History Chapter 15~18 Test Review Sheet
Gilded Age- a thin but glittery layer covered the poverty and corruption of the society
Credit Mobilier Scandal
Illegal manipulation of construction contracts for the Union Pacific Railroad that became a symbol of corruption after the American Civil War. The railroad's major stockholders created Credit Mobilier to divert its construction profits and gave or sold stock to influential politicians in return for favors.
Spoils System
Independents Opposition / Hayes upset his fellow Republicans by fighting the spoils system.Half-breeds reformers / Garfield was a half-breed, and was shot by Guiteau to let Arthur become the president.
Stalwarts defenders / Arthur’s reform: Pendleton Civil Service Act (created of a Civil Service Commission and stated that federal employees could not be required to contribute to campaign funds nor fired for political reason)
Blue laws- laws against immoral vice (drinking, gambling, etc.)
Cleveland
l He was known as Bourbon Democrat, supported big business
l He was not 100% Democratic – he favored tight money supply
l Like other Dems, he wanted railroad regulation and low tariffs
l Rebates, partial refunds and different prices to favored customers
Interstate Commerce Act- Rates set by distance and no rebates or special deals
Immigration
Where / Why / ExperiencesEurope / - To escape religious persecution (pogrom, massacre of Jews)
- Poverty and foot shortage; look for a better life
- Promise of land: Homestead / - Traveled in steerage (large open area beneath the ship’s deck)
- Settled in cities in the East and Midwest
- Went through quarantine (isolation to prevent diseases) in Ellis Island where they got separated from their family
- Due to language barrier and cultural differences, paid less and lived in ghettos
Asia / - Chinese came for gold mining and to work on the Transcontinental Railroad
- Japanese worked on sugar plantations in Hawaii / - Japanese were treated better
- Chinese were excluded, Japanese were restricted by later under Gentlemen’s Agreement restriction was gone
- Still considered different
Mexico / - Civil war and revolution
- Easy to come in, lived closer / - lived in Texas, California and other bordering states
Cities
l Cities began to grow rapidly due to the influx of immigrants (30 million)
l At the same time, 11 million Americans left their farms and moved to the city
l African Americans were moving to cities to escape persecution and natural disasters
l Inventions: Motorized transportation; elevated trains; cable car; subways; cars
Living conditions
l tenements, low-cost apartment buildings designed to house as many families as the owner could pack in
l poverty, overcrowding, neglect; soot from coal in the air; rats and filth in the streets
l fire could spread really fast because of the buildings were concentrated and there was no ventilation system
l heat waves attracted diseases
l dumbbell tenement, narrow in the middle, and gap on either side forming air shafts to bring light and air to inside rooms
l reporter Jacob Riis reported to the public How the Other Half Lives; as a result, NY passed laws to improve tenements
Political machines- unofficial city organization designed to keep a particular group in power
Some people liked political machines because they improved the quality of the police force and city services, while others blamed them for taking advantage of the immigrants.
Charity
Social Gospel Movement- instead of blaming immigrants for drinking, gambling, and other behaviors, they sought to treat the problems that drove people to these activities
Prohibition
l Temperance Movement- eliminate alcohol consumption
l Prohibition- ban on manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages
Expanding Opportunities for Education
Growth of Industry / More children attending elementary schoolLiteracy- ability to read and write¥
Immigration / Immigrants attending public schools to learn English and American way of life; assimilation- a group/culture of people fit into another group/culture
Philanthropy / (donation of worthy causes) more schools established
Equality / Coeducation and African American education
Booker T. Washington / W.E.B. Dubois
put aside political equality and focus on economic security through job skills;
appealed to African Americans and whites who feared too much social change / believed in political and social equality, as well as civil rights; believed top 10% should seek liberal arts degrees, so they can become leaders
Niagara Movement- a group of Afro-Americans that called for full civil liberties, end of racial discrimination and recognition of human brotherhood
Yellow journalism- sectional news coverage, exaggerated news
Vaudeville- a kind of theatrical performance that grew out of minstrel shows
Jim Crow- segregation law
Voting Restrictions
Must own property or pay a poll tax- Difficult for most AAs to meet
Must pass a literacy test- Also very difficult to pass (weren’t taught to read)
Grandfather clauses- you can vote if you grandfather did; another restriction on AAs
Plesssy v. Ferguson
l Supreme Court said Jim Crow Laws are ok, as long as things are “separate but equal.”
l 14th Amendment does not give “social equality, only political and civil.”
Lynching- murder of an accused person by a mob without a lawful trial
NAACP- to abolish segregation and discrimination, to oppose racism, and to gain civil rights for African Americans
Imperialism
l Economics- Raw materials, new markets
l Nationalism (devotion to one’s nation)- European competition
l Military factors- naval advances, and need for bases
l Humanitarian factors- Spread western civilization and religion
Seward’s Folly- purchase of Alaska from Russia to surround Canada and put pressure on Britain
Arguments for Expansion
l economic; banana republic- a Central American nation dominated by U.S. business interests
l security; Alfred T. Mahan (The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660 – 1783)
l American Spirit; Turner’s Thesis; Theodore Roosevelt - no frontier = no American spirit
l Social Darwinism
Nation / Policy and EffectsPhilippines / Annexed by U.S. after Spanish-American War; U.S. soldiers remain there.
Cuba / Unwillingness to intervene in Cuban rebellion, but under American destruction of sugar plantations, de Lome’s letter, and newspapers’ report (yellow journalism), U.S. moved the battleship U.S.S. Maine into Havana. War broke out after Spain failed to make Cuba independent. Roosevelt led Rough Riders in Cuba. Platt Amendment forbade Cuban government any foreign agreements, allowed U.S. to establish naval bases as needed on the island and rule as a de facto occupier
Puerto Rico / After the Spanish-American War, maintained a military government there until 1900; established a civil government with the passage of the Foraker Act
Hawaii / 1887 trade treaty; Pearl Harbor as a naval station; white Hawaiian-born planters controlled the government in 1887; removed monarch and annexed (join a new territory to an existing country) Hawaii in 1898.
China / Japan, and Europe sought spheres of influence (areas of economic and political control); wanted equal access to China’s consumers, open door
arbitration- the settlement of a dispute by a person or panel chosen to listen to both sides and come to a decision
jingoism- a feeling of national pride and desire for an aggressive foreign policy
Foreign policy after the Spanish-American WarPanama Canal / l Encouraged revolution in Panama and made it independent
l Global shipping much faster and cheaper
l Canal constructed under concession- a grant for a piece of land in exchange for a promise to use the land for a purpose
l Ill will among Latin Americans toward the U.S.
Big Stick Diplomacy / l Roosevelt Corollary- denial of U.S. desire of any more territory and assertion of the rights to intervene
l Increased U.S. influence in Latin America
l Made peace in Asia
Dollar Diplomacy / l Intended to maintain Open Door to China and maintain Latin American stability
l Not profitable, lost money
l Created enemies in Caribbean and Central America
Moral Diplomacy / l Involved in the U.S. in the Mexican Revolution for moral reasons
l Brought united opposition and terrorism from Mexico
l America lost financial interests in Mexico and U.S. investment got curbed
Pro-Imperialism / Anti-Imperialism
l Offers new frontier for American imagination and spirit
l Gains access to foreign markets
l Shows the military advantage of U.S. (Great White Fleet- the gleaming white ships as to demonstrate the nation’s impressive naval power to other nations) / l Rejects the foundation of American ideas and democracy
l Does not entitle the people in these territories as U.S. citizens
l Should not admit other races than WASP, racism
l Taxation, debt and compulsory (required) military service to maintain the armed forces in territories
Muckraker
l someone too busy raking muck on earth to look up and see heaven
l exposed serious issues: political corruption and corporate abuse
Goals of the Progressives
l Govt. should be more accountable to its citizens
l Govt. should reduce power and influence of rich
l Govt. should have more power to improve lives of citizens
l Govt. should be more efficient and less corrupt
Origins
l older reform issues, such as: nativism; prohibition; purity crusades; electoral reform; charity reform; social gospel philosophy; settlement houses
l came as a result of the challenges from the second industrial revolution, from northeast
l Upton Sinclair- wrote the book The Jungle which revealed the disgust of meat packing
Aftermath of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company
– Compulsory fire drills; unlocked and fire proofed exits
– Automatic sprinklers; workplace protections
Roosevelt Reforms
Municipal (city) / State / Federall Home rule- self-rule
l Fighting against city bosses: Tammany Hall ward bosses
l Natural disaster: emergency relief; elected officials and professional city managers
l cities take over facilities
l welfare services / l Direct Primary- citizens vote to select nominees for upcoming elections
l Initiative- citizens propose new law
l Referendum- citizens approve or reject laws
l Recall- citizens remove public officials
l workplace reform / l antitrust
l railroad regulation (ICC)
l public health: food and drug act
l labor department: women and children
l conservation- John Muir
Amendments
l 16th- federal income tax
l 17th- senators are elected by people
l 18th- alcohol is banned
Square Deal- aimed at helping middle class citizens and involved attacking and bad trusts while at the same time protecting business from the extreme demands of organized labor
Taft Presidency
l Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act- some reduction but some increase in protective tariff
l Ballinger-Pinchot Affair- Taft appointed Ballinger as Secretary of Interior, who sided with business interests that sought unrestricted development of land.
l Republican Party split
l Roosevelt came back and campaigned for Progressive candidates for 1910 midterm elections
n New Nationalism- business regulation, welfare laws, workplace protection of women and children, income and inheritance taxes, and voting reform
n Bull Moose Party- tariff reduction, women’s suffrage, more regulation of business, child labor ban, 8-hour workday, federal workers’ compensation system, direct election of senators
l reserved publicans and brought antitrust suits, supported Children’s Bureau, regulated of telephone and telegraph rates
Wilson Presidency
l reduced tariff from 40% to 25%; federal income tax
l Clayton Antitrust Act- strengthened Sherman Antitrust Act by specifying activities that businesses could not do (price cutting, rebates, monopolies, etc.)
l Federal Trade Commission- cease and desist the practice of unfair business tactics
l Federal Reserve System- divided the country in 12 districts each with a Federal Reserve bank as the central bank for its region; member banks could borrow money from the Federal Reserve to meet short-term demands, in order to prevent bank failures during panics; national currency which enabled Federal Reserve to expand or contract the amount of currency in circulation according to economic needs
l elected Brandeis, the first Jew, to the Supreme Court
Suffrage
l Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony
l Civil disobedience- nonviolent refusal to obey a laws in an effort to change it
l Publication of The Revolution
l Hoped to get (1) constitutional amendments (2) state legislation
l National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA)
l New generation: Congressional Union and Alice Paul
n Aggressive, militant campaign for the constitutional amendment
n Protested in front of White House
l World War I made the country realize the importance of women and need for equality
l 19th Amendment- women suffrage