American History Study Guide Ch. 15-18

Chapter 15 Elizabeth Cady Stanton: One of the most prominent leaders of the 19th century and leading figure of the early woman’s body; social activist/abolitionist Opposed the 14th and 15th amendment because it did nothing to enfranchise women Leader of the National Suffrage Association Crop-lien/Sharecropping:Growing of cotton and pledge a part of the crop as collateral Sharecropping: initially arose as a compromise between blacks’ desire for land and planters’ demand for labor discipline System allowed each black family to rent a part of a plantation with the crop divided between worker and owner at the end of the year Guaranteed the planters a stable resident labor force Black Codes:Laws passed by the new southern governments that attempted to regulate the lives of the former slaves Granted blacks certain rights: legalized marriage, ownership of property, and limited access to courts Denied them rights to testify against whites, serve on juries or in state mil itias, or to vote Declared that those who failed to sign yearly labor contracts could be arrested and hired out to white landowners Thaddeus Stevens:Radical who represented Pennsylvania in the House of Representatives Wanted to confiscate the land of disloyal planters and divide it among former slaves and northern migrants to the South; plan proved to be too radical Hiram Revels: Mississippi representative for the U. S. Senate during Reconstruction Served as chaplain in the wartime Union army and became the first black senator in American history Enforcement Acts of 1870-1871: Outlawed terrorist societies and allowed the president to use the army against them Continued the expansion of national authority duringReconstruction. Defined crimes that aimed to deprive citizens of the civil and political rights as federal offenses rather than violations of state law Klan eventually went out of existence U. S. v Cruikshank overthrew the Enforcement Acts U. S. v Cruikshank: Ruled that the du e process and equal protection clauses applied only to state action and not to actions of individuals Case that gutted the Enforcement Acts by throwing out convictions of some of those responsible for the Colfax Massacre of 1873 Election of 1876/Bargain of 1877:Republican nominee: Rutherford B. Hayes Democratic nominee: Samuel J. Tilden Election so close that whoever captured SC, FL, or LA would win Bargain: Congress appointed a 15-member electoral commission Members decided Hayes carried the disputed southern states, and therefore, won Reconstruction Act of 1867: Temporarily divided the South into 5 military districts and called for the creation of new state governments, with black men given the right to vote Passed by Congress over Johnson’s veto Chapter 16 Railroad Strike of 1877: ka Great Railroad Strike: first national labor walkout When workers protested a pay cut that paralyzed rail traffic, militia units tried to force them back to work The strike revealed a strong se nse of solidarity among workers and close ties b/w the Republican party and the new class of industrialists Aftermath: government constructed armories to ensure troops would be in hand in the event of labor difficulties Henry George, Progress and Poverty: Influential writer on social issues during the Gilded AgeHe identified the monopolization of land as the cause of social inequality Progress and Poverty: offered a critique of the expansion of poverty amid material abundance Book proposing more optimistic remedies for the unequal distribution of health His solution: â€Å"single tax†which would replace other taxes with a levy on increases in the value of real estate; it would be so high that it would prevent speculation in both urban and rural land George rejected the traditional equation of liberty with ownership of land; saw government as a â€Å"repressive power† Sherman Ant-Trust Act:Banned combinations and practices that restrained free trade; impossible to enfor ce Helped to establish the precedent that the national government could regulate the economy to promoted the public good Lochner v New York/Liberty of Contract Ideal: Supreme court voided a state law establishing ten hours per day or sixty per week as the maximum hours for bakers Battle at Wounded Knee: Soldiers opened fire on Ghost Dancers encamped near Wounded Knee Creek, killing b/w 150 and 200 Indians Marked the end of four centuries of armed conflict b/w the continent’s native population and European settlers and their descendantsAndrew Carnegie: Established a â€Å"vertically integrated† steel company – one that controlled every phase of the business from raw materials to transportation, manufacturing, and distribution. Dominated steel industry Knights of