-
Period: to
Indian Wars
This series of wars was caused by the constant cycle of Native Americans being pushed off of their lands. Natives also disliked settlers as they killed the Buffalo populations and forced assimilation into American society. After many attempts to resist American encroachment and the destruction of their culture, the final battle of the wars, Wounded Knee, put an end to most resistance as more than 200 Native Americans were killed. -
Period: to
Perry Expedition
On this expedition, Commodore Matthew Perry led four ships into the Tokyo harbor in order to re-establish trade between Japan and the Western world. -
Pacific Railroad Acts
The Federal Government granted land to railroad companies who would then employ laborers and build railroads on the tracts of granted land. They would also control the railroad industry once these railroads were built. -
Homestead Act
This act granted potential migrants 160 acres of land in the western territory on the condition that they would settle and farm the land. This eventually led to smaller farms being taken over by larger ones, or farmers going broke as they did not have enough land to farm. -
Alaska Purchase
America purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867 for the price of $7.2 million. This purchase was negotiated by William Seward and the subsequent discovery of gold stimulated settlement of the region. -
Period: to
National Grange Movement
This was organized in 1868 as a collective aimed at bringing isolated farmers together for socialization and education. The movement also became political as it pushed Midwestern states to pass laws regulating railroad rates for carrying freight and made corporate practices that hurt farmers illegal. -
Knights of Labor
This was a national union that opened its membership to anyone who wanted to join. Their main goals were to destroy trusts and monopolies as well as abolishing child labor. At one time they had over 700,000 members, but fell apart after the Haymarket Square Riot in 1886. Many members had gathered peacefully to protest, but an unaffiliated anarchist set off a bomb and the leaders of the organization were arrested and blamed for the bombing. -
Period: to
Social Gospel
Christians in America had believed that repentance and reform should be applied to one's own soul, but advocates of the Social Gospel believed that these principles should be applied to all of society as well. Basically they thought that everyone should practice what they preach. -
Period: to
Jim Crow Laws
These laws were a result of the rulings of Plessy v. Ferguson. The laws segregated every facet of society as it segregated bathrooms, water fountains, public transportation, and public facilities. It also kept African Americans from serving on juries or running for public office. -
Period: to
Social Darwinism
Biological Darwinism refers to survival of the fittest, which is similar to Social Darwinism as this ideology argues that this concept could be applied to society. In this time period it was meant to justify strong companies eliminated weaker or lesser companies. -
Period: to
Standard Oil Trust
John D. Rockefeller was the owner of Standard Oil and his business practices included forcing competition to sell their companies to him, thus eliminating competition. By the late 1880s his company controlled almost 90% of the oil industry by using horizontal integration. -
Period: to
Poll Tax, Literacy Test, and Grandfather Clauses
All of these things were meant to disenfranchise the civil rights and liberties of African Americans. The poll tax put a tax on voting polls, the literacy test was created to make it more difficult for African Americans to be eligible to vote, and the grandfather clauses sought to exempt individuals from meeting new suffrage requirements based on their ancestry. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
This law banned any further Chinese immigration to the United States. It represents the only law in United States history that targeted a specific nationality to be excluded from immigration. -
Pendleton Act
This Act was passed by Congress in order to replace the patronage system of civil service with a competitive examination. Prior to this passing of the act, people expected to receive jobs based on the spoil system, but this examination hired federal employees based on competency and merit. -
American Federation of Labor
This was an association of craft laborers led by Samuel Gompers. By 1901 they had over a million members whose goal was to have higher wages and safer working conditions. -
Wabash v. Illinois
This was a case brought before the Supreme Court, which ruled that states do not have the power to regulate railroad rates in regards to interstate shipments. -
Interstate Commerce Act
The act required railroad rates to be reasonable and established a federal agency, the Interstate Commerce Commission. -
Dawes Severalty Act
The Federal Government abandoned the reservation system and divided reservation land into 160-acre plots to be farmed by Native Americans. This Act allowed Native Americans to become citizens and assimilate into American culture. The attempts at assimilation were to put an end to native culture and to Christianize Native Americans. -
