Gilded Age Flashcards
(24 cards)
Assimilation
the process in which a minority group or culture comes to resemble a majority group or assume the values, behaviors, and beliefs of another group whether fully or partially.
Nativism
favoritism toward native-born Americans
Social Gospel Movement
salvation through service to the poor
Political Machine
Corrupt organized groups that controlled political parties in the cities. A political boss leads the machine and attempts to grab more votes for his party
Bessemer Process
refining oil to make steel
Laissez-Faire
a policy or attitude of letting things take their own course, without interfering.
Vertical Alignment
purchase of companies at all levels
Horizontal Alignment
purchase of companies in the same industry
Social Darwisnism
Success or failure in business happens naturally, no one should intervene
Interstate Commerce Act
Law designed to regulate the railroads and their monopolistic ways of doing business
Sherman Antitrust Act
Outlawed business monopolies
Robber Barons
a person who has become rich through ruthless and unscrupulous business practices
Chinese Exclusion Act
Banned Chinese immigration to U.S. beginning in 1882. Ban lifted in 1943.
Gentlemen’s Agreement
Japan limits emigration of unskilled workers to US if we end segregation of Japanese kids in schools
Homestead Act (1862)
Law that provided 160 acres to anyone who was willing to settle land in the west.
Monopolies
Situation in which one company controls the supply of a product or service
Industrialization
The rise of manufacturing economy and decline of an agricultural economy
Urbanization
The large growth of cities. Accompanied with a large range of problems including sanitation, transportation, and crowded living conditions.
Civil Service Form
laws passed in the 1870s and 1880s began to require government workers to take tests to work for the government and began replacing the “spoils system”
Graft
The misuse of the public funds for personal use by a public official or use of insider knowledge for personal gain by public officials
Settlement houses
community centers that helped immigrants address the problems of squalid (lack of care or cleanliness) living conditions, disease, illiteracy, and unemployment.
Jane Adams
Founder of Chicago’s Hull House; campaigned for feminists and child labor reform
Andrew Carnegie
Business tycoon who controlled most of the Steel industry. Know as the “Captain of Industry” and “Robber Baron”
John Rockefeller
Business tycoon who owned Standard Oil and controlled 90% of the oil industry . He was able to monopolize the Standard Oil in a trust.
