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Indian Removal
The law authorized the president to negotiate with southern Indian tribes for their removal to federal territory west of the Mississippi River in exchange for their ancestral homelands. 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. -
Suffrage
Is the right to vote. Women's suffrage in the United States, the legal right of women to vote in that country, was established over the course of several decades, first in various states and localities, sometimes on a limited basis, and then nationally in 1920. The demand for women's suffrage began to gather strength in the 1840s. -
Manifest Destiny
the 19th-century doctrine or belief that the expansion of the US throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable because it was God's plan. The phrase was first employed by John L. O'Sullivan 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. The term manifest destiny originated in the 1840s. -
Nativism
is anti-immigrant sentiment.The Nativists went public in 1854 when they formed the 'American Party', which was especially hostile to the immigration of Irish Catholics and campaigned for laws to require longer wait time between immigration and naturalization. (The laws never passed.) -
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish American industrialist who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century. In spring 1861, during the civil war he was appointed as Superintendent of the Military Railways and the Union Government's telegraph lines in the East. Carnegie helped open the rail lines into Washington D.C. that the rebels had cut. Under his organization, the telegraph service rendered efficient to the Union cause and greatly assisted in the victory. -
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. -
Political Machines
is a political organization 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. The most famous example of machine politics was Tammany Hall, headquarters of the Democratic Party in New York City. Headed by William Marcy Tweed, the Tammany Hall political machine of the late 1860s and early 1870s used graft, bribery, and rigged elections to bilk the city of over $200 million. -
Industrialization
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes. Occurred from 1869–1901. 1869 Transcontinental Railroad is completed, 1870 Standard Oil Company forms, 1886 Supreme Court issues verdict in Wabash case, 1887 Congress passes Interstate Commerce Act, 1890 Congress passes Sherman Anti-Trust Act, 1901 U.S. Steel Corporation forms. -
The Glided 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. The rapid expansion of industrialization led to real wage growth of 60% between 1860 and 1890, spread across the ever-increasing labor force. -
Civil Service Reform
is a United States federal law, enacted in 1883, which established that positions within the federal government should be awarded on the basis of merit instead of political affiliation. The Act was passed into law in January 1883 -
Haymarket Riot
was the aftermath of a bombing that took place at a labor demonstration on Tuesday May 4, 1886, at Haymarket Square in Chicago. At least eight people died as a result of the violence that day. Despite a lack of evidence against them, eight radical labor activists were convicted in connection with the bombing. The Haymarket Riot was viewed a setback for the organized labor movement in America, which was fighting for such rights as the eight-hour workday. -
Dawes Act
The Dawes Act of 1887 (also known as the General Allotment Act or the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887), adopted by Congress in 1887, authorized the President of the United States to survey American Indian tribal land and divide it into allotments for individual Indians. -
Immigration and the American Dream
Between 1850 and 1930, about 5 million Germans migrated to the United States, a million Germans settled primarily in the Midwest. 3.5 million British and 4.5 million Irish entered America. Before 1845 most Irish immigrants were Protestants. After 1845, Irish Catholics began arriving in large numbers, largely driven by the Great Famine. Most Immigrants came from other countries to experience the American Dream, a chance to start over and make something of yourself. -
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. Some became wealthy, but the majority went in vain. The Klondike Gold Rush ended in 1899 after gold was discovered in Nome, Alaska prompting an exodus from the Klondike. -
Initiative & Referendum
The Initiative is a process that enables citizens to bypass their state legislature by placing proposed statutes. The first state to adopt the initiative was South Dakota in 1898. Referendum refers to a measure that appears on the ballot. There are 2 types: the legislative referendum, where the Legislature refers a measure to the voters for their approval, and the popular referendum, a measure that appears on the ballot as a result of a voter petition drive. -
Muckraker
The term muckraker was used in the Progressive Era to characterize reform-minded American journalists who attacked established institutions and leaders as corrupt. lasted from around 1900 to 1917, muckraking journalists successfully exposed America's problems brought on by rapid industrialization and growth of cities. Influential muckrakers created public awareness of corruption, social injustices and abuses of power. -
Theodore Roosevelt
was an American statesman, author, , soldier, , and reformer who served as the 26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909. He became a driving force for the Progressive Era in the United States in the early 20th century. He began construction of the Panama Canal. He expanded the U.S. Navy, and sent the Great White Fleet on a world tour to project the U.S. naval power around the globe. His successful efforts to end the Russo-Japanese War won him the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize. -
Upton Sinclair
was an American writer of nearly 100 books. Sinclair's work was well-known and popular in the first half of the twentieth century, and he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1943. In 1906, Sinclair's most famous book was The Jungle, which exposed conditions in the U.S. meat packing industry, causing a public uproar that contributed in part to the passage a few months later of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act and created the FDA. -
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. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair was an inspirational piece that kept the public's attention on the important issue of unsanitary meat processing plants that later led to food inspection legislation. It was a key piece of Progressive Era legislation, signed by President Theodore Roosevelt on the same day as the Federal Meat Inspection Act. -
Ida B. Wells
was an African-American suffragist, journalist, newspaper editor, feminist 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 (NAACP) in 1909. She was active in women's rights and the women's suffrage movement, establishing several notable women's organizations. -
Populism and Progressivism
populism is a belief in the power of regular people, and in their right to have control over their government rather than a small group of political insiders or a wealthy elite. Progressivism is the term applied to a variety of responses to the economic and social problems rapid industrialization introduced to America. Progressivism began as a social movement and grew into a political movement. The progressive era was between 1890 and 1920. -
Dollar Diplomacy
the use of a country's financial power to extend its international influence. From 1909 to 1913, President William Howard Taft and Secretary of State Philander C. Knox followed a foreign policy characterized as “dollar diplomacy.” “Dollar diplomacy” was evident in extensive U.S. interventions in the Caribbean and Central America, especially in measures undertaken to safeguard American financial interests in the region. -
Eugene V. Debbs
was an American union leader, 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 in 1900 ( 0.63% ), 1904 (2.98%), 1908 (2.83%), 1912 (5.99%), and 1920 (3.41%). -
Third Parties Politics
a third party is any party contending for votes that failed to outpoll either of its two strongest rivals. A third party candidate has never won in U.S. history. The closest was the Bull Moose Party, formally Progressive Party, that nominated former president Theodore Roosevelt as its candidate in the presidential election of 1912 in which he got 2nd place and beat the Republican candidate with his percentage at 27.4% -
16th Amendment
Passed by Congress July 2, 1909. Ratified February 3, 1913. The 16th Amendment changed a portion of Article I, Section 9
It states that 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
established the popular election of United States Senators by the people of the states. The amendment supersedes Article I, §3, Clauses 1 and 2 of the Constitution, under which senators were elected by state legislatures. proposed in 1912 and adopted in 1913. -
Federal Reserve Act
enacted December 23, 1913, is an Act of Congress that created and established the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States, and which created the authority to issue Federal Reserve Notes (U.S. Dollar) and Federal Reserve Bank Notes as legal tender. The Act was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson. -
Urbanization
occurs when the population shifts from rural to urban areas. With the advent of innovative agricultural technologies and industrialization, Americans began to migrate to cities in droves during the 1800s. By 1920, over 50% of Americans lived in cities. -
18th Amendment
effectively established the prohibition of alcoholic beverages in the United States by declaring the production, transport, and sale of alcohol illegal. Its ratification was certified on January 16, 1919, with the amendment taking effect on January 16, 1920. The amendment was repealed in 1933 by ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment, the only instance in United States history that a constitutional amendment was repealed in its entirety. -
Jane Addams
Jane Addams was a pioneer American settlement activist, reformer, and leader in women's suffrage. In 1889 she co-founded Hull House and in 1920 she was a co-founder for the ACLU. The Hull House was intended to bring the values of college education to the masses. However the focus changed to responding to the needs of the community by providing childcare, educational opportunities, and large meeting spaces. In 1931 she became the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. -
Susan B. Anthony
was an American social reformer, anti slavery and women's rights advocate who played a crucial role in the women's suffrage movement. In 1852, she co-founded the New York Women's State Temperance Society. In 1863, she co-founded the Women's Loyal National League. In 1869, she co-founded the National Woman Suffrage Association. In 1878, Anthony arranged for Congress to be presented with an amendment giving women the right to vote. it became the 19th Amendment in 1920. -
19th Amendment
provides men and women with equal voting rights. The amendment states that the right of citizens to vote "shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." Passed by Congress June 4, 1919, and ratified on August 18, 1920 -
Tea Pot Dome Scandal
was a bribery incident that took place in the United States from 1921 to 1922, during the administration of President Warren G. Harding. Secretary of the Interior Albert Bacon Fall had leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome in Wyoming and two other locations in California to private oil companies at low rates without competitive bidding. In 1922 and 1923, the leases became the subject of a sensational investigation by Senator Thomas J. Walsh. -
Clarence Darrow
was an American lawyer, leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, and prominent advocate for Georgist economic reform. He was best known for defending teenage thrill killers Leopold and Loeb in their trial for murdering 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks (1924). Some of his other notable cases included defending Ossian Sweet, and John T. Scopes in the Scopes "Monkey" Trial (1925) in which he opposed William Jennings Bryan. -
William Jennings Bryan
was an American politician from Nebraska, standing three times as the Democratic Party's nominee for President of the United States (1896, 1900, and 1908). He served two terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Nebraska and was United States Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson (1913–1915). After 1920 he supported Prohibition and attacked Darwinism and evolution, most famously at the Scopes Trial in 1925.
