Glossary

Agricultural Adjustment Act  Created under Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal program, its purpose was to help farmers by reducing production of staple crops, thus raising farm prices and encouraging more diversified farming. 

Susan B. Anthony  Advocate of woman's suffrage and leader in the women's rights movement along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton

anti-imperialists  This league was created during the last two years of McKinley's first term to unite the opposition against McKinley's foreign policy. 

bank holiday  Term Roosevelt used shortly after taking office to describe his plan to prevent any more panic runs on the nation's banks. He ordered all the nationUs banks closed for a "bank holiday." 

Alexander Graham Bell  Changed the nature of life in the United States at the end of the nineteenth century with his invention of the telephone. 

American Federation of Labor  A confederation of labor unions founded in 1886, it was composed mainly of skilled craft unions and was the first national labor organization to survive and experience a degree of success, largely because of its conservative leadership that accepted industrial capitalism.

B
Big Stick Diplomacy   The proclaimed foreign policy of Theodore Roosevelt, it was based on the proverb, "Speak softly and carry a big stick," and advocated the threat of force to achieve the United States' goals, especially in the Western Hemisphere.

The Birth of a Nation  David Wark Griffith's movie portrayal of the Reconstruction period in the South. It depicted blacks as ignorant and favored the Ku Klux Klan. 

Black Codes  Laws passed by southern states that defined the rights of former slaves and addressed black–white relationships. In general, these laws generally discriminated on racial grounds.  These laws limited the rights of former slaves and led Congress to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment.

Black Thursday  October 29, 1929, the day the spectacular New York Stock Market crash began.  ( margin  Part of an investment purchased with credit. As used by the stock market in the 1920s, many investors bought on margin or with only a small down payment (sometimes as little as ten percent). The remainder of the investment was borrowed from stock brokers or banks. Investors expected to resell their stocks within a few months at much higher prices, repay the loan, and make a good profit. When prices began falling, creditors began demanding that margin investors repay their loans, which forced stocks to be sold and decreased their prices.  )

Bonus Army  Thousands of veterans, determined to collect promised cash bonuses early, came to Washington during the summer of 1932 to listen to Congress debate the bonus proposal. 

Bootleggers  Enterprising individuals who moved alcohol across the border into the U.S. from Canada and the Caribbean. Their wares were sold at illegal saloons or “speakeasies“ where city dwellers congregated in the evenings. 

Boss Politics  An urban “political machine“ that relied for its existence on the votes of the large inner-city population. The flow of money through the machine was often based on corruption.  (ward boss  The leader of the political "machine" in a particular area (ward) of the city.  )

William Jennings Bryan  Named Secretary of State by Wilson, he insisted that the federal government must be supreme over the reserve banks. 

C
Alphonse Capone  Gangster devoted to gaining control of gambling, prostitution, and bootlegging in the Chicago area. 

carpetbaggers  A term that referred to northerners who settled in the South during Reconstruction.  People who moved to the South during or following the Civil War and became active in politics, they helped to bring Republican control of southern state governments during Reconstruction and were bitterly resented by most white Southerners.

Civilian Conservation Corps  One of the New Deal's most popular programs, it took unemployed young men from the cities and put them to work on conservation projects in the country. 

Civil Works Administration  Aimed at creating jobs and restoring self-respect by handing out pay envelopes instead of relief checks. In reality, workers sometimes performed worthless tasks, known as “boondoggles.“ However, much of the $1 billion budget was spent on projects of lasting value such as airports and roads. 

Grover Cleveland  The 22nd and 24th president, he was the first democrat elected to the presidency after the Civil War. 

continuous assembly line  Process of using a continuously moving conveyor belt to carry the item through each work station. This method eliminated the time involved in moving parts from one work area to another. Usually highly efficient. 

cooperatives  Marketing groups established by such groups as the Farmers Alliance. They eliminated "middlemen" and reduced prices to farmers. The idea also was tried by some labor groups and included other types of businesses such as factories. 

court packing  Scheme by Roosevelt designed to prevent the conservative Supreme Court from dismantling his New Deal. He proposed to appoint an additional justice for each justice over the age of seventy.   

Coxey's Arrny   A movement founded by Jacob S. Coxey to help the unemployed during the depression of the 1890s, it brought out-of-work people to Washington, D.C., to demand that the federal government provide jobs and inflate the currency.

