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AFL
The American Federation of Labor became one on the most powerful unions in the US. It was made up of skilled laborers and organized by Samuel Gompers. They sought economic gains like higher wages and better conditions, while staying out of politics. -
Purchase of Alaska
Buying Alaska came to be regarded as a masterful deal. The treaty enlarged the US by 586,000 square miles, and marketed the end of Russian efforts to expand trade and settlements to the Pacific coast of North America. It was an important step int the US rise as a great power in the Asia-Pacific region. -
Social Darwinism
The theory that people who were rich and people who were poor were that way due to natural selection and survival of the fittest. This idea was embraced by the upper class to justify their accumulation of wealth and power. It kept the idea that richer people were better alive. -
2nd Industrial Revolution
Advances in Steel production, petroleum, and electricity lead to a spark of innovations and inventions that changed society. Railroads expanded, cost effective steel was produced, and more industrial machines were built. Population increased, urbanization became popular, and industrialization was developed. -
Standard Oil
Established by John D. Rockefeller and Henry Flagler as a corporation in Cleveland Ohio. It was an American oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company, and the largest oil refiner in the world at the time. It set a new standard for corporations and businesses and had a large impact on society. -
WCTU
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union was a religious organization that supported the 18th amendment and combated the influence of alcohol on families and society. It was also one of the first organizations of women devoted to social reform. -
Grange Movement
Founded to advance methods of agriculture and promote social and economic needs for farmers in the US. Originally founded in 1867 and known as The Patrons of Husbandry, or the Grange. It supported farmers by purchasing machinery, building grain elevators, and providing support networks for farm families. -
Telephone
Alexander Graham Bell got the first US patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. It made communication more efficient and faster. It has transformed societies and advanced the way information was spread. -
RR strike 1877
The Great Railroad strike of 1877 was also known as the Great Upheaval. It was a response to the B&O Railroad cutting wages of workers for the third time in one year. Until this third cut was revoked, striking workers did't let any trains to roll. This prevented trade and commerce so many strikers were arrested and even killed, but the strike didn't accomplish what it wanted to. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
An immigration law that prevented Chinese laborers from immigrating to the US. It was the first immigration law that excluded an entire ethnic group. Chinese immigration was suspended for ten years and declared Chinese immigrants ineligible for naturalization. -
Pendleton Act 1881
President Chester Author signed into law the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act in 1883. It established the principle that federal jobs should be awarded on the basis of merit, not based on political connections.Government officials were selected by a merit-based system and their work was supervised. -
Time Zones
New railroad lines created a need for operators to have a new time plan for a uniform train schedule for departures and arrivals. Four standard time zones or the continental US were established, Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific. -
Wabash vs. Illinios
The Supreme court decision severely limited the rights of states to control interstate commerce. This resulted in the creation oft the Interstate Commerce Commission. Interstate rates for railroads were no longer regulated by state power, regulation had t come from he federal government. -
Dawes Act 1887
This act emphasized the treatment of Native Americans as individuals instead as members of tribes. It was "An Act to provide for the allotment of lands in Severalty to Indians on the various reservations". The act planned to assimilate the Native American Indians into mainstream US society and broke up tribal lands. -
Hull House
Founded by Jane Addams and others, the Hull House was one of the first settlement houses in the United States. It provided recreational facilities for children and immigrants. It also provided social and educational opportunities for working class people in the surrounding neighborhood, often recent European immigrants. -
NAWSA
The National American Woman Suffrage Association advocated women's suffrage in the US and played a pivotal role in passing the nineteenth amendment, guaranteeing women's right to vote. -
Forest Reserve Act 1891
A law that allowed the US President to set aside lands as national forests. It preserved natural resources for future generations, but also preserved water resources until forested lands were opened for settlement. -
Omaha Platform
Set out the basic tenets of the Populist movement, which used federal power to protect farmers and rural Americans. A federal loan system was suggested so farmers could get money they needed, and a system of federal storage facilities were provided for the farmers' crops. -
Panic of 1893
Economic depression in the US from 1893 to 1897. Set off by the collapse of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad and the National Cordage Company leading to a panic on the stock market. This effected all sectors of the economy, many farms ceased operation, five hundred banks closed, and 15,000 businesses failed. -
Pullman Strike
A widespread railroad strike and boycott for three months that severely disrupted rail traffic in the Midwest. This strike brought American railroads to a halt, and left behind a legacy in the US labor movement
