Looking Backward: A best-selling novel by Edward Bellamy that depicts an idealistic future made possibly by collective ownership.
Interstate Commerce Commission: Created in 1887, it oversaw the enforcement of law in the railroad industry: it approved freight/passenger rates, examined company records, and could take public testimonies on possible violations.
Pendleton Act: Created a commission that oversaw appointments to government positions based on merit, ending the spoils system that currently existed.
Progress and Poverty: A best-selling book by Henry George that supported a tax on property, which he argued would end speculation and extortion and allow Americans to live in comfort.
WCTU: Women’s Christian Temperance Union – Led by Frances Willard, this was the largest organization of women in the world at the time, and its members preached temperance and worked to reform the prison system, eliminate wages, and end prostitution.
Social Gospel: Initiated by Washington Gladden, it was a movement in which churches began to contend with pressing social problems, working towards civil service reform and the end of child labor. Women were also active in the movement.
Coxey’s Army: During the Depression of 1893, populist Jacob Coxey gathered an army of 600 and marched to Washington, DC to demand a public works program. Police clubbed the army and arrested its leaders on arrival.
Sherman Silver Purchase Act, 1890: An act that authorized paper currency to be backed by silver mined in the West, which was later opposed and repealed by President Grover Cleveland.
Ida Wells: The editor of a black newspaper who began an anti-lynching campaign. She lectured across the country and published A Red Record. She inspired a number of clubs of black women that supported Wells’ cause.
Grange: A national organization of farm owners who blamed railroad corporations, large manufacturers, and banks for their poor economic situation.
Stalwarts: A conservative faction of the Republican Party that opposed Hayes’ lenient treatment of the South and opposed civil service reform.
Great Uprising of 1877: An unsuccessful strike against railroads to protest wage cuts and violence against strikers, it was the first national strike.
William Jennings Bryan: The Democratic nominee in the election of 1896 who was defeated by William McKinley. His slogan reflected populist views and he promoted silver.
Nativism: Contempt for immigrants and the desire to stop immigration. This issue was not addressed during the McKinley presidency.
Segregation: The separation of people based on race. This initially just happened naturally, but policies of segregation increasingly became law in the late 1800s.
Poll Tax: Taxes imposed on voters as a requirement for voting, intended to deny African American suffrage.
Good Neighbor Policy: The American view under Presidents Garfield and Harrison that high levels of economic participation in other countries would be more beneficial than outright conquest.
Open Door Notes: A series of six notes to six world powers stating that the U.S. has the right to trade with any country.
USS Maine: An American ship stationed in Havana, Cuba that was destroyed in the harbor, killing all aboard. This event sparked the Spanish-American war.
Foraker Act: This act set up a government in Puerto Rico after the Spanish-American War.
Yellow Journalism: A type of journalism in which the author uses flashy headlines of little substance to attract attention.
Caesar’s Column: A pessimistic novel written by Ignatius Donnelly that viewed industrial society as a “wretched failure” and that the world was on its way to disaster.
Homestead Strike: A strike in the Carnegie Steel Company. Carnegie and his chairman Henry C. Frick decided to break the union by lowering wages and sending a private army to quell the armed workers. The most powerful union of the AFL was defeated.
Pullman Strike: A strike against the tyrannical rule of George Pullman in his self-contained community built around his railroad company. The strikers appointed Eugene Debs as the head of the strike, and it grew to have participation nationwide. It was quelled when the army intervened and arrested the strike leaders.
Eugene Debs: Leader of the Pullman Strike and the American Railway Union (whose strike was recently victorious over the Northern rail line).
NAWSA: (National American Women’s Suffrage Association) it coordinated the movement that eventually succeeded in gaining women the right to vote.
Depression of 1893: Economic crisis caused when the railroads went bankrupt after over-construction. Unemployment reached 25%, and millions suffered from inadequate diets.
Plessy vs. Ferguson: A Supreme Court decision that ruled that segregated trains did not violate the Constitution and upheld the “separate but equal” doctrine.
Populist Movement: A third party based on reform movements and primarily comprised of farmers.
Half Breed: A moderate faction of the Republican Party that supported Hayes’ lenient treatment of the South and civil service reform.
“Free Silver”: The idea that the government should purchase and coin silver and use it to back currency. This idea was opposed by President Grover Cleveland.
Dingley Tariff of 1897: An act promoted by President McKinley that raised import duties to an all time high.
Jim Crow Laws: Segregation laws that became widespread in the South during the late 1800s
Grandfather Clause: Rules that required voters to show that their grandfather had been eligible to vote. This was designed to prevent blacks from voting, since the vast majority of their grandfathers had been slaves.
William McKinley: Defeated William Jennings Bryan in the election of 1896 and promoted the Open Door Policy.
Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan: President of the Rhode Island Naval War College and author of The Influence of Sea Power upon American History, he supported an imperialist foreign policy.
Spanish-American War: A popular conflict sparked by the destruction of the USS Maine that was swiftly concluded as an American victory. As a result, Cuba was freed from Spain and America conquered much of the Philippines.
Platt Amendment: A amendment that required Cuba to pay debts, provide land for bases, and allow the United States to intervene to protect its interests in Cuba after the Spanish-American War.
Amendment: An amendment passed regarding the war in Cuba that stated that the United States could not exercise control over Cuba, merely pacify it.
