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Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie is often referred to as one of the richest people due to his leading of the expansion of the steel industry. During the last years of his life he gave away about 90% of his fortune to charities, foundations, and universities. Carnegie was also a contributor to the steel industry. He built Pittsburgh's Carnegie Steel Company and later sold it in 1901 and it became U.S. Steel Corporation. -
Bessemer Steel Production
The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass production of steel from molten pig iron before the development of the open hearth furnace. The key principle is removal of impurities from the iron by oxidation with air being blown through the molten iron. -
Robber Barons
A derogatory metaphor of social criticism originally applied to certain late 19th-century American businessmen who were accused of using unscrupulous methods to get rich, or expand their wealth. One example would be Cornelius Vanderbilt taking money from government-subsidized shippers, in order to not compete on their routes. -
Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony was a women's rights activist who played a big role in the women's suffrage movement. She became the New York state agent for the American Anti-Slavery Society. With Elizabeth Canton she founded the New York Women's State Temperance Society. In 1863, they founded the Women's Loyal National League. -
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 (usually campaign workers), who receive rewards for their efforts. The machine's power is based on the ability of the workers to get out the vote for their candidates on election day. -
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The Gilded Age
The Gilded Age was an era of rapid economic growth, especially in the North and West. As American wages were much higher than those in Europe, especially for skilled workers, the period saw an influx of millions of European immigrants. -
Labor Strikes
A Labor Strike is 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, when mass labor became important in factories and mines. Great Railroad Strike 1877, Homestead Strike 1892, Pullman Strike 1894 -
Dollar Diplomacy
Dollar diplomacy of the United States—particularly during President William Howard Taft's term— was a form of American foreign policy to further its aims in Latin America and East Asia through use of its economic power by guaranteeing loans made to foreign countries. -
Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell was a Scottish-born scientist, inventor, engineer, and innovator who is credited with inventing and patenting the first practical telephone. He also founded the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1885. -
Samuel Gompers
Samuel Gompers 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. -
Haymarket Riot
The Haymarket Riot was the aftermath of a bombing that took place at a labor demonstration on Tuesday, May 4, 1886, at Haymarket Square in Chicago. It began as a peaceful rally in support of workers striking for an eight-hour day and in reaction to the killing of several workers the previous day by the police. -
Jacob Riis
He is known for using his photographic and journalistic talents to help the impoverished in New York City; those New Yorkers were the subject of most of his prolific writings and photography. He endorsed the implementation of "model tenements" in New York with the help of humanitarian Lawrence Veiller. Also, as one of the most famous proponents of the newly casual photography, he is considered one of the fathers of photography due to his very early adoption of flash in photography. -
Interstate Commerce Act 1887
This act is a United States federal law that was designed to regulate the railroad industry, particularly its monopolistic practices. The Act required that railroad rates be "reasonable and just," but did not empower the government to fix specific rates. -
Settlement House
A settlement house is an institution in an inner-city area providing educational, recreational, and other social services to the community. These houses started during the Settlement Movement; its goal was to bring the rich and the poor of society together in both physical proximity and social interconnectedness. The Hull House was the most popular settlement house. -
Muckraker
The term muckraker was used to describe reform-minded people who attacked established institutions and leaders as corrupt. Their larger audiences came from popular magazines. Today this term is referred to as investigative journalism. -
Labor Unions
Unions began forming in the mid-19th century in response to the social and economic impact of the Industrial Revolution. National labor unions began to form in the post-Civil War Era. The Knights of Labor emerged as a major force in the late 1880s, but it collapsed because of poor organization, lack of effective leadership, disagreement over goals, and strong opposition from employers and government forces. -
Sherman Antitrust Act
The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 was the first measure passed by the U.S. Congress to prohibit trusts.It was the first Federal act that outlawed monopolistic business practices. -
William Jennings Bryan
Bryan was a politician from Nebraska. He gained major attention when he attacked the teaching of evolution in the Scopes Trial. He was often called "The Great Commoner" due to his faith in the common people. Considered one of the greatest influences of the progressive era. -
Eugene V. Debs
Eugene was one of the founding members of the Industrial Worker of the World. Debs became one of the best-known socialists living in the United States. Debs helped in founding the American Railway Union (one of the nations first industrial unions) -
Klondike Gold Rush
The Klondike Gold Rush was a migration by an estimated 100,000 prospectors to the Klondike region of the Yukon in north-western Canada between 1896 and 1899. Gold was discovered there by local miners on August 16, 1896, and, when news reached Seattle and San Francisco the following year, it triggered a stampede of prospectors. Some became wealthy, but the majority went in vain. -
Nativism
Nativism is the political policy of promoting the interests of native inhabitants against those of immigrants. Nativists and labor unions campaigned for immigration restriction. A favorite plan was the literacy test to exclude workers who could not read or write their own foreign language. -
Populism and Progressivism
Populism and Progressivism are the two ideologies or philosophies that went on to become movements in America.
