U.S. History
EOCT test
Preparation
SSUSH 11
Transcontinental Railroad
Chinese labor on Transcontinental
Railroad
• Chinese underwent
discrimination.
• Long hours
• Little pay
• Harsh weather, extreme
heat, cold
• Dangerous
environments.
• Many died.
Andrew Carnegie
• Scottish born founder of Carnegie Steel
• Company that produced more steel than all of
Great Britain
• Sold his company to J.P. Morgan for almost
$500 million in 1901
• Then devoted his time to “Gospel of Wealth” –
using his wealth to finance philanthropy
John D. Rockefeller
• Founder of the Standard Oil Company in 1863
at the age of 24
• He bought our destroyed his competition,
• Set up a monopoly on the oil industry and
became very wealthy
• Tactic was Horizontal integration – He bought
out all competitors to create a Monopoly then
a Trust.
J. P. Morgan
• Bought Carnegie Steel in 1901
• He merged it and other steel companies into
US Steel in march 1901
Vertical Integration
• Type of organization in which a company owns
and controls the entire process of production
from raw materials to manufacture and sale of
finished product.
“Robber Barons” “Captains of Industry”
• Wealthy entrepreneurs and businessmen during the
Industrial Age
• Made the U.S. extremely wealthy – referred to in a
positive way as “Captains of Industry”
• People underpaid, child labor, poor and unhealthy
working conditions in order to make a profit –
referred to as “Robber Barons”
• Notable robber barons include Andrew Carnegie and
John D. Rockefeller
Laissez-Faire
• The idea that
government would have
a “hands-off” policy and
would not regulate big
Business
• No Minimum Wage, No
OSHA, No law against
child labor, no
regulatory commissions
for safe and clean food.
Social Darwinism
• Theory that grew out of Charles Darwin’s
theory of biological evolution.
• “survival of the fittest” Natural Selection
• Social Darwinism was a theory created by
Herbert Spencer to explain the evolution of
human society.
• This theory justified the disparity in wealth
and encouraged unregulated competition and
frowned on government regulation.
Thomas Edison
• Wizard of Menlo park
• Invented electric light
bulb, motion pictures,
phonograph,
• Impacted American
life.
SSUSH 12
Samuel Gompers - AFL
• Founder of American
Federation of Labor in
1886
• Used collective
bargaining to
negotiate with
businesses for higher
wages, better working
conditions, etc.
•His refusal to return to the reservation in 1876 led
to the campaign in which General George
Armstrong Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn,
also knows as "Custer's Last Stand".
•lived at the Standing Rock Agency. In 1889 a
treaty was made reducing Sioux territory.
Difficulties in the working of this, and religious
excitement in connection with the Ghost Dance
craze, led to an outbreak in 1890.
•Rumors of a coming Indian Messiah who would
defeat the whites, and Indian dissatisfaction at the
disposition of their territory, created such great
turmoil in 1889—1890 that the US Army decided
to arrest Sitting Bull as a precaution. Sitting Bull
and three hundred Indians were killed at Wounded
Knee Creek, and the Sioux were finally subdued.
Chief Sitting Bull
1894 Pullman Strike
• A good example of
industrial unrest.
• Turned into a violent
strike against workers
and management.
• Ended when the
federal government
sent in troops.
Dawes Act
• 1887 act of Congress aimed at breaking up
traditional Indian life by promoting land
ownership.
• It divided up tribal lands into individual plots
and Indians were encouraged to farm.
Helen Hunt Jackson
• Wrote: A Century of
Dishonor: A Sketch of
the United State's
Government's Dealings
with Some of the Indian
Tribes
Homestead Act
• Legislation granting 160 acres of land to
anyone who paid $10 fee and promised to live
on and cultivate the land for 5 years
• Its purpose was to encourage western
migration
SSUSH 13
The Populist movement
• Represented the farmer
• Becomes a political party
• Lobbied for increase in money supply, which
would produce a rise in prices for goods and
services.
• Wanted a graduated income tax, election of
senators by popular vote,
• 8 hour work week, restrictions on
immigration.
Planks in the Populist Party Platform
Direct Election of U.S.
Senators
Secret Ballot
Initiative
Party bosses controlled state legislatures that elected
representatives to the U.S. Senate. To limit this
control, the Populists proposed allowing citizens to
directly elect U.S. Senators.
Privacy at the ballot box would ensure that citizens can
cast votes without party bosses knowing how they
voted.
Would allow voters to petition state legislatures in order
to consider a bill desired by citizens.
Referendum
Would Allow voters to decide if a bill or proposed
amendment should be passed.
Recall
Would allow voters to petition to have an elected
representative removed from office.
Direct
Primary
Designed to ensure that voters select candidates to run
for office, rather than party bosses.
Interstate Commerce Act
• Regulated Railroad rates
3. Women’s Rights
Movement
 Purpose: To help
women gain voting
rights, schools for
women, & new job
opportunities
 Leaders included:
•
•
•
Susan B. Anthony
Lucretia Mott
Elizabeth Cady
Stanton
Carrie Chapman Catt
• She joined the woman
suffrage movement as a
lecturer, was a delegate
at the newly formed
(NAWSA) National
American Woman
Suffrage Association.
Booker T. Washington
• Founder of Tuskegee Normal & Industrial
College
• Encouraged blacks to seek technical training
for jobs to be accepted into white culture.
• Blamed black poverty on blacks and urged
them to accept discrimination.
W.E.B. Du Bois
• Criticized Washington’s ideas
• Encouraged blacks to seek higher education
and become leaders (lawyers, doctors,
politicians, etc.) so that they could fight
discrimination in court and society.
• Wanted immediate social and economic
equality for African Americans
NAACP
• National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People
• Aimed to full equality among the races.
• W.E.B. Du Bois helped establish this group
Jim Crow Era
• Laws passed from 1870s to 1880’s in various
states.
• Took away newly won rights of African
Americans- especially right to vote and
segregation.
• Examples: Poll tax, literacy test for voting,
grandfather clause
Progressivism
Social Gospel Movement
• Preached salvation through service to the
poor.
• Reformers such as Jane Addams and her Hull
House of Chicago responded.
• Encouraged government action and regulation
of business and corrupt politics.
• Encouraged social programs by the
government
Jane Adams – Hull House
• Immigrants learned
how to read, write, and
speak English.
• Night school for adults,
kindergarten classes for
kids, clubs for older
children, a public
kitchen,
• Music, drama, and
labor preparation
Muckraker
Thomas Nast
Jacob Riis
Ida B. Wells
Work
Political
Cartoons
How the
Other Half
Lives
(1890)
A Red
Record
(1895)
Subject
Political corruption by
NYC's political machine,
Tammany Hall, led by
Boss Tweed.
Living conditions of the
urban poor; focused on
tenements.
Provided statistics on the
lynching of AfricanAmericans.
Results
Tweed was convicted of
embezzlement and died in
prison.
NYC passed building
codes to promote safety
and health.
NAACP joined the fight for
Federal anti-lynching
legislation.
Ida Tarbell
Upton Sinclair
• Exposed the unsanitary
methods used in the
Chicago Meatpacking
Industry.
• Sinclair stated, “I aimed for
the peoples hearts but hit
their stomachs!’
• Theodore Roosevelt
pushed for passage of the
Meat Inspection Act after
reading.
State Reforms
Secret Ballot
Initiative
Referendum
Recall
Direct
Primary
Privacy at the ballot box ensures that citizens can cast votes
without party bosses knowing how they voted.
Allows voters to petition state legislatures in order to
consider a bill desired by citizens.
Allows voters to decide if a bill or proposed amendment
should be passed.
Allows voters to petition to have an elected representative
removed from office.
Ensures that voters select candidates to run for office,
rather than party bosses.
Progressive Era Federal Legislation
Newlands Reclamation
Act
Encouraged conservation by allowing the building of dams
and irrigations systems using money from the sale of public
lands.
(1902)
Elkins Act
Outlawed the use of rebates by railroad officials or shippers.
(1903)
Pure Food and Drug Act
Required that companies accurately label the ingredients
contained in processed food items.
(1906/1911)
In direct response to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, this law
required that meat processing plants be inspected to ensure
the use of good meat and health-minded procedures.
Meat Inspection Act
(1906)
Progressive Era Federal Legislation Cont…
Hepburn Act
(1906)
Federal Reserve Act
(1913)
Clayton Antitrust Act
(1914)
Federal Trade Act
(1914)
Strengthened the Interstate Commerce Commission,
allowing it to set maximum railroad rates.
Created 12 district Federal Reserve Banks, each able to
issue new currency and loan member banks funds at the
prime interest rate, as established by the Federal Reserve
Board.
Strengthened the Sherman Antitrust Act by outlawing the
creation of a monopoly through any means, and stated that
unions were not subject to antitrust legislation.
Established the Federal Trade Commission, charged with
investigating unfair business practices including
monopolistic activity and inaccurate product labeling.
Progressive Era Amendments
16th
(1913)
Granted Congress the power to tax income.
17th
(1913)
Provided for the direct election of U.S. Senators.
18th
(1919)
Prohibited making, selling, or transporting alcohol.
19th
(1920)
Provided women suffrage (voting).
Theodore Roosevelt
• Fought in the Spanish
American War
• Oversaw building of the
Panama Canal
• Led the Rough Riders at
the Battle of San Juan
Hill
• Issued the Roosevelt
Corollary (an extension
of the Monroe
Doctrine)
• Preservation or
Conservation of U.S.
Natural resources.
National Parks
SSUSH 14
Chinese Exclusion Act
Gentlemen’s Agreement