Post-Civil War America Quiz

Chapter 15 Terms & Concepts

• Freedmen's Bureau: A federal agency (1865) aiding former slaves, providing food, care, education, and legal support during the transition to freedom. It facilitated labor contracts and land acquisition.
• Radical Republicans: A faction within the Republican Party during Reconstruction, advocating for full African American civil rights and a firmer approach to Reconstruction, opposing President Johnson's lenient policies.
• Andrew Johnson: 17th U.S. President (1865-1869), his Reconstruction policies were lenient towards the South and did not adequately protect freed slaves' rights, leading to Congressional conflicts.
• Black Codes: Southern laws after the Civil War limiting the freedoms of African Americans, restricting employment, property rights, and other aspects of life, perpetuating economic and social subjugation.
• Fourteenth Amendment: (1868) Granted citizenship to all born or naturalized in the U.S. (including former slaves), guaranteed equal protection under the law and due process, aimed at protecting African American civil rights.
• Sharecropping: Landowners allowed tenants (often freed slaves) to work their land in exchange for a share of the crops, often leading to debt cycles and poverty for farmers.
• Crop-Lien System: A credit system where sharecroppers borrowed from landowners or merchants using future crop yields as collateral, perpetuating debt.
• Enforcement Acts: (1870-1871) Federal laws to protect the rights of African Americans (particularly voting) and suppress the Ku Klux Klan, enabling federal intervention when state protection was inadequate.
• Redeemers: Southern Democratic leaders who aimed to regain Southern control from Republicans and Reconstruction policies, typically conservative, pro-business, and seeking to restore white supremacy.
• Booker T. Washington: An African American educator advocating for vocational training for African Americans to achieve economic independence and respectability, promoting gradualism and accommodation to segregation.
• Plessy v. Ferguson: (1896) Supreme Court case upholding racial segregation under the "separate but equal" doctrine, legalizing segregation and severely impacting African American civil rights.
• Compromise of 1877: An informal agreement resolving the disputed 1876 presidential election. Republicans agreed to withdraw federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction and leading to Jim Crow segregation.

Chapter 15 Achievements and Failures of Reconstruction

• Achievements: Passing of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments (abolishing slavery, granting citizenship, and protecting voting rights), establishment of the Freedmen's Bureau, and some African American political participation.
• Failures: Southern white resistance, violence by racist groups like the KKK, enactment of Black Codes, and the withdrawal of federal troops (Compromise of 1877) leading to Jim Crow segregation.

Chapter 15 Differences Between Pre-Civil War and New South

• Pre-Civil War South: Heavily reliant on slavery and agriculture (particularly cotton), rigid social structure, wealth concentrated in the hands of plantation owners.
• New South: Post-Civil War movement to industrialize, diversify (railroads, textile mills, coal mining); however, still marked by racial discrimination, sharecropping, and limited economic opportunity for African Americans.

Chapter 16 Terms & Concepts

• Chinese Exclusion Act: (1882) Banned Chinese immigration and citizenship, the first federal law restricting immigration based on race/nationality.
• Homestead Act: (1862) Offered 160 acres of land to settlers willing to farm for five years, encouraging westward migration, used by speculators and corporations.
• Frederick Remington: American artist & sculptor, renowned for works portraying the American West, shaping the popular image of the frontier.
• Frederick Jackson Turner: Historian known for the "Frontier Thesis," arguing the frontier shaped national character and democracy, acting as a safety valve for social/economic tensions.
• George A. Custer: U.S. Army officer, famous for his defeat at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876 against a coalition of Native American tribes.
• Little Bighorn: Site of 1876 battle where General Custer and his troops were defeated by Native American forces.
• Chief Joseph: Nez Perce leader known for his speech after the Nez Perce War, expressing resistance to forced relocation and ending with "I will fight no more forever."
• Wounded Knee: Site of a 1890 massacre where U.S. Army troops killed many unarmed Native Americans, marking the end of significant Native American resistance.
• Dawes Severalty Act: (1887) Aimed to assimilate Native Americans into American society by breaking up tribal lands into individual plots for families, dissolving communal tribal living.

Chapter 16 Prejudices of the West

• Various prejudices against Chinese immigrants, Native Americans, and Mexican Americans, as seen through the Chinese Exclusion Act, forced relocation of Native Americans, and marginalization of Mexican Americans following U.S. annexation of the Southwest.

Chapter 16 Industry Transforming Western Economy

• The Homestead Act & railroads transformed the West economically. Farming communities emerged, connecting the East and West for trade, impacting mining (Gold Rush) and ranching industries. This development came at the expense of Native Americans and involved immigrants like Chinese laborers.

