What are corporations?

A corporation is a business owned by investors. The investors by

stock, or partial ownership in the company. If the business does well then the stockholders (owners) get

a share of the profits called dividends.

What was the North’s strategy during the Civil War?

Chain – Saw – Seize. They wanted to blockade the southern coast so the

Confederacy could not receive supplies (chain). They wanted to cut the South

in half by controlling the Mississippi River (saw). They wanted to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond

(seize).

Who are muckrakers?

Muckrakers were journalists who exposed the corruption found in the cities during the Progressive Era.

Thomas Nast made political cartoons of William “Boss” Tweed showing his

corrupt practices. Ida Tarbell was a muckraker who targeted big

businesses. Lincoln Steffens reported on the corruption in city governments.

What was the difference between the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments?

All 3 amendments were part of the period of Reconstruction. The 13th

Amendment freed the slaves. The 14th Amendment made the former slaves

citizens. The 15th Amendment said you couldn’t keep somebody from voting

due to their race. You can remember the amendments in order by the phrase

free(13) citizens(14) vote(15).

How were the rights of blacks limited during and after

Reconstruction?

Black Codes limited the rights of African Americans after Reconstruction. States required a poll tax to vote. Poor blacks could not afford this. A literacy test was sometimes required.

Blacks had been forbidden to read as slaves so most couldn’t pass the test. White people who couldn’t read were able to vote thanks to the

grandfather clauses which said if your father or grandfather voted then so could you.

Were the laws the same for whites and blacks after Reconstruction?

The case of Plessy vs. Ferguson established that separate but equal

facilities was legal. This led to many Jim Crow Laws that

separated black and white people in restaurants, buses and other

places.

What was going on with slavery before the Civil War?

Abolitionists were trying to get slavery in the South stopped.

Harriet Beecher Stowe, an abolitionist, wrote Uncle Tom’s

Cabin which aroused anger against slavery in the North. It was a major

cause of the Civil War.

What is sectionalism?

Sectionalism is loyalty to your section of the country. The South

was an agricultural area with slaves. They had little

manufacturing or railroads. The North was much more populated

than the South. It had a lot of industry and railroads.

How did some businesses become giant?

A goal of businesses was to become a monopoly. A monopoly was when a business controlled most of a certain

industry. Sometimes they would form trusts which is when 1 board of directors ruled

over several corporations. John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Trust was one of the largest. Reformers used the Sherman

Antitrust Act to try to break up trusts although judges used it to weaken labor

unions that were striking.

What was the women’s rights movement?

This movements main goal was to get suffrage, or the right to vote, for women. At the Seneca Falls Convention, the Declaration of Sentiments was passed. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady

Stanton were staunch advocates for women’s rights. Women eventually got the right to vote with the 19th Amendment in 1920. Many women also joined the temperance movement to stop the use of alcohol.

They saw that alcohol was destroying families. Carry Nation was a prominent woman in this

movement. The 18th Amendment (1919) made the sale of alcohol illegal.

What do we need to know about African American rights around

1900?

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was established to

push for more rights for blacks. Booker T. Washington pushed for equality but said unfair treatment was o.k. until blacks were educated

and rich enough to be equals. He founded Tuskegee Institute, a college for black people. W.E.B. Du Bois wanted equality quicker and

criticized Booker T. Washington. George Washington Carver was a great scientist who

made many discoveries such as peanut butter.

What was the most important battle of the Civil War?

Gettysburg is often known as the turning point of the war. The North gained momentum after this battle.

The Battle of the Monitor vs. the Merrimack, two ironclad ships, was

the most famous battle at sea.

What was the Gettysburg Address?

In the Gettysburg Address Lincoln said that the war was a test of

whether democracy would be able to survive in the United States. It

was also made to honor the dead at Gettysburg.

What was the Emancipation Proclamation.

Lincoln freed the slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation. It did not apply to border states because

he didn’t want to anger them so they might leave the Union. This changed his goal for the war from keeping the United States Union

together to also freeing the slaves.

