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Immigration
Immigration is the international movement of people into a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle or reside there, especially as permanent residents or naturalized citizens, or to take-up employment as a migrant worker or temporarily as a foreign. -
Indian Removal
The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830, authorizing the president to grant unsettled lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders. A few tribes went peacefully, but many resisted the relocation policy. -
Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny is a term for the attitude prevalent during the 19th century period of American expansion that the United States not only could, but was destined to, stretch from coast to coast. This attitude helped fuel western settlement, Native American removal and war with Mexico. The phrase was first employed in an article on the annexation of Texas published in the July-August 1845 edition of the United States Magazine and Democratic Review, which he edited. -
Susan B. Anthony
Leaving the Canajoharie Academy in 1849, Anthony soon devoted more of her time to social issues. In 1851, she attended an anti-slavery conference, where she met Elizabeth Cady Stanton. She was also involved in the temperance movement, aimed at limiting or completely stopping the production and sale of alcohol. She was inspired to fight for women's rights while campaigning against alcohol. -
Nativism
According to Mudde, a professor at the University of Georgia, nativism is an almost exclusively American concept that is rarely discussed in Western Europe. The term’s origins lie with mid-19th century political movements in the United States most famously the Know Nothing party that portrayed Catholic immigration from countries such as Germany and Ireland as a grave threat to native-born Protestant Americans. -
Homestead Act
Signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on May 20, 1862, the Homestead Act encouraged Western migration by providing settlers 160 acres of public land. In exchange, homesteaders paid a small filing fee and were required to complete five years of continuous residence before receiving ownership of the land. -
Suffrage
Suffrage is the right to vote in public elections. Universal suffrage means everyone gets to vote, as opposed to only men, or property holders. Suffrage has nothing to do with "suffering," unless the wrong person is elected. -
Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair was born in a small row house in Baltimore, Maryland, on September 20, 1878. From birth he was exposed to dichotomies that would have a profound effect on his young mind and greatly influence his thinking later in life. The only child of an alcoholic liquor salesman and a puritanical, strong-willed mother, he was raised on the edge of poverty, but was also exposed to the privileges of the upper class through visits with his mother’s wealthy family. -
Urbanization & Insustrialization
Industrialization leads to urbanization by creating economic growth and job opportunities that draw people to cities. The urbanization process typically begins when a factory or multiple factories are established within a region, thus creating a high demand for factory labor. Other businesses such as building manufacturers, retailers and service providers then follow the factories in order to meet the product demands of the workers. -
William Jennings Bryan
Bryan was reared in Illinois. He practiced law in Jacksonville (1883–87) before moving to Lincoln, Nebraska, where he was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1890. Renowned as a gifted debater, he opposed high tariffs and came to be considered the national leader of the Free Silver Movement (bimetallism) as opposed to the “hard money” policy of the Eastern bankers and industrialists, who favored the gold standard. -
Teddy Roosevelt
Roosevelt's progressive policies in New York ran him afoul of his own party, so Republican Party bosses plotted to quiet him by naming him on the McKinley ticket in the thankless post of vice president. However, after his re-election in 1901, President McKinley was assassinated. At age 42, Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt became the youngest man to assume the U.S. presidency. -
Haymarket Riot
Haymarket Riot, also called Haymarket Affair or Haymarket Massacre, violent confrontation between police and labour protesters in Chicago on May 4, 1886, that became a symbol of the international struggle for workers’ rights. It has been associated with May Day (May 1) since its designation as International Workers’ Day by the Second International in 1889. -
Dawes Act
On this day in 1887, President Grover Cleveland signs the Dawes Severalty Act into law. The act split up reservations held communally by Native American tribes into smaller units and distributed these units to individuals within the tribe. The law changed the legal status of Native Americans from tribal members to individuals subject to federal laws and dissolved many tribal affiliations The Dawes Severalty/General Allotment Act constituted a huge blow to tribal sovereignty. -
Jane Addams
Addams and Starr opened one of the first settlements in both the United States and North America, and the first in the city of Chicago: Hull House, which was named after the building's
original owner. Over the years, the organization grew to include more than 10 buildings and extended its services to include child care, educational courses, an art gallery, a public kitchen and several other social programs. -
Andrew Carnegie
By 1889 he owned Carnegie Steel Corporation, the largest of its kind in the world. In 1901 he sold his business and dedicated his time to expanding his philanthropic work.
While working for the railroad, Carnegie began making investments. He made many wise choices and found that his investments, especially those in oil, brought in substantial returns. He left the railroad in 1865 to focus on his other business interests, including the Keystone Bridge Company. -
Eugene V. Roosevelt
In 1893 Eugene V. Debs became president of the American Railway Union. His union conducted a successful strike for higher wages against the Great Northern Railway in 1894. He gained greater renown when he went to jail for his role in leading the Chicago Pullman Palace Car Company strike. He was the Socialist party's presidential candidate in 1900,1908, 1912 and 1920. -
Klondike Gold Rush
The Klondike Gold Rush was an event of migration by an estimated 100,000 people prospecting to the Klondike region of north-western Canada in the Yukon region between 1896 and 1899.
Gold was discovered in many rich deposits along the Klondike River in 1896, but due to the remoteness of the region and the harsh winter climate the news of gold couldn’t travel fast enough to reach the outside world before the following year. -
Social Gospel
The Social Gospel Movement was a religious movement that arose during the second half of the nineteenth century. Ministers, especially ones belonging to the Protestant branch of Christianity, began to tie salvation and good works together. They argued that people must emulate the life of Jesus Christ. -
Pure Food and Drug Act
For preventing the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated or misbranded or poisonous or deleterious foods, drugs, medicines, and liquors, and for regulating traffic therein, and for other purposes. -
Muckraker
The term muckraker was used in the Progressive Era to characterize reform-minded American journalists who attacked established institutions and leaders as corrupt. They typically had large audiences in some popular magazines. -
16th amendment
The 16th amendment is an important amendment that allows the federal (United States) government to levy (collect) an income tax from all Americans. Income tax allows for the federal government to keep an army, build roads and bridges, enforce laws and carry out other important duties. -
Federal Reserve Act
After her father's business failed in the late 1830s, Anthony returned home to help her family make ends meet, and found work as a teacher. The Anthonys moved to a farm in the Rochester, New York area, in the mid-1840s. There, they became involved in the fight to end slavery, also known as the abolitionist movement. Prior to 1913, financial panics were common occurrences, as investors were unsure about the safety of their deposits. -
18th Amendment
The first Amendment to impose a date by which it was to be ratified. If the deadline was not met, the Amendment would be discarded. The ratification of the 18th Amendment was completed on January 16th, 1919 and would take effect on January 17th, 1920. -
19th amendment
At the time the U.S. was founded, its female citizens did not share all of the same rights as men, including the right to vote. Following the convention, the demand for the vote became a centerpiece of the women’s rights movement. Stanton and Mott, along with Susan B. Anthony and other activists, formed organizations that raised public awareness and lobbied the government to grant voting rights to women. -
Tea Pot Dome Scandal
The Teapot Dome Scandal of the 1920s shocked Americans by revealing an unprecedented level of greed and corruption within a presidential administration. The scandal involved ornery oil tycoons, poker-playing politicians, illegal liquor sales, a murder-suicide, a womanizing president and a bagful of bribery cash delivered on the sly. In the end, the scandal would, by legal precedent, empower the Senate to conduct rigorous investigations into government corruption. -
17th amendment
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each state, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislatures.