History Exam 2

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NAACP: Founded by Susan B. Anthony in 1890, this organization worked to secure women the right to vote. While some suffrigists urged militant action, it stressed careful organization and peaceful lobbying.
Social-Justice Movement: During the 1890's and after, this important movement attracted people who sought to free people from the often devastating impact of urban life. It focused on the need for tenement house laws, more stringent child labor regulations, and better working conditions for women. These reformers also brought pressure on municipal agencies for better community services and facilities.
Federal Reserve Act: This act created a central banking system, consisting of twelve regional banks governed by the Federal reserve Board. It was an attempt to provide the United States with a sound yet flexible currency. The Board it created still plays a vital role in the American economy today.
Birds of Passage: Temporary migrants who came to the United States to work and save money then returned home to their native countries during slack season. World War I interrupted the practice, trapping thousands of migrant workers in the United States.
Hepburn Act: A law that strengthened the rate-making power of the Interstate Commerce Commission, again reflecting the era's desire to control the power of the railroads. It increased the ICC's membership from five to seven, empowered it to fix reasonable railroad rates, and broadened its jurisdiction. It also made ICC rulings binding pending court appeals.
Foraker Act: This act established Puerto Rico as an unorganized U.S. territory. Puerto Ricans were not given U.S. citizenship, but the U.S. president appointed the island's governor and governing council.
Muller vs. Oregon: Established special protections for working women, upholding an Oregon law that limited women working in factories and laundries to a ten-hour work day. Built on by the Brandeis Brief.
Treaty of Paris: Signed by the United States and Spain in December 1898, this treaty ended the Spanish-American War. Under its terms, Spain recognized Cuba's independence and assumed the Cuban debt; it also ceded Puerto Rico and Guam to the United States. At the insistence of the U.S. representatives, Spain also ceded the Phillipines. The Senate ratified the treaty on February 6, 1899.
Brandeis Brief: Filed by attorney Louis D. Brandeis in the Supreme Court case of Muller vs. Oregon, this brief presented only two pages of legal precedents, but contained 115 pages of sociological evidence on the negative effects of long workdays on women's health and thus on women as mothers. The brief expanded the definition of legal evidence.
Clayton Antitrust Act: An attempt to improve the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, this law outlawed interlocking directorates (companies in which the same people served as directors), forbade policies that created monopolies, and made corporate officers responsible for antitrust violations. Benefitting labor, it declared that unions were not conspiracies in restraint of trade and outlawed the use of injunctions in labor disputes unless they were necessary to protect property.
Underwood Tariff Act: An early accomplishment of the Wilson administration, this law reduced the tariff rates of the Payne-Aldrich law of 1909 by about 15 percent. It also levied a graduated income tax to make up for the lost revenue.
Platt Amendment: This amendment to the new Cuban constitution authorized U.S. intervention in Cuba to protect its interests. Cuba pledged not to make treates with other countries that might compromise its independence, and it granted naval bases to the United States, most notable being Guantanamo Bay.
Phillipine-American War: A war fought from 1899 to 1903 to quell Filipino resistance to U.S. control of the Phillipine Islands. Although often forgotten, it lasted longer than the Spanish-American War and resulted in more casualties. Filipino querilla soldiers surrendered after their leader, Emilio Aquinaldo, was captured.
Open Door Policy: Established in a series of notes by Secretary of State John Hay in 1900, this policy established free trade between the United States and China and attempted to enlist major European and Asian nations in recognizing the territorial integrity of China. It marked a departure from the American tradition of isolationism and signaled the country's growing involvement in the world.
Espionage Act: This law, passed after the United States entered WWI, imposed sentences of up to twenty years on anyone found guilty of aiding the enemy, obstructing recruitment of soldiers, or encouraging disloyalty. It allowed the postmaster general to remove from the mail any materials that incited treason or insurrection.
Rough Riders: The First United States Volunteer Calvary, a mixure of Ivy League athletes and western frontiermen, volunteered to fight in the Spanish-American War. Enlisted by Theodore Roosevelt, they won many battles in Florida and enlisted in the invasion army of Cuba.
Selective Service Act: This 1917 law provided for the registration of all American men between the ages of 21 and 30 for a military draft. By the end of WWI, 24.2 had registered; 2.8 had been inducted into the army. Age limit was later changed to 18 to 45.
Conservation: As President, Theodore Roosevelt made this principle one of his administration's top goals. Conservation in his view aimed at protecting the nation's natural resources, but called for the wise use of them rather then locking them away. Roosevelt's policies were opposed by those who favored perservation of the wilderness over its development.
Roosevelt Corollary: President Theodore Roosevelt's 1904 foregin policy statement, a corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, which asserted that the United States would intervene in Latin American afrairs if the countries themselves could not keep their affairs in order. Us was the policeman of the western hemisphere. It guided US policy in Latin America until it was replaced with FDR's Good Neighbor policy in the 1930s.
Progressivism: Movement for social change between the late 1890's and World War I. Its origin lay in a fear of big business and corrupt government and a desire to improve the lives of countless Americans. Progressives set out to cure the social ills brought about by industrialization and urbanization, social disorder, and political corruption.
