Vocabulary

U.S. Becomes a World Power (1877-1914)

 

Chapter 18

 

subsidy                                  transcontinental

open range                            homesteader

reservation                            National Grange

cooperative                           Populist Party

 

Chapter 19

 

rebate                                     assembly line

mass production                  corporation

stock                                      stockholder

dividend                                monopoly

philanthropy                         trust

merger                                    sweatshop

trade union                            collective bargaining

strikebreaker                         injunction

 

Chapter 20

 

emigrate                                 tenement

slum                                        suburban

urban (not in book)              rural (not in book)

The Gilded Age                    yellow-journalism

 

Chapter 21

 

political machine                  muckraker

initiative                                 referendum

recall                                       suffragist

prohibition                            trustbuster

conservation

 

Chapter 22

 

isolationism                           expansionism

imperialism                            nationalism

Open Door policy                armistice

protectorate                          anarchy

dollar diplomacy

 

 

 

NOTES

I. U.S. Becomes a World Power (1877-1914)

 

A.      How did the U.S. become a major world power?:

1. Western Expansion – Why did people move west?

                   a.   Transcontinental Railroad – completed in 1869 mainly under the direction of

                         Leland Stanford, director of the Central Pacific Railroad and the Governor

                         of California

1)       goods could be shipped west in days instead of months

2)       raw materials in the west (gold, silver, iron ore) could now be shipped to the east quickly

3)       farm goods (grain, beef) could be shipped to markets in the east.

 

b.       Gold Rush and Silver Rush

1)       gold was discovered in California, Colorado, South Dakota and Arizona.

2)       silver was discovered in Nevada

a) Comstock Lode in Nevada was mined for $300 million in silver

3)       nearly $2 billion in gold and silver were mined from the Rocky Mountains by 1890.

 

c.        Homestead Act 1862 – gave 160 acres of public land to settlers if they established a residence and worked the land for 5 years.

1)       farmers, factory workers, Civil War veterans and former slaves moved to the Great Plains to start farms under the Homestead Act.

 

d.       “Cattle Kingdom”

1)       western farmers raised cattle on the Great Plains (called open range – the largest unfenced grasslands in the world)

2)       the cattle were taken by train market

 

2.       Industrial Revolution; How did the U.S. became the world’s leading industrial nation by 1900?:

a.        Early Industrial Revolution (1793-1850)

1)       The Industrial Revolution started in the US in the years before the Civil War.

                                                             a)      What is the Industrial Revolution? It is when people go from making things by hand to making things a factory using machines. 

                                                             b)      When most people work at jobs other than farming.

2)       New Inventions from the Industrial Revolution:

   a)    interchangeable parts (Eli Whitney 1793) – identical machine made parts; the

          can be used to create a large number of finished products, or they can be used as

          replacement parts for manufactured goods.

                                        b)   cotton gin (Eli Whitney 1793) – a machine that separated cotton seeds from the

                                               cotton fiber

                                        c)   telegraph (Samuel Morse 1844) – a machine that used electric impulses to send

                                              messages over a wire network; Morse Code a series of dots and dashes used as a

                                             “language” by Morse to send messages using the telegraph.

              d)   steamboat (Robert Fulton 1807)

                                       e)    railroads – The Baltimore and Ohio, the first railroad in the US, opened in c.1830.

 

 

  b.     Late Industrial Revolution (1870-1910) Why did the U.S. economy expand a lot

          between 1870 and 1910?:

                              1)   the railroads created new markets for goods in the west.

                              2)   the U.S. had a lot of natural resources in the west (gold, silver, iron

                                    ore, oil, copper)

                              3)   lots of immigrants from Europe provided created a supply of workers for the

                                    factories.

                              

                             4)   the population nearly tripled from 40 million in 1860 to nearly 100 million 1900;         

                                   this created a big market for factory goods.

 

         3.  Creation of corporations and “Big Business”

                       a.  What is a corporation?:  a company that is owned by “stockholders”; people who have   

                            invested money in the corporation in order to share the profits, or dividends, of the

                            corporation

                       b.  What can a corporation do that a regular business owned by one person can’t

                             do?

                             1)  corporations can raise lots of money!! .. more owners means more money

                                  for the business to build factories, buy materials and to pay workers.