Credit Mobilier  The construction company for the Union Pacific Railroad. It gave shares of stock to some congressmen in return for favors. 

crop lien system  A system of credit used in the poor rural South. Merchants in small country stores provided necessary goods on credit in return for a lien, or mortgage, on the crop. As the price of crops fell, as with cotton, small farmers, black and white, drifted deeper into debt. 

George Armstrong Custer  Colonel famous for his battle at Little Big Horn against the Sioux Indians. 


D
Dawes Severalty Act   Legislation passed in 1887 to authorize the president to divide tribal land and distribute it to individual Native Americans, it gave 160 acres to each head of the household in an attempt to assimilate Indians into citizenship.

Eugene Debs  Leader of the American Railway Union that struck in sympathy with the workers in the Pullman Palace Car Company. His experiences in this labor dispute helped persuade him to become a leader of the Socialist Party. 

George Dewey  On May 1, 1898 he inflicted a decisive defeat on the Spanish navy at Manila Bay in the Philippine Islands. 

dollar diplomacy  A phrase used to describe the foreign policies of Secretary of State Philander C. Knox under President William H. Taft. This type of diplomacy focused on expanding American investments abroad, especially in Latin America and China. 

W.E.B. Du Bois  Initial supporter of Booker T. Washington's policy, he later criticized Washington's methods as having “practically accepted the alleged inferiority of the Negro.“ 

Dust Bowl  The name given to areas of the U.S. prairie states that suffered ecological devastation in the 1930s and then to a lesser extent in the mid-1950s. 

Ellis Island  Immigration station opened in 1892 where new arrivals were passed through a medical examination and questioned about their economic prospects. 

Albert B. Fall  Secretary of the Interior responsible for the Teapot Dome scandal. 

Federal Reserve System   The central banking system of the United States, established with passage of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, charged with the responsibility of managing the country's money supply through such means as lowering or raising interest rates. A presidentially appointed board of seven members (the Federal Reserve Board) oversees the twelve regional banks of the Federal Reserve System.

Franz Ferdinand  Austrian archduke murdered along with his wife in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Austria's response to the dual murder led to the beginnings of World War I. 

F. Scott Fitzgerald  Serious novelist of the day and author of The Great Gatsby. He, along with his wife Zelda, captured attention as the embodiment of the free spirit of the Jazz Age. 

Flappers  Young, single, middle-class women who wore their hair and dresses short, rolled their stockings down, used cosmetics, and smoked in public. They were signaling their desire for independence and equality, but not through politics. The new female personality was endowed with self-reliance, outspokenness, and a new appreciation for the pleasures of life. 

Fourteen Points  Wilson's Peace Program. Among the key provisions were freedom of the seas, free trade, and more open diplomacy. 

forty acres and a mule  The dream of many former slaves that they would receive free land from the confiscated property of ex-Confederates. Only a few areas gave them land. Most ex-Confederates got their plantations back through general amnesty programs, or they received a special pardon from President Johnson. 

Freedmen's Bureau  A federal agency created in 1865 to supervise newly freed people. It oversaw relations between whites and blacks in the South, issued food rations, and supervised labor contracts.

free silver  The government would purchase all silver offered for sale and coin it into silver dollars. The preferred ratio between silver and gold was sixteen to one.  see - gold bugs
 
Marcus Garvey  Jamaican immigrant who promised to “organize the 400 million Negroes of the World into a vast organization to plant the banner of freedom in the great continent of Africa.“ 

gold bugs  "Sound money" advocates who wanted to keep the United States on the international gold standard. They believed it was being threatened by the expanded coinage of silver.  see - free silver

Good Neighbor policy  In Latin America, Hoover withdrew Marines from Nicaragua and Haiti. In 1930, the State Department renounced the Roosevelt Corollary of 1904. 

Gospel of Wealth   The belief that God ordains certain people to amass money and use it to further God's purposes, it justified the concentration of wealth as long as the rich used their money responsibly.

Grangers  Members of the Patrons of Husbandry, a farmers' organization. Also a contemptuous name for farmers used by ranchers in the West. 

Great Migration  A massive movement of blacks leaving the South for cities in the North. It began slowly around 1910 and then accelerated between 1914 and 1920 when more than 600,000 African Americans left the South. 

Horace Greeley  Grant's opponent in the 1872 election. Seen as a political oddball in the eyes of many Americans, the 61-year-old editor favored the protective tariff and was indifferent to civil service reform. He was also passionate about ideas such as vegetarianism and the use of human manure in farming.

Greenback Party  A political party founded in 1874 to promote the issuance of legal tender paper currency not backed by precious metals in order to inflate the money supply and relieve the suffering of people hurt by the era's deflation, most of its members merged with the Populist party.


