GILDED AGE
Completed in 1869 at Promontory, Utah by Union Pacific and Central Pacific. Revolutionized transportation in the West and pushed industrialization. Made possible by new steel technologies.
Transcontinental Railroad
Investigative journalists who awakened middle class readers to the conditions in industrial America. Ida Tarbell, Sinclair Lewis, Upton Sinclair
Muckrackers
1904 extension of the Monroe Doctrine, stating that the United States has the right to protect its economic interests in the Western Hemisphere by using military force (police power).
Roosevelt Corollary
Journalism that exploits, distorts, or exaggerates the news to create sensations and attract readers.
Yellow Journalism
Ship that explodes off the coast of Cuba in Havana harbor and helps contribute to the start of the Spanish-American War.
USS Maine
The practice perfected by John D. Rockefeller of dominating a particular phase of the production process in order to monopolize a market, often by forming trusts and alliances with competitors.
Horizontal Integration
A Danish immigrant, he became a reporter who pointed out the terrible conditions of the tenement houses of the big cities where immigrants lived during the late 1800s. He wrote How The Other Half Lives in 1890.
Jacob Riis
Was the Secretary of State in 1899; dispatched the Open Door Notes to keep the countries that had spheres of influence in China from taking over China and closing the doors on trade between China and the U.S.
John Hay
Post-Spanish American War treaty with Cuba- US conditions for their independence. Resulted in a controversial quasi-ownership. 1) Cuba makes no treaty with others if it endangers independence 2) can't borrow money if they can't pay back 3)US can get involved with Cuba affairs 4) US receives rights to Guantanamo Bay.
Platt Amendment
A strip of land across Panama bought for $10 million and an annual rent of $250,000. As one of the great engineering feats of the time, it reduced shipping costs by cutting through the Panama Isthmus and helped extend U.S. naval power by allowing the fleets to move between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Panama Canal
This was the term given to the reconstruction of southern states after the Civil War. They began to become more self-sustaining and modern after slave labor was outlawed
New South
Supreme Court Case in 1908 that established law limiting maximum hours for working women, justified by the special state of interest in protecting women's health
Muller v. Oregon
War fought between the US and Spain in Cuba and the Philippines. It lasted less than 3 months and resulted in Cuba's independence as well as the US annexing Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.
Spanish American War
1897-1901, 25th President, Republican, supported gold standard, protective tariff, and Hawaiian Islands, President during Spanish American War, assassinated.
William McKinley
The meeting between Japan, Russia, and the U.S. that ended the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. Roosevelt won the Nobel Peace Prize for stopping the fighting between those two countries. Ended in rather bitter feelings on both the Russian and Japanese sides.
Portsmouth Conference
An essay written by Andrew Carnegie in 1889 that described the responsibility of philanthropy by the new upper class of self-made rich. He argued that charity should only be given to those who can help themselves, and shouldn't be given to those ill-equipped to deal with it.
The Gospel of Wealth
Amendment forbids the sale and manufacture of liquor and made it illegal in 1919.
Eighteenth Amendment
Legislation that promised the US would not annex Cuba after winning the Spanish-American war.
Teller Amendment
These men were competing magazine owners/publishers at the time of the Spanish American War. They were also famous yellow journalists.
William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer
A policy proposed by the US Sec of State John Hay in 1899, under which ALL nations would have equal opportunities to trade in China.
Open Door Policy
A combination of firms or corporations formed by a legal agreement, especially to reduce competition. Run by a single board of directors.
Trust
This 1906 work by Upton Sinclair pointed out the abuses of the meat packing industry. The book led to the passage of the 1906 Meat Inspection Act.
The Jungle
Navy officer whose ideas on naval warfare and the importance of sea-power changed how America viewed its navy.
Alfred Thayer Mahan
A feeling of strong national pride and a desire for an aggressive foreign policy.
Jingoism
1899 rebellion in Beijing, China started by a secret society of Chinese who opposed the "foreign devils".
Boxer Rebellion