history midterm 2006-2008
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- placer mining
- method of extracting mineral ore by hand using simple tools like picks, shovels, and pans
- quartz mining
- method of extracting minerals involving digging beneath the surface
- chisolm trail
- cowboys drove nearly 1.5 million on cattle on this trail to Abilene
- barbed wire
- enabled hundres of square miles to be fenced off cheaply and easily
- Homestead Act
- for a $10 registration fee, an individual could file for a homestead -> a tract of public land available for settlement
- dry farming
- a way of farming dry land in which seeds are planted deep in the ground where there is some moisture
- Dawes Act
- negotitation with an agreement with France, Britatin, and Germany by which American banks would make loans to the Germans that would enable them to meet their reparation payments
- open range
- vast areas of grassland owned by the fed. gov't
- Great Plains
- the o'kieffes were early settlers in a region
- Sand Creek Massacre
- took place aong Sand Creek in eastern COlorado; John Evans (governor) ordered the Native Americans to surrender at Fort Lyon where he said they would be given food and protection; those who failed to report would be subject to attack
- Wheat Belt
- began at the eastern edge of the Great Plains and encompassed much of the Dakotas and the western parts of Nebraska and Kansas
- Wounded Knee
- on troops tried to disarm the native americans at wounded knee creek; gunfire broke out
- gross national product
- the total value of all goods and services produced by a country
- entrepreneur
- people who risk their capital in organizing and running a business
- economies of scale
- the reduction in the cost of a good brought about especially by increased production at a given facility
- land grants
- a grant of land by the fed. gov't especially for roads, railroads, or agricultural colleges
- corporation
- an organization that is authorized by law to carry on an activity but treated as thought it were a single person
- vertical integration
- the combining of companies that supply equipment and services needed for a particular industry
- horizontal integration
- the combining of competing firms into one corporation
- union pacific
- began building a transcontinental railway; they went westward from omaha, nebraska in 1865
- central pacific
- central pacific railroad began as the dream of engineer theodor dehone judah, who convinced the california legistlature to organize a state railroad convention to support his idea.
- transcontinental railroad
- a railway system extending across the continent
- credit mobilier
- a construction complany set up by several stockholders of the union pacific, including oakes ames, a member of congress
- lockout
- a company tool to fight union demands by refusing to allow employees to enter its facilities to work
- steerage
- cramped quarters on a ship's lower decks for passenger paying the lowest fares
- nativism
- hostility toward immigrants
- Workingman's Party
- in california; 1870's; made by Denis Kearney (an irish immigrant) to fight chinese immigration; party won seats in cali's legislature and made opposition to chinese immigration a national issue
- William Tweed
- Tammany Hall's corrupt leader during the 1860's and 1870's; eventually arrested for corruption and sent to prison in 1872.
- Triple Alliance
- Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungary
- great migration
- 300,000-500,000 African Americans left the south to settle in Northern cities
- daylight savings time
- stated by the Fuel Administration
- Tammany Hall
- NY's Democratic political machine; most famous organization; George Plunkitt performed his labors for this organization
- political machines
- an informal policitcal group designed to gain and keep power; cam about partly because cities had grown much faster that their governments
- individualism
- one of the strogest beliefs of the era; belief that no matter how humble their origins, they could rise in society and go as far as their talents and commitment would take them
- Archuduke Franz Ferdinand
- Duke of Austria-Hungary; assassinated by Serb Nationalist (one of the reasons of the start of WWI)
- naturalism
- a philosophy and approach to art and literature in which nature is treated realistically, can be understood through scientific observation, and that society will funciton best with some gov't regulation
- Salvation Army
- offered practical aid and religious counseling to the urban poor
- party boss
- the person in control of a political machine
- Triple Entente
- a friendly understanding between Britain, France, and Russia during WWI
- Zimmerman Telegram
