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14th Amendment
Constitutional amendment which defined citizenship and required states to give all persons equal protection of the laws.
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black codes
Laws passed by Southern states following the Civil War which extended limited rights to blacks and attempted to control the actions of freedmen.
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Thirteenth Amendment
Constitutional amendment which made slavery unconstitutional in the United States.
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Compromise of 1877
Agreement between Southern Democrats and Northern Republicans which brought an end to Reconstruction by allowing the election of Rutherford B. Hayes as President in return for the withdrawal of the remaining troops from the South, appointment of a former Confederate general to the Hayes cabinet, federal aid to bolster economic and railroad development in the South, and a free hand for Southerners in regard to race relations.
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15th Amendment
Constitutional amendment which forbade states to deny the vote to anyone because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
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carpetbaggers
Northerners who moved South after the Civil War for idealistic and materialistic purposes.
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rural myth
The notion that the farmer and farm life symbolized the essence of America, that farmers were independent, self-sufficient, and non-materialistic, and that farm life was pleasant, peaceful, and satisfying.
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debt peonage
A perpetual indebtedness tying the debtor to the land which resulted from tenant farmers buying supplies on credit based on future crops.
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New South
The vision of a south which was modern, progressive, and self- sufficient by those who urged the South to abandon its dependence on cotton and industrialize and economically diversify.
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Dawes Severalty Act
Legislation intended to destroy tribal bonds by allotting tribal reservations to individual members of tribes as private property.
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Homestead Act
Act passed in 1862 which granted 160 acres of government land to any adult who lived on a claim for five years or who paid $1.25 an acre after six months of residence.
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Plessy v. Ferguson
Supreme Court decision which paved the way for legal segregation by declaring that "separate but equal" facilities did not violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
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poll tax
A tax which had to be paid each year to retain the right to vote which was used to disenfranchise poor blacks in the South.
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"Jim Crow" laws
Laws which segregated blacks from whites first in public facilities and ultimately in all aspects of life which were passed in the South beginning in the 1890s.
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"Atlanta Compromise"
Speech delivered by Booker T. Washington at the Atlanta Exposition of 1895 in which he renounced black interest in vote, civil rights, and social equality with whites while proclaiming black loyalty to the economic development of the South.
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Munn v. Illinois
Supreme Court decision in 1877 which upheld state laws regulating railroads and grain elevators within their boundaries.
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literacy test
A test which required citizens to read and interpret a part of the state constitution in order to register to vote which was used in the South to disenfranchise blacks.
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Interstate Commerce Commission
Regulatory commission established by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 which had the power to investigate and prosecute railroad corporations that charged unfair rates or engaged in illegal practices.
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rebates
Cheaper fares secretly given to large shippers in order to attract their business.
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pools
Informal agreements between competitors to set uniform rates and divide markets, thereby cutting competition.
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Southern Farmers Alliance
Agricultural reform organization of the 1880s which called for measures to improve the quality of rural life, regulation of monopolies in the interests of farmers, and inflation of the currency.
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horizontal integration
Combinations of businesses in the same field in an effort to monopolize one stage of production in an industry.
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new immigrants
Immigrants from southern and eastern Europe who were primarily Jewish and Catholic in religion who came to the United States in large numbers after 1880.
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vertical integration
Adding operations before or after the production process to gain control of all phases of an industry.
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Knights of Labor
Labor organization founded in 1869 which organized all workers on a geographic basis, proposed a cooperative system of production be established alongside the existing competitive system, and worked for a widevariety of other labor, political, and social reforms.
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American Federation of Labor
Federation of craft unions founded in 1886 which organized skilled workers only and emphasized immediate, realizable "bread and butter" issues.
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Alger, Horatio
Author of 119 novels which were based on the rags-to-riches myth.
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patronage
Practice of politicians rewarding supporters with political office.
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protective tariff
Tax on imported goods designed to protect American businessmen, wage earners, and farmers from the competition and products of foreign labor.
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bread and butter issues
Labor issues such as higher wages, shorter hours, industrial safety, benefits, and the right to organize and bargain collectively.
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Gospel of Wealth
Andrew Carnegie's argument that the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few was beneficial but that the wealthy had an obligation to use their fortunes for the benefit of society.
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Social Darwinism
Herbert Spencer's adaptation of Charles Darwin's biological concepts of natural selection and "survival of the fittest" to human society.
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Social Gospel
Movement to tie salvation to the improvement of society and to make Christianity relevant to industrial and urban problems.
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Populists
Reform political party which advocated legislation to benefit farmers and campaigned for the unlimited coinage of silver in the 1896 election.
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Sherman Anti-Trust Act
Measure passed in 1890 which made combinations in restraint of trade illegal.
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U.S. v. E. C. Knight Co.
Supreme Court decision in 1895 which ruled that the American Sugar Refining Company was not in violation of the Sherman Act because the Sherman Act applied only to commerce,not manufacturing.
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Monroe Doctrine
A U.S. policy statement issued by President Monroe in 1823 which declared that Latin America was no longer open to European colonization.
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Big Stick Diplomacy
Theodore Roosevelt's foreign policy calling for active, aggressive U.S. action to keep international order and peace.
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Mahan, Alfred T.
Naval strategist and author who argued that national power depended on naval supremacy, colonies, and foreign markets.
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U.S.S. Maine
U.S. battleship which exploded in Havana harbor in 1898 outraging the American public and contributing to the onset of the Spanish-American War.
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manifest destiny
The concept, first popular in the 1840s, that the United States had the God-given right and duty to expand across the North American continent.
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De Lome Letter
Letter from the Spanish minister to the United States which criticized McKinley. The publication of this letter outraged American public opinion.
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Roosevelt Corollary
Theodore Roosevelt's reinterpretation of the Monroe Doctrine to justify U.S. intervention in Latin America.
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Yellow Press
Newspapers which printed sensational stories in order to increase their circulations and manipulate public opinion.
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white man's burden
Rudyard Kipling's phrase representing the idea that western civilizations have a duty and destiny to civilize inferior peoples.
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Open Door Policy
U.S. China policy calling for equal trading rights for all nations and the territorial and administrative integrity of China.
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