H

Harlem Renaissance   black cultural, literary, and artistic movement centered in Harlem in New York City during the 1920s.

Benjamin Harrison  23rd president of the U.S. lost the popular vote but gained a majority of the electoral college in the 1888 election. 

Rutherford B. Hayes  Nineteenth president of the United States. Beneficiary of the most fiercely disputed election in American history. 

Haymarket Affair  May 4, 1886, workmen in Chicago gathered to protest police conduct during a strike at a factory of the McCormick Company.  Haymarket Square Riot   A violent encounter between police and protesters in 1886 in Chicago, which led to the execution of four protest leaders, it scared the public with the specter of labor violence and demonstrated governments' support of industrialists over workers.


Hoovervilles  Makeshift “village,“ usually on the edge of a city, with “homes“ constructed of cardboard, scrap metal, or whatever was cheaply available. Named for President Hoover, who was despised by the poor for his apparent refusal to help. 

Harry Hopkins  Roosevelt's choice to run the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. He eventually became Roosevelt's closest advisor. 

horizontal integration  When a company expands its business into different products that are similar to current lines. 

Victoriano Huerta  Mexican General responsible for toppling Francisco Madero. 

Hull House  Founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr as a settlement home in a Chicago neighborhood to help solve the troubling problems of American city life. 

impeach  To charge government officeholders with misconduct in office. In the case of the president, the House of Representatives brings the charges; the Senate serves much like a jury, and the members of the Supreme Court preside. The removal (impeachment) of a president requires a two-thirds vote by the Senate. 

Interstate Commerce Act  Passed by Congress in 1887, this law set up an Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), that could investigate complaints of railroad misconduct or file suite against the companies. 

Interstate Commerce Commission  With the passing of the Hepburn Act in 1906, this commission was given the power to establish maximum rates and to review the accounts and records of the railroads. 

isolationism  A policy of avoiding or abstaining from economic or political relationships or alliances with other countries. 

The Jazz Singer  One of the first motion pictures with sound, staring Al Jolson, who specialized in blackface renditions of popular tunes. 

Jim Crow laws  Laws passed by southern states mandating racial segregation in public facilities of all kinds. 

jingoist  A nationalist in Britain, the United States, Germany, France, or Japan in the 1890s. A jingoist thought that a swaggering foreign policy and willingness to go to war would enhance a nation's glory. 

Knights of Labor  A labor organization that combined fraternal ritual, the language of Christianity, and belief in the social equality of all citizens.  Founded in 1869, it called for the unity of all workers, rejected industrial capitalism, and favored cooperatively owned businesses but was discredited by such labor violence as the Haymarket Square riot and did not survive the depression of the 1890s.

Ku Klux Klan  Originally founded as a fraternal society in 1866, it became a white terrorist organization in the South.  Officially disbanded in 1869, a second anti-black, anti-Catholic, and anti-Semitic Klan emerged in 1915 that aimed to preserve "Americanism."

Robert La Follette  Personified the reform energy of progressivism in his speeches to crowds in Wisconsin and across the nation. 

John L. Lewis  American labor leader who was president of the United Mine Workers of America (1920-1960) and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (1935-1940). 

Liberal Republicans  Organization formed in 1872 by Republicans discontented at the political corruption and the policies of President Grant’s first administration 

Liberty Bonds  Thirty-year government bonds sold to individuals with an annual interest rate of three and one-half percent. They were offered in five issues between 1917 and 1920, and their purchase was equated with patriotic duty. 

Charles A. Lindbergh  His solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927 made him an international hero. 

Henry Cabot Lodge  Massachusetts Senator best remembered for spearheading Senate blockage of American membership in the League of Nations on the grounds that its covenant threatened American sovereignty. 

Huey Long  American politician. As a populist but dictatorial governor of Louisiana (1928-1932), he instituted major public works legislation, and as a U.S. Senator (1930-1935) he proposed a national Share-The-Wealth program. 

Lusitania  British steamship hit by a German torpedo in May of 1915. The loss of life was immense. Among the nearly 100 passengers who died were 128 Americans. 

M

William McKinley  “25th President of the U.S. He won by the largest majority of popular votes since 1872. 

J.P. Morgan  Purchased Carnegie Steel Company in 1901 for $480 million from Andrew Carnegie creating United States Steel which controlled 60% of the steel industry's productive capacity. 

muckrakers  A term coined by Theodore Roosevelt as a criticism of writers who wrote about scandalous situations and distasteful alliances involving money. The name became a badge of honor among "muckrakers" determined to expose the seedy, sordid side of life in the United States. They sought to shock the public into recognizing the shameful state of political, economic, and social affairs and to prompt people into action. Much of their work was published in cheap magazines of the time. 