                             2)  shared risk; if the corporation fails the stockholders only loose the money

                                  they invested, not everything they own.

                      c.   What is “Big Business”?:  a “super-corporation”, “trust” or a “monopoly”; when one

                            corporation that controls an industry

                         1)   Good Things about Big Business – have a lot of money to build factories

                               and to produce a lot of goods

                             2)   Bad Things about Big Business – small businesses close because they can’t

      compete; product quality falls since there is no competition

                             3)   Famous “Big Businesses” in US History

                                                a)  “The House of Morgan” – largest private bank in the U.S.  Owned by J.

                                                       Pierpont Morgan

                            b)   Carnegie Steel Company – largest company in the world.  Owned by

                                   Andrew Carnegie (Carnegie sold his company to J. Pierpont Morgan in

                                   1901 creating U.S. Steel which was the largest company in the world

                                   until the 1960’s)

 c)   Standard Oil of Ohio – largest oil company in the world. Owned by John

       D. Rockefeller (today this company called ExxonMobil)

 d)   New York Central Railroad – largest railroad company in the US.  Owned  

        by Cornelius Vanderbilt

    e)   DuPont Chemicals – created in 1801 by E.I. DuPont; created dyes,

           plastics, and man-made fibers (synthetic fibers).  Still one of the world’s

           largest and most profitable corporations.

                                                 f)    sewing machine (Elias Howe 1846) – everyone made their own

                                                       clothes, so this invention made life a lot easier.

 

B.  Problems created by Western Expansion and “Big Business”: (1) Indian Wars

(2) business corruption  (3) immigration to the US increases

 

1.  Indian Wars (1865-1890) – for 25 years after the Civil War the Indians fought against white

     settlers in the west caused by the railroads, gold rushes, Homestead Act, and the Cattle Kingdom

       

       a.   Reservations – beginning in 1867, the government tried to force Native Americans to live on

             reservations (land set aside for them); this failed because many Indian groups hunted

             buffalo and couldn’t stay in one place to survive and because white’s settled on the land

             anyway.

                  b.   Battle of Little Big Horn 1876 – General George Armstrong Custer and 200 of his troops

                        were killed by about 3000 Sioux and Cheyenne Indians led by Sitting Bull and Crazy   

                        Horse; the nation was shocked by this and more troops were sent to fight the Indians

                 c.    Battle of Wounded Knee 1890 – Sitting Bull was arrested and then nearly 200 Indians

    (mostly women, children and old men) were killed by the army; no one really knows why 

    shooting started.  This battle ended the Indian Wars.

           

           2.   Business Corruption

                 

                  a.  Labor Unions – a group of workers who get together to get better pay and working conditions

                                         1)   AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial

                                               Organizations) the largest labor union in the US with about 10 million

                                               members.

                                         2)   Samuel Gompers – leader of the AFL from 1886 to 1924; he did more to

                                               create labor unions than nearly any other person in US history.

 3)   strikes – workers refuse to work in order to get better pay and working  

       conditions; strikes were considered illegal and troops were used to end strikes  

                

                  b.  Business and Labor Laws – new laws were created to regulate businesses and to improve the

                       safety and health of workers and goods in the US

                  1)   Child Labor Laws (c.1910) – limiting the number of hours children can work a

                        week

                  2)   Compulsory Education Laws (c.1910)– children must attend school until 16

                  3)   Hour and Wage Laws – setting a minimum wage (.40 cents an hour!), 8 hour

                         day, 5 day work week (1930’s).

                  4)   Pure Food and Drug Act (1906) – to keep harmful ingredients out of food and

                        drugs

                  5)   Interstate Commerce Commission (c.1905)– to regulate rates and fees charged

                        by the railroads.

                                            6)  Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1894) – this law made it illegal for a company to

                                                 have a monopoly in the US.

          

          3.  Immigration – nearly 25 million people came to the US between 1880 and 1920; this is

               considered to the largest movement of people in world history.

                

                 a.   Why did people come to the US?

                                         1)  better jobs

                                         2)  better living conditions (land was cheap so anyone could own a farm)

                                         3)  freedom – to escape bad government or for religious freedom 

                 b.   Laws limiting immigration – some people worried that immigrants would take jobs away

                        from American workers; beginning in 1880’s laws were passed limiting immigration

               1)  Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) – stopped immigration from China

               2)  “Gentlemen’s Agreement (1907) – limited immigration from Japan

               3)  Quota Act (1921) – limited the amount of people who could emigrate from 

                    European nations to the US each year.

                  c.  Problems caused by immigration:

                                         1) tenements – overcrowded multi-story  homes in cities that immigrants lived in;

                                             usually lacked fresh air, sunlight and proper sanitation (no bathroom); disease

                                             spread quickly especially to children and older people.

