U.S. History Unit 5 Study Guide Terms/People/Events

The Gilded Age is defined as the time between the Civil War and World War I during which the U.S. population and economy grew quickly, there was a lot of political corruption and corporate financial misdealings and many wealthy people lived very fancy lives.

John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 - May 23, 1937) was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He was a co-founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust

Standard Oil Co. Inc. was an American oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 by John D. Rockefeller as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world of its time.

Andrew Carnegie was a 19th century steel tycoon who became one of the 20th century's most famous philanthropists. His life story is one of the most famous rags-to-riches accounts in United States history

In the late 1880s, Carnegie Steel was the largest manufacturer of pig iron and steel rails in the world. Carnegie eventually owned all steel production in the country in a process called horizontal integration. The United States Steel Corporation was the first corporation in the world worth over $1 billion

When a corporation eliminates its competition it becomes what is known as a "monopoly." Monopolies took several organization forms including what were known as trusts. Trust. Stockholders of several competing corporations turn in their stock to trustees in exchange for a trust certificate entitling them to a dividend.

Horizontal integration is the process of a company increasing production of goods or services at the same part of the supply chain. A company may do this via internal expansion, acquisition or merger. The process can lead to monopoly if a company captures the vast majority of the market for that good or service

the combination in one company of two or more stages of production normally operated by separate companies

Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and the long-lasting, practical electric light bulb.

Island in the harbor of New York City, southwest of Manhattan. Note: From 1892 to 1954, it served as the prime immigration station of the country. Some twelve million immigrants passed through it during this time.

the policy of protecting the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against those of immigrants.

The Chinese Exclusion Act was a United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882. It was one of the most significant restrictions on free immigration in US history, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers

Urbanization is the process where an increasing percentage of a population lives in cities and suburbs. This process is often linked to industrialization and modernization, as large numbers of people leave farms to work and live in cities.

A political machine 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.

A New York City political leader, known as Boss Tweed, who in the late 1860s ran a network of corrupt city officials called the Tweed Ring.

was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789, as the Tammany Society.

Also, the divides between the various occupations and groups of workers posed barriers to effective organization. Nonetheless, Uriah Stephens formed the Knights of Labor in 1869, and the union gained a national following when Terence Powderly assumed leadership.

The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in May 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association

Samuel Gompers (January 27, 1850 - December 13, 1924) was an English-born American labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history. Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL), and served as the organization's president from 1886 to 1894 and from 1895 until his death in 1924.

A train route across the United States, finished in 1869. It was the project of two railroad companies: the Union Pacific built from the east, and the Central Pacific built from the west. The two lines met in Utah.

a special act of Congress (1862) that made public lands in the West available to settlers without payment, usually in lots of 160 acres, to be used as farms.

A Native American leader of the Sioux tribe in the late nineteenth century. He was a chief and medicine man when the Sioux took up arms against settlers in the northern Great Plains and against United States army troops.

located on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota,was the site of two conflicts between North American Indians and representatives of the U.S. government. An 1890 massacre left some 15 0Native Americans dead, in what was the final clash between federal troops and the Sioux.

a member or adherent of a political party seeking to represent the interests of ordinary people.

was an American orator and politician from Nebraska, and a dominant force in the populist wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as the Party's candidate for President of the United States (1896, 1900 and 1908).

Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Enacted after the Reconstruction period, these laws continued in force until 1965.

Plessy v. Ferguson is a U.S. Supreme Court case from 1896 that upheld the rights of states to pass laws allowing or even requiring racial segregation in public and private institutions such as schools, public transportation, restrooms, and restaurants.

The Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906 (FMIA) is a United States Congress Act that works to prevent adulterated or misbranded meat and meat products from being sold as food and to ensure that meat and meat products are slaughtered and processed under sanitary conditions.

a law passed in 1906 to remove harmful and misrepresented foods and drugs from the market and regulate the manufacture and sale of drugs and food involved in interstate trade.

was a pioneer American settlement activist/reformer, social worker, public philosopher, she and Woodrow Wilson identified themselves as reformers and social activists, Addams was one of the most prominent reformers of the Progressive Era.

was a settlement house in the United States that was co-founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Located in the Near West Side of Chicago, Illinois, Hull House (named for the home's first owner) opened its doors to recently arrived European immigrants.

was a Protestant movement that was most prominent in the early 20th century United States and Canada.

The rivalry between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B DuBois is one well known to scholars and historians of the African American community. It is with DuBois Souls of Black Folk that DuBois makes his historic break with the philosophies of Booker T. Washington.

the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, is a civil rights organization founded in 1909 to fight prejudice, lynching, and Jim Crow segregation, and to work for the betterment of "people of color."

The 16th amendment is an important amendment that allows the federal (United States) government to levy (collect) an income tax from all Americans. Income tax allows for the federal government to keep an army, build roads and bridges, enforce laws and carry out other important duties.

to the United States Constitution 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.

The Eighteenth Amendment (Amendment XVIII) of the United States Constitution effectively established the prohibition of alcoholic beverages in the United States by declaring the production, transport, and sale of alcohol (though not the consumption or private possession) illegal.

a very important amendment to the constitution as it gave women the right to vote in 1920. You may remember that the 15th amendment made it illegal for the federal or state government to deny any US citizen the right to vote.

(1858-1919) the 26th US President (1901-9) and a member of the Republican Party. His popular name was Teddy. He led the Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War. He became Vice-President in 1900 and replaced William McKinley as President when McKinley was murdered a year later.

a fair bargain or treatment.

A federal law passed in 1890 that committed the American government to opposing monopolies. The law prohibits contracts, combinations, or conspiracies "in the restraint of trade or commerce."

the action of conserving something, in particular.

a former political party in the United States; founded by Theodore Roosevelt during the presidential campaign of 1912; its emblem was a picture of a bull moose. Progressive Party.

is an amendment passed by the U.S. Congress in 1914 that provides further clarification and substance to the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. The Clayton Antitrust Act attempts to prohibit certain actions that lead to anti-competitiveness.

is the central bank of the United States. The Fed, as it is commonly called, regulates the U.S. monetary and financial system.