Gilded Age
Coined by author Mark Twain, it represents a seemingly beautiful and golden period, but it is rotten and corrupt underneath.
What is the term "Gilded Age"?
An early 20th-century journalist who worked to expose corruption & abuse in politics and society.
Dollar Diplomacy
Use Financial Power to extend international influence, instead of military
What is Taft's Presidency?
Women began challenging traditional ideals as embodied in ________
Cutting their hair short
Wearing short skirts
Putting on makeup
Drinking and smoking in public
Rejecting the constricting styles of the Victorian Era
What are Flappers?
The Stock Market Crash 1929 occurred on October 29, 1919, when billions of dollars were lost on the New York Stock Exchange.
What is Black Tuesday?
A group of people used ruthless methods to destroy competition, kept worker wages low, and created terrible work environments.
Who were "Robber Barons"?
In 1906, ____________ wrote The Jungle to describe the conditions in the meatpacking industry. He wanted to highlight the plight of the working class, and his book raised fear of what the people were eating.
Who was Upton Sinclair?
______________
Many soldiers who return from the war are going to experience Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Symptoms of ___________ could Include: Staring eyes, violent tremors, blue cold extremities, unexplained deafness, blindness, or paralysis
What is Shell Shock?
Russian Revolution started as a worker Revolt, Americans associated labor strikes with Communism
People feared that communists wanted to overthrow the U.S. government
What is The Red Scare?
A deep economic depression
High unemployment
A devastating drought
The Dust Bowl
And the creation of several Federal Government programs through the new deal
What are the characteristics of The Great Depression?
The first railroad that linked the east to the west, connecting Sacramento
What is the Transcontinental Railroad?
A journalist who wrote "How the other half lives" led to calls for government assistance to help the urban poor. This book gave a vivid look at life for ethnic groups of New York City living.
Who was Jacob Riis?
Open Door Policy (1899)
Allows all nations to have the equal opportunity to trade with China
________’s Assassination (1901)
________ will be shot by an anarchist, Leon Czolgosz, who believes that he is the head of a corrupt government
Czolgosz would be executed the following month via electric chair
_______'s VP, Theodore Roosevelt, will then become president
What is McKinley's Presidency?
This Scandal, which occurred in the 1920s, involved big oil companies, high-ranking government officials, bribery, and corruption.
It was the most serious scandal in the country’s history until that time.
People included
-Albert Fall: Secretary of the Interior under President Warren G. Harding who was involved in this scandal because he took bribes from private oil companies to drill on federal navy oil reserves -Edward Doheny: one of the oilmen involved in this scandal who was exonerated for giving bribes to Albert Fall to drill on federal oil reserves but suffered the murder of his son because of his involvement -Harry Sinclair: one of the oilmen involved in this scandal who was exonerated for giving bribes to Albert Fall to drill on federal oil reserves but went to prison for 9 months for jury tampering because he was caught hiring detectives to follow members of the jury in his bribery trial -Warren G. Harding: 29th president of the United States from 1921 - 1923 who was president during this scandal
What was The Teapot Dome Scandal?
Years of sustained drought caused the land to suffer
Millions of farmland became useless, leading to increased poverty levels and inflated food prices.
The wind carried great clouds of dust and sand, hence the name “________”
What is The Dust Bowl?
This act makes it illegal for businesses to get too big and powerful in a way that hurts competition. (Theo Roosevelt wrote this act)
What is the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890?
-To strengthen the federal government’s ability to break up trusts, the _______________ Act was passed
(goes hand in hand with the Sherman Antitrust Act)
-The law gave unions significantly more power because it legalized unions, strikes, boycotts, and pickets.
What is the Clayton Antitrust Act?
Cuban Revolution:
-In 1895, fighting broke out for Cuban independence from the Spanish Empire. Tired of Spanish mistreatment
De Lome Letter:
-Negotiations between Spain and the U.S. broke down after an insulting letter from Spanish ambassador De Lome was published by Hearst in the New York Journal, on Feb 9, 1898
-The letter said that U.S. President McKinley was “weak” and Americans became very angry over the insult of their leader
U.S.S. Maine
-The U.S. thought Spain was responsible for the destruction of the U.S.S. Maine in Havana Harbor
Yellow Journalism
-Blamed the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine on Spain and pressured McKinley into war.
What are the causes of the Spanish-American War?
“America First”
“Return to Normalcy”
Wanted to return to Pre-WW1 America
Return of Laissez-Faire Economics
No government intervention in the economy, including Big Business
Reduced taxes
This led to increased consumerism and luxurious lifestyles
What is the Harding Administration?
Created the Reconstruction Finance Corporation
Authorized loans to large businesses that suffered losses
Tried creating new jobs out of public works projects
Hoover Dam
Hoovervilles
Shanty towns created by the homeless throughout the United States
Blamed President Hoover for the Great Depression
What is the Hoover Administration?
What is the Homestead Act?
A social movement led by protestant clergymen that called for many reforms including:
-The abolition of child labor, a ban on alcoholic beverages (temperance/prohibition), safer working conditions, regulations on big business, an increased focus on charity and helping those who were less fortunate.
What is the Social Gospel Movement?
Alfred Thayer Mahan
-U.S. Naval Captain
-Wrote: The Influence of Sea Power Upon History
-This led to the Expansion of the Modern Navy
Naval Dominance
-Strengthening the navy will make the U.S. a world power and will lead to expansionist efforts by the U.S.
What is The Rise of the U.S. Navy?
Low Taxes, Balanced Budgets, Robust Economy
Americanization/Assimilation
Established Indian Boarding Schools, Focused on Americanizing Native American children.
American Indian Citizenship: Native Americans born in the U.S. were granted citizenship.
What is The Coolidge Administration?
Intended to provide relief, reform, and recovery
Created worker programs, Reformed banking and business practices, Instituted new government programs, Promoted economic recovery
Opponents argued it over-regulated business and restricted individual freedoms
The Share Our Wealth Plan by Louisiana Senator Huey Long argued for the redistribution of wealth. California doctor, Francis Townsend, argued for a pension plan that required those receiving payments to spend the money
Set the stage for the Social Security Act
What is The New Deal?