Juliana Meyers, Kylie Mawn, & Chris Pfeifer

APUSH Ch. 17-20 Study Guide

Important Terms/Individuals:
Gilded Age: 1870s - 1890s
time period looked good on the outside, despite the corrupt politics & growing
gap between the rich & poor
economic growth, lots of immigrants, contained two depressions
(Panic of 1873 and 1893)
term coined by Mark Twain in The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today
presidents: Rutherford B. Hayes, Andrew Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, Grover
Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, and William McKinley.
Plessy v. Ferguson:
Supreme Court justices upheld Louisiana law requiring segregated railroad cars.
constitutional b/c separate but equal
led to segregation of the Southern public school system, but ignored the equal
part.
whites had nicer buildings, teachers and curriculum.
Helen Hunt Jackson:
author of A Century of Dishonor (1881)
written to rally public opinion against the U.S. governments
broken treaty obligations
advocated Indian boarding schools because their native culture were halting
progress
to americanize them and eliminate their cultural identity
American Federation of Labor:
formed by craft unions who left the Knights of Labor
replaced Knights grand visions with practical tactics aimed at simple issues
(raising wages and reducing hours).
Samuel Gompers- head of AFL in 1886-1924 - trade unionism, pure and simple
argued that in order to stand up to big corporations, labor needed to
harness bargaining power of skilled workers
power in organization of labor forces
Reasons for agrarian discontent - late 1800s:
inadequate money supply
declining prices of goods decreasing purchasing power
monopolistic practices with money lenders, RR corporations and others
Vertical Integration:
the control of all aspects of manufacturing (raw materials selling finished
product)
practiced by Andrew Carnegie
in his case, all stages of production

 became example of how sophisticated new technology and

innovated management to create mass production that would lower consumer
prices
Horizontal Integration:
A technique used by John D. Rockefeller
excellent with using this technique to monopolize certain markets.
It is responsible for the majority of his wealth.
an act of joining or consolidating with one's competitors to create a monopoly.
William Jennings Bryan:
championed silver coinage - free silver
Democratic presidential nominee in 1896
gave "Cross of Gold" speech that supported Populist and free
silver platform
Role of federal government - late 1800s:
laissez faire approach to government
kept out of economic business
blur in lines of political parties
political issues took the backburner while industrial and industryrelated issues more important
tried to regulate business, but the Supreme Court upheld the position of the large
and powerful business owners
ex; ICC and Sherman Act
US v. E.C. Knight Company
Grange:
Patrons of Husbandry - official name
Oliver H. Kelley = leader
league of farmers who had borrowed heavily to finance homesteads went
bankrupt
offered information, emotional support and fellowship
main concern- economic plight of farmers
sought to restore self-sufficiency to family farm
focused wrath on RRs which they believed were corrupt
ICC Act 1887:
Act passed in response to the Supreme Court decision ruling that states could not
regulate interstate commerce.
five-member Interstate Commerce Commission est to oversee practices of
interstate RRs
law banned monopolistic activity and short-distance rates
Jacob Coxey:
Led a group of unemployed men, known as Coxey's Army, on two marches on
Washington to demand unemployment relief/public works jobs from the federal
government
Spanish-American War:

 borne somewhat over crises of Cuba

what pushed U.S. to war? explosion and sinkage of the
U.S.S. Maine
displayed the need of America to show its strength with a new appetite for
imperialism
Clara Barton president of Red Cross
visited Santiago, Cuba and found wounded soldiers starving
volunteer and seasoned blacks fought
they faced discrimination even in the army
peace Treaty of Paris
Spain recognized Cuban independence, ceded Philippines, Puerto
Rico and Guam for $20 million to the U.S.
Pulitzer/Hearst - Yellow Journalism:
both exploited Cuban crisis
presented rumor as fact ex: Butcher Valeriano Weylers atrocities
fueled American anger over the Cuban crisis
Joseph Pulitzer (hungarian immigrant) - World
William Randolph Hearst - Journal
Yellow Kid provided name for their debased editorial
approach to journalism (yellow journalism)
slandered President McKinley as weak and just wanted everyone
to like him
Dawes Severalty Act (1887):
designed to turn Indians into landowners and farmers
emphasized severalty - treatment of Indians as individuals rather than
members of tribes
goal was to stamp out Indian culture
called for redistribution of of reservation land for farming or grazing to any Indian
family who accepted provisions of the law.
law was resisted, ineffective and disastrous to Indian tribes
Social Darwinism:
application of evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin to late-nineteenth century
society
William Graham Sumner inexorable natural laws controlled the social order
state owed citizens nothing but law, order and basic political rights
Lester Frank Ward challenged S.D. by saying the laws of nature could be
conquered by human will
Slaughterhouse Cases:
cases involved a business monopoly rather than the freedmens rights
narrow interpretation of the 14th and 15th amendments
Louisiana Legislature granted monopoly over New Orleans slaughterhouses and
closed down all others excluded butchers thought their 14th amendment rights were
violated
Supreme Court supported L.L. by issuing dual citizenship

