Frederick Jackson Turner
American historian, he provided the clearest and most influential statement of the vision of the frontier in a memorable paper which he delivered to a meeting of the American Historical Association in Chicago in 1893 entitled "the Significance of the Frontier in American History," His claims included that the experience of expansion into the frontier had stimulated individualism, nationalism and democracy, and kept the opportunity of advancement alive.
Chief Joseph
Lead the Nez Perce during the hostilities between the tribe and the U.S. Army in 1877. His speech "I Will Fight No More Forever" mourned the young Indian men killed in the fighting., chief of the Wallowa band of the Nez Perce and one of the leaders of Native American resistance to white encroachment in the western United States. He decided to lead several hundred people on a march to find refuge in Canada. But he was stopped short. 5: 1865-1900
Joseph H. Glidden
Introduced the barbed wire fence which became standard equipment on the plains and revolutionized fencing practices all over the world.
Custer
Hero of the Civil War and of other campaigns against tribe plains, In 1874, his Seventh Cavalry set out to suppress the Indians after the Sioux attacked settlers who were searching for gold in the "Great Sioux reservation." His cavalry was instead slaughtered at the Battle of Little Bighor
William F. Cody
He was an American soldier, bison hunter and showman. He was born in the Iowa Territory (now the American state of Iowa), near Le Claire. He was one of the most colorful figures of the Old West, and mostly famous for the shows he organized with cowboy themes. Buffalo Bill received the Medal of Honor
Henry Bessemer
An English engineer who developed a process of purifying iron to create steal and created the bessemer process., (1813-1898) An English engineer who created the Bessemer procces, a process of producing steel, in which impurities are removed by forcing a blast of air through molten iron.
Geronimo
Geronimo, the leader of the Apaches in Arizona and New Mexico, fought against the white man, who was trying to force the Apaches off of their land. Geronimo had an enormous hatred for the whites. He was, however, eventually pushed into Mexico where he surrendered
Edwin L. Drake
He was the first to use a steam engine to successfully drill for oil in Pennsylvania. After his breakthrough, an oil boom spurred in other states across the US as petroleum-refining industries and oil industries formed. Oil soon became one of the most important substances in the US and is still today. Fueled the second Industrial Revolution.
Sitting Bull
The American Indian Sitting Bull (ca. 1834-1890), a Hunkpapa Sioux medicine man and chief, was the political leader of his tribe at the time of the Custer massacre and during the Sioux War of 1875-1876.
Thomas Edison
American inventor, scientist and businessman who developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. Dubbed "The Wizard of Menlo Park"
Andrew Carnegie
(1835-1919) Scottish immigrant, started poor but became successful. Became head of Carnegie Steel, largest steel corporation at the time, first to user the Bessemer process. Used vertical integration. Bought out by JP Morgan., United States industrialist and philanthropist who endowed education and public libraries and research trusts (1835-1919)
Horatio Alger
a popular writer of the Post-Civil War time period. Alger was a Puritan New Englander who wrote more than a hundred volumes of juvenile fiction during his career; the famous "rags to riches" theme., was a prolific 19th-century American author whose principal output was formulaic juvenile novels that followed the adventures of bootblacks, newsboys, peddlers, buskers, and other impoverished children in their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of respectable middle-class security and comfort.
John D. Rockefeller
an American industrialist and philanthropist. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of modern philanthropy. In 1870, Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Company and ran it until he retired in the late 1890s. He kept his stock and as gasoline grew in importance, his wealth soared and he became the world's richest man and first U.S. dollar billionaire, and is often regarded as the richest person in history
Edward Bellamy
Wrote Looking Backwards, critical of social Darwinism. It sold over a million copies in its first few years. It described a utopian society where all economic activity was carefully planned. He believed all citizens should share everything equally.
J. Pierpont Morgan
an American financier, banker, philanthropist, and art collector who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. In 1892 Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thompson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric., He was a banker who financed the reorganization of railroads, insurance companies, and banks. He bought out Carnegie and in 1901 he started the United States Steel Corporation.
Terence Powderly
In 1879, president of the Knight of Labor. He worked to strenghten the union by opening membership to immigrