Progressive Reforms & Politics
This 1883 federal law ended the spoils system by establishing a merit-based civil service exam for government jobs.
What is the Pendleton Act?
Tragic 1911 industrial fire in NYC that claimed 146 workers' lives, spurring nationwide workplace safety and labor laws.
What is the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire?
Constitutional amendment ratified in 1913 that granted Congress the power to collect a federal individual income tax.
What is the 16th Amendment?
The policy of extending a nation's power and influence through diplomacy, economic dominance, or military force overseas.
What is Imperialism?
Sensationalized and exaggerated news reporting designed to stir public outrage and boost newspaper sales prior to the Spanish-American War.
What is Yellow Journalism?
This practice of giving government jobs to political supporters, also known as the spoils system, was targeted by Progressive reformers.
What is Patronage?
Investigative journalists and authors who exposed corporate corruption, urban poverty, and political scandals during the Progressive Era.
What are Muckrakers?
Ratified in 1919, this amendment outlawed the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquors nationwide.
What is the 18th Amendment?
Naval officer whose influential book The Influence of Sea Power Upon History argued that naval dominance was essential to global power.
What is Alfred T. Mahan?
Theodore Roosevelt’s foreign policy approach characterized by aggressive naval strength, exemplified by sending the Great White Fleet on a world tour.
What is Big Stick Diplomacy (or the Great White Fleet)?
Founded in 1909 by W.E.B. Du Bois and other activists, this organization formed to advance civil rights and combat racial injustice.
What is NAACP?
Community centers established in urban slums, like Jane Addams' Hull House, that provided education, healthcare, and social services to immigrants.
What are Settlement Houses?
Amendment ratified in 1920 that granted women the constitutional right to vote across the United States.
What is the 19th Amendment?
Controversial 1898 move where the U.S. formally acquired these Pacific islands after overthrowing Queen Liliuokalani.
What is the Annexation of Hawaii?
Extension of the Monroe Doctrine stating the U.S. had the right to act as an "international police power" in Latin America.
What is the Roosevelt Corollary?
Formed by Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 after splitting from the Republicans, this third party championed major progressive political and social reforms.
What is the Progressive Party (Bull Moose Party)?
Social movement driven by reformers who believed banning alcohol would reduce crime, poverty, and family destruction.
What is the Temperance/Prohibition Movement
This 1862 law encouraged westward expansion by offering 160 acres of public land to settlers who improved it over 5 years.
What is Homesteading?
Region within a country where an outside foreign nation claims exclusive trade rights, investment privileges, and political influence.
What are Spheres of influence?
President Taft’s foreign policy strategy of using American financial investments and loans to secure influence in Latin America and East Asia.
What is Dollar is Diplomacy?
Signed by Woodrow Wilson in 1913, this law created the central banking system of the U.S. to regulate currency and control interest rates.
What is the federal Reserve Act?
"Hands-off" economic policy advocating minimal government regulation of business activities and market forces.
What is Laissez Faire?
Resulting from the Mexican-American War, this massive land transfer to the U.S. was formalized by the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo.
What is the Mexican Cession (or treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo)?
U.S. policy initiated in 1899 asserting that all nations should have equal access to trade in Chinese ports.
What is the Open Door Policy?
Woodrow Wilson’s post-WWI peace proposal detailing principles for world peace, trade, and self-determination, culminating in the Treaty of Versailles.
What are Wilson's 14 Points (or the Treaty of Versailles)?