chapter 22

• progressive era - a period of social activism and political reform in the united states that flourished from 1890s to 1920s
• patronage - giving jobs to followers
• spoils system - rewarding political supporters with government jobs
• merit - ability
• civil service commission - to conduct exams for federal jobs
• civil service - includes all federal jobs except elected officials and the military
• interstate commerce - business that crossed state lines
• interstate commerce commission (ICC) - oversees railroads
• sherman anti trust act - prohibited businesses from trying to limit or destroy competition
• political bosses - powerful politicians
• boss - a single powerful leader who is in charge of a machine
• machines - a sophisticated organization
• muckrackers - crusading journalists, like riis and ida tarbell, who are said to rake the dirt, or much, and expose it to the public. they investigated and exposed corruption and injustice.
• progressives - reformers, forward thinking people who wanted to improve American life
• public interest - for the good of people
• wisconsin idea- progressive reforms: ex. lowered railroad rates -> increase in rail traffic (good for customers and railroad owners)
• primary - voters choose their party's candidate for the general election
• initiative - gave voters the right to put a bill before a state legislature
• referendum - allowed voters to put a bill on the ballot and vote it into law
• recall - allowed voters to remove an elected official from office
• reform - let voters get rid of corrupt officials
• graduated income tax - taxes people at different rates; the wealthy pay taxes at a higher rate than the poor or the middle class
• graduated income tax ; 16th amendment
• trustbuster - a person who wanted to destroy all trusts
• square deal - everyone from farmers to consumers to workers and owners should have the same opportunity to succeed
• pure food and drug act - required food and drug makers to list ingredients on packages and it also tried to end false advertising and the use of impure ingredients
• conservation - the protection of natural resources
• national park - an area set aside for people to visit which is run by the federal government
• bull moose party - nickname for the new progressive party, which was formed to support roosevelt in the election of 1912
• new freedom - democrat woodrow wilson's presidential campaign to break up trusts into smaller companies to restore the competition that had once existed in the American economy
• federal reserve act - regulated banking by setting up a system of federal banks which gave the government the power to raise or lower interest rates and control the money supply
• federal trade commission- had the power to investigate companies and order them to stop using unfair practices to destroy competitors
• national women suffrage association (NWSA) - a group that worked for a constitutional amendment to give women the right to vote
• suffragists - people who worked for women's right to vote
• suffragettes - part of the "votes for women" campaign that had long fought for the right to women to vote in the UK
• 19th amendment - women can vote
• temperance movement - to end the sale of alcoholic beverages
• segregation - legal separation of people based on racial, ethnic, or other differences
• discrimination - policy that denies equal rights to certain groups of people (action)
• prejudice - preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience (belief or attitude)