Gilded Age Vocab Quiz

A movement mainly made up of farmers favoring government control of the railroad and other large industries because of the high prices farmers had to pay to move their crops on the railroads

An organization that often controlled the local government by offering incentives like jobs and housing to immigrants and the poor in exchange for political support--Example-- Tammany Hall and Boss Tweed

Reform that required government jobs to be granted on merit NOT political favors--established by the Pendleton Act

A family's parcel of land and home where they settled. Example--Homestead Act of 1862 during the Civil War gave 160 acres of land out west in exchange for promising to cultivate or farm the land for five years.

A method of stopping work used by workers and labor unions to protest unfair and often dangerous working conditions, wages and work hours. Examples--Great Railroad Strike of 1877; Chicago's Haymarket Riot of 1886; Pittsburgh's Homestead Strike of 1892; and the Pullman Strike of 1894 which began in Chicago but spread nationwide. Violence and property damage occurred in all four as labor unions struggled to unify workers.

A federal holiday established in 1894 at the conclusion of the Pullman Strike to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the workers for their role and contributions to achievements in the United States. It is celebrated on the first Monday in September.

System in which private business is allowed to operate and expand their business with little or no government control

A term referring to living in the country rather than in a town-- Prior to 1870's the majority of the people in the rural areas of the U.S.

A term referring to living in a town rather than the country. 11 million people moved to urban areas from 1870 to 1920. By 1920 more people lived in urban areas than the rural areas of the United States.

Individuals who developed new ideas and capital (money) to create business opportunities; often took financial risks to do so

Process of absorbing a group into the culture of the larger group. Example--Dawes Act

A lack of government interference in business organization and practices

Large scale financial or commercial activity--usually employs several hundred employees

Goods and services moving from state to state

Process of making goods by machine rather than by hand; characterized by mass production, assembly lines, and factories