Gilded Age: Trusts, Integration & Social Darwinism

Trusts are legal devices where affairs of several rival companies were managed by a single director.
Vertical integration is when a company avoids middle men by controlling every phase of the business from raw materials to shipping and sales.
Horizontal integration is when one company buys out the competition.
Robber barons wielded power without any accountability in an unregulated marketplace.
The Gilded Age refers to the period from 1870-1890, known for its shallow worship of wealth and corrupt politics.
Social Darwinism argued evolution was a natural process in human society, and government should not interfere.
The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 demonstrated there was a conflict between labor and capital after the Civil War.
The Knights of Labor were the first group to try to organize unskilled workers as well as skilled, women as well as men, and Black people as well as white.
The single tax was a proposal to replace other taxes with a single tax on land.
The Social Gospel movement advocated the application of Christian ethics to social problems.
The Haymarket affair was a violent clash between police and labor protesters in Chicago in 1886 that damaged the labor movement.
Bonanza farms were enormous farms of thousands of acres using machinery and employing wage workers.
The Battle of Little Bighorn was a conflict in 1876 in which the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians defeated U.S. Army troops.
The Dawes Act of 1887 broke up tribal lands into small parcels for distribution to Indian families.
The Ghost Dance was a religious revitalization campaign among Indians, who believed it would cause the whites to disappear, and Indians could once again practice their ancestral customs.
The Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890 was the Army's killing of around 150-200 members of the Sioux tribe.
The Gold Standard was the policy of backing money with gold only.
The Civil Service Act of 1883 created a merit system for federal employees.
The Interstate Commerce Commission was a federal agency established in 1887 to oversee railroads and prevent unfair practices.

Chapter 17

Populists advocated for policies that benefited farmers and the working class.
Coxey's Army was a group of unemployed men who marched to Washington D.C. in 1894 to demand economic relief.
The American Federation of Labor (AFL) focused on skilled workers and practical goals like higher wages and better working conditions.
The "New South" was an idea promoted by some Southerners that the South should industrialize.
The Kansas Exodus was the migration of Black Americans from the South to Kansas for economic opportunities and freedom from racial discrimination.
The Atlanta Compromise was a speech by Booker T. Washington that urged Black Americans to focus on vocational training rather than demanding immediate social equality.
Grandfather clauses were used to disenfranchise Black voters by restricting the vote to those whose ancestors could vote before the Civil War.
Disenfranchisement refers to the various methods used to prevent Black Americans from voting.
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) upheld segregation with the "separate but equal" doctrine.
"Separate but Equal" segregation was constitutional as long as the facilities were equal in quality.
Lynching was murder, by a mob, of a Black person accused of violating the racial hierarchy.
The Lost Cause was a romanticized version of the Confederacy and the Civil War.
New immigrants were those from Southern and Eastern Europe who arrived in the United States in large numbers starting in the late 19th century.
The Immigration Restriction League sought to limit immigration by imposing literacy tests and other restrictions.
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 barred Chinese immigrants from entering the United States.
Yellow press was a type of journalism that exaggerated stories to sell newspapers.

Chapter 18

Progressivism was a political and social movement that sought to address the problems caused by industrialization, urbanization, and corruption.
Muckraking was investigative journalism that exposed social ills and corporate corruption.
Ellis Island was the main immigration processing center in New York City.
Fordism was mass production using assembly lines and paying workers high wages.
American Standard of Living meant that mass consumption became a symbol of equality, because even workers could participate in the consumer marketplace.
Scientific management was a way of streamlining production and increasing efficiency in factories.
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) was a radical labor union that aimed to unite all workers into one big union. Collective bargaining is the process of negotiation between employers and employees.
The Birth-Control movement sought to educate women about contraception.
The Society of American Indians was a group of Indian intellectuals who advocated for Indian rights and self-determination.
An initiative allows citizens to propose laws directly.
A referendum allows citizens to vote on laws passed by the legislature.
Recall allows citizens to remove elected officials from office.
The 17th Amendment provided for the direct election of U.S. senators.
A settlement house offered social services to poor immigrants and working-class people.
Maternalist reforms were laws and policies that aimed help mothers and children.
Muller v. Oregon (1908) upheld a law setting maximum working hours for women.
The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 prohibited the sale of misbranded or adulterated food and drugs.
The Conservation movement sought to protect natural resources and the environment.
The 16th Amendment authorized the federal government to collect income taxes.
The Progressive Party was formed in 1912 with Theodore Roosevelt as its presidential candidate.
New Freedom was Woodrow Wilson's progressive program that emphasized competition.
New Nationalism was Theodore Roosevelt's progressive program that emphasized government regulation of the economy.
The Federal Trade Commission was established in 1914 to investigate and prevent unfair business practices.