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Elizabeth Cady Stanton-Seneca Falls
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a prominent speaker at the Seneca Falls Convention for women’s rights in which Stanton read the opening speech and the Declaration of Sentiments which was a list of grievances towards the inequality of men and women at society's current state. Stanton’s speeches and the convention was the official start of women’s rights movements in the U.S. leading to many down the line and the eventual addition of women’s suffrage in the constitution many decades later. -
Social Darwinism
The use of the idea of Darwin’s evolutionary theory saying that certain people that are economically advanced are biologically superior than the poor. This caused movements against helping laborers that targeted minorities and women until the 1970s. -
Cornelius Vanderbilt and the Railroad Industry
After participating in the steamboat industry in the 1860s Vanderbilt started working in the railroad industry in which he took control of many railroads and built others turning them into extremely profitable businesses partially controlling the railroad industry. Vanderbilt’s corporations were some of the first, setting the example for others to follow and shipped many materials to the other tycoons of the era enforcing the wealthy and consequently weakening the poor. -
Salvation Army
Founded by William Booth as a way to offer practical help to the poor and to teach them the gospel as an evangelist. The foundation transformed into its worldwide attention as a service for the poor and others who need help in tough times. -
Labor Unions Begin Forming
In the late 1800s labor unions started to form such as the AFL and the Knights of Labor to help workers get better working conditions and better wages through non violent protests and strikes. Labor unions were able to get laws passed that improved workers lives such as minimum wage and workplace safety laws. -
The Grange
Created by Oliver H. Kelly, it helped farmers by buying land to give to its members, setting up shops that gave cheaper products, and advocating for government regulation of railroad charges. The Grange caused some states to put a maximum on railroad charges and the land and stores they provided allowed many farmers to get by. -
Knights of Labor
The Knights of Labor was one of the first labor organizations and it was open to all workers, skilled and unskilled, advocating immigration limits, restrictions on child labor, and better wages but the Haymarket Square riot ruined the organization. This was the first well known union and inspired the creation of many others such as the AFL. -
Transcontinental Railroad
A railroad that crossed the U.S. from the Atlantic to the Pacific which once completed allowed settlers to travel west, materials to travel west, and built the economy all the way to the west. The transcontinental railroad allowed the U.S. economy to grow westward and was the primary source of the U.S. economy for some time. -
Laissez Faire
A way of thinking during the gilded age that focused on no interaction between the government and the economy to let the economy flow freely and fix itself creating laissez faire policies that reflected these ideas. This way of thinking caused multiple Supreme Court banning laws that established a minimum wage, maximum working hours, and workplace safety making laborers' lives worse. -
Solid South
When the republican party left the South after reconstruction the South became entirely democratic because they didn’t want to support the party that caused reconstruction which disrupted their way of life. The Solid South unified the South but also gave rise to third party movements because there was no other party besides the Democrats to represent the Southerners that didn’t fully agree with democratic policies. -
Temperance Movement
A movement that had existed since the early 1800s which picked up speed again after the civil war in which members of the movement marched to limit or outlaw consumption of alcohol. This movement continued with growing support until it caused the 18th amendment which banned alcohol. -
Munn v. Illinois
Illinois was regulating grain warehouses and elevator rates which was tried for going against the 14th amendment but Illinois won the case because the Supreme Court said the state can regulate private property if regulation is necessary for the public good. -
Railroad Strike of 1877
In West Virginia workers for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad went on strike because wages had been reduced twice in the past year causing the trains to stop and the strike slowly spread to other states eventually causing states to send in militia and the national military to stop workers. The strike caused laws to be made to protect businesses from strikes and showed the same story of the government siding with employers. -
Booker T. Washington founded Tuskegee Normal
As a freed slave Booker T. Washington graduated with a teaching degree and received an opportunity to teach at a new school for black students in Tuskegee which had no funding and was built from the ground up on the idea that economic strength would lead to political and social equality for blacks. The Tuskegee Normal success led to the creation of the Tuskegee Institute and it allowed Washington to become a public speaker that inspired many African-Americans to get an education. -
John Rockefeller
Rockefeller started on the lowest rung of the ladder but was able to work himself up into a tycoon of the oil industry when he started his oil company by using all parts of oil and eventually making trusts with railroads that eliminated competition which Rockefeller then absorbed into his business. Rockefeller’s oil industry controlled the oil for the entire country and provided the fuel for the automotive boom. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
An act by congress that put a ten year restriction on Chinese laborers from entering the country and put restrictions on Chinese laborers exited the country that made it so many couldn’t re-enter the country. This act was extended for many decades after and caused fewer Chinese in the country while also making it so more whites had labor jobs that weren’t taken by Chinese with lower wages. -
Civil Rights Cases of 1883
Multiple cases in the Supreme Court questioning the 1875 Civil rights Act which guaranteed any person regardless of color access to public places and the Supreme Court ruled the Civil Rights Act was unconstitutional. This ruling allowed privately owned public places to deny certain races from accessing them leading to legal white only public spaces. -
Joseph Pulitzer
Pulitzer was a Hungarian immigrant who bought two smaller newspapers before getting enough money to buy the New York World in which he focused on exposing frauds with his newspaper. Pulitzer’s newspaper was able to expose multiple frauds including a $40 million payment from the U.S. to the French Panama Canal Company. -
Civil Rights Reform
Named the Pendleton Act, it forced federal government jobs to be rewarded from merit, which wasn’t the case for most government jobs at the time, and it made it illegal to fire or demote for political reasons when employees were covered by the law. This reform caused federal government employees to be educated and trained and therefore better suited for their job. -
Pendleton Act
In the aftermath of the assassination of President James A. Garfield this act made it so government jobs would be awarded based on merit through competitive exams and established the Civil Service Commission. This act made it so in the future almost all federal employees were better suited for their jobs and made the country run more efficiently. -
Mark Twain
A successful American Novelist that wrote extremely popular novels such as "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". Twain’s novels were the experience of American life and explored issues such as racial discrimination, class barriers, and corruption and exposed these issues to the American people. -
American Federation of Labor
Led by Samuel Gompers after the fall of the Knights of Labor, Gompers met with multiple unions of specific crafts and joined the unions together to serve the skilled laborers in their quest for better working conditions and higher wages. The AFL was the leading organization for many strikes in which more the half of them were successful with the AFL being responsible for the improvement of many workers’ lives. -
Tammany Hall
A democratic political machine which helped those in need in exchange for their vote and it became extremely corrupt under Richard Croker who shaved bearded men to get more votes from the same person. The Tammany Hall caused the democratic party to have control over NYC for many decades. -
Haymarket Riot
In Haymarket Square, Chicago there was a peaceful strike for eight hour work days that was organized by the Knights of Labor but in the middle of the strike an anarchist threw a bomb into the crowd killing and injuring workers and police which heavily weakened the Knights power. Due to the weakened Knights they soon disbanded and that left unskilled workers with no powerful union that would help improve their lives and another union didn’t appear to unskilled laborers for many years. -
Wabash v. illinois
The state of Illinois charged less money for the transportation of goods by railroad when the distance to travel was more than another transportation of goods in which they were charged more money. The Supreme Court ruled that Illinois was not allowed to interfere with interstate commerce leading to the creation of the Interstate Commerce Act. -
Dawes Act
An act created that split up tribal lands and gave individual plots to Native American families which if the accepted Natives would receive citizenship after 25 years and those who didn’t accept the land would have their land sold to whites. The Natives lost ninety million acres of land and their tribal governments were destroyed along with their culture. -
Interstate Commerce Act
This act regulated railroads by prohibiting unreasonable rates, making special rates for particular places and shippers, and prohibiting pooling of markets or traffics while establishing an Interstate Commerce Commission. This act caused monopolies to become weaker because they could no longer make special deals with railroads and the Interstate Commerce Commission set the standard for future regulatory agencies. -
Ghost Dance
This was a spiritual movement in the Native American tribes started by the shaman Wovoka in which Natives would dance and perform the ceremony in the hope that it would give them strength in battle against whites and that it would make the buffalo reappear and the whites leave. This movement caused fear in whites and led to killings of natives in fear including the Wounded Knee Massacre. -
Gospel of Wealth
The philosophy of Andrew Carnegie and John Rockefeller who thought that the wealthy were selected by God and then needed to give money back to their communities. Both Carnegie and Rockefeller donated large sums of money to the public that went to the creation of libraries and other education public services strengthening these systems. -
Hull House
A settlement house founded by Jane Addams for workers in Chicago where social services were offered to everyone such as gyms, libraries, and kindergartens. The employees working at Hull House saw the struggles of workers and led to many social and political reform movements in Chicago and it caused a women’s suffrage movement. -
Sherman Antitrust Act
The first measure passed by congress to prohibit trusts because trusts were destroying competition and trusts allowed monopolies to thrive. This act led to the dissolving of a few monopolies including the Northern Securities Company and helped prevent trusts from running rampant after the act. -
Populist Party Founded
The party was created to represent the agricultural sector of the U.S. to help strengthen farmers and weaken monopolies control over railroads and banks that were necessary to farmers for profit. Even though the party failed politically and disappeared they had an impact in slightly changing democratic ideals towards farmers and inspiring the progressive movement after the party’s decay. -
Ellis Island Opens
