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Industrialization
The development of industries in a country or region on a wide scale. Built the world to what it is today. -
Bessemer Steel Production
First inexpensive industrial process for the mass production of steel from molten pig iron before the development of the open hearth furnace. Makes metal cheaper nowadays. -
Alexander Graham Bell
Inventor of the communication by telephone. Made it easier to communicate almost instantly with one another. -
Robber Barons (Capital of Industry)
A person who has become rich through ruthless and unscrupulous business practices. Today they are considered as "monopoly", they are greedy and tend to either build the country or corrupt the government. -
The Gilded Age
An era of serious social problems masked by a thin gold gilding. Era of rapid economic growth. -
Social Gospel
Christian faith practiced as a call not just to personal conversion but to social reform. -
Susan B. Anthony
Attempted to vote as a woman, however refused. Several women groups banded together, creating the National American Woman Suffrage Association. -
Settlement House
An institution in an inner-city area providing educational, recreational, and other social services to the community. Today this helps with those who don't have the necessities needed to apply themselves to higher educations. -
Labor Strikes (Great Railroad strike 1877, Homestead Strike 1892, Pullman Strike 1994)
A work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became common during the Industrial Revolution. They cause the service of the striking worker to drop drastically, due to the lack of labor. -
Political Machines
A political machine is a political group in which an authoritative boss or small group commands the support of a corps of supporters and businesses. -
Labor Unions (Knights of Labor, American Federation of Labor, &Industrial Workers of the World)
An organized association of workers, often in a trade or profession, formed to protect and further their rights and interests. Courts and committees. -
Samuel Gompers
Founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL), and served as the organization's president. He promoted harmony among the different craft unions that comprised the AFL, trying to minimize jurisdictional battles. He promoted thorough organization and collective bargaining, to secure shorter hours and higher wages, the first essential steps, he believed, to emancipating labor. -
Haymarket Riot
Aftermath of a bombing that took place at a labor demonstration. -
Interstate Commerce Act
Making the railroads the first industry subject to Federal regulation. Without this, Americas' railroads may not have been completed. -
Jane Addams
A Progressive who started "settlement houses" in slum neighborhoods, proving child care, nursing services, and English lessons to immigrants. -
Muckraker
Term used in the Progressive Era to characterize reform-minded American journalists who attacked established institutions and leaders as corrupt. Also known as Investigative journalists to this day. -
Sherman Anti-trust Act
The first Federal act that outlawed monopolistic business practices. Keeps people of "monopoly" from corrupting the government. -
Andrew Carnegie
Founded the Carnegie Steel Corporation, paying workers low wages and working them long hours.
Spent $350 million on building libraries and universities. -
William Jennings Bryan
Nominated by Democratic Party for President after delivering "Cross of Gold" speech, however barely lost the election. -
Klondike Gold Rush
Gold was discovered there by local miners on August 16, 1896, triggering a stampede of prospectors. -
Initiative, Referendum, Recall
Are three powers reserved to enable the voters, by petition, to propose or repeal legislation or to remove an elected official from office. -
Ida B. Wells
Organized a national anti-lynching crusade, revealing a tremendous number of African American deaths caused within the previous decade. -
Jacob Riis
An investigative journalist of the late 18th and early 19th century. -
Theodore Roosevelt
Became President of the United States and reversed weak presidency, due to leading Congress on country affairs. -
Tenement
A room or a set of rooms forming a separate residence within a house or block of apartments. -
Upton Sinclair
Revealed unsanitary practices of the meat packing industry. Lead in a decrease in sales, which then lead to the increase in sanitation. -
Pure Food and Drug Act
An Act for preventing the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated or misbranded or poisonous or deleterious foods, drugs, medicines, and liquors, and for regulating traffic therein, and for other purposes. Today this act is still in commission, keeping the countries health at the highest level of safe. -
16th Amendment
States that the Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes. Today they still make these decisions, depending on the value of income. -
Federal Reserve Act
Established the Federal Reserve System as the central bank of the United States to provide the nation with a safer, more flexible, and more stable monetary and financial system. -
Dollar Diplomacy
The use of a country's financial power to extend its international influence. -
17th Amendment
established the popular election of United States Senators by the people of the states. -
18th Amendment
Declared the production, transport, and sale of intoxicating liquors illegal. This decreased death and crime rates in the U.S., while increasing the education scores across the country. -
Nativism
The policy of protecting the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against those of immigrants. America today has a society of various religions, faiths, and beliefs. -
19th Amendment
Prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex. Gave women the right to vote, due to some states lack of acceptance. -
Teapot Dome Scandal
A bribery scandal involving the administration of United States President Warren G. Harding. -
Clarence Darrow
Considered to be one of the greatest orators of their day, defended John Scopes during the Scopes Trial, at which was not won on his part. -
Eugene V. Debs
Motivated egalitarian fundamentalists to organize political opposition to corporations and WWI. Recognized by American socialists, communists, and anarchists for being able to have individuals build socialism without large state involvement. -
Populism and Progressivism
The standard conception of progressivism was leaning more on uplifting the country by means of socio-economic and political reforms while populism was more anti-capitalistic that favored agrarianism while opposing drastic modernization. Basically its our Democratic and Republic parties.
