APUSH 121-130

Jane Addams – (1860-1935) Was a pioneer settlement worker, founder of Hull House in Chicago, public philosopher, sociologist, author, and leader in woman suffrage and world peace.  Most prominent reformer of the Progressive era besides Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.  S: She helped turn attention to concerns of mothers including needs of children, public health and world peace. In 1931, she became the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  Hull House was the first settlement house built in the United States.
Booker T. Washington – (1856-1915) Dominant figure in the African – American community in the United States from 1890-1915.  He was an American educator, author, orator, and political leader.  He was representative of the last generation of black Americans born in slavery.  His followers were called the “Tuskegee Machine”.  S: cooperating with white people and enlisting support of wealthy philanthropists to raise funds to establish and operate thousands of small community schools and institutions of higher education for the betterment of blacks in the South.
Ghost Dance – 1890 – was a new religious movement which was incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems.  The Circle Dance is the traditional ritual used in the Ghost dance.  Jack Wilson or Wovoka, the chief figure in the movement was the prophet of peace.  The prophesied a peaceful end to white expansion while preaching goals of clean living, and cross-cultural cooperation by Native Americans.  S: the process led to a change in both the society that integrated it and the ritual itself.  i.e. the Lakota resistance in the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890 when the US government wanted to take away land and the Lakota began a Ghost Dance.
Dawes Act – 1887 – adopted by Congress, authorized the President of the US to survey Indian tribal land and divide the land into allotments for individual Indians.  Act was names for Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts.  The stated objective of the Act was to stimulate assimilation of Indians into American Society and ownership of land was seen as an essential step.  The act also provided that the government would purchase excess Indian land that was not needed for allotment and open it up for settlement by non-Indians.  Head of family gets 160 acres, single person gets 80 acres, and under 18 gets 40 acres. S: Act was to alleviate the “Indian Problem” where it seemed that new European settlers would be unable to coexist with Indians already in the same communities as their lifestyles were completely different.  The new policy concentrated the native away from migrating settlers as the Indians were continually forced to move to areas less desirable to white settlers and onto “Indian Reservations”.
Interstate Commerce Act – 1887 – United States Federal Law designed to regulate the railroad industry particularly its monopolistic practices.  Railroads must be reasonable and just and publicize shipping rates and prohibit short haul/long haul fare discrimination.  Act created a federal regulatory agency, the ICC or Interstate Commerce Commission to monitor railroads to ensure that they complied with the new regulations.  S:  First federal law to regulate private industry in the United States. Then amended later to regulate other modes of transportation and commerce.
American Federation of Labor (AFL) – 1886 – founded in 1886, it was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United State, and formed by an alliance of craft unions who were disaffected by the Knights of labor, a national labor association.  Samuel Gompers was elected its first president.  S:  The Knights gradually faded away as the AFL gained strength.  S: AFL was important to industrial cities where the formed a central labor office to coordinate the actions of different AFL unions ie strikes.  The AFL saw rapid growth in union membership:  wage rates and working conditions were the focus of its organization and wages increased.
Sherman Anti-Trust Act – July 2, 1890 – Required the United States federal government to investigate and pursue trusts, companies and organizations of violating the Act.  Named after Senator John Sherman of Ohio who was chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.  S: First Federal Statute to limit cartels and monopolies and today still forms the basis for most antitrust litigation by the United States federal govt.   Acts by a monopolist to artificially preserve his status or nefarious dealings to create a monopoly are deemed illegal acts.  Goal is to prevent restraints of free  competition in business and commercial transactions which tended to restrict production, raise prices, or otherwise control the market to the detriment of purchasers or consumers of goods and services, which results in public injury.
McKinley Tariff, 1890 or the Tariff Act of 1890 was framed by Representative William McKinley and became law on 10/1/1890.  The Tariff raised the average duty/tax on imports to almost fifty percent, and was designed to protect domestic industries from foreign competition.  In 1894, The McKinley Tariff was replaced with the Wilson-Gorman Tariff of 1894, which promptly lowered tariff rates.  S: The idea of Protectionism, protecting domestic industries by charging tariffs was very controversial and supported by Republicans and condemned by Democrats and fiercely debated.  Tariffs other purpose was to raise money for the federal government in addition to providing protection.
Populist Party – 1892 – 1908 – An American political party also known as the People’s Party was short lived and most important between 1892-1896, then it rapidly faded away.  Based among the poor, white cotton farmers in the South (particularly North Carolina, Alabama, and Texas) and hard-pressed wheat farmers in the plains states (Kansas and Nebraska) it represented a radical crusading form of agrarianism and hostility to banks, railroads, and elites generally.  It sometimes formed coalitions with labor unions and in 1896 endorsed presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan.  S: the party’s platform known as the Omaha Platform called for the abolition of national banks, a graduated income tax, direct election of Senators, civil service reform, an 8 hour work day and government control of railroads, telegraphs, and telephones.  By 1896 the Democratic Party took up many of the People’s Party’s causes at the national level and the party began to fade.
Pullman Strike – 1894 – nationwide conflict between labor unions and railroads in the United States.  The conflict began in Pullman, Illinois on May 11 when 3,000 employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company began a wildcat strike in response to a recent reduction in wages because of a drop in revenues, bringing traffic west of Chicago to a halt.  S:  The American Railway Union, the nations first industry wide union became embroiled in a struggle between the greatest and most important labor organization and the entire railroad capital that at its peak involved 250,000 workers in 27 states.  Within 4 days of the strike, 125,000 workers on 29 railroads quit work rather than handle Pullman cars and the railroad companies began hiring replacement workers and blacks crossed the picket lines to work.  The United States Marshalls and 12,000 United States Army troops sent by President Grover Cleveland on the premise that the strike interfered with the delivery of US Mail violated the Sherman Antitrust Act and a public safety threat.  The federal attorney had obtained an injunction barring union leaders from supporting the strike but Debs, leader of the American Railway Union, ignored the injunction, which resulted in the federal troops being called.  During the strike, 13 strikers were killed, and 57 wounded and the workers did $8.8 million in damage in today’s dollars.  Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894 after the strike as President Cleveland and Congress made appeasement of organized labor a top priority.