Mugwumps  A reform faction of the Republican party in the 1870s and 1880s, they crusaded for honest and effective government and some supported Democratic reform candidates.


National American Woman Suffrage Association  Association formed in 1890 through the efforts of Lucy Stone Blackwell. The first president was Elizabeth Cady Stanton. 

National Industrial Recovery Act  In response to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's congressional message of May 17, 1933, Congress passed the National Industrial Recovery Act, an emergency measure designed to encourage industrial recovery and help combat widespread unemployment. 

Nativism  A backlash against immigration by white native-born Protestants. Nativism could be based on racial prejudice (professors and scientists sometimes classified Eastern Europeans as innately inferior), religion (Protestants distrusted Catholics and Jews), politics (immigrants were often associated with radical political philosophies), and economics (labor leaders resented competition).

Naturalism  Literary style of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, where the individual was seen as a helpless victim in a world in which biological, social, and psychological forces determined his or her fate.

New Nationalism  Roosevelt's far-reaching program that called for a strong federal government to stabilize the economy, protect the weak, and restore social harmony. 

nickelodeons  Early movies that cost a nickel, usually lasted fifteen minutes, and required no knowledge of the English language. 

Open Door Note  Policy set forth in 1899 by Secretary of State John Hay preventing further partitioning of China by European powers, and protecting the principle of free trade.


P

Alice Paul  Main figure of the radical wing of the woman's suffrage movement in the early 20th century. 

John Pemberton  An Atlanta druggist who in 1886 developed a syrup from an extract of the cola nut that he mixed with carbonated water and called “Coca Cola.“ 

Gifford Pinchot  Worked closely with Roosevelt to formulate a conservation policy that involved managing natural resources, not locking them up for indefinite future use. 

Platt Amendment  This Amendment barred an independent Cuba from allying itself with another foreign power. The United States had a right to intervene to preserve stability.  1901 amendment to the Army Appropriation Bill, limiting Cuban independence by giving the United States two naval bases on Cuba and the right to intervene in Cuban affairs if the American government felt Cuban independence was threatened.

Homer Plessey  In a test to an 1890 law specifying that blacks must ride in separate railroad cars, this man who was one-eighth black, boarded a train and sat in the car reserved for whites. When the conductor instructed him to move he refused and was arrested. 

Plessy v. Ferguson  A Supreme Court decision in 1896 that ruled "separate but equal" facilities for African Americans were constitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment, it had the effect of legalizing segregation and led to the passage of much discriminatory legislation known as Jim Crow laws.

Populist Party  Also known as the People's Party. This political party held their first national convention on July 4, 1892. The party's platform took a stern view of the state of the nation. The specific planks endorsed the subtreasury, free coinage of sliver, and other reform proposals.  Established in 1892 primarily by remnants of the Farrners' Alliance and Greenback party, it sought to inflate the currency with silver dollars and to establish an income tax but some of its platform was adopted by the Democrats in 1896 and it died out after the defeat of joint candidate William Jennings Bryan.

Progressive (Bull Moose) Party  A political party established in 1912 by supporters of Theodore Roosevelt after William H. Taft won the Republican presidential nomination. The party proposed a broad program of reform but Bull Moose candidate Roosevelt and Republican nominee lost to the Democratic candidate, Woodrow Wilson.

Prohibition  The ban of the production, sale, and consumption of alcoholic beverages. The Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1919, established prohibition. The amendment was repealed in 1933, with adoption of the Twenty-first Amendment.

George Pullman  Developer of the railroad sleeping car and creator of a model town outside Chicago where his employees were to live. 

Red Scare  Fear of internal subversion. Many Americans assumed that there existed a radical movement determined to establish a Communist government in the United States. 

robber barons  Railroad industry leaders such as Cornelius Vanderbilt and Jay Gould who became renowned for the ruthless methods they employed against their competitors. 

Eleanor Roosevelt  American diplomat, writer, and First Lady of the United States (1933-1945) as the wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. A delegate to the United Nations (1945-1952 and 1961-1962), she was an outspoken advocate of human rights. Her written works include This I Remember (1949). 

