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Political Machine
A political machine is a political group in which an authoritative boss or small group commands the support of a corps of supporters and businesses (usually campaign workers), who receive rewards for their efforts. -
Industrialization
Industrialization or industrialization is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society, involving the extensive re-organization of an economy for the purpose of manufacturing. -
16th Amendment
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration. -
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. -
19th Amendment
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. -
Tenement
A tenement is a multi-occupancy building of any sort. However, in the United States, it has come to refer most specifically to a run-down apartment building or to a slum. -
Nativism
Nativism is the political policy of promoting the interests of native inhabitants against those of immigrants. However, this is currently more commonly described as an immigration restriction position. In scholarly studies nativism is a standard technical term. -
Bessemer Steel Production
The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass production of steel from molten pig iron before the development of the open hearth furnace. The key principle is removal of impurities from the iron by oxidation with air being blown through the molten iron. -
Knights of Labor
Knights of Labor (KOL), the first important national labour organization in the United States, founded in 1869. Named the Noble Order of the Knights of Labor by its first leader, Uriah Smith Stephens, it originated as a secret organization meant to protect its members from employer retaliations. -
The Gilded Age
The Gilded Age was an era of rapid economic growth, especially in the North and West. As American wages were much higher than those in Europe, especially for skilled workers, the period saw an influx of millions of European immigrants. -
Social Gospel
Social Gospel. A religious movement that arose in the United States in the late nineteenth century with the goal of making the Christian churches more responsive to social problems, such as poverty and prostitution. -
Great Railroad Strike
The Great Railroad Strike of 1877, sometimes referred to as the Great Upheaval, began on July 14 in Martinsburg, West Virginia, United States after the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) cut wages for the third time in a year. -
Settlement House
The settlement movement was a reformist social movement that began in the 1880s and peaked around the 1920s in England and the US. Its goal was to bring the rich and the poor of society together in both physical proximity and social interconnectedness. -
Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell was a Scottish-born scientist, inventor, engineer, and innovator who is credited with inventing and patenting the first practical telephone. He also founded the American Telephone and Telegraph Company in 1885. Born: March 3, 1847, Died: August 2, 1922 -
American Federation of Labor
The American Federation of Labor was a national federation of labor unions in the United States founded in Columbus, Ohio, in December 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor union. -
Haymarket Riot
The Haymarket affair was the aftermath of a bombing that took place at a labor demonstration on Tuesday, May 4, 1886, at Haymarket Square in Chicago. It began as a peaceful rally in support of workers striking for an eight-hour day and in reaction to the killing of several workers the previous day by the police. -
Interstate Commerce Act
The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 is a United States federal law that was designed to regulate the railroad industry, particularly its monopolistic practices. The Act required that railroad rates be "reasonable and just," but did not empower the government to fix specific rates. -
Robber Barons
Robber Barons. “Robber baron” is a derogatory term used for some powerful nineteenth-century American businessmen. By the 1890s, the term was typically applied to businessmen who were viewed as having used questionable practices to amass their wealth. -
Sherman Antitrust Act
Approved July 2, 1890, The Sherman Anti-Trust Act was the first Federal act that outlawed monopolistic business practices. The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 was the first measure passed by the U.S. Congress to prohibit trusts. -
Homestead Strike
The Homestead strike, also known as the Homestead Steel strike, Pinkerton rebellion, or Homestead massacre, was an industrial lockout and strike which began on June 30, 1892, culminating in a battle between strikers and private security agents on July 6, 1892. -
Pullman Strike
The Pullman Strike was a nationwide railroad strike in the United States that lasted from May 11 to July 20, 1894, and a turning point for US labor law. -
Klondike Gold Rush
The Klondike Gold Rush was a migration by an estimated 100,000 prospectors to the Klondike region of the Yukon in north-western Canada between 1896 and 1899. -
Initiative, Referendum, Recall
Initiative, referendum, and recall are three powers reserved to enable the voters, by petition, to propose or repeal legislation or to remove an elected official from office. Proponents of an initiative, referendum, or recall effort must apply for an official petition serial number from the Town Clerk. -
Populism Progressivism
Populism, initiated back in late 19th century was a movement that was led by the farmers for the economic change, whereas Progressivism, commenced in the beginning of 20th century was the movement of urban middle class against the political system, which they believe was corrupt and the electable were chosen through unfair elections. -
Industrial Workers of The World
The Industrial Workers of the World, members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in 1905 in Chicago, Illinois in the United States of America. -
Muckrakers
The term muckraker was used in the Progressive Era to characterize reform-minded American journalists who attacked established institutions and leaders as corrupt. ... Investigative journalists view the muckrakers as early influences and a continuation of watchdog journalism. -
Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony was an American social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement. Born into a Quaker family committed to social equality, she collected anti-slavery petitions at the age of 17. Born: February 15, 1820, Died: March 13, 1906 -
Pure Food and Drug Act
Excerpt from the Pure Food and Drug Act. An 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. -
Dollar Diplomacy
Dollar diplomacy of the United States—particularly during President William Howard Taft's term— was a form of American foreign policy to further its aims in Latin America and East Asia through use of its economic power by guaranteeing loans made to foreign countries. -
Federal Reserve Act
The Federal Reserve Act is an Act of Congress that created and established the Federal Reserve System, and which created the authority to issue Federal Reserve Notes as legal tender. The Act was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson. -
Jacob Riis
Jacob August Riis was a Danish-American social reformer, "muckraking" journalist and social documentary photographer. Born: May 3, 1849, Died: May 26, 1914 -
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie worked his way up from a penniless Scottish immigrant to one of America's richest and most powerful men. He first worked as a boy in a cotton mill. Later, he was a telegraph operator for a railroad. Carnegie became friends with the president of the railroad, who promoted him and advised him on investments. Born: November 25, 1835, Died: August 11, 1919 -
Theodore Roosevelt
President that helped break up "bad trust". He also passed laws to protect consumer health. He increased the power of Interstate Commerce Commission. Worked to conserve the nation's natural resources. Lastly he withheld federal land from public sales. Born: October 27, 1858, Died: January 6, 1919 -
18th Amendment
The Eighteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution effectively established the prohibition of intoxicating liquors in the United States by declaring the production, transport, and sale of intoxicating liquors illegal. It was ratified on January 16, 1919. -
Teapot Dome Scandal
The "Teapot Dome Scandal" was a bribery scandal involving the administration of United States President Warren G. Harding from 1921–1923. -
Samuel Gompers
Samuel Gompers is an English-born American labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history. Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor, and served as the organization's president from 1886 to 1894, and from 1895 until his death in 1924. Born: January 27, 1850, Died: December 13, 1924 -
William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan was an American orator and politician from Nebraska. Beginning in 1896, he emerged as a dominant force in the Democratic Party, standing three times as the party's nominee for President of the United States. Born: March 19, 1860, Died: July 26, 1925 -
Eugene V. Debbs
Eugene Victor Debs was an American socialist, political activist, trade unionist, one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World, and five times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States. Born: November 5, 1855, Died: October 20, 1926 -
Ida B. Wells
Ida Bell Wells-Barnett, more commonly known as Ida B. Wells, was an African-American investigative journalist, educator, and an early leader in the Civil Rights Movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Born: July 16, 1862, Died: March 25, 1931 -
Jane Addams
Leader in house settlement movement; Hull House. Born: September 6, 1860, Died: May 21, 1935 -
Clarence Darrow
Clarence Seward Darrow was an American lawyer, a leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, and a prominent advocate for Georgist economic reform. Born: April 18, 1857, Died: March 13, 1938 -
Upton Sinclair
Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. was an American writer who wrote nearly 100 books and other works in several genres. Sinclair's work was well known and popular in the first half of the 20th century, and he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1943. Born: September 20, 1878, Died: November 25, 1968