Study Guide HIST 206 Midterm 10 14 2014 Unit 1 The Gilded Age and the Dawn of American Empire Zinn Johnson readings Zinn barrons Believed the big business men of the guilded age were robber Even when these men did the right thing it came at a price They controlled all the people in their industry Huge influx of immigration caused problems and wages to remain low There was a competition between the races to get a job and support their families Eventually lead for labor unions to form Presidents began to get involved in the nations growth Passed acts like the Interstate Commerce Act regulating railroads the Sherman Anti trust act Major labor unions like the Knights of Labor American Federation of Labor and the Central Labor Union AFL was successful with winning the eight hour work day they had 80 of all workers who were skilled They were the only labor union to make it past the financial panics They were the only labor union who demanded respect IWW had no exclusions by race sex or skills Believed in self strength and taking power to get what they wanted They became a threat to the capitalists Imperialism Theodore Roosevelt believed in getting involved in foreign affairs and that it would help the American market A big opportunity came up with Cuba trying to gain independence from the Spanish Labor unions were against imperialism Spanish American war brought a higher standard of living After the war America was investing in businesses like tobacco and all kinds of people were interested in America imperializing Christians protestants Believed that the big business men of the age weren t really robber barrrons He thought of them mainly as just helping America They brought cheap food by dominating the farming industry etc Johnson A hero of the age was Andrew Carnegie He never bought on credit and became the richest man in the world He paid his workers the highest in the industry and was entirely self made 2 Key Terms Homestead Act This allowed any American including free slaves to get up to 160 acres of free land in the western territory They would pay little to nothing for this land and get to reside there for 5 years Dawes Act The president had taken American Indian tribal land and divided it into allotments for individual Native American families for 25 years It was the governments property and as expected hurt the Natives But it did give them a chance to become citizens and have a place to live J P Morgan American financer banker and philanthropist He dominated corporate finance in his time Also dominated the steel business with Andrew Carnegie and the railroad stock with Anthony Drexel John D Rockefeller was in the oil industry and eventually controlled it and all its refineries Standard Oil controlled all the other companies stock in the industry Eugene Debs Opposed strikes and believed that there was no necessary conflict between the labor force and capitalists He was a socialist who wrote for newspapers and his pieces became extremely popular He was arrested for violating the espionage act because he told people to avoid and refuse the draft He was considered a leader of the labor movement Knights of Labor a trade union formed during the labor movement by a group of tailors They were committed to receiving an 8 hour work day no child labor and equal pay for equal work They accepted all skill levels and men and women Had a successful strike against Jay Gould s railroad system and were to blame for the Haymarket square riot American Federation of Labor one of the main trade unions during the movement Exclusive with all male all white skilled workers Just wanted to fix the immediate issues Sherman Anti Trust Act protect and trade commerce against unlawful restraints Made it illegal to form trusts and outlawed them and monopolies Farmers Alliance took place in the 1880s 1890s also known as the populist movement Populist farmers who went against democrats and republicans because they ignored all the struggles the farmers had They spread their ideas with books and magazines William Jennings Bryan was a populist who ran for president U S S Maine battleship in February 1898 the U S battleship Maine was destroyed with 268 men on board This really set the Spanish American war in motion It was never proven who did this but it was suspected to be the Spanish Platt Amendment allowed the U S to recognize Cuba s independence allowed the us to land troops if needed This ended in 1934 when Cuba fell to communism Class Lecture Notes After the civil war it was the lowest point for African Americans nadir when Jim Crow laws were institutionalized They became a part of society after Plessy v Ferguson when they established separate but equal but really never equal Booker T Washington most important leader of the 1890s Wanted to figure out ways for African Americans to thrive in society He believed that they should try accommodations where they accommodate to the environment rather than fighting for civil rights Believed in being self sufficient and set up the Tuskegee institute This was a learning facility that gave African Americans training in trades W E B Du Bois was against Washington and said that Africans need to fight and not give up Later on he established the NAACP which still exists today Imperialism Teddy Roosevelt lead the U S into imperialism to become a world power show strength and religious reasons The Spanish American war was when the US got involved to get independence for Cuba U S S maine exploded in Havana starting the war Phillippines became annexed unwillingly which caused debates on imperialism Unit 2 Zinn Johnson readings Zinn 10 14 2014 The labor movement caused radical actions by these socialists and labor workers They all shared the mutual feeling to overthrow and bring down capitalism This was a time where leaders emerged like Eugene Debs The progressive era where many laws were getting passed like the ICC regulation the 16th and 17th amendment Teddy Roosevelt was known as the trustbuster but left the good trusts alone Racism against immigrants WWI caused a lot of production and employment Many people were against joining the war and they spoke out against it socialists Espionage act was violated by many Charles Schenck spoke out against the draft telling people to refuse it Eugene debs also spoke out and went to jail for doing so Wilson became president and was promoting change he became president during a time where America was evolving He introduced America to a