Muckrakers: Term coined by Theodore Roosevelt to describe the writers who made a practice of exposing the wrongdoings of public figures. They flourished from 1903-1909, exposing social and political problems and sparking reform.
Imperialism: The policy of extending a nation's power through military conquest, economic domination, or annexation.
Women's Trade Union League: Founded in 1903, this group worked to organize women into trade unions. It also lobbied for laws to safeguard female workers and backed several successful strikes, especially in the garment industry. It accepted all women who worked, regardless of skill, and while it never attracted many members, its leaders were influential enough to give the Union considerable power.
Industrial Workers of the World: Founded in 1905, this radical union, also known as the Wobblies aimed to unite the American working class into one union to promote labor's interests. It worked to organize unskilled and foreign-born laborers, advocated social revolution, and led several major strikes. Stressed solidarity.
Anti-Imperialist League: Formed in November 1898 to fight against the Treaty of Paris ending the Spanish-American War. Members opposed the acquisition of overseas colonies by the United States, believing it would subvert American ideals and institutions. Membership centered in New England; the cause was less popular in the South and West.
Monroe Doctrine: Instructed European Nations to stay out of the affairs of the Western Hemisphere, while remaining virtually impregnable to foreign attack.
Hay-Bunua-Varilla Treaty: This 1903 treaty granted the United States control over a canal zone ten miles wide across the Isthmus of Panama. In return, the United States guaranteed the independence of Panama and agreed to pay Columbia a onetime fee of $10 million and an annual rental of $250.000.
New Nationalism: Theodore Roosevelt's program in his campaign for the presidency in 1912, the New Nationalism called for a national approach to the country's affairs and a strong president to deal with them. It also called for efficiency in government and society; it urged protection of children, women, and workers; accepted "good" trusts; and exalted the expert and the executive. Additionally, it encouraged large concentrations of capital and labor.
Yellow Journalism: In order to sell newspapers to the public before and during the Spanish-American War, publishers William Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer engaged in blatant sensationalization of the news. It helped turn U.s. public opinion against Spain's actions in Cuba.
Dollar Diplomacy: Adopted by President William Howard Taft and Secretary of State Philander C. Knox sought to promote US financial and business interests abroad. It aimed to replace military alliances with economic ties, with the idea of increasing American influence and securing lasting peace. Under this policy, Taft worked in Latin America to replace European loans with American ones, assumed the debts of countries such as Honduras to fend off foreign bondholders, and helped Nicaragua secure a large loan in exchange for US control of its national bank.
Committee on Public Information: Created in 1917 by Woodrow Wilson and headed by progressive journalist George Creel, this organization rallied support for American involvement in WWI through art, advertising, and film. Creel worked out a system of voluntary censorship with the press and distributed colorful posters and pamphlets. The CPI's Division of Industrial Relations rallied labor to help the war effort.
Moral Diplomacy: Policy adopted by President Woodrow Wilson that rejected the approach of "dollar diplomacy". Rather than focusing mainly on economic ties with other nations, Wilson's policy was designed to bring right principles to the world, preserve peace, and extend to other peoples the blessings of democracy.
Pragmatism: A doctrine that emerged in the early twentieth century, built largely on the ideas of Harvard psychologist and philosopher William James. Pragmatists were impatient with theories that held truth to be abstract; they believed that truth should work for the individual. They also believed that people were not only shaped by their environment but helped to shape it. Ideas that worked, according to pragmatists, became truth.
Isolationism: A belief that the United States should stay out of entanglements with other nations. Was widespread after the Spanish-American War in the late 1890's and influenced later U.S. foreign policy.
Teller Amendment: Sponsored by Senator Henry M. Teller of Colorado, the United States pledged that it did not intend to annex Cuba and that it would recognize Cuban independence from Spain after the Spanish-American War.
War Industries Board: This government agency oversaw the production of all American factories. It determined priorities, allocated raw materials, and fixed prices; it told manufacturers what they could and could not produce.
Progressive Party: Also known as the "Bull Moose Party", this political party was formed by Theodore Roosevelt in an attempt to advance progressive ideas and unseat President William Howard Taft in the election of 1912. After Taft won the Republican Party's nomination, Roosevelt ran on the Progressive party ticket.
New Freedom: Woodrow Wilson's program in his campaign for the presidency in 1912, the New Freedom emphasized business competition and small government. It sought to reign in federal authority, release individual energy, and restore competition. It echoed many of the progressive social-justice objectives while pushing for a free economy rather than a planned one.
Niagra Movement: Led by W.E.B. Du Bois, that focused on equal rights and education of African American youth. Rejecting the gradualist approach of Booker T. Washington, members kept alive a program of militant action and claimed for African Americans all the rights afforded to other Americans. It spawned later civil rights movements.
Sedition Act: A wartime law that imposed harsh penalties on anyone using "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" about the US government, flag, or armed forces.
Aschan School: This school of early-twentieth century realist painters took as their subjects the slums and streets of the nation's cities and the lives of ordinary urban dwellers. They often celebrated life in the city but also advocated political and social reform.

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Number of cards 41