American History Questions – Flashcards
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What caused a need for political and social reform in the late 1800s?
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rapid industrialization
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What was a major goal of Progressives during the Progressive Era?
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regulating business practices
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During the Progressive Era, what did new business regulations focus on?
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monopolies
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What group of people worked to inform the public about injustices of the Progressive Era?
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muckrakers
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How did muckrakers influence the Progressive movement at the turn of the century?
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by bringing important social issues to light
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What was one main goal of Progressives in the late 1800s and early 1900s?
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enact reforms in social policy
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What describes muckraker Lincoln Steffens's goal?
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to expose and reform corruption in politics
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What describes why Progressives worked to reform the meat-packing industry in the early 1900s?
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the industry used unsafe manufacturing practices
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What describes the Progressives' view on conservation?
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they supported conservation to preserve the environment's beauty
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How did Progressives want to reform education during the Progressive Era?
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by requiring children to attend school
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What was a common goal of the Populists and the Progressives during the Progressive Era?
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government regulation of business
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What is one reason that Progressives tried to eliminate child labor in the United States?
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children worked long hours in unsafe conditions
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What was a success of the Progressive movement?
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passing laws that protected child workers
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What was a result of the Progressive Party's focus on protecting consumers?
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the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906
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What was an important labor reform during the Progressive Era?
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securing workers' compensation
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What legislation discouraged businesses from using child labor during the Progressive Era?
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the Keating-Owen Act
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In which area were the Progressives unsuccessful?
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eliminating child labor
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How did the Supreme Court limit the success of reform during the Progressive Era?
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the court sometimes repealed laws or parts of laws that concerned reform
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What was the effect of the Supreme Court's decision in the case of Lochner v. New York?
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the progressive movement suffered a setback because a state law that limited the workday to ten hours was struck down
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What describes the Supreme Court's decision in the case of Lochner v. New York?
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the supreme court found that states could not intervene in limiting the length of a workday
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In the case Lochner v. New York, who did the Supreme Court rule could determine the length of the workday?
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the employers and employees
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Who was a muckraker?
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a reporter who wrote about corruption and crime in industry and governent
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Who first applied the term muckraker to journalism?
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President Theodore Roosevelt
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In How the Other Half Lives, what does Jacob Riis expose?
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the harsh living conditions in New York City slums
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What describes a major effect of Upton Sinclair's book The Jungle?
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it created a controversy that influenced President Roosevelt to take action
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How did Ida Tarbell help end the Standard Oil monopoly?
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she wrote a series of articles exposing the corruption of standard oil
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What did Ida B. Well's book The Red Record expose?
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exposed the horrors of lynching in America
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What did Ida B. Wells work to end through her muckraking articles?
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lynching of and discrimination against African Americans
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Read the quotation by Theodore Roosevelt: "There is filth on the floor, and it must be scraped up with the muck rake; and there are times and places where this service is the most needed of all the services that can be performed...The men with the muck rakes are often indispensable to the well-being of society." According to this quotation, what describes Roosevelt's view on journalism?
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writers who expose corruption perform a vital service to America
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How did Jacob Rii's How the Other Half Lives shock the American public?
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powerful photographs depicting conditions in city slums
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What is an example of muckraking disguised as a work of fiction?
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The Octopus by Frank Norris
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What was a corrupt business practice that Frank Norris exposed in The Octopus?
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railroad companies selling land to farmers and secretly keeping legal ownership of the land
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Read the quotation from Lincoln Steffens's The Shame of the Cities: "My purpose was...to see if the shameful facts, spread out in all their shame, would not burn through our civic shamelessness and set fire to American pride." According to Steffens, what was the purpose of muckraking journalism?
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to encourage people to take action against widespread corruption
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What describes Upton Sinclair, Ida Tarbell, and Frank Norris's impact on journalism?
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they were among the first to publicize immoral, corrupt practices of large industries
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What describes how muckrakers brought about reform in the Progressive Era?
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muckrakers presented Americans with facts about corruption in industry and government that promted them to demand change
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What was an unintended result of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle?
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laws were passed to ensure food and drug safety
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What describes the main way that Upon Sinclair gathered research for The Jungle?
