Reconstruction: The years after the Civil War (1865-1877) when the South was rebuilt and rejoined the Union Freedmen's Bureau: Agency that helped formerly enslaved people with food, schools and work Black Codes: Southern laws that tried to limit the freedom of Black people after the war Thirteenth Amendment: Ended slavery in 1865 Fourteenth Amendment: Gave citizenship and equal protection of the laws to people born in the US (1868) Fifteenth Amendment: Said the right to vote could not be denied because of race (1870) Radical Republicans: Congress members who wanted strong action to protect freed people Andrew Johnson: President who clashed with Congress and was impeached in 1868 but stayed in office Impeachment: Formal charges against an official that the House brings; the Senate holds the trial Civil Rights Act of 1866: First federal law to define citizenship and equal rights for Black Americans Reconstruction Acts (1867): Divided the South into military districts and set rules to rejoin the Union Hiram Revels: First Black US senator, from Mississippi, in 1870 Carpetbaggers: Name Southerners gave to Northerners who moved South after the war Scalawags: Name given to white Southerners who supported Reconstruction Sharecropping: System where farmers worked land for a share of the crop, often falling into debt Ku Klux Klan: Hate group formed in 1865 that used violence to stop Black Americans from voting Enforcement Acts: Laws of 1870-71 to protect voting rights and fight the Klan Compromise of 1877: Deal that made Rutherford Hayes president and ended Reconstruction Jim Crow laws: Southern laws that separated people by race Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): Supreme Court allowed 'separate but equal' public facilities Historically Black colleges: Colleges like Howard and Fisk were founded to educate freed people Booker T. Washington: Educator who founded Tuskegee Institute in Alabama Gilded Age: Period of great wealth for a few and hardship for many, roughly 1870s to 1900 Mark Twain: Author who named the era 'the Gilded Age' in a novel Industrialization: Growth of factories and machines making goods Robber barons: Critics' name for rich business owners accused of unfair practices Andrew Carnegie: Steel tycoon who later gave away millions to build libraries John D. Rockefeller: Founder of Standard Oil, the largest oil company J.P. Morgan: Banker who financed and organized huge companies Cornelius Vanderbilt: Railroad and shipping tycoon Monopoly: When one company controls an industry, leaving buyers little choice Trust: A group of companies joined to control a market Sherman Antitrust Act (1890): Law meant to stop monopolies Laissez-faire: Idea that government should stay out of business Thomas Edison: Inventor of the practical light bulb and a research laboratory at Menlo Park Alexander Graham Bell: Patented the telephone in 1876 Bessemer process: Method for making steel cheaply and in large amounts Skyscraper: Tall steel-frame building; first rose in Chicago in the 1880s Electric streetcar: Let cities spread outward Urbanization: Growth of cities Tenement: Crowded city apartment building, often with poor light and air Jacob Riis: Photographer who showed the crowded lives of poor people in New York Jane Addams: Founded Hull House in Chicago to help immigrants and the poor Settlement house: Community center in a poor neighborhood offering classes and care Ellis Island: New York immigration station that opened in 1892 Statue of Liberty: Gift from France, dedicated in 1886 Angel Island: California immigration station that mostly processed Asian immigrants Nativism: Favoring native-born people over immigrants Old immigrants: Mostly from northern and western Europe New immigrants: Late 1800s arrivals from southern and eastern Europe, like Italy and Poland Labor union: A group of workers who join to ask for better pay and conditions American Federation of Labor: Union group led by Samuel Gompers that organized skilled workers Samuel Gompers: Founding leader of the AFL Strike: Workers refusing to work until their demands are met Haymarket Affair (1886): A Chicago labor rally ended in a bomb blast and deaths Homestead Strike (1892): Steelworkers' strike in Pennsylvania against Carnegie Steel Pullman Strike (1894): Railroad workers' strike that stopped trains across the nation Eugene Debs: Leader of the American Railway Union during the Pullman Strike Child labor: Children working in mines and factories, common before reform laws Populist Party: 1890s farmers' party that wanted silver coins, regulation of railroads and an income tax William Jennings Bryan: Populist-backed candidate famous for the 'Cross of Gold' speech in 1896 Gold standard: Money system where paper money is tied to gold Political machine: Organization that controlled a city's government, such as Tammany Hall Boss Tweed: Leader of Tammany Hall in New York, jailed for corruption Spoils system: Giving government jobs to supporters Pendleton Act (1883): Created a civil service system where jobs go by merit James Garfield: Twentieth president, shot in 1881 by a man who wanted a government job Interstate Commerce Act (1887): First law to regulate railroads Spanish-American War (1898): War with Spain that gave the US Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines USS Maine: Battleship that exploded in Havana harbor in 1898, increasing calls for war Rough Riders: Volunteer cavalry led by Theodore Roosevelt in Cuba Annexation of Hawaii (1898): The US took over the islands after Queen Liliuokalani was removed in 1893 Queen Liliuokalani: Last queen of Hawaii Alaska Purchase (1867): US bought Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million Seward's Folly: Critics' mocking name for the Alaska purchase Progressive Era: Reform period from about 1890 to 1920 Ida B. Wells: Journalist who wrote against lynching and for justice Susan B. Anthony: Leader of the fight for women's right to vote Centennial Exposition (1876): World's fair in Philadelphia marking 100 years of independence Free flashcards from Peabody at peabody.kids/flashcards/us-reconstruction-gilded-age