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Political Machines
Political Machines were organizations whose main goals were the rewards of getting and keeping power. They were known for fraud and bribery. It provided relief, security, and services to voters and is popular in immigrant societies. -
Indian Removal
Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830. The land west of the Mississippi River was exchanged with Indian lands that were being used to be given to the whites. Many tribes were fine with it and moved, but others refused to relocate. -
Manifest Destiny
The belief that it was Gods plan that the US should extend from the Altantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Americans did not care who owned the land before us. They thought Manifest Destiny mean that they had the right by God to take the land. -
Susan B Anthony
Anthony helped organize the Women’s Right Convention in 1848. She was a lecturer for women’s rights. She believed that both men and women were equal. -
Nativism
Nativism is the favoring of native inhabitants as opposed to immigrants. This caused immigrant issues with jobs and adapting to the new culture and language. Immigrants were viewed as culturally and religiously exotic hordes and nativists gave them rude perception. -
Homestead Act
The Homestead Act allowed for people to have 160 acres of land for a $10 fee. The person had to improve the land in a span of 5 years. People would illegally claim land by sneaking past the government officials before the races began. -
The Gilded Age
The Gilded Age was a time period from the 1870s-1890s where industry and work was dominant. Businesses grew at rapid rates and many problems lied below perceived property. The gap between the rich and the poor grew. -
Populism & Progressivism
Populism was a movement started by farmers who wanted economic and political reforms. It was organized by farmers alliance. The progressive moment is the belief in progress with the goal to correct the political and economic injustices that had resulted from Americans industrialization by big businesses. -
Civil Service Reform
The reform was an effort to establish a system for selecting government employees based on merit. It protected ethical politicians and created standards for political service. It included a civil service test for those seeking a job in government. -
Haymarket Riot
A protest turned into a riot after a bomb was thrown by an individual. The cause of it was people wanted an eight hour work day. The individual who threw the bomb was never found and the incident was blamed on labor “radicalism.” It resulted in public condemnation to the demise of the Knights of Labor. -
Dawes Act
The Dawes Act was an attempt to break up reservations. They tried to “Americanize” the Indians by giving them 160 acres of land. The property would become theirs after 25 years—if they were good whites. -
Jane Addams
Addams was a social worker and reformer. She opened and operated the Hull House in 1889. The Hull House was a settlement house in Chicago. -
Muckraker
Muckraker was used during the progressive era. It characterized journalists that made leaders seem corrupt. They wrote for popular magazines and had large audiences. -
Initiative & Referendum
Initiative and Referendum allows voters to remove an elected official form office. Many states were allowed to place a new legislation on a popular ballot. These were reforms. -
Andrew Carnegie
Carnegie was a Scottish born American Industrialist and philanthropist. He founded the Carnegie Steel company in 1892. His company dominated the American steel industry by 1902. -
Eugene V Debs
Debs was head of the American Railway Union and director of the Pullman strike in 1894. He was arrested during the strike for ignoring a federal court injunction to stop striking. He converted to socialism after reading Socialist literature while in prison. -
Klondike Gold Rush
Many people traveled to find gold. People rushed to Yukon Territory after gold was discovered there. Many miners did not become rich because gold was hard to mine. -
William Jennings Bryan
He was the leader of the Democrats in the Chicago convention of 1896. His goal of “free silver” won him he support of the Populist party. He lost the election to William McKinley, ran again in 1900, but lost again. -
Theodore Roosevelt
Roosevelt was the 26th president of the US. He increased the size of Navy, “Great White Fleet.” He received the Nobel Peace Prize for mediation of end of Russo Japanese war. -
Pure Food and Drug Act
The act protected the public against adulteration of food and from products identified as healthy without scientific support. It arose due to education and exposure from Muckrakers and researchers. This was the beginning of the FDA (Food and Drug administration). -
Upton Sinclair
Sinclair is the author of “The Jungle.” The book was about the other side of the meat industry. It focused on the sanitation problems of the system and what workers went through and were exposed to on a daily basis. -
Dollar Diplomacy
Dollar diplomacy is the effort of the US to further it’s foreign policy through use of economic power by guaranteeing loans to foreign countries. The policy would force Latin American nations to become dependent on the dollar to prevent any European intervention. It wished to remove any pretext for European intervention in Latin American countries by managing the financial affairs of countries whose economics were “backwards” by American standards. -
Federal Reserve Act
The act created the federal reserve system, the central banking system of the US. It was signed into law by Wilson. It regulated banking to help small banks stay in business. -
16th Amendment
The amendment allowed the federal government to impose an income tax. Wealthier people paid taxes and the government would receive the money and then could redistribute the wealth. It put down the Laissez Fair government. -
17th Amendment
The amendment required the direct election of senators by popular vote. The state legislative used to choose the senators. Now people could choose who the senator was. -
Ida B Wells
Wells was an African American journalist. She was a campaigner for the Women’s rights movement and a speaker during the Civil Rights movement. She urged African Americans to protest the lynchings. In 1913, she refused to march at the back of the white delegation of women of suffrage demonstration. -
18th Amendment
The 18th amendment took effect in 1920.The amendment prohibited the manufacture, sale, and distribution of alcoholic beverages. It is the only amendment to have ever been rejected by the public and repealed. -
19th Amendment
The 19th amendment was ratified in 1920. It extended the right to vote to women in federal or state elections. Tennessee was the last state to approve the amendment. -
Urbanization
Industries and immigrants were the growth of cities. People moved closer to factories to work and be closer to their jobs. Agriculture became less and less common. The percentage of people living in an urban area surpassed those living in a rural area by 1920. -
Suffrage
Suffrage is the right to vote in elections. The most well known suffrage is the Women’s Suffrage. Women wanted to vote like men did and the 19th amendment was passed. -
Teapot Dome Scandal
Albert Fall, Secretary of Interior, accepted large amounts of money and gifts from private oil companies. He allowed the companies to control government oil reserves in Elk Hills, California and Teapot Dome, Wyoming in exchange. Fall was arrested. -
Clarence Darrow
Darrow was a famed criminal lawyer. He defended John Scopes during the Scopes Trial and argued that evolution should be taught in schools. He earned famed by defending the values of science and modernism in the 1925 Scopes Trial. -
Immigration & the American Dream
The American Dream was the American ideal of a happy and successful life. All may aspire dream of a land in which life should be better, richer, and fuller for all. It stresses egalitarianism and material prosperity. -
Industrialization
Industrialization is the development of industries in a country. WWI was in need for many supplies and industrialism took a big role. Mass production of machines and assembly lines replaced manual labor. -
Third Parties Politics
Third parties helped for issues to be seen if they are not addressed by the two major parties. An example of a third party is the American Independent party and had successes. George Wallace won electoral votes.
