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The Gilded Age & Progressive Era

Terms in this set (31)

Jane Addams
the founder of Hull House, which provided English lessons for immigrants, daycares, and child care classes. Helped to try to fix problems that came about in the Gilded Age.
Boss Tweed
William Tweed, head of Tammany Hall, NYC's powerful democratic political machine in 1868. Between 1868 and 1869 he led the Tweed Reign, a group of corrupt politicians in defrauding the city. Example: Responsible for the construction of the NY court house; actual construction cost $3million. Project cost tax payers $13million.
Muckraker
A group of investigative reporters who pointed out the abuses of big business, corruption of urban politics and other Gilded Age Era problems
Jacob Riis
A Danish immigrant, he became a reporter who pointed out the terrible conditions of the tenement houses of the big cities where immigrants lived during the late 1800s. He wrote How The Other Half Lives in 1890.
Upton Sinclair
muckraker who shocked the nation when he published The Jungle, a novel that revealed gruesome details about the meat packing industry in Chicago. The book was fiction but based on the things Sinclair had seen.
Florence Kelley
reformer who worked to prohibit child labor and to improve conditions for female workers
John D. Rockefeller
American businessman - founder of Standard Oil Co.
Andrew Carnegie
A Scottish-born American industrialist and philanthropist who founded the Carnegie Steel Company in 1892. By 1901, his company dominated the American steel industry.
Henry Ford
American businessman, founder of Ford Motor Company, father of modern assembly lines
Cornelius Vanderbilt
A railroad owner who built a railway connecting Chicago and New York. He popularized the use of steel rails in his railroad, which made railroads safer and more economical.
Progressive Movement
Early 20th century reform movement, seeking to return control of the government to the people, to restore economic opportunities, and to correct injustices in American life.
Square Deal
Economic policy by Roosevelt that favored fair relationships between companies and workers.
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
1911 death of 145 people (mostly young immigrant girls) burned to death, crushed to death by leaping out of windows etc. Resulted in stronger building codes and call to unionize among workers
Ellis Island
An immigrant receiving station that opened in 1892, where immigrants were given a medical examination and only allowed in if they were healthy
Angel Island
The immigration station on the west coast where Asian immigrants, mostly Chinese gained admission to the U.S. at San Francisco Bay.
Nativism
A policy of favoring native-born individuals over foreign-born ones
Chinese Exclusion Act
(1882) Denied any additional Chinese laborers to enter the country while allowing students and merchants to immigrate. American workers felt threatened by the job competition.
urbanization
An increase in the percentage and in the number of people living in urban settlements.
tenement
A building in which several families rent rooms or apartments, often with little sanitation or safety
Settlement House
A house where immigrants came to live upon entering the U.S. At Settlement Houses, instruction was given in English and how to get a job, among other things. The first Settlement House was the Hull House, which was opened by Jane Addams in Chicago in 1889.
Political Machine
A party organization that recruits voter loyalty with tangible incentives and is characterized by a high degree of control over member activity. Boss Tweed ran a political machine in NYC.
Patronage
Granting favors or giving contracts or making appointments to office in return for political support
Civil Service
A system of hiring and promotion based on the merit principle and the desire to create a nonpartisan government service.
Pendelton Civil Service Act
Law requiring people to take a civil service exam for certain government jobs
17th Amendment
1913- allowed for the voters in each state to elect their US senators directly. Previously, senators had been chosen by state legislatures. Progressive reform to expand democracy.
Meat Inspection Act
1906 - Laid down binding rules for sanitary meat packing and government inspection of meat products crossing state lines.
Conservation
Preservation and protection of resources.
Monopoly
Complete control of a product or business by one person or group
Labor Unions
Organizations of workers who, together, put pressure on the employers in an industry to improve working conditions and wages.
Sherman Antitrust Act
1890 - A federal law that committed the American government to opposing monopolies, it prohibits contracts, combinations and conspiracies in restraint of trade.
Strikes
The unions' method for having their demands met. Workers stop working until the conditions are met.
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