James Frawley

Mr. McGoldrick
US History
5 May 2014
Identifications: Chapter 23
Laissez-Faire It is an economic policy in which transactions between private
companies or parties are free from government restrictions, tariffs, and subsidies, with
only enough regulations to protect property rights. The phrase laissez-faire is French and
literally means let it be, let them do as they will, or leave it alone. The reason for this
was the economic and financial chaos the nation suffered under the Articles of
Confederation. The goal was to ensure that being economically and financially dependent
on the powers and princes of Europe did not lose political independence. Its viewpoint is
that private transactions are not to be regulated if they do not interfere with the
government, a you do you economic policy. It is significant today because its failure
showed the need for some sort of government regulation or assistance.
Social Darwinism It is a modern name given to various theories of society that
emerged in England and the United States in the 1870s, and which allegedly sought to
apply biological concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest to sociology and
politics. Social Darwinists generally argue that the strong should see their wealth and
power increase while the weak should see their wealth and power decrease. Different
social Darwinists have different views about which groups of people are the strong and
the weak, and they also hold different opinions about the precise mechanism that should
be used to promote strength and punish weakness. Many such views stress competition
between individuals in laissez-faire capitalism; whereas the opposite concept of
government intervention in social development (also known as Reform Darwinism)
motivated ideas of eugenics, racism, imperialism, fascism, Nazism and struggle between
national or racial groups. Its viewpoint was that only the best of the population should be
able to live, not a supporter of government aid. It is significant today because it is a way
in which our society was once structured.
The Gilded Age It is a period spanning approximately in the 1870s to the turn of the
twentieth century. Writers coined the term Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in
The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873), satirizing what they believed to be an era of
serious social problems disguised by thin gold gilding. The Gilded Age was an era of
economic growth, especially in the North and West. This attracted millions of immigrants
from Europe. American wages, especially for skilled workers, were much higher than in
Europe. The increase of industrialization meant, despite the increasing labor force, real
wages in the US grew 60% from 1860 to 1890, and continued to rise after that. However,
the Gilded Age was also an era of poverty as very poor European immigrants poured in.
Its viewpoint was that everything was wealthy and industrious. It is significant today
because it was a time of great prosperity.
Dawes Severalty Act It was an act adopted by Congress in 1887 that authorized the
President of the United States to survey American Indian tribal land and divide it into
allotments for individual Indians. Those who accepted allotments and lived separately
from the tribe would be granted United States citizenship. The Burke Act amended in
1891, and again in 1906 the Dawes Severalty Act. The Act was named for its creator,
Senator Henry Laurens Dawes of Massachusetts. The stated objective of the Dawes Act
was to stimulate assimilation of Indians into mainstream American society. The
viewpoint was that the Indians would be assimilated into American culture. It is
significant today because it is a part of our nations interaction with the people we
essentially conquered.
Poll Tax In U.S. practice, a poll tax was used as a de facto or implicit pre-condition of
the exercise of the ability to vote. This tax emerged in some states of the United States in
the late 19th century as part of the Jim Crow laws. After the ability to vote was extended
to all races by the enactment of the Fifteenth Amendment, many Southern states enacted
poll tax laws as a means of restricting eligible voters; such laws often included a
grandfather clause, which allowed any adult male whose father or grandfather had voted
in a specific year prior to the abolition of slavery to vote without paying the tax. These
laws, along with unfairly implemented literacy tests and extra-legal intimidation,
achieved the desired effect of disfranchising African-American and Native American
voters, as well as poor whites. Its viewpoint was that it would reduce the amount of non-
whites that voted because they could not afford it. It is significant today because it is yet
another part of history that oppressed a certain group.
Literary Test It is the government practice of testing the literacy of potential citizens at
the federal level, and potential voters at the state level, in American political history from
the 1890s to the 1960s. Southern state legislatures employed literacy tests as part of the
voter registration process starting in the late 19th century. Literacy tests, along with poll
taxes and extra-legal intimidation, were used to deny suffrage to African-Americans. The
first formal voter literacy tests were introduced in 1890. Its viewpoint was that they
could reduce the number of black voters in the south because many of them still hadnt
been taught English. It is significant today because it is another piece of history where a
certain group of people was taken advantage.
Plessey vs. Ferguson It is a landmark United States Supreme Court decision in the
jurisprudence of the United States, upholding the constitutionality of state laws requiring
racial segregation in public facilities under the doctrine of "separate but equal". The
decision was handed down by a vote of 7 to 1 with the majority opinion written by
Justice Henry Billings Brown and the dissent written by Justice John Marshall Harlan.
"Separate but equal" remained standard doctrine in U.S. law until its repudiation in the
1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education. Its viewpoint was that
people of the south could keep their utilities and services separate from those of the
blacks. It is significant today because it showed the hatred between the races in the south
in our countrys history.
Chinese Exclusion Act It was a United States federal law signed by President Chester
A. Arthur on May 6, 1882. It was one of the most significant restrictions on free
immigration in US history, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers. The act
followed revisions made in 1880 to the US-China Burlingame Treaty of 1868, revisions
that allowed the US to suspend Chinese immigration. The act was initially intended to
last for 10 years, but was renewed in 1892 and made permanent in 1902. The Magnuson
Act finally repealed it on December 17, 1943. Its viewpoint was that America could keep
out all Chinese laborers. It is significant today because it was the largest restriction on
immigration in all of the history of the United States of America.
Homestead Act They were several United States federal laws that gave an applicant
ownership of land, typically called a "homestead", at little or no cost. In the United
States, this originally consisted of grants totaling 160 acres (65 hectares, or one-quarter
section) of un-appropriated federal land within the boundaries of the public land states.
An extension of the Homestead Principle in law, the United States Homestead Acts were
initially proposed as an expression of the "Free Soil" policy of Northerners who wanted
individual farmers to own and operate their own farms, as opposed to Southern slave-
owners who could use groups of slaves to economic advantage. Its viewpoint was that it
would provide land to those who could use it for things like farms. It is significant today
because it made slave plantation farms in the south less necessary.
Henry Comstock He was an American miner after whom the Comstock Lode was
named. He was born at Trenton, Ontario. He may have worked as a fur trapper and
sheep drover. He came into knowledge of the enormous silver lode which is named after
him, but sold out his interest early and did not profit from it. Later he worked as a
surveyor and miner, both independently and for a large mining firm, both failing to make
his fortune. He committed suicide by pistol and is buried in the Bozeman cemetery. His
viewpoint was that there was money to be made from mining. He is significant today
because mining and similar industrial interests were important to creating infrastructure
in the United States.