The new immigration center Ellis Island opened taking over the previous immigration regulation that was in Castle Garden, Manhattan because the center was ill equipped. The new center for immigration in the U.S. became the place that many immigrants first arrived at and allowed the U.S. to keep records for everyone that entered through Ellis Island. -
John Muir
A naturalist who had spent many years in nature after a workplace accident and founded the Sierra Club to preserve the Sierra Nevada and he promoted environmental protection. Muir’s club and his environmental views inspired environmental movements in the U.S. -
Homestead Strike
At the Homestead Steelworks owned by Henry Clay Frick there was a strike because Frick removed union members from their jobs and after a few days there was gunfire between the workers and Frick’s hired armed men and on July 11 militiamen from Pennsylvania took down the strike. This is another example of a violent strike and marks the intention of the government to side with corporations and to not help workers. -
Pullman Strike
George Pullman, who created the sleeping car for trains, reduced the wage of his workers without reducing the rent for the housing he provided his workers causing a strike by his workers but Pullman got the backing of the military because he said the strike was stopping the mail. This shows that the government was going to side with the employers and weakened the reputation of unions. -
William Jennings Bryan-Cross of Gold Speech
After multiple senators had talked about whether or not to endorse the free coinage of silver Bryan stepped up and said his argument for silver coinage and against gold which was extremely dramatic and his use of rhetoric rallied up the crowd gaining many followers. His speech was extremely impressive and impactful causing him to repeat it multiple times because of its famousness and he was able to sway a large portion of the U.S. population to support him and silver coinage. -
William Hearst
A newspaper owner who was one of the first to use drama, romance, and exaggerations to make the newspaper more interesting and sell more copies. This practice is seen in newspapers since the gilded age which use eye-catching headlines to get people to read which has even transformed internet articles. -
Public High School Funded
Many people believed that a strong education was an unalienable right and more states were requiring children to go to schools and more funding was coming in from the government. The increased funding and more required schooling caused more teachers to have a degree and the illiteracy rate was cut in half. -
Andrew Carnegie and the Steel Industry
Born a poor boy who worked his way up the economical ladder with his largest advancement being when Carnegie created the Carnegie Steel Company effectively controlling the entire industry through horizontal and vertical integration. Carnegie is a prime example of one industrialist controlling the entire market of the product they produce, which the public hated, and without the growth of the steel industry because of Carnegie the markets depending on steel would have been smaller. -
JP Morgan
Morgan started in a wealthy family, began banking and then owned many businesses and cheated in many of his businesses to gain more profits and his largest purchase was the Carnegie Steel Company. Morgan’s business ventures inspired many entrepreneurs to be just like him and he inspired hate in many people that he stepped on to gain his fortune. -
Eugene Debs founding IWW
Eugene Debs was a prominent socialist in the late 1800s and early 1900s and helped create the Industrial Workers of the World which was a part of the socialist movement when people were looking for a complete reconstruction of the U.S. economy into socialism. The creation of the IWW increased the amount of people that were a part of the socialist party and later caused anti-war sentiments in the U.S. towards WWI. -
Ida B. Wells Founded NAACP
Ida B. Wells was a former slave, journalist, and women’s rights activist who led large anti-lynching crusades and her activities was the groundwork for the NAACP anti-lynching campaign and helped organize the organization. Wells’ work organizing the NAACP helped the strength of the NAACP to last for many years and help movements for colored people in later generations. -
W.E.B. DuBois
A scholar, editor, and African American rights activist who was a founder of the NAACP and participated in many debates throughout his life fighting racism and discrimination. DuBois’ work for African American rights helped the movement grow closer towards racial equality and the NAACP has helped promote racial equality for longer than DuBois lived. -
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
A fire spread through the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors of Triangle Waist Company garment factory in Manhattan and the cramped factory caused the workers little time to escape, killing 146 workers. The fire caused more advocates for workplace safety and women’s and immigrant rights because most of the victims were women or immigrants. -
Second Industrial Revolution
Starting in 1870, the second industrial revolution was the expansion of railroads, telegraphs, and industry allowing for increased transportation of people and ideas as well as the increased use of electricity and gas. This revolution caused the creation of the monopolies over railroads, oil, and steel that help grow our country to become a contender for one of the most powerful nations economically. -
Gilded Age
The name of the time period starting during reconstruction and then going until WWI in which the U.S. experienced extreme economic growth with factories and the industrial revolution causing more wage workers and the start of monopolies. The gilded age caused the U.S. economy to surpass Europe and started the now common wage working systems. -
Hawaii Becomes a State
After Hawaii had been U.S. territory for many decades it finally gained statehood because of the fear that the Asian immigrants on the island would take the power over the islands. The statehood gave the U.S. more power due to fantastic military opportunities it granted to protect against Asia and it is the final state in the U.S.