Chapter 16 Federal Government and Native Americans

• The U.S. government pursued land acquisition and assimilation of Native Americans. The Dawes Act played a key role; military force was used to subdue resistance (cf. Little Bighorn, Wounded Knee Massacre), and Native American populations were greatly impacted.

Chapter 17 Terms & Concepts

• Henry Ford: Founder of Ford Motor Company, revolutionized manufacturing with the assembly line, making automobiles affordable for the masses.
• Andrew Carnegie: Scottish immigrant and industrialist; built a steel empire through vertical integration (controlling every aspect of production).
• J.P. Morgan: Powerful banker and financier, consolidating industries (like U.S. Steel)and shaping corporate America.
• Horizontal Integration: Acquiring or merging with competitors at the same stage of production (e.g., Rockefeller's Standard Oil).
• Vertical Integration: Controlling all aspects of production from raw materials to finished product (e.g., Carnegie Steel).
• John D. Rockefeller: Founder of Standard Oil, dominating the oil industry through horizontal integration, building a massive fortune.
• National Labor Union: The first national labor organization in the U.S. (1866), aimed at improving working conditions, reducing hours, and promoting worker rights.
• Molly Maguires: Secret society of Irish-American coal miners (1860s-1870s) using violence to protest conditions and exploitation.
• Knights of Labor: (1869) National labor organization advocating for workers' rights (8-hour day, wages, child labor), embracing various workers (including African Americans and women), but declined after the Haymarket Bombing.
• American Federation of Labor: (1886) Federation of trade unions under Samuel Gompers, focused on practical gains like higher wages, shorter hours, and better conditions, primarily for skilled workers and avoiding political involvement.
• Haymarket Bombing: (1886) Violent confrontation at a labor rally in Chicago (bombing killed some), leading to a backlash against labor unions.
• Henry Clay Frick: Industrialist/chairman of Carnegie Steel, played a key role in the Homestead Strike (1892).
• Homestead Strike: Major labor strike in Pennsylvania, protesting wage cuts and conditions in Carnegie Steel (leading to violence between strikers and Pinkertons).
• Eugene Debs: Labor leader and socialist, founder of the American Railway Union, involved in the Pullman Strike (1894), imprisoned for his activism.
• Pullman Strike: Nationwide railroad strike (1894), protesting wage cuts and high rents in Pullman, Illinois; ended by federal troops, weakening unions.
• Women’s Trade Union League: (1903) Group supporting women in organized labor, advocating for better working conditions for women, and women's suffrage.

Chapter 17 Corporate Organization and the Economy

• Rapid corporate growth (vertical/horizontal integration) transformed the economy, leading to massive economies of scale.
• Corporate elites amassed wealth and, sometimes, engaged in exploitative practices, leading to economic inequality and strikes/unions.

Chapter 17 Worker Responses to Industrialization

• Rapid industrialization created a large working class in factories & mines facing harsh conditions, low wages, unsafe circumstances.
• Unions (e.g., Knights of Labor, AFL) arose to demand better treatment, leading to strikes (Haymarket Bombing, Homestead Strike, Pullman Strike), highlighting conflicts between labor and business interests.

Chapter 18 Terms & Concepts

• “City Beautiful” Movement: Late 19th-century movement advocating for aesthetically pleasing and well-organized city design (parks, public buildings).
• Tammany Hall: New York City political machine connected to the Democratic Party, known for corruption (e.g., William "Boss" Tweed).
• William Tweed: Leader of Tammany Hall known for corrupt practices (embezzlement).
• National Consumers League: (1899) Nonprofit organization advocating for consumer rights, particularly for women and children in the workplace, pushing for labor laws, consumer protection, & better working conditions.
• Henry James: American novelist exploring themes of American society and European cultural impact.
• Upton Sinclair: Muckraking journalist, author of The Jungle, exposing meatpacking industry abuses.
• Kate Chopin: American writer addressing gender roles, marriage, and personal freedom in novels and stories.
• Yellow Journalism: Sensationalist news reporting (exaggeration, scandal) popular during the late 19th century.
• Pragmatism: Philosophical movement emphasizing practical consequences and real-world applications as the criterion for truth, influencing thinkers like William James and John Dewey.

Chapter 18 Immigration and Urbanization

• Immigration fueled rapid urban growth; immigrants provided cheap labor but caused overcrowding and ethnic enclaves.

Chapter 18 Consumer Economy and Women

• Mass consumerism (department stores) influenced women's roles as key consumers and, to a limited degree, expanded women’s involvement in the workforce and public life.