Franklin D. Roosevelt  32nd President of the U.S. he assumed the Presidency at the depth of the Great Depression and he helped the American people regain faith in themselves. He brought hope as he promised prompt, vigorous action, and asserted in his Inaugural Address, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself 

Theodore Roosevelt  26th President of the U.S. became the youngest president in the nation's history after the assassination of McKinley. He brought new excitement and power to the Presidency, as he vigorously led Congress and the American public toward progressive reforms and a strong foreign policy 

Roosevelt Corollary  Roosevelt's extension of the Monroe Doctrine 

S

Margaret Sanger  A 32-year-old radical living in Greenwich Village, New York City. She saw women suffering from disease and poverty because of the large number of children they bore. In 1914 she coined the term birth control and began publishing a periodical called Woman Rebel. 

scalawags  Term used by southern Democrats to describe southern whites who worked with the Republicans. 

Scope’s Trial  A Dayton, Tennessee school teacher who taught evolution in one of his classes. The local authorities indicted him and the jury found him guilty and assessed a small fine. 

Settlement House Movement   A reform movement growing out of Jane Addams' Hull House in the late nineteenth century, it led to the formation of community centers in which mainly middle-class women sought to meet the needs of recent immigrants to urban centers.

sharecropping  Working land in return for a share of the crops produced instead of paying cash rent. Shortage of currency in the South made sharecropping a frequent form of land tenure. Black families preferred it because it eliminated the labor gangs used in the days of slavery. 

Sherman Antitrust Act   passed in 1890 to break up trusts and monopolies, it was rarely enforced except against labor unions and most of its power was stripped away by the Supreme Court, but it began federal attempts to prevent unfair, anti-competitive business practices.

Sixteenth Amendment  Ratified in 1913. Made income tax constitutional. 

Al Smith  A vigorous reformer as governor of New York, he became the first Roman Catholic to win the nomination of a major party for President of the U.S. 

Social Darwinism  A philosophy that allegedly showed how closely the social history of humans resembled the physical evolution of animals (the biological evolution documented by English botanist Charles Darwin with his principle of “survival of the fittest“). According to this theory, human social history could be understood as a struggle among races, with the strongest and the fittest invariably triumphing. 

socialism  A political theory that in the early twentieth century stood for the transfer of control from a few industrialists to the laboring masses. Socialists believed that such a transfer, usually defined in terms of government ownership and operation of economic institutions, would make it impossible for wealthy elites to control society. 

sodbuster  A small farmer in parts of the West who adapted to the treeless plains and prairies. One of these adaptations was the construction of homes out of sod. 

spoils system  A system by which the victorious political party rewarded its supporters with government jobs. 

Samuel J. Tilden  Governor of New York selected to run as the Democratic candidate in the 1876 presidential election. He narrowly lost what has been considered the most controversial election in American history. 

T

trench warfare  Type of warfare in which long, narrow ditches are dug by both sides to protect their soldiers. It is used most commonly as a defensive method of fighting which was the primary strategy on the western front of World War I. 

trust   an investment strategy pioneered by John D. Rockefeller in which stockholders of several refining companies turned their shares over to Standard Oil. In return, they received trust certificates. The term came to be applied to all large corporations that controlled a substantial share of any given market.  A form of business organization that created a single board to trustees to oversee competing firms, the term came to apply when any single entity had the power to control competition within a given industry, such as oil production.

trust busters  A federal official who prosecutes trusts under the antitrust laws 

Tweed Ring  The most celebrated example of political corruption in the Reconstruction era led by William Magear Tweed, Jr. 

vertical integration  When a company expands its business into areas that are at different points of the same production path.

W

Booker T. Washington  A spokesman for blacks in the 1890s, he argued that African Americans should emphasize hard work and personal development rather than rebelling against their condition. 

whiskey ring  Network of distillers and revenue agents that cheated the government out of millions of tax dollars. 

Wounded Knee  The last major chapter in the Indian wars fought on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. 

yellow press/yellow journalism  A type of journalism where stories were embellished with titillating details when the true reports did not seem sensational enough. This type of writing catered to a hunger for “real-life“ accounts.  Sensationalistic press accounts of the volatile Cuban situation in the 1890s, led by William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal and Joseph Pulitzer's New York World. Helped mobilize pro-interventionist public opinion prior to the Spanish-American war.

Zimmermann Telegram  Telegram from German Foreign Minister Arnold Zimmermann to the German ambassador to Mexico pledging a Mexican-German alliance against the United States, which brought the United States into World War I.  British intelligence intercepted and decoded this secret German diplomatic telegram to the German ambassador in Mexico. It dangled the return to Mexico of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas as bait to entice the Mexicans to enter the war on the German side.