Westward Expansion
This term described the 19th-century belief that the U.S. was destined to expand across the North American continent.
What is Manifest Destiny?
This industrialist built a steel empire and became one of the richest men in America, using methods like vertical integration.
Who is Andrew Carnegie?
The massive movement of people from rural areas to cities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries is called this.
What is urbanization?
Workers often formed these groups to demand better wages, hours, and working conditions.
What are labor unions?
This president, known as a “trust buster,” fought monopolies and promoted the Square Deal for Americans.
Who is Theodore Roosevelt?
Completed in 1869 but still hugely influential after 1877, this railroad connected the eastern U.S. to the West Coast, facilitating settlement and commerce.
What is the Transcontinental Railroad?
This business practice, used by John D. Rockefeller, involved combining competing companies into one large corporation to control prices and reduce competition.
What is a monopoly?
Millions of immigrants entered the United States through this New York City immigration station, often facing inspections and processing before being allowed to enter.
What is Ellis Island?
This 1886 Chicago event turned violent during a protest for an eight-hour workday, leading to the deaths of several workers and police officers.
What is the Haymarket Riot?
This muckraking author wrote The Jungle, exposing unsafe conditions in the meatpacking industry.
Who is Upton Sinclair?
This 1887 law aimed to assimilate Native Americans by allotting reservation land to individual families for farming.
What is the Dawes Act?
This act, passed in 1890, was the first federal law to prohibit monopolies and trusts that restrained trade.
What is the Sherman Antitrust Act?
This type of factory system allowed businesses to produce goods faster and more cheaply, fueling America’s industrial growth.
What is mass production?
In 1892, this strike at a steel plant in Pennsylvania ended violently when the state militia intervened, killing dozens of workers.
What is the Homestead Strike?
Passed in 1906, this law required accurate labeling of food and drugs and regulated their safety.
What is the Pure Food and Drug Act?
These acts of Congress and government policies encouraged settlers to move west by giving land for farming or railroads.
What is the Homestead Act?
Industrialists who used ruthless tactics to dominate markets and accumulate wealth were often called this by critics of the era.
What are Robber Barons?
Immigrants often lived in these crowded, poorly maintained city dwellings while working in factories, which led to health and safety concerns.
What are tenements?
In 1877, this nationwide railroad strike highlighted tensions between workers and industry, leading to federal troops being called in to restore order.
What is the Great Railroad Strike of 1877?
This amendment, ratified in 1913, allowed for the direct election of U.S. senators.
What is the 17th Amendment?
Populists sought government ownership or regulation of this industry because high rates and unfair practices were hurting western farmers.
What are railroads / the railroad industry?
This powerful banker and financier helped consolidate industries and stabilize the American economy in the late 1800s and early 1900s through mergers and investments.
Who is J.P. Morgan?
This era, roughly from 1870 to 1900, was marked by rapid industrial growth, the rise of big business, and increasing wealth inequality.
What is the Gilded Age?
This labor organization, founded by Samuel Gompers, focused on skilled workers and promoted “pure and simple unionism,” emphasizing collective bargaining.
What is the American Federation of Labor (AFL)?
This reform movement fought to reduce alcohol consumption and ultimately led to Prohibition with the 18th Amendment.
What is the Temperance Movement?