Populism, initiated back in late 19th century was a movement that was led by the farmers for the economic change.
Progressivism, commenced in the beginning of 20th century was the movement of urban middle class against the political system, which they believe was corrupt and the electable were chosen through unfair elections. -
Tenement
A tenement is a multi-occupancy building of any sort. However, in the United States, it has come to refer most specifically to a run-down apartment building or to a slum. -
Initiative, Referendum, Recall
Initiative, referendum, and recall are three powers reserved to enable the voters, by petition, to propose or repeal legislation or to remove an elected official from office. Proponents of an initiative, referendum, or recall effort must apply for an official petition serial number from the Town Clerk. -
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Was a leader during the Progressive era. He served as the 26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909. He also served as the 25th Vice President of the United States from March to September 1901 and as the 33rd Governor of New York from 1899 to 1900. -
Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair was an American writer who won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1943. He acquired most of his fame from his classic muck-racking novel The Jungle. This book revealed the labor and sanitary conditions of the meatpacking industry. -
Pure Food and Drug Act
The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 was the first of a series of significant consumer protection laws which was enacted by Congress in the 20th century and led to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration. Its main purpose was to ban foreign and interstate traffic in adulterated or mislabeled food and drug products, and it directed the U.S. Bureau of Chemistry to inspect products and refer offenders to prosecutors. -
Ida B. Wells
Ida was one of the leaders in the civil rights movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of colored people. She became one of the most famous African-American woman. -
Social Gospel
It was a movement in North American Protestantism that applied Christian ethics to social problems, especially issues of social justice such as economic inequality, poverty, alcoholism, crime, racial tensions, slums, unclean environment, child labour, inadequate labour unions, poor schools, and the danger of war. Theologically, the Social Gospellers sought to operationalize the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:10): "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven". -
Jane Addams
Jane Addams is know as the "mother" of social work. She was a co-founder of the early settlement house Hull house that is one of the most famous settlement houses in America. She was one of the most prominent reformers in the Progressive era. -
16th Amendment
The 16th amendment allows the Congress to levy an income tax without apportioning it among the states or basing it on the United States Census. -
17th Amendment
The 17th amendment 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. It also alters the procedure for filling vacancies in the Senate, allowing for state legislatures to permit their governors to make temporary appointments until a special election can be held. -
Federal Reserve Act
The Federal Reserve Act is an Act of Congress that created and established the Federal Reserve System (the central banking system of the United States), and which created the authority to issue Federal Reserve Notes (commonly known as the US Dollar) as legal tender. The Act was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson. -
18th Amendment
The 18th amendment effectively established the prohibition of intoxicating liquors in the United States by declaring the production, transport, and sale of intoxicating liquors (though not the consumption or private possession) illegal. It was later repealed with the 21st Amendment on December 5, 1933. -
19th Amendment
The 19th to the United States Constitution prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex. It was adopted on August 18, 1920. -
Teapot Dome Scandal
The "Teapot Dome Scandal" was a bribery scandal involving the President Warren G. Harding. Secretary of the Interior Albert Bacon Fall had leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome in Wyoming to private oil companies at low rates without competitive bidding. Convicted of accepting bribes from the oil companies, Fall became the first presidential cabinet member to go to prison; no one was convicted of paying the bribes. -
Clarence Darrow
Clarence Darrow is a lawyer and a leader of the American Civil Liberties Union. He was also an advocate for Georgist economic reform. He is one of the most prominent attorneys and civil liberties in the nation. -
Industrialization
Industrialization is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society, involving the extensive reorganization of an economy for the purpose of manufacturing. As industrial workers' incomes rise, markets for consumer goods and services of all kinds tend to expand and provide a further stimulus to industrial investment and economic growth.