 

C.       Spanish-American War (1898)

 

1.        Cause - Cuba 

a.        Cubans started to rebel against Spanish rule; Spain had ruled Cuba since 1492.

 b.    The US sent the battleship USS Maine to Cuba to protect Americans in Cuba; 

        one  night the ship exploded and the US declared war after accusing Spain of

        sinking the ship. (many Americans shouted for war by shouting “Remember the

        Maine!”)

                2.   War – the war lasted a month

 a.    US sank Spanish ships in Cuba and Philippines and the army invaded Cuba and the Philippines too.

                3.   Results of the Spanish-American War: 

 a.    US becomes a major military power

 b.    Treat of Paris 1898 – US gained control of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and

         Philippines

 c.    “yellow-journalism” – newspapers begin to publish articles that exaggerate the

         story to attract readers; William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer published

         newspapers using yellow-journalism to demand war with Spain.

                                      d.     Panama Canal (1903-1914) built by the US to protect Cuba, Puerto Rico and

              Philippines

 

 

Review

U.S. Becomes a World Power 

 

Instructions:  Use you class notes and your textbook to answer each question in a complete sentence.

 

  1. Can you explain how each of the following events from U.S. history helped the U.S. to become a world power:
    1. western expansion
    2. Industrial Revolution
    3. Spanish-American War
  2. List 4 reasons why Americans moved west between 1877 and 1914.
  3. What was the Comstock Lode and where was it?
  4. List the U.S. states that had gold or silver mines in the late 1800’s
  5. In what year was the Homestead Act passed?  Was the passed before, during or after the Civil War?  Why do you think the Homestead Act caused people to move west?
  6. Farmers who raised cattle on the Great Plains in the late 1800’s never had to raise crops (corn, oats) to feed their cattle.  Why not?  Explain.
  7. By 1900, the U.S. was the world’s leading industrial nation (the U.S. produced more goods than any other nation by 1900).  How did this happen? (list 4 reasons in your answer).
  8. What is a corporation?  What is a “dividend”?
  9. What can a corporation do that a business owned by one person cannot do?
  10.  In the late 1800’s, very large corporations (called a “trust” or a “monopoly”) controlled some industries in the U.S.  Why would a “monopoly” (or a trust) be a bad thing for the economy?
  11. Look at the list of business leaders from the 1800’s.  Name the industry (steel, banking, oil, and so on) that each person was a part of:  J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, E.I. DuPont, Cornelius Vanderbilt
  12. How did the U.S.S. Maine help to cause the Spanish –American War?
  13. List 4 colonies the U.S. gained control of because of the Spanish-American War.  Why did some Americans oppose the U.S. gaining control of colonies after the Spanish-American War?
  14. What is “yellow-journalism”?
  15. What is a reservation?
  16. Give the importance of the following battles between Indians and American forces in the 1800’s:  Battle of the Little Big Horn, Battle of Wounded Knee
  17. What is a labor union?  Who was Samuel Gompers?
  18. What is a strike?
  19. How did each of the following laws regulate business in the U.S. or improve the health and safety

       conditions for people in the U.S.?:  Interstate Commerce Commission, Sherman Anti-Trust Act,

              Pure Food and Drug Act, Child Labor Laws

  1. How many people moved to the U.S. from other nations between 1880 and 1920?
  2. Why did people emigrate to the U.S.?
  3. List 3 laws that attempted to limit immigration to the U.S. between 1880 and the 1920’s.
  4. What is a tenement?  Why was it unhealthy to live in a tenement?

 

 

U.S. Becomes a World Power

People

 

Instructions:  Use your textbook and the U.S. History Review Text to give the importance for each of the following people in U.S. History.

 

Leland Stanford

J. Pierpont Morgan

John D. Rockefeller

E.I. DuPont

Andrew Carnegie

Cornelius Vanderbilt

Samuel Gompers

William McKinley

Theodore Roosevelt

Karl Marx

Upton Sinclair

Ida Tarbell

Susan B. Anthony

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Cyrus McCormack

John Deere

Henry Ford

Alexander Graham Bell

Thomas Edison

Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright

Albert Einstein

Robert Goddard