U.S. History Final Review Study Guide PDF

The Gilded Age Business During the Gilded Age Andrew Carnegie – Business tycoon who controlled most of the Steel industry. Carnegie was also known as a “Captain of Industry” and a “robber baron.”. “The Gospel of Wealth” was Carnegie’s famous essay about the role of industrialists. John Ro...

The Gilded Age Business During the Gilded Age Andrew Carnegie – Business tycoon who controlled most of the Steel industry. Carnegie was also known as a “Captain of Industry” and a “robber baron.”. “The Gospel of Wealth” was Carnegie’s famous essay about the role of industrialists. John Rockefeller – Business tycoon who owned Standard Oil and Controlled 90% of the oil industry in the late 1800’s. He was able to control the industry by making Standard Oil a trust. Monopolies – Situation in which one company controls the supply of a product or service. Trusts – Small companies join together to form one large company, usually as a monopoly. Reactions to Big Business Sherman Antitrust Act – Outlawed business monopolies Labor Unions – Organizations that protected the interests of the worker. - Labor unions dealt with the dangerous working conditions and long working hours that workers were faced with. - They helped end child labor practices. - Famous labor unions include the Knights of Labor and American Federation of Labor (AFL). - Labor unions helped organize strikes to protest the injustices of the workplace. Industrialization & Urbanization Industrialization – The rise of a manufacturing economy and decline of an agricultural economy. Urbanization – The large growth of cities. With urbanization came a large range of urban problems including sanitation, transportation, and crowded living conditions. Jane Addams – Founder of Chicago’s Hull House; campaigned for feminists and child labor reform. Settlement houses – community centers that helped immigrants address the problems of squalid living conditions, disease, illiteracy, and unemployment. - 10 -  The Gilded Age Social Gospel- movement applying Christian ethics to social issues, particularly issues of social justice. Chinese Exclusion Act – Banned Chinese immigration to U.S. beginning in 1882. Ban was lifted in 1943. Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 – Law designed to regulate the railroads and their monopolistic ways of doing business. Federal Reserve Act of 1913 – Created and set up the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States of America, and granted it the legal authority to issue Federal Reserve Notes (now commonly known as the U.S. Dollar) and Federal Reserve Bank Notes as legal tender. Politics During the Gilded Age Political machines – Corrupt organized groups that controlled political parties in the cities. A political boss leads the machine and attempts to grab more votes for his party. Tweed Ring Scandal – Political scandal involving William Tweed and the Tammany Hall political machine in New York City. Political cartoons by Thomas Nast helped raise awareness of political corruption. Civil Service Reform – laws passed in the 1870s and 1880s began to require government workers to take tests to work for the government and began replacing the “spoils system”. - 11 -  The Gilded Age Why do people move? Immigrants  About 20 million European immigrants arrived in the U.S. between 1870 and 1920.  Before 1890, most immigrants came from Western and Northern Europe. These were known as the “Old Immigrants.”  An increase of Southern and Eastern immigrants occurred after 1890. They were known as the “New Immigrants” and their arrival increased social tension.  300,000 Chinese immigrants arrived between 1851 and 1883. Tenements – Apartments built in city slums to house large numbers of people. Many immigrants were forced to live in tenements in “slum” neighborhoods. Child Labor was a major problem during the Gilded Age. Sweat shops – A small factory where workers work many hours in bad conditions for little pay. Immigrants (and children) were considered cheap labor and paid very little for their work. Populism – The movement of the people, born with the founding of the Populist Party in 1892. William Jennings Bryan was their leader. Farm Crisis (1880s-1890s) - Farmers had overfarmed their land, were being overcharged to ship products and were deep in debt. Would lead to support of Populist Party. Frances Willard – American educator, temperance reformer and women’s suffragist. Influence was instrumental in the passage of the 18th and 19th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. How does government respond to the need to change? - 12 -  The Progressive Era Goals of Progressivism: - Protect social welfare - Create economic reform - Political reform of government Important terms: Muckraker – Reporters and writers who exposed government corruption and the abuses of big business. Suffrage – The right to vote. How do people/groups organize to create change? Important Legislation: 16th Amendment – Established the federal income tax. 17th Amendment – The direct election of U.S. Senators. Made govt. more responsive to the people. 18th Amendment – The prohibition of alcohol. 19th Amendment – The right to vote for women. Initiative – Procedure by which citizens can propose a law to be placed on a ballot. Referendum – A vote on an initiative. Recall – Procedure by which a public official may be removed from office by popular vote. Ida B. Wells – African American journalist who led an anti- lynching crusade in the United States in the 1890s. The photographs of Jacob Riis helped expose the poor living conditions of the inner-city: - 13 -  The Progressive Era Theodore Roosevelt’s Impact Trustbuster – Term used to describe Roosevelt’s attempt to reform big business by breaking up trusts. Conservation – The preservation of wilderness areas. Meat Inspection Act – Regulation of the preparation of foods and the sale of medicines. Bull Moose Party – Roosevelt’s political party in the election of 1912. Roosevelt ran as a third-party candidate. Important People: Susan B. Anthony – Leader of the women’s suffrage movement. W.E.B. Du Bois – Early civil rights leader and founder of the NAACP. Du Bois demanded equality for African-Americans. Eugene V. Debs – Labor leader who attempted to form a labor union of skilled and unskilled workers. In 1912, he ran for President under the Socialist Party as a third-party candidate. He won 6% of the popular vote. Upton Sinclair – Author of The Jungle, a book that describes the terrible conditions of meat-packing plants and the struggles the immigrants faced. Led to the Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act. Woodrow Wilson – The last President of the Progressive Era. Wilson passed the Clayton Antitrust Act which continued to crack down on monopolies. What makes a good citizen? - 14 - - 15 -  Expansionism Expansionsim – refers to the doctrine of a state expanding its territorial base (or economic influence) usually, though not necessarily, by means of military aggression. Alaska (1867) –Purchased from Russia in 1867. Alaska was known as “Seward’s Folly” and was initially considered a bad purchase. Hawaii (1898) –Queen Liliuokalani was removed from power and Hawaii was annexed by the United States in 1898. Sanford B. Dole serves as President, Territorial Governor, and a US District Judge after the monarchy ends. What makes a country a world power? Spanish American War (1898) Causes of the Spanish-American War Spanish cruelty – Spain’s military abused power and mistreated Cubans Yellow Journalism – News that exaggerates the truth in order to get a reaction De Lome Letter – Letter intercepted from a Spanish ambassador criticizing President McKinley of the United States U.S.S. Maine – U.S. warship blown up in Havana Harbor off the coast of Cuba. The Spanish were blamed and war was declared. Results of the Spanish-American War - Spain loses most of its empire - The Platt Amendment allows the U.S. to control Cuba - The U.S. acquired the territories of the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico - The U.S. increases its strength as a world power Open Door Policy – Ensured that the U.S. could trade with China Teddy Roosevelt and Expansionism Rough Riders – Volunteer cavalry unit led by Teddy Roosevelt that gained fame at the battle of San Juan Hill. Roosevelt Corollary – Teddy Roosevelt declared that the U.S. would act as an international police power in Latin America. Panama Canal – Man-made waterway that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Roosevelt was President when construction began in 1904. - 16 -