Insular Cases: Established the framework for applying the U.S. Constitution to islands acquired in the Spanish-American War.
Interstate Commerce Commission: Created in 1887, it oversaw the enforcement of law in the railroad industry: it approved freight/passenger rates, examined company records, and could take public testimonies on possible violations.
Pendleton Act: Created a commission that oversaw appointments to government positions based on merit, ending the spoils system that currently existed.
Progress and Poverty: A best-selling book by Henry George that supported a tax on property, which he argued would end speculation and extortion and allow Americans to live in comfort.
WCTU: Women’s Christian Temperance Union – Led by Frances Willard, this was the largest organization of women in the world at the time, and its members preached temperance and worked to reform the prison system, eliminate wages, and end prostitution.
Social Gospel: Initiated by Washington Gladden, it was a movement in which churches began to contend with pressing social problems, working towards civil service reform and the end of child labor. Women were also active in the movement.
Coxey’s Army: During the Depression of 1893, populist Jacob Coxey gathered an army of 600 and marched to Washington, DC to demand a public works program. Police clubbed the army and arrested its leaders on arrival.
Sherman Silver Purchase Act, 1890: An act that authorized paper currency to be backed by silver mined in the West, which was later opposed and repealed by President Grover Cleveland.
Ida Wells: The editor of a black newspaper who began an anti-lynching campaign. She lectured across the country and published A Red Record. She inspired a number of clubs of black women that supported Wells’ cause.
Grange: A national organization of farm owners who blamed railroad corporations, large manufacturers, and banks for their poor economic situation.
Stalwarts: A conservative faction of the Republican Party that opposed Hayes’ lenient treatment of the South and opposed civil service reform.
Great Uprising of 1877: An unsuccessful strike against railroads to protest wage cuts and violence against strikers, it was the first national strike.
William Jennings Bryan: The Democratic nominee in the election of 1896 who was defeated by William McKinley. His slogan reflected populist views and he promoted silver.
Nativism: Contempt for immigrants and the desire to stop immigration. This issue was not addressed during the McKinley presidency.
Segregation: The separation of people based on race. This initially just happened naturally, but policies of segregation increasingly became law in the late 1800s.
Poll Tax: Taxes imposed on voters as a requirement for voting, intended to deny African American suffrage.
Good Neighbor Policy: The American view under Presidents Garfield and Harrison that high levels of economic participation in other countries would be more beneficial than outright conquest.
Open Door Notes: A series of six notes to six world powers stating that the U.S. has the right to trade with any country.
USS Maine: An American ship stationed in Havana, Cuba that was destroyed in the harbor, killing all aboard. This event sparked the Spanish-American war.
Foraker Act: This act set up a government in Puerto Rico after the Spanish-American War.
Yellow Journalism: A type of journalism in which the author uses flashy headlines of little substance to attract attention.
Caesar’s Column: A pessimistic novel written by Ignatius Donnelly that viewed industrial society as a “wretched failure” and that the world was on its way to disaster.
Homestead Strike: A strike in the Carnegie Steel Company. Carnegie and his chairman Henry C. Frick decided to break the union by lowering wages and sending a private army to quell the armed workers. The most powerful union of the AFL was defeated.
Pullman Strike: A strike against the tyrannical rule of George Pullman in his self-contained community built around his railroad company. The strikers appointed Eugene Debs as the head of the strike, and it grew to have participation nationwide. It was quelled when the army intervened and arrested the strike leaders.
Eugene Debs: Leader of the Pullman Strike and the American Railway Union (whose strike was recently victorious over the Northern rail line).
NAWSA: (National American Women’s Suffrage Association) it coordinated the movement that eventually succeeded in gaining women the right to vote.
Depression of 1893: Economic crisis caused when the railroads went bankrupt after over-construction. Unemployment reached 25%, and millions suffered from inadequate diets.
Plessy vs. Ferguson: A Supreme Court decision that ruled that segregated trains did not violate the Constitution and upheld the “separate but equal” doctrine.
Populist Movement: A third party based on reform movements and primarily comprised of farmers.
Half Breed: A moderate faction of the Republican Party that supported Hayes’ lenient treatment of the South and civil service reform.
“Free Silver”: The idea that the government should purchase and coin silver and use it to back currency. This idea was opposed by President Grover Cleveland.
Dingley Tariff of 1897: An act promoted by President McKinley that raised import duties to an all time high.
Jim Crow Laws: Segregation laws that became widespread in the South during the late 1800s
Grandfather Clause: Rules that required voters to show that their grandfather had been eligible to vote. This was designed to prevent blacks from voting, since the vast majority of their grandfathers had been slaves.
William McKinley: Defeated William Jennings Bryan in the election of 1896 and promoted the Open Door Policy.
Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan: President of the Rhode Island Naval War College and author of The Influence of Sea Power upon American History, he supported an imperialist foreign policy.
Spanish-American War: A popular conflict sparked by the destruction of the USS Maine that was swiftly concluded as an American victory. As a result, Cuba was freed from Spain and America conquered much of the Philippines.
Platt Amendment: A amendment that required Cuba to pay debts, provide land for bases, and allow the United States to intervene to protect its interests in Cuba after the Spanish-American War.
Amendment: An amendment passed regarding the war in Cuba that stated that the United States could not exercise control over Cuba, merely pacify it.
Insular Cases: Established the framework for applying the U.S. Constitution to islands acquired in the Spanish-American War.
Questions