 14th amendment protected national citizenship and not state

citizenship
federal govt does not have to protect rights violated by states
Examples: US v. Reed and US v. Cruikshank undercut effectiveness of
Enforcement Act
1883 Civil Rights Cases:
declared Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional by Supreme Court,
the 14th amendment protected people from governmental
infringement of rights and had no effect on acts of private citizens
Trust:
Standard Oil Trust created an umbrella corporation that ran them all
Rockefeller persuaded stockholders of companies to exchange
their stock for trust certificates
Stockholders could retain 9900=their share of the
trusts profits while enabling the trust to control prices
Companies followed Rockefeller by establishing their own trusts created an
oligopoly
by limiting the numbers of competitors, the market condition that
exists can influence princes
Sherman Antitrust Act outlawed trusts and monopolies that fixed prices in
restraint of trade and slapped violators with fines
Immigration Trends:
Late 1800s most immigrants came from non English speaking areas such as
Eastern Europe, Russia and Italy New Immigrants
formed private towns, kept native languages, formed ethnic
associations
Chinese Laborers recruited to build transcontinental railroad
American fear of Chinese willing to work for lower wages
Chinese Exclusion Act prohibited any new Chinese Laborers from entering
America
Main intent of immigrants Make money and return home
Most Eastern and Southern immigrants settled in cities on the East
coast, worked in factories, few immigrants in south
Booker T. Washington:
insisted the first task of Americas blacks was to acquire skills in farming and
carpentry
once they proved economic value racism would vanish
Autobiography Up From Slavery (1901) recounted his rise from poverty
thanks to hardwork, honesty, and kindly patrons
Ideas challenged by W.E.B. Dubois

Omaha Platform:
Political agenda adopted by the populist party in 1892 at their Omaha, Nebraska
convention
Called for unlimited coinage of silver (bimetallism), government
regulation of railroads and industry, graduated income tax, and a number of
election reforms
wanted 8 hour work day, restriction of immigration, abolition of
Pinkerton Agency
Social Gospel:
movement led by Washington Gladden in the 1870s
Gladden insisted that Christianity commits men and women to
fight against social injustice wherever it exists
wave of violent strikes in 1877 urged church leaders to mediate
the conflict between business and labor unsuccessful
Frederick Jackson Turner:
delivered lecture called The Significance of the Frontier in American History
inaccurate statement that the frontier was closed
linkage of economic opportunity with the transformation of the
trans-mississippi West caught popular imagination and launched a new school of
historical inquiry into the effects of the Frontier on US history
argued the frontier shaped America establishing individualism, nationalism &
democracy
Alfred T. Mahan:
wrote The Influence of Sea Power upon History (1890)
equated sea power with national greatness and urged US naval
buildings
supported movement to acquire new territories
Settlement Houses:
a welfare agency for needy families, combated juvenile delinquency, and assisted
recent immigrants in learning the English language and in becoming citizens.
Jane Addams of the Hull House Settlement in Chicago
Political Boss - role:
Politician who listened to the members of the urban society and tried to influence
the decisions of officials based on society.
also in authority over the machine, meaning he tried to keep a certain party in
office
Munn v. Illinois:
When the railroads appealed to the Supreme court to declare Granger Laws
unconstitutional. The court rejected the appeal and upheld an Illinois Law setting a
maximum rate for the storage of grain.

 The regulation of grain elevators was legitimate because of the right of states to
exercise police powers.

Wabash Case (Wabash v. Illinois):

Prohibited states from regulating interstate railroad rates. Results in the
Interstate Commerce Act (1887), which reaffirms the federal governments authority to
oversee railroad activities and established the ICC