Labor: First group to try to organize unskilled workers as skilled, women alongside men, and blacks as well as whites Wanted to end the use of public and private police forces and court injunctions agains t strikes and labor organizations Thomas A. Edison:Era’s greatest inventor; Invented the phonograph, light bulb, motion picture, and a system for generating and distributing electric power Opened first electric generating station U. S. Steel Company: Founded in 1901; maintained labor policies held by Andrew Carnegie – lower wages and opposition to unionization Chapter 17 Omaha Platform, 1892: Party program adopted at the formative convention of the Populist Party Represents the merger of the agrarian concerns of the Farmers' Alliance with the free-currency monetarism of the Greenback Party while explicitly endorsing the goals of the largely urban Knights of Labor.Tom Watson: Georgia’s leading Populist who worked the hardest to forge a black-white alliance Made vicious speeches whipping up prejudice against blacks, Jews, and Catholics Kansas Exodus: Some blacks sought a way out through emigration from the South 40, 000 to 60, 000 African Americans migrated to Kan sas seeking political equality, freedom from violence, access to education, and economic opportunity Exodus derived from biblical account of Jews escaping slavery in Egypt Ida B. Wells:Nation’s leading antilynching crusader; insisted that given the conditions of southern blacks, the US had no right to call itself the â€Å"land of the free† â€Å"New Immigrants†: 3. 5 million newcomers seeking jobs in the industrial centers of the North and Midwest Described by native-born Americans as members of distinct â€Å"races†, whose lower level of civilization explained everything from their willingness to work for substandard wages to their supposed inborn tendency toward criminal behavior â€Å"Business Unionism†: Women’s Christian Temperance Union:Largest female organization; comprehensive program of economic and political reform including the right to vote â€Å"must abandon the idea that weakness and dependence were their nature and join asse rtively in movements to change society† Frances Willard: President Election of 1896: Republicans met the silverite challenge insisting that gold was the only â€Å"honest† currency Republican nominee: William McKinley Sometimes called the first modern presidential campaign because of the amount of money spent Democrats and Populists supported: William Jennings Bryan McKinley was the winner Platt Amendment:Drafted by Senator Platt of Connecticut Authorized the US to intervene militarily whenever it saw fit; US also acquired a permanent lease on naval stations in Cuba Had to be approved before Cuba could recognize their independence Chapter 18 Muckraking: The use of journalistic skills to expose the underside of American life; Theodore Roosevelt came up with the term New Immigration: Began around 1890 and reached its peak during the Progressive Era People came from southern and eastern Europe; 13 million came to the US, the majority from Italy, Russia, and the Austro-Hung arian empireFordism: Concentration on standardizing output and lowering prices Moving assembly line: car frames brought to workers on a continuously moving conveyor belt Fordism: economic system based on mass production and mass consumption Lawrence, Mass. , strike of 1912: When the state legislature enacted a 54 hour workweek, employers reduced the weekly take home pay of those who had been laboring longer hours Workers spontaneously went on strike and called IWW for assistance Children strikers left the city, and city officials ordered that no more children could leave LawrenceSamuel â€Å"Golden Rule†Jones: Gilded Age mayors who pioneered urban Progressivism Instituted 8 hour day and paid vacations at his factory that produced oil drilling equipment Founded night schools and free kindergartens, built new parks, and supported right of workers to unionize Jane Addams: Era’s most prominent female reformer Believed woman’s life should be governed by the â€Å"fa mily claim† – the obligation to devote herself to parents, husband, and children Founder of the Hull House in 1889 – settlement house devoted to improving the lives of the immigrant poorJohn Muir: Organized the Sierra Club to help preserve forests from uncontrolled logging by timber companies and other intrusions of civilization Federal Trade Commission: Second expansion of national power in 1914 Established to investigate and prohibit â€Å"unfair†business activities such as price-fixing and monopolistic practices Welcomed by many business leaders as a means of restoring order to the economic marketplace and warding off more radical measure for curbing corporate power