| A | B |
|---|
| Push-Pull | Events & conditions that either force people to move elsewhere or strongly attract them to do so |
| Morrill Land Grant Act | Passed by congress in 1862 this law distributed millions of acres of western lands to state government in order to fund state agricultural colleges |
| Land speculators | Person who buys up large areas of land in the hope of selling them later for a profit |
| Homestead Act | 1862 law that gave 160 acres of land to citizens who met certain conditions |
| Exoduster | an African American who migrate to the west after the Civil War |
| Great Plains | Vast grassland between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains |
| Nomadic | people who move their homes regularly usually in search of available food sources |
| Reservation | The social and economic transition from wartime to peacetime |
| Battle of Little Big Horn | 1876 Sioux victory over army troops led by George Custer |
| Ghost Dance | a Native American purification ritual |
| Massacre at Wounded Knee | 1890 shooting of a group of unarmed Sioux by army troops |
| Assimilation | process by which people of one culture merge into and become part of another culture |
| Dawes Act | 1887 law that divided reservation land into private family plots |
| Boomers | settlers who ran in land races to claim upon the 1889 opening of Indian Territory for settlement |
| Sooners | in 1889 people who illegally claimed land by snaking past government officials before the land races began |
| Placer mining | a mining technique in which miners shoveled loose dirt into boxes and then ran water over the dirt to separate it from gold or silver particles |
| Homesteader | one who farmed claims under the Homestead Act |
| Soddie | a home whose walls and roof are made from blocks of grass with the thick roots and earth attached |
| Dry farming | techniques to raise crops in areas that receive little rain |
| Bonanza farms | farm controlled by large businesses |
| Money supply | the amount of money in the national economy |
| Deflation | a drop in the prices of goods |
| Interstate Commerce Act | 1887 law passed to regulate railroad and other interstate businesses |
| Populist | follower of the people party formed in 1891 to advocate a large money supply and other economic reforms |
| Alien | A noncitizen |
| Blue Law | Regulation that prohibited certain private activities people consider immoral (such as drinking alcohol )on Sunday |
| Chinese Exclusion Act | law passed in 1882 that prohibited Chinese laborers from entering the country but did not prevent entry of those who had previously established U.S residency |
| Civil service | the government’s nonelected workers |
| Gentleman’s Agreement Act | 1970 agreement between the Unite d States and Japan that restricted Japanese immigration |
| Ghetto | area in which one ethnic or racial group dominates |
| Gilded Age | term coined by Mark Twain to describe the post Reconstruction |
| Laissez faire | doctrine stating that the government generally should not interfere in private business |
| Munn vs. Illinois | 1803 Supreme Court case that established the principle of judicial review |
| Pendleton Civil Service ACT | 1883 law that created a Civil Service Commission and started those federal employees could not be required to contribute to campaign funds or fired for political reasons |
| Program | Violent massacre of Jews |
| Quarantine | a time of isolation to prevent the spread of disease |
| Rebate | a partial refund |
| Restrictive covenant | agreement among homeowners not to sell real estate to certain groups of people such as Jews or African Americans |
| Steerage | a large open area beneath the ship deck |
| Subsidy | a payment made by the government to encourage the development of certain key industries |
| Assimilation | process by which people of one culture merge into & become part of another culture |
| Department store | large retail establishment that carries a wide variety of goods and sells in large quantities |
| Grandfather Clause | Passages in law that exempts a group of people from obeying the law if they had met certain conditions before the law was passed |
| Jim Crow | Statutes beginning in the 1890s that required segregation of public survives by race |
| Literacy | The ability to read and write |
| Lynching | Murder of an accused person by a mob without a lawful trial |
| Mail–order catalog | Printed material advertising a wide range of goods that can be purchased by mail |
| National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) | Organization founded in 1909 to abolish segregation and discrimination - to oppose racism and to gain civil rights for African Americans |
| Niagara Movement | Founded in 1905 a group of African Americans that called for full civil liberties; the end to racial discrimination and recognition of human brotherhood |
| Philanthropist | A person who gives donations to worthy causes |
| Plessy v. Ferguson | 1896 Supreme Court decision that segregation was legal as long the facilities provided for blacks were equal to those provided to whites |
| Poll Tax | A special fee that must be paid before a person can vote |
| Ragtime | A type of music featuring melodies with shifting accents over steady musicians in the South and mid- west in the 1880 |
| Rural free delivery (RFD) | Beginning in 1996 free delivery offered by the U.S Post Office to farm families in the rural Midwest |
| Segregation | Forced separation often times by race |
| Vaudeville | A type of variety show that first appeared in the 1870s often consisting of comic sketches songs dance routines and magic acts |
| Yellow Journalism | Sensational news coverage- emphasizing crime and scandal |