Gospel of Wealth
The philosophy of the Gospel of Wealth was created by Andrew Carnegie. It states that those with large amounts of wealth had a God given duty to invest in society through generous acts of philanthropy. Carnegie did this by making generous donations to education and educational institutions. -
Hull House
Jane Addams saw that immigrants in Chicago were suffering, so she created settlement houses, most notably Hull House, in order to solve that problem. These houses were meant to help immigrants assimilate into American Society so that they could find better social and economic opportunities. They were taught English and democratic ideals in many of the settlement houses. -
Wounded Knee
This was the last violent battle of the Indian Wars, which took place in Wounded Knee, South Dakota in 1890. In this battle, the US Army, led by Custer, attempted to disarm a group of Lakota Indians performing the Ghost Dance, which resulted in the deaths of over 200 Native Americans. -
Ghost Dance Movement
This movement was developed by an Indian prophet named Wovoka, who spread this resistance movement across the continent. He claimed that if Indians participated in the ritualistic dance, the ghosts of their ancestors would return and drive the white man from their lands. -
Sherman Antitrust Act
During the Gilded Age, many small businesses became obsolete and defunct due to the rise of large corporations and trusts that eventually dominated entire industries such as the railroad, steel, and oil industries. This act was the first federal act to outlaw monopolistic business practices. -
Period: to
Ashcan School
Robert Henri was the founder of this movement in which artistic freedom and independence were made to exhibit one's work in non-juried forums. -
Homestead Strike
Workers went on strike at the Carnegie Steel Factory in Homestead, Pennsylvania, which resulted in the firing of said workers. The workers then barred themselves within the factory and were confronted by an armed force known as the Pinkertons, which eventually broke up the strike. -
Omaha Platform
This was a platform in which the Populist Party published their beliefs regarding power held by elite banks and trusts. Through this platform they advocated for political and economic reforms as well as the direct election of senators and the use of initiatives and referendums for the people to propose and vote on legislation. They also argued for unlimited coinage of silver, a gradual income tax, and an eight-hour work day. -
Period: to
Carnegie Steel
Andrew Carnegie, a Captain of the steel industry, used vertical integration in his business practices meaning that he acquired all of the complementary industries that supported his business. Over time he bought all companies relating to the steel industry, thus dominating the industry and leaving little to no room for competition. -
Turner Thesis
Frederick Jackson Turner wrote an essay that described the significance of the Frontier in American History. He argued that Westward Expansion had been a means of releasing American discontent and without the frontier America would devolve into the same class conflicts that Europe had. -
Panic of 1893
During the Panic, President Grover Cleveland largely did nothing to alleviate the economic disaster for many Americans who ended up standing in bread lines in order to feed themselves. The cause of the Panic is mainly attributed to reduced international trade affected by the McKinley tariff. Following the Panic of 1893, wealthy classes were not impacted, but the wages of the working class dropped and the prices of common goods decreased. -
Coxey's Army
This was a group of unemployed workers, led by Jacob Coxey, that protested by marching on Washington DC during an economic depression. -
Pullman Strike
This strike occurred near Chicago and was done in response to George Pullman cutting the wages of his workers after the Panic of 1893. When the union workers tried to bargain with him, he fired them all. The remainder of the workers went on strike, led by Eugene V. Debs, and began interfering with any trains that had Pullman cars on them. The cars were then added to trains carrying federal mail, which led to Debs and others being jailed for federal offenses. -
Cross of Gold Speech
William Jennings Bryan delivered this speech on July 9, 1896 at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. This speech focused on the use of gold and silver for backing currency in the United States. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
This case originated in Louisiana over a law that required separate railcars for black and white passengers. Homer Plessy was 7/8 white and 1/8 black, but was black under Louisiana law. He was arrested over refusing to sit in the "appropriate car" and the case reached the Supreme Court. They ruled that racial segregation was constitutional as long as separate facilities were equal in kind and quality.