Bessemer process
Enabled manufacturers to produce huge quantities of steel
Homestead act
Feared that factory owners would use immigrants to keep wages low and to replace striking workers
The new south
Idea that the future of the south would be based on economic diversity and industrial growth. Massive growth of population, industry, and railroads. Only in limited industrial centers though.
Tammany Hall
Assimilationist movement
Wanted to end indian culture by forcing them to assimilate to American values.
American federation of labor
Grew to over a million members by 1901 and had some modest successes
Political machines
Dawes act
Broke up tribal organizations and divided up tribal land and gave U.S. citizenship to natives who "Americanized" themselves
Settlement houses
Provided resources to the poor to enrich the neighborhood. Largely led by women
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
Growth of immigration
Knights of labor
National union open to ALL laborers. Wanted to end child labor and end trusts
Heavily anti-catholic and Social Darwinists
Government support for railroads
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
There was an extreme lack of government regulation of the economy at the time
Panic of 1893
A severe economic depression during which nearly a quarter of railroads declared bankruptcy. This caused bankers to buy up many of the railroads, leading to consolidation.
Sherman antitrust act
Made monopolizing an entire market illegal
Editor of a newspaper editorialized against lynching and jim crow. She fled north due to threats against her
Reservation system
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.
Starting in 1865 many Americans started pushing westward again after the interruption of the civil war
National Grange movement
Social and educational collective aimed at brining farmers together. Soon became political to lobby for farmers
Interstate commerce act
Required railroad rates to be reasonable and just, and established a federal commission to oversee the railroads
Forced segregation and prevented african americans from exercising their civil liberties
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
Anti-Saloon league
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
NAWSA
Worked to secure voting rights for women
