Gilded Age

A term to describe the late 19th century as a period of ostentatious displays of wealth, growing poverty, and government inaction in the face of income inequality.

Pendleton Act

An 1883 law establishing a nonpartisan civil service commission to fill federal jobs by examination. It dealt a major blow to the spoils system and sought to ensure that government positions were filled by trained, professional employees.

Mugwumps

A late 19th-century branch of reform-minded Republicans who left their party in 1884 to support Democratic presidential candidate Grover Cleveland. Many were classical liberals who denounced corruption, advocated a reduction in government powers, and advocated civil service reform.

Sherman Antitrust Act

Landmark 1890 act that forbade anti-competitive business activities and required the federal government to investigate trusts and any companies operating in violation of the act. However, the law was soon used to prohibit the activities of labor unions as they “restrained trade.”

Omaha Platform

An 1892 statement by the Populists calling for stronger government to protect ordinary Americans.

free silver

A policy of loosening the money supply by expanding federal coinage to include silver as well as gold. Advocates of the policy thought it would encourage borrowing and stimulate industry, but the defeat of Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan ended the movement and gave Republicans power to retain the gold standard.

Solid South

The post-Reconstruction goal—achieved by the early twentieth century—of almost complete electoral control of the South by the Democratic Party.

Newlands Reclamation

ActA 1902 law, supported by President Theodore Roosevelt, that allowed the federal government to sell public lands to raise money for irrigation projects that expanded agriculture on arid lands.

Wisconsin Idea

A policy promoted by Republican state governor Robert La Follette for greater government intervention in the economy, with reliance on experts, particularly progressive economists, for policy recommendations.

recall

A pioneering progressive idea, enacted in Wisconsin, Oregon, California, and other states, that gave citizens the right to remove unpopular politicians from office through a popular vote.

referendum

The process whereby citizens vote directly on a proposed policy measure rather than leaving it in the hands of elected legislators; a progressive reform.

Lochner v. New York

A 1905 Supreme Court ruling that New York State could not limit bakers’ workdays to ten hours because that violated bakers’ rights to make contracts.

Muller v. Oregon

A 1908 Supreme Court case that upheld an Oregon law limiting women’s workday to ten hours, based on the need to protect women’s health for motherhood. It divided women’s rights activists, however, because some saw its provisions as discriminatory.

talented tenth

A term used by Harvard-educated sociologist W. E. B. Du Bois for the top percentage of educated African Americans, whom he called on to develop new strategies to advocate for civil rights.

NAACP

An organization, founded in 1910 by leading African American reformers and white allies, as a vehicle for advocating equal rights for African Americans (colored people), especially through the courts.

Industrial Workers of the World

An umbrella union and radical political group that was founded in 1905 and dedicated to organizing unskilled workers to oppose capitalism. Nicknamed the Wobblies, it advocated direct action by workers, including sabotage and general strikes.

Federal Reserve Act

The central banking system of the United States, created in 1913 and still in existence today. It helps set the money supply level, thus influencing the rate of growth of the U.S. economy, and seeks to ensure the stability of the U.S. monetary system.

Clayton Antitrust Act

A 1914 law that strengthened federal definitions of monopoly and gave more power to the Justice Department to pursue antitrust cases; it also specified that labor unions could not generally be prosecuted for “restraint of trade,” thus ensuring that antitrust laws would apply to corporations rather than unions.

William Jennings

BryanThis Nebraska congressman was nominated by the Democratic Party in 1896. He passionately defended farmers and attacked the gold standard and had been a favorite of the Progressive Party.

Robert La Follette

Known as “Fighting Bob,” this Republican governor of Wisconsin advocated increasingly aggressive measures to protect workers and rein in corporate power.

Theodore Roosevelt

He served as Republican assemblyman for NY, U.S. Civil Service commissioner, head of NY City Police Commission, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and Vice President before becoming President in 1901. As a vigorous reformer, he brought about a major shift in the Republican Party.

W.E.B. Du Bois

Earning his PhD in sociology from Harvard, he was the leading black intellectual in the U.S. by 1900. As a civil rights leader, and co-founder of the NAACP, he demanded full and immediate social and political equality for African Americans.

Eugene V. Debs

He founded the American Railway Union (ARU) and served time in prison for his role in the Pullman strike of 1894. He launched the Socialist Party of America in 1901 and co-founded the IWW in 1905. He was the Socialist candidate for President 5 times, (the last time from prison while serving a sentence for violating the Espionage Act of 1917.)