American Studies II Midyear Study Guide

(Reconstruction – 1920’s)

Reconstruction:
1. Lincoln’s Plan: Proclamation of Amnesty (10% Plan) provided full presidential pardons granted to most
southerners who (a) took oath of allegiance to the Union (b) accepted emancipation of slaves; state gov.
reestablished as 10% of voters took oath of loyalty
2. Johnson’s Plan: Johnson hated southern aristocrats; Johnson issues own proclamation provided
disenfranchisement of Confederate officeholders and he provided many pardons to “disloyal” southerners
3. Radical Republicans: Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens are radical rep. attempt to crush the south
after defeat
4. Civil Rights Act of 1866: provided a legal shied against the operation of Southern black codes while
providing a safe voting area
5. Reconstruction Act of 1867: divided the southern states into five military districts and provided a Union
general to govern area
6. Wade-Davis Bill: required 50% of all voters of southern states to take an oath of allegiance and only non-
confederates could vote for new state constitutions
7. Scalawags: Southern Republicans
8. Carpetbaggers: Southern whites who supported Republican government and often went south for new
businesses and greed
9. Compromise of 1877: marked the end of Reconstruction when 7 Democrats and 7 Republicans voted in
special election when Hayes won but Hayes promised to remove troops from the South
10. Plessy v Ferguson: Supreme Court upheld “separate but equal accommodations” for blacks and whites
11. Credit Moblier Scandal: Under Grant’s administration, members of Congress were given influential stocks
to avoid investigation for profits of subsidies for railroads
12. 13th Amendment: abolish slavery

13. 14th Amendment: provided terms of citizenship

14. 15th Amendment: universal male suffrage

Western Expansion:
15. Homestead Act of 1862: encouraged families to move West by offering 160 acres of land free for whoever
would settle for 5 yrs.
16. Desert Land Act: land that was unfit for farming would be sold for timber and stone
17. Sitting Bull: lead the last effort by Native Americans to resist U.S. domination by a religious movement
lead by Sioux medicine man
18. George Armstrong Custer: Sioux tribe ambushed Colonel Custer at Little Bighorn in 1876
19. Turner Thesis: Frederick Turner’s frontier thesis argued that western expansion provided a new start and
when U.S. reached Pacific then citizens would face problems of social status

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 20. Dawes Severalty Act: break up tribal organizations which some felt kept Native Americans less resistant
but it gave then 160 acres of land and if they lived on it for 25 yrs. they could apply for citizenship
21. Munn v Illinois: Supreme Court upheld rights of state to regulate business of a public nature
22. Wabash v Illinois: ruled individual states could not regulate interstate commerce
23. Wounded Knee/Sand Creek: 200 Native Americans killed at Wounded Knee and Native Americans killed
U.S. at Sand Creek
24. Helen Hunt Jackson: “A Century of Dishonor” and believed that the U.S. mistreated the Native Americans
and the best scenario would be to assimilate into American society
Industrialization:
25. Laissez-faire Economics: free markets with no government interference
26. John D. Rockefeller: founded Standard Oil Company; eliminated competition w/ horizontal integration
27. Andrew Carnegie: used vertical integration in his steel business and sold the company to J.P.
Morgan and it became the 1st billion dollar business
28. Social Darwinism: Herbert Spencer applied Darwin’s theory of natural selection to market economics and
concluded that concentration of wealth in hands of “fit” would benefit human race
29. Vertical Integration: controlling all of the means of production
30. Horizontal Integration: controlling the competition
31. Sherman Anti-Trust Act: prohibited any “contract, combination, in the form of trust or otherwise or
conspiracy in restraint of trade or commerce”
32. United States v E.C. Knights Co.: ruled that the Sherman Anti-Trust Act could only be applied to
commerce not to manufacturing
33. Horatio Alger: wrote popular novels where he portrayed a young man of modest means who became rich
and successful through honesty, hard work, and a little luck
Labor Movement:
35. National Labor Union: the 1st attempt to organize all workers both skilled and unskilled called for
higher wages and 8-hour work weeks; lost support after depression and unsuccessful strikes
36. American Federation of Labor: Samuel Gompers founded for 25 craft unions and better conditions higher
wages w/ no success
37. Knights of Labor: Terence Powderly formed the union and included all members including African
Americans and women and called for (a) workers cooperatives to make each man his own employer (b)
abolition of child labor (c) abolishing of trusts and monopolies
38. Haymarket Square Bombing: in Chicago workers held strike in square but in attendance were 200
anarchists who threw bombs and killed 7 police officers; 8 anarchists convicted and sentenced to death
while Knights of Labor lost popularity
39. Homestead Strike: Henry Frick cut wages by 20% and used a lockout when the Pinkerton guards broke up
the strike
40. Pullman Strike: Pullman announced a general cut in wages and workers stopped working to appeal to

