Asked by ti

SSUSH 11 - Examine connections between the rise of big business, the growth of labor unions, and
technological innovations.
SSUSH 12 - Evaluate how Westward Expansion impacted the Plains Indians and fulfilled Manifest Destiny.
Vocabulary- Write the Definition and Importance
Progressive Era
Muckrakers
Political Machine
Antitrust Laws
Reform Movements
Women’s Suffrage
Child Labor
Temprance
Conserativism
Segregation/ Jim Crow Laws
National Association for the
Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP)
Voter Reform Laws Recall:
Referendum:
Initiative:
Imperialism
Spanish-American War
Panama Canal

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
Progressive Era
- Definition: Period of social and political reform in the U.S. (roughly 1890s–1920s) aimed at correcting problems caused by industrialization, urbanization, immigration, and political corruption.
- Importance: Produced major reforms (regulation of business, labor protections, voter reforms, public health measures) that reshaped government role and modernized American society.

Muckrakers
- Definition: Investigative journalists and writers who exposed corruption, abuses, and social ills (e.g., Ida Tarbell, Upton Sinclair, Lincoln Steffens).
- Importance: Their exposés galvanized public opinion and helped drive Progressive reforms—regulation of business, food and drug laws, and anti-corruption measures.

Political Machine
- Definition: Highly organized political organizations (e.g., Tammany Hall) that controlled city politics by exchanging votes for jobs, favors, and services.
- Importance: Provided services to immigrants and the poor but fostered corruption and patronage; spurred Progressive efforts for civil service and electoral reform.

Antitrust Laws
- Definition: Laws (e.g., Sherman Antitrust Act 1890, Clayton Act 1914) designed to prevent monopolies and restore competition.
- Importance: Limited corporate concentration and abusive business practices, protecting consumers and smaller competitors; key tool in regulating Big Business.

Reform Movements
- Definition: Collective efforts to change specific social, political, or economic conditions (e.g., labor reform, temperance, suffrage, civil rights).
- Importance: Brought about legal and institutional changes that expanded rights, improved working conditions, and reshaped public policy.

Women’s Suffrage
- Definition: Movement to secure women’s right to vote, culminating in the 19th Amendment (1920).
- Importance: Expanded democratic participation, advanced gender equality, and enabled women to influence public policy and social reform.

Child Labor
- Definition: The employment of children in factories, mines, and other workplaces, common in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
- Importance: Public outrage and reform campaigns led to laws limiting child labor and requiring schooling (eventual federal protections like the Fair Labor Standards Act).

Temperance
- Definition: Movement to reduce or ban alcohol consumption, led by groups like the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union.
- Importance: Achieved national Prohibition with the 18th Amendment (1919), showing power of moral reform movements; Prohibition’s failures later led to repeal (21st Amendment).

Conservatism
- Definition: Political ideology emphasizing tradition, limited government intervention in the economy, and cautious change.
- Importance: Shaped opposition to expansive Progressive reforms and later New Deal policies; provided a counterbalance in political debates over government’s role.

Segregation / Jim Crow Laws
- Definition: State and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the South after Reconstruction (late 19th–mid 20th century).
- Importance: Institutionalized racial inequality and disenfranchisement of African Americans until the Civil Rights Movement overturned these laws and customs.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
- Definition: Civil-rights organization founded in 1909 to fight for racial justice through legal action, advocacy, and public education.
- Importance: Key role in legal challenges to segregation and discrimination (e.g., litigation strategy that contributed to Brown v. Board of Education) and long-term civil-rights advocacy.

Voter Reform Laws — Recall, Referendum, Initiative
- Recall:
- Definition: Procedure allowing voters to remove an elected official from office before the end of the term.
- Importance: Increases accountability of public officials and reduces corruption.
- Referendum:
- Definition: Process by which proposed laws or policies are submitted to voters for approval or rejection.
- Importance: Lets citizens directly approve or reject legislation, increasing direct democracy.
- Initiative:
- Definition: Procedure that allows citizens to propose and vote on new laws or constitutional amendments via petition and ballot.
- Importance: Empowers voters to set the legislative agenda and bypass potentially unresponsive legislatures.

Imperialism
- Definition: Policy of extending a nation’s power and influence through diplomacy or military force to acquire territory, resources, or strategic advantage.
- Importance: Drove late-19th/early-20th-century U.S. expansion overseas (territories, naval bases), shaped foreign policy, and provoked debates about national identity and democracy.

Spanish-American War
- Definition: 1898 conflict between the U.S. and Spain after the sinking of the USS Maine and amid Cuban independence struggles.
- Importance: Short war that resulted in U.S. control of territories (Puerto Rico, Guam, Philippines), marking the U.S. emergence as an overseas imperial power.

Panama Canal
- Definition: Man-made waterway (completed 1914) connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans across the Isthmus of Panama; built after the U.S. supported Panama’s independence from Colombia.
- Importance: Vastly shortened global shipping routes, enhanced U.S. commercial and naval mobility, and symbolized U.S. engineering and geopolitical influence (linked to Roosevelt’s “big stick” diplomacy).