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
Indian appropriation act
congress sparked a new fight with the Sioux, by passing a law that nullified all previous treaties made with native Americans
National Grange movement
Social and educational collective aimed at brining farmers together. Soon became political to lobby for farmers
Dawes act
International migration society
Facilitated the migration of black people to africa
Government support for railroads
Railroads supported by the government through money and land grants
By 1890, the U.S. Census Bureau declared that the frontier was officially settled
Railroads
Massive extension of the railroad system created a truly national market for goods
Required railroad rates to be reasonable and just, and established a federal commission to oversee the railroads
Debates over money
Farmers wanted to print more money so they could more easily pay back their debts, but the bankers and the wealthy wanted to keep the U.S. Dollar on the gold standard
Laissez-faire economics
Panic of 1893
NAWSA
Worked to secure voting rights for women
Haymarket square riot
Anarchists set off a bomb during a Knights of labor protest in Chicago for an 8-hour workweek. Many people began to see the labor movement as violent and radical
Gospel of wealth
Andrew Carnegie argued that those with wealth should invest it into society
Booker T. Washington
former slave who trained other black men to become economically self-sufficient, and argued this was a better way to gain power than to campaign for better voting rights
Worked to ban alcohol, had over 500,000 members
Growth of immigration
16 million immigrants (mostly from Europe) came looking for better economic opportunities
Labor unions
Workers formed labor unions to have more negotiating power and fight for better pay and working conditions
Homestead act
Gave settlers 160 acres of land if they lived there for 5 years.
Pullman strike
After a railroad car manufacturer cut wages, and the union tried to negotiate, the company failed them all. The railroad union decided to not work on any trains with Pullman cars in them. The railroad owners tied the Pullman cars to mail trains in order to get the government to keep them moving, and the union members were jailed
American protective association
Heavily anti-catholic and Social Darwinists
Tammany Hall
The most famous political machine organized and met the needs of immigrants and the poor in exchange for votes
Sioux wars
Sioux initally won a deceive victory against the U.S. army.
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.
The new south
Reservation system
Corrupt political bosses and their followers
Grew to over a million members by 1901 and had some modest successes
White collar workers
All the industrialization created a new type of work for managers and administrators who ran the factories instead of working in them