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he went undercover as a worker in a meat packing plant
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Read the quotation from Upton Sinclair's The Jungle: "There would be meat that had tumbled out on the floor, in the dirt and sawdust, where the workers had tramped and spit uncounted billions of consumptive germs." What describes the American public's reaction to reading The Jungle?
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the public was outraged and demanded legislative reform from the government
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What was President Roosevelt's first reaction to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle?
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disbelief and distrust of Sinclair's claims
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When government inspectors investigated the claims made by Upton Sinclair in The Jungle, what did they find?
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slaughterhouse conditions were even worse than Sinclair had reported
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What aspect of Upton Sinclair's life explains his reasons for writing The Jungle?
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his socialist politics
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What impact did Sinclair's book have on the era of Progressive reform?
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the jungle showed that if the public was informed about a certain issue, it had the power to demand reform from the government
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Starting in the 1800s, what did members of the suffragist movement in the United States focused on?
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women's right to vote
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In the early 1800s, why did society consider temperance to be a "respectable" cause for female reformers?
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because this issue related to community welfare and family
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What government action prompted the organization of two women's suffrage groups in 1869?
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the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment
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What marked the achievement of a long-held suffragist goal in the early 1900s?
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the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution
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What describes Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony?
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two women who formed the National Woman Suffrage Association
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How did the role of women during World War 1 affect the suffragist movement?
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women served as nurses and ambulance drivers during the war, convincing people to support their right to vote
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What was the main difference between the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) and the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA)?
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the NWSA worked for a constitutional amendment granting suffrage; the AWSA fought for suffrage at the state level
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What describes Carrie Chapman Catt's "Winning Plan" to achieve national women's suffrage?
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to win women's suffrage in as many states as possible while campaigning Congress to pass a constitutional amendment
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What describes the causes women reformers and activists focused on before the suffragist movement?
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temperance, abolition of slavery, and education for women and girls
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Why did the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1869 prompt the formation of two major suffrage organizations?
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it granted formerly enslaved people the right to vote, while women were still denied this right
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What is considered to be the first major event of the women's movement?
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the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention
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What was the goal of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton's National Woman suffrage Association?
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the passage of a constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote
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In the early 1800s, what issues did female reformers focus on?
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temperance, abolition, and women's access for education
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What shows the correct order of events in women's suffrage?
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suffrage in some Eastern states, Catt's "Winning Plan," the Nineteenth Amendment
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How did the 1840 World's Anti-Slavery Convention affect the women's suffrage movement?
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women were not allowed to fully participate in the convention; this led several key female activists to shift their focus to women's right
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What did Margaret Sanger's appeal of her 1916 arrest result in?
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legalization of doctors prescribing contraceptives and discussing family planning with patients
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What did Ukrainian immigrant Clara Lemlich accomplish in 1909?
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better working conditions for female garment workers in New York City
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What describes the result of the Uprising of the Twenty Thousand?
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factory owners agreed to increase worker's wages and shorten the work week
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What did Emma Hart Willard accomplish in 1826?
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she founded the first all-girls high school in the US
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What describes Margaret Sanger?
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she advocated for women's health and helped educate women about birth control and family planning
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What is Elizabeth Cady Stanton most noted for?
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helping draft the Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments
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In 1833, what did Oberlin College become the first US college to do?
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admit women on equal terms with men
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Who was the woman who opened the first birth-control clinic in the United States?
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Margaret Sanger
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What describes the relationship between Jim Crow laws and the "separate but equal" doctrine?
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Jim Crow laws were designed to enforce this doctrine by requiring racial segregation for public facilities
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Despite the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1875, southern states implemented Jim Crow laws, what were they designed to do?
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prevent African Americans from gaining equality
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What directly violated the intent of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution?
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poll taxes
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Read the quotation from Booker T. Washington's 1895 Atlanta Compromise Speech: "Progress in the enjoyment of all the privileges that will come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather than of artificial forcing." In this quotation, what view is Washington is expressing?
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the government cannot legislate equality
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Plessy v. Ferguson was overturned in 1954, what was decided by the Supreme Court?
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racial segregation was unconstitutional
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During the Jim Crow era, why did southern states impose poll taxes and literacy tests?