- a telegram from a German official to the German Ambassador in Mexico which instructed him to make an offer to the mexican gov't for mexico to ally with germany in the event of war between germany and the US; mexico would regain its lost territory in texas, new mexico, and arizona after the war; british intercepted the telegram (one of the causes of WWI)
- Selective Service Act
- conscription system; required all men between 21 and 30 to register for the draft; a lottery randomly determind the order they were called before a local draft board in charge of selecting or exempting people from the military service
- NAACP
- national association for the advancement of colored people; battled valiantly but often unsuccessufully againt segragation and discrimination against African Americans
- Sedition Act
- expanded the meaning of the espionage act to make illegal any public experssion of opposition to the war
- Ernest Hemingway
- wrote about disallusionment and reevaluated the myths of American heroes; wrote about heroic anitheroes who were flawed individuals with heroic qualities of mind and spirit
- propaganda
- the spreading of ideas about an institution or individual for the purpose of influencing opinion
- self-determination
- belief that people in a territory should have the ability to choose their own gov't
- red scare
- the fear that communists might sieze power
- emergency quota act
- established a temporary quota system, limiting immigration
- john t. scopes
- asked by the American Civil Liberties Union is he was willing to be arrested for teaching evolution to his high school class; was arrested and put on trial; found guilty and fined $100 but later overturned bc of a technicaliity
- eighteenth ammendment
- prohibition
- twenty-first amendment
- repealled the 18th ammendment (18th was prohibition)
- volstead act
- prohibition
- KKK
- ku klux klan; used threats and violence to intinmidate newly freed african americans; also targeted catholics, jews, immigrant, and other groups believed to represent un-american values
- National Origins Act
- made immigrant restriction a permanent policy
- jazz
- american style of music that developed from ragtime and blues and which uses syncopated rhythms and melodies
- mass media
- a medium of communication (as in television and radio) intended to reach a wide audience
- stock market
- a system in buying and selling stocks in a corporation
- bull market
- a long period of rising stock markets
- margin
- buying a stock by paying only a fraction of the stock price and borrowing the rest
- margin call
- demadn by a broker that investors pay back loans made for stocks purchased on margin
- speculation
- investing money at great risk with the anticipation that the price will rise
- alfred e. smith
- 4-time governor of NY; irish american from ny's lower east side and the first roman catholic ever nominated to run for president; ran against hoover
- shantytown
- a poor section of town consisting of crudely built dwellings usually made of wood
- dust bowl
- name given to the area of the southern great plains severly damaged by droughts and dust storms during the 1930's
- walt disney
- produced the first feature-length animated film; snow white and the seven dwarfs in 1937
- john steinbeck
- novelist; added flesh and blood to journalits' reports of poverty and misfortune; wrote the grapes of wrath
- reconstruction finance corporation
- hoover requested this corp to make loans to banks, railroads, and agricultural insitutions
- bonus army
- veterans wearing ragged military uniforms trudged along the highways or rode the rails singing old war songs and reminiscing about army days
- foreclose
- creditors taking possession of farms or homes and evicting the families
- federal deposit insurance corporation
- guaranteed bank deposits up to $2,500
- national industrial recovery act
- suspended antitrust laws and allowed business, labor, and gov't to cooperate in setting up voluntary rules for each industry
- works progress dministration
- new federal agency headed by harry hopkins; gave people jobs constructing highways, roads and streets, public buildings and parks
- dr. francis townsend
- left wing challenge to roosevelt; former public health official; proposed that the fed. government pay citizens over age 60 a pension of $200 a month; recipients would have to retire and spend their entire pension check each month
- emergency banking relief act
- required federal examiners to survey the nation's banks and issue treasury department licenses to those that were financially sound
- Huey Long
- the most serious threat from the left came from this democratic senator of louisiana; captivated audiences with folksy humor and fiery oartory; gover of louisiana; improved schools, colleges, and hospitals, and built roads and bridges; built a powerful and corrupt political machine; attacked the rich
- Home Owners Loan Corporation
- bought the mortgage of many homeowners who were behind in their payments; restructured them with longer terms of repayment and lower interest rates