886 labor rally in Chicago (during a strike at the McCormick Reaper Works) that became violent after an anarchist threw a bomb, killing seven policemen; (2) the violence prompte a public backlash against the KOL, even though that organization's leaders weren't involved in the violence |
| Jane Addams | (1) reformer & pacifist/anti-imperialist best known for her 1889 founding of Hull House, an early settlement house that provided educational and other assistance to poor immigrants; an opponent of the first red scare anti-radical paranoia; (2) first American woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize (for her efforts to support the 1928 Kellog-Briand Pact) |
| Knights of Labor | (1) moderate labor organization founded in 1869 by Terence Powderly, one of the first such organizations in the US; (2) this all-inclusive organization grew quickly but fell into decline after one of its leaders was executed for killing a policeman in the Haymarket Riot |
| Machine politics | the means by which political parties during the Industrial Revolution controlled candidates and voters in many cities through networks of loyalty and corruption; in this system, party bosses exploited their ability to give away jobs and benefits (patronage) in exchange for votes. |
| McKinley Tariff | a Republican Congressman (& future president) wrote and engineered the passage of this 1890 tariff that bears his name; the act raised protective tariffs by nearly 50 percent—the highest ever tariff at that point |
| Mark Twain | leading satirist and literary figure during the era of industrialization; author of The Gilded Age (1873), The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), among other books |
| Mugwumps | Republicans who left the party (because of politcal corruption) during the 1884 election and helped elect Democrat Grover Cleveland (opposing James Blaine) |
| J.P. Morgan | Wall Street financier and business leader was involved in many of the most profitable business ventures during the era of industrialization; he bought Carnegie Steel in 1901 & established the world's first billion-dollar corporation, US Steel |
| Pendleton Act | 1883 law that established a civil service exam for many public posts and created hiring systems based on merit rather than on patronage; the act aimed to eliminate corrupt hiring practices |
| Panic of 1893 | economic crisis that began when the RR industry faltered during the early 1890s, sparking the collapse of many related industries; confidence in the US dollar plunged and the depression lasted about four years |
| John D. Rockefeller | "robber baron" who was chairman of the Standard Oil Trust, which grew to control nearly all of the United States' oil production and distribution |
| Robber barons | nickname for wealthy entrepreneurs and businessmen (like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller) during the Industrial Age |
| Railroad strike | first nationwide strike in the US, began in 1877 when workers on nearly every train line from NY to San Francisco protested wage cuts; related riots resulted in more than 100 deaths & President Hayes sent in federal troops to suppress the strikers |
| Social Darwinism | an attempt to apply the theory of "survival of the fittest" (British theorist Herbert Spencer's term) to human societies; Rockefeller and others cited used these theories to justify their success and to reject government involvement in the economy |
| Samuel Gompers | founding leader of the American Federation of Labor & its president for 35 years; avoided politics but used strikes to gain "bread and butter" concessions from employees (higher wages and better working conditions) |
| Sherman Antitrust Act | 1890 law was passed with the intention of breaking up business monopolies, but actually used by big businesses to break up unions (until the early 1900s); this was possible because its vague wording outlawed "every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy in the restraint of trade" |
| Salvation Army | welfare organization that came to the US from England in 1880 to provide food, shelter, and employment to the urban poor while preaching temperance and morality |
| Tenements | dirty, dangerous, & narrow, four- or five-story buildings that had few windows and limited electricity & plumbing; they housed poor ethnic minorities and immigrants |
| Credit Mobilier Scandal | scandal in the 1870s when a railroad construction company's stockholders used funds that were supposed to be used building the Union Pacific Railroad for their own personal use; to avoid conviction, stockholders even bribed congressmen and the vice president |
| Andrew Carnegie | Scottish immigrant & steel industrialist; later a philanthropist who donated more than $300 million to charity during his lifetime |
| Alexander Graham Bell | patented the telephone in 1876; in 1885 his American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) began building the infrastructure to put the telephone to widespread use |
| Horatio Alger | author of popular young adult novels (such as Ragged Dick) during the Industrial Revolution that used "rags to riches" tales to emphasize the American Dream (the idea that anyone could become wealthy and successful through hard work and a little luck) |
| Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) | organization founded in 1851 to help the poor by providing young people with affordable shelter and recreational alternatives to drinking |
| Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) | organization founded in 1874 to worked alongside the Anti-Saloon League to push for prohibition; avtiviincluded Susan B. Anthony and Frances Elizabeth Willard |
| Trust | a conglomerate of businesses that acts like a monopoly, seeking control over a particular industry--to reduce market competition & amass greater profits (often at the expense of poor workers and consumers) |
| Pullman strike | 1894 strike against the Chicago-based ____ Palace Car Company led by Eugene Debs; the courts ruled that the strikers had violated the Sherman Antitrust Act, Debs was arrested, and federal troops marched in to crush the strike (13 dead, 53 injured) |
| Industrial Workers of the World | radical labor organization, also known as the Wobblies, founded in 1905 & led for years by Eugene Debs; they advocated revolution and societal reorganization to put the working class in control of government and the economy |
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