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prevent African Americans from exercising their right to vote
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Read the quotation from Dr. Oswald P. Bronson, recalling his childhood under Jim Crow: "Even on our way to school some days, men would come by and throw oranges at us, sometimes rock perhaps. We [also] were very much aware of police brutality in that city at that time. We were conscious of the Ku Klux Klan riding around the town to keep everybody in check." In this quotation, what is Dr. Bronson describing?
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intimidation, scare tactics, and violence perpetrated by both the police and the Ku Klux Klan against African American citizens
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Jim Crow laws, a set of racist and discriminatory rules and regulations against African Americans, where were they enacted?
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in the South starting in the mid- to late 1800s
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What did the court case Plessy v. Ferguson challenge the legality of?
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racially segregated train cars
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In upholding Louisiana's Separate Car Act, what did the Supreme Court claim?
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segregation did not constitute discriminaion
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In 1892, why was Homer Plessy arrested?
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sitting in a "whites only" rail car
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In the Plessy v. Ferguson decision, what did Supreme Court justices claim that the Fourteenth Amendment did not protect?
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social rights
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Read the quotation from Justice John Marshall Harlan in his Plessy v. Ferguson dissent in 1896: "Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens." How were the views Harlan expressed in this quotation used later in the Supreme Court?
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later adopted by the Supreme Court in the Brown v. Board of Education decision
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What would supporters of the Plessy v. Ferguson ruling most likely have agreed with?
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that "separate but equal" was a valid legal doctrine
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What did the Supreme Court's Plessy v. Ferguson decision rule about Louisiana's Separate Car Act?
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helped maintain public peace and good order
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What did Booker T. Washington believe that the best strategy to end racial segregation?
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adapt to it as they worked to gain equality
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Read the quotation from Booker T. Washington's Up From Slavery: An Autobiography; "Every persecuted individual and race should get much consolation out of the great human law, which is universal and eternal, that merit, no matter under what skin found, is, in the long run, recognized and rewarded." How does this quotation relate to Washington's theory of accommodation?
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he believed that in a merit-based society, hard work and patience would lead to racial equality
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What did Booker T. Washington's Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute eventually grow into?
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grew from a small school into a university
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Read the quotation from Booker T. Washington's 1895 Atlanta Compromise Speech:"In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress." What describes the view Washington is expressing in this quotation?
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maintaining an individual and racial identity does not mean all people cannot work together
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What did Booker T. Washington believe that African American accommodation to segregation should be accompanied by?
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hard work, self-improvement, and patience
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What describes Booker T. Washington?
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a civil rights leader who was born into slavery and later worked to achieve racial equality
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What describes how muckrakers brought about reform in the Porgressive Era?
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Muckrakers presented Americans with facts about corruption in industry and government that prompted them to demand change
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What was a major goal of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People when it was formed in 1909?
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to end segregation
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In the early 1900s, what federal legislation did the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People strongly push for?
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ban the practice of lynching
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Following the Springfield race riots of 1908, journalist William English Walling called on his fellow Americans to "revive the abolitionist spirit," what did it lead to the development of?
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National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
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What man's belief was The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People founded on?
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W.E.B. Du Bois
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What leader helped to form the Niagra movement?
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W.E.B. Du Bois
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W.E.B. Du Bois was a sociologist and activist who:
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fought for the political and social rights of African Americans
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What describes a major problem faced by the Niagra movement?
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lack of organizational structure
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What describes W.E.B. Du Bois's opinion of Booker T. Washington's accommodationist approach?
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it reinforced segregation and discrimination
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What describes a similarity between W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington?
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both supported full racial equality
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While Booker T. Washington believed in an accommodationist approach to racial equality, what did W.E.B. Du Bois believe in?
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actively working to achieve civil rights for all
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What leader in the early 1900s supported the idea that African Americans should temporarily accept inequality while working to gain job skills and obtain economic independence?
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Booker T. Washington
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Read the quotation by W.E.B. Du Bois: "We refuse to allow the impression to remain that the Negro-American assents to inferiority, is submissive under oppression and apologetic before insults." In this quotation, Du Bois disagrees with Booker T. Washington's accommodationist approach because Du Bois is expressing what?
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temporarily accepting discrimination will not lead to equality
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Read the quotation from Booker T. Washington's Up From Slavery: "No One section of our country was wholly responsible for its introduction, and, besides, it was recognized and protected for years by the General Government. Having once got its tentacles fastened on to the economic and social life of the Republic, it was no easy matter for the country to relieve itself of the institution." On what point would Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois agree?
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slavery has lasting and extensive effects on every aspect of American society
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What did Marcus Garvey advocate for?
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Pan Africanism, which was a movement to unify all people of African descent
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Read the quotation by Marcus Garvey: "The only wise thing for us ambitious Negroes to do, is to...build up for the race a mighty nation of our own in Africa. And this race of ours that cannot get recognition and respect in the country where we were slaves, by using our own ability, power and genius, would develop for ourselves in another country in our habitat a nation of our own." Based on the quotation, what describes Garvey's view on the best way for African Americans to gain "respect and recognition?"
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to return to Africa and form a new country
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When Marcus Garvey was in his twenties, he toured Central America and witnessed the oppression of migrant workers, how did the experience inspire him?
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inspired his support of Pan Africanism and his political activism
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How did Marcus Garvey define self-reliance?
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economic independence
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Why did W.E.B. Du Bois call Marcus Garvey "the most dangerous enemy of the Negro race in America?"
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Garvey's views promoted racial separation
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In order to help African Americans in the US gain economic independence, what was founded by Marcus Garvey?
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Black Star Line and the Negro Factories Association
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What describes the outcome of the 1913 case Guinn v U.S.?
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the case was a victory for the NAACP because it overturned a law that would have limited African American voting rights
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What describes the purpose of the Niagra movement?
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to support social and political rights for African Americans
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Who served as president of the United States from 1901 to 1909?
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Theodore Roosevelt
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How did Theodore Roosevelt earn the Congressional Medal of Honor?
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by leading a successful cavalry charge against the Spanish
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What summarizes the achievements or career of Theodore Roosevelt?
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he was elected many different positions and had a broad range of interests
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What early experiences led Theodore Roosevelt appreciate the natural world?
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as a young boy, he read books about natural history
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What job did Theodore Roosevelt compare the role of a president to?
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steward
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What did Theodore Roosevelt believe that the only checks on presidential power were?
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the Constitution and Congress
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What was the name of Theodore Roosevelt's solution for dealing with different groups called?
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the Square Deal
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What was the guiding principle of Roosevelt's Square Deal?
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Roosevelt would treat Americans with fairness and respect
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During the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, how did the US government protect businesses?
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by breaking up a railroad trust
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How did Theodore Roosevelt's Square Deal help the environment?
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by preserving the nation's forests
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What was a result of Theodore Roosevelt's philosophy about conservation?
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the creation of national parks
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What did President Roosevelt create to help end the Coal Strike of 1902?
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a commission
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What was a reason that Roosevelt sued the Northern Securities Company?
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Northern Securities controlled all rail service between Chicago and the Pacific Northwest
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How did the Elkins Act and the Hepburn Act regulate railroads?
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outlawing rebates to the largest customers and setting railroad rates
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What were two of Theodore Roosevelt's major successes in protecting consumers?
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the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act
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In what area did Theodore Roosevelt fail to enact reforms?
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child labor
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In regard to regulating companies, what did Roosevelt want them to serve?
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the public in the best way possible
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What issues caused Roosevelt to seek a "square deal" for the environment in 1900?
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deforestation
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What was an important environmental debate in the United States in 1900?
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whether to use wilderness resources
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What was a direct result of the Newlands Reclamation Act?
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creation of suitable areas for farming or ranching
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Roosevelt's positions on conservation and the environment are best characterized as what?
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Progressive
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What is a legacy of Roosevelt's environmental policies?
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national parks and forests
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What did Conservative Republicans want to use tariffs to protect American industry from?
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foreign competition
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Progressive and conservative republicans disagreed on what in the early 1900s?
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the role of the US governemnt
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Why did many conservative Republicans oppose conservation efforts in the early 1900s?
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they wanted to use natural resources for business purposes
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To which post did Theodore Roosevelt appoint William Howard Taft in 1904?
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secretary of war
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What position did Taft hold after his presidency?
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Supreme Court justice
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Why did Taft's opponent in the 1908 presidential race claim that Taft was running two campaigns?
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Taft campaigned as a progressive Republican in the West and a conservative Republican in the East
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Why were Theodore Roosevelt and his supporters disappointed in Taft's presidency?
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Taft was less progressive than they had hoped
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What was a major progressive business reform that President Taft enacted?
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breaking up large monopolies
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What reform was advocated by Theodore Roosevelt and later established by Taft?
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the Children's Bureau
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How did President Taft's passage of the Mann-Elkins Act in 1910 continue Roosevelt's legacy of railroad reform?
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strengthening the Interstate Commerce Commission
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What progressive political reform did Taft support during his presidency?
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the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment
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What was President Taft's creation of the Children's Bureau an example of?
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a progressive Republican social reform
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What describes how President Taft affected conservation efforts?
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Taft appointed a secretary of the interior who undid some of Roosevelt's conservation work
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Why did Taft's passage of the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act create a problem for Roosevelt progressives?
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it did little to lower taxes
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In what areas was Taft less progressive than Roosevelt?
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supporting labor unions
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What Republican challenged Taft during his run for a second term?
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Theodore Roosevelt
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How did Theodore Roosevelt become a party nominee in the presidential election of 1912?
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Roosevelt split from the Republicans formed the Progressive Part
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How did the Progressive Party set itself apart from the Democratic and Republican parties?
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the Progressive Party strongly supported women's suffrage
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Why did Roosevelt choose a bull moose as a symbol for his new Progressive Party?
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he fought like one for things he believed in
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What is an effect of third-party candidates, such as Theodore Roosevelt, on presidential elections?
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they change outcomes of elections
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What explains why the political climate was ripe for a third-party candidate during 1912 presidential election
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the Republican Party was unsatisfied with its candidate
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How did Woodrow Wilson's presidential win in 1912 set a precedent?
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Wilson won the electoral college but less that fifty percent of the popular vote
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What was a way in which Woodrow Wilson wanted to help average Americans?
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promoting free enterprise for the middle class
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What was a similarity between Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt?
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both believed monopolies were bad for the country
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According to Wilson, what group had too much power over the US economy and government?
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big business
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What group did Wilson want to help during the first half of his term?
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entrepreneurs
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What group did Wilson want to help during the second half of his term?
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everyday workers
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What did Wilson believe about high tariffs?
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prevented the US economy from growing
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What states the purpose of Wilson's anti-trust legislation?
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to encourage free enterprise
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Progressive reforms that sought to break up monopolies and limit their power were known as?
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trust-busting
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The Adamson Act, which legislated working hours and pay in the railroad industry, why was it significant?
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it blazed a trail for similar policies in other industries
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Where was Wilson unsuccessful in making lasting changes?
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the hours and age at which children worked
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What did he Underwood-Simmons Tariff Act, which was passed in 1912, do to tariffs?
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reduced tariffs on all imported goods
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What defines a graduated income tax?
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a tax which higher earners pay more than lower earners
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Why was the Federal Trade Commission established in 1914?
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prevent unfair business practices
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What is the central bank of the United States called?
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Federal Reserve System
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What was the main purpose of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913?
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oversee and regulate commercial banks
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What states how World War 1 affected President Wilson's position on women's suffrage?
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Wilson started to champion women's suffrage after the war began
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Read the quote from President Wilson's letter to the National Child Labor committee: "As the labor situation created by the war develops I am more interested than ever, if that were possible, in throwing all the safeguards possible around the labor of women and children." The "labor situation" Wilson refers to most likely concerned him because:
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women and children had to do the jobs of male workers who became soldiers
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How did Congress affect Wilson's efforts to protect working women and children during the war?
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Congress stopping working on Wilson's progressive legislation
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What piece of Progressive legislation did the Supreme Court declare unconstitutional?
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the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act
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What Progressive cause was helped by US involvement in World War 1?
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women's suffrage
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What explains which Progressive reforms were most successful?
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the financial reforms were most successful because they established lasting methods to protect free enterprise
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What was a way in which Progressives were successful in reforming the federal government?
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reforming taxes
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Progressives, such as Woodrow Wilson, supported financial reforms because thy believed the nation's financial system was overly controlled by what group of people?
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big business
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Progressives, such as Woodrow Wilson, supported financial reforms because thy believed the nation's financial system was overly controlled by what group of people?
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big business
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Progressives, such as Woodrow Wilson, supported financial reforms because thy believed the nation's financial system was overly controlled by what group of people?
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big business