What are push factors?

Push factors are things such as religious and political persecution

which drove people from their native country to the United States. The Irish potato famine is another

example of a push factor.

What are ethnic groups?

Ethnic groups are groups of people from the same country. They often lived in ghettoes in cities. A ghetto was an area with a dominant ethnic group. Ghettoes helped to provide support for immigrants when they first arrived in the United States.

What was the free enterprise system?

The free enterprise system is when private individuals own businesses. The goal of these businesses is to

make a profit.

What was assimilation?

Assimilation is when immigrants tried to become Americanized. Some people

believe in the melting pot theory of Americanization where all cultures combined into 1 culture. The salad

bowl theory says that Americans share some culture while maintaining their

own traditions.

What is imperialism?

Imperialism is when a strong country

attempts to influence the economic and political affairs of a weaker country.

What were the reasons given for U.S.

expansion in the age of imperialism?

Expansion allowed the U.S. to increase trade. There was

also the desire to spread Christianity and democracy.

We had settled all of the land that is now the U.S. so

we now had to gain land elsewhere. There was also

competition with other countries. If we didn’t get

land then they would.

What was going on in China in the late

1800’s?

China, once a powerful nation, had failed to

industrialize and fell prey to more powerful nations.

Many European countries and Japan

established spheres of influence, which were

areas where the country had special trading

privileges.

What about the United States?

The U.S. didn’t have a sphere of influence. As a way to get involved in the Chinese trade it proposed

the Open Door Policy. The Open Door Policy allowed a country to

trade in the sphere of influence of another

country.

How did we get permission to build the

Panama Canal?

The U.S. offered Colombia $10 million

dollars plus $250,000 for the right to build the canal. When this was unsuccessful the U.S. backed up a revolt by

Panama and got permission from Panama

for the same deal.

What was the Big Stick policy.

This was based upon the statement “Speak softly and carry a big stick, and you will go far.” What it meant was that the U.S. would say what was to

happen in South America and use force to back up

what we said if necessary.

What term means pride in your country?

Nationalism.

What term means when a country takes over a weaker

country either economically or politically?

Imperialism. European countries had colonies

throughout Asia and Africa before World War I. There was competition between countries to get more colonies which led

to tension.

What were the Fourteen Points?

Wilson’s plan for peace after World War I. The goal was to

prevent international problems from starting another war.

What was the League of Nations?

Wilson called for a general association of nations whose

goal was to protect the independence of all nations.

The United States Congress did not pass the Treaty of

Versailles so the United States did not join the League of

Nations.

Describe Henry Ford’s automobile business.

Henry Ford used the automated assembly line to create the Model T. The automated assembly line allowed Ford to build a car in

93 minutes. The price of Model T’s dropped from $850 to $290 dollars. The

cars were black and boring but the average person could afford one. The ripple effect

of the car industry was that 4 million people worked in jobs related to the

industry. Roads were paved, restaurants and gas stations sprouted up and hotels

dotted the landscape. Cars allowed people to live in the suburbs and work in the city.

What was happening to the stock market in the 1920’s?

It was going up like crazy. People saw prices rising and did whatever they could

to take advantage of the bull market (prices going up). They bought stocks on margin which was when a person paid a certain percentage of the stock and then

borrowed the money to buy the rest. If the price of the stock went up people were able

to get rich. This is what was happening. People put all their savings into the stock

market. If the price of the stock went down, the people who bought on margin

would be in serious trouble.

What was prohibition?

Prohibition was due to the 18th Amendment. This made the making and

buying of alcohol illegal. People broke this law like crazy. Bootleggers made or

smuggled alcohol in from other countries. Speakeasies, or illegal bars, sprang up

everywhere. Organized crime developed to control the illegal trade in alcohol.

Government officials and police officers were bribed so that they wouldn’t raid

speakeasies. The “noble experiment” was a failure and prohibition was repealed with

the 21st Amendment.

What did the 19th Amendment do?

It allowed women to vote.