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 leader Debs who instructed workers not to work on trains with Pullman cars then the owners attached the
mail to the train and a court issued an injunction to not interfere with main so attempt failed
41. Yellow Dog Contracts: workers being told as a condition for employment that they must sign agreement
not to join union
Urbanization, Civil Rights, and Popular Culture:
42. New Immigrants: immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe like Greeks, Italians, Slovaks, caused
difficult assimilation and mostly unable to speak English
43. Old Immigrants: Northern and western Europe such as British Isles, Germany, France
44. Tammany Hall: Democratic political machine in NYC who developed into power centers in coordinate the
needs of businesses, immigrants, and underprivileged in turn they asked for their votes
45. Jacob Riis: a muckraker and a photographic journalist who published “How the Other Half Lives”
46. Birth of a Nation: D.W. Griffith created a film glorifying white supremacy and the KKK
47. Booker T. Washington: a former slave who advised African Americans to become skilled in a craft then to
push for rights
48. W.E.B. Dubois: called for African American rights immediately
Gilded Age Politics:
49. Gilded Age Politics: term first used by Mark Twain and it referred to the superficial glitter of the
new wealth displayed in the 19th century and the politics are criticized b/c no president served consecutive
terms and often ignored the problems
50. Pendleton Act: civil service reform; required test for government position
51. Tariff Debate: Democrats enact Wilson-Gorman Tariff which (a) provided a moderate reduction in the
tariff rates (b) included a 2% income tax on incomes more than $2000
52. Stalwarts vs. Half-breeds: a faction of the Republican party at the end of the 19th century opposed
Hayes’s civil service reform; and Half-breed opponents of the Stalwarts lead by Blaine were moderate wing
groups
53. Bland-Allison Act: allowed Congress to make $1 million in silver coins each moth
54. Populist Party: agenda included graduated income tax and popular election of senators and eventually
adopted by Democrats and reform minded Republicans in Progressive Era
Progressive Era:
55. Origins & Goals of Progressivism: wanted to build on the existing society, making moderate political
changes and social improvements through government action
56. Referendum: is a direct vote in which the entire electorate is asked to accept or reject the proposal often in
the form of a constitutional amendment
57. 16th Amendment: income tax

58. 17th Amendment: direct vote for senators

59. 18th Amendment: prohibition

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 60. 19th Amendment: women’s suffrage
61. Robert Lafollette: a Senator from Wisconsin who proposed the “Wisconsin Idea” introduced a new system
for bypassing politicians and placing nominating process directly in the hands of voters (direct primary)
Imperialism:
62. Alfred T. Mahan: U.S. Navy Captain wrote “Influence of Sea Power Upon History” and concluded a
strong navy was crucial to a country’s ambitions of securing foreign markets and world power
63. USS Maine: U.S. battleship Maine anchored in Havana, Cuba exploded and the yellow press accused
Spain of blowing it up
64. De Lome Letter: Spanish minister wrote a highly critical letter of President McKinley
65. Platt and Teller Amendment: Congress declared Teller amendment and said the U.S. had no intentions of
taking political control of Cuba
World War I:
66. Espionage and Sedition Acts: a penalty for speaking out against government’s war policy, provided
imprisonment for up to 20 yrs.
67. Schenck v United States: Supreme Court ruled freedom of speech could be limited in a “clear and present
danger”
1920’s:
68. Red Scare: in 1919 there was widespread fear fueled by communism takeover in Russia; anti-Communism
hysteria known as Red Scare
69. Alexander Mitchell Palmer: Attorney General Palmer establish office under Hoover to gather information
on radicals; offered mass arrests for anarchists, Socialists, and labor agitators
70. Harlem Renaissance: African Americans moved to cities and Harlem became concentration of talented
actors, artists, musicians, and writers
71. Andrew Mellon: President Harding appointed millionaire Andrew Mellon to be Secretary of Treasury and
Hoover to be Secretary of Commerce
72. Scopes Trial: Fundamentalism vs. Modernism where John Scopes taught evolution in a Tennessee school
brought to court where William Jennings Bryan testified as an expert of the bible