Vocabulary | Definitions |
1) Progressivism- | Movement that responded to the pressures of industrialization and urbanization by promoting reforms. |
2) Muckraker- | Writer who uncovers and exposes misconduct in politics or business |
3) Social Gospel- | Reform movement that emerged in the late nineteenth century that sought to improve society by applying Christian principles. |
4) Settlement house- | Community center organized at the turn of the twentieth century to provide social services to the urban poor. |
5) Direct primary- | Election in which citizens themselves vote to select nominees for upcoming elections |
6) Initiative- | process in which citizens put a proposed new law directly on the ballot |
7) Referendum- | Process that allows citizens to approve or reject a law passed by a legislature. |
8) Recall- | Process by which voters can remove elected officials from their office before their terms end. |
9) NCL- | Group organized in 1899 to investigate the conditions under which goods were made and sold and to promote safe working conditions and a minimum wage. |
10) Temperance movement- | Movement that aimed at stopping alcohol abuse and the problems created by it. |
11) Suffrage- | The right to vote. |
12) NAWSA- | Group founded in 1890 that worked on both the state and national levels to achieve women the right to vote |
13) Nineteenth Amendment- | Gave women the right to vote |
14) Americanization- | Belief that assimilating immigrants into American society would make them more loyal citizens |
15) Niagara Movement- | Group of African American thinkers founded in 1905 that pushed for immediate racial reforms, particularly in education and voting practices |
16) NAACP- | Interracial organization founded in 1909 to abolish segregation and discrimination and to achieve political and civil rights for African Americans |
17) Urban League- | Network of churches and clubs that set up employment agencies and employment agencies and relief efforts to help African Americans get settled and find work in the cities |
18) Anti-Defamation League- | Organization formed in 1913 to defend Jews against physical and verbal attacks and false statements |
19) Mutualistas- | Organized groups of Mexican-Americans that make loans and provide legal assistance to other members of their community |
20) Square Deal- | President Theodore Roosevelt's program of reforms to keep the wealthy and powerful from taking advantage of small business owners and the poor |
21) Hepburn Act- | 1906 law that gave the government the authority to set railroad rates and maximum prices for ferries, bridge tolls, and oil pipelines |
22) Meat Inspection Act- | 1906 law that allowed the federal government to inspect meat sold across state lines and required federal inspection of meat processing plants |
23) Pure Food and Drug Act- | 1906 law that allowed federal inspection of food and medicine and banned the interstate shipment and sale of impure food and the mislabeling of food and drugs. |
24) National Reclamation Act- | 1902 law that gave the federal government the power to decide where and how water would be distributed through the building and management of dams and irrigation projects |
25) New Nationalism- | President Theodore Roosevelt's plan to restore the government's trustbusting power. |
26) Progressive Party- | Political party that emerged from the Taft-Roosevelt battle that split the Republican Party in 1912. |
27) New Freedom- | Woodrow Wilson's program to place government controls on corporations in order to benefit small businesses |
28) Sixteenth Amendment- | 1913 Amendment that gave Congress the authority to levy an income tax |
29) Federal Reserve Act- | 1913 law that placed national banks under the control of a Federal Reserve Board, which runs regional banks that hold the reserve funds from commercial banks, sets interest rates, and supervises commercial banks |
30) Federal Trade Commission- | Government agency established in 1914 to identify monopolistic business practices, false advertising , and dishonest labeling. |
31) Clayton Antitrust Act- | 1914 law that strengthened the Sherman Antitrust Act |