Homestead act
Gave settlers 160 acres of land if they lived there for 5 years.
NAWSA
Worked to secure voting rights for women
Government support for railroads
Tammany Hall
The most famous political machine organized and met the needs of immigrants and the poor in exchange for votes
Heavily anti-catholic and Social Darwinists
Haymarket square riot
Anti-Saloon league
Ghost dance movement
nationwide movement of resistance. They began to believe that if they took up the ritualistic ghost dance, that their ancestors would return and drive the Americans out.
Wanted to correct the concentration of power held by banks and trusts. Proposed the Omaha platform: Direct election of senators, more referendums, graduated income tax, and an 8-hour workday
Worked to ban alcohol, had over 500,000 members
Chinese exclusion act
Nativists successfully pressured Congress to stop the flow of Chinese immigrants who were coming over during the gold rush.
Growth of immigration
Grew to over a million members by 1901 and had some modest successes
By 1890, the U.S. Census Bureau declared that the frontier was officially settled
Views on immigration
Knights of labor
National union open to ALL laborers. Wanted to end child labor and end trusts
Laissez-faire economics
John D. Rockefeller
Pioneered horizontal integration, where one company controls every seller in the market.
Labor unions
Workers formed labor unions to have more negotiating power and fight for better pay and working conditions
Bessemer process
Enabled manufacturers to produce huge quantities of steel
Great railroad strike
Railroad companies cut salaries due to a recession. Railroad workers went on strike in 11 states. When the strike got violent, 11 people were killed before President Hayes sent in federal troops
Ida B. Wells
Dawes act
A new focus on cash-crops in the north and west, and a shift to more expensive mechanized farming methods put smaller farms out of business. Big trusts that farmers relied on (like railroads) also raised prices, making it even harder for farmers to make a living
Political appointments were very corrupt after a guy shot the president because he didn't get a job, congress passed the Pendleton Act, which created an exam that was used for deciding who would get a job
Interstate commerce act
Required railroad rates to be reasonable and just, and established a federal commission to oversee the railroads
Panic of 1893
Corrupt political bosses and their followers
Andrew Carnegie
Pioneered vertical integration, where one company controls every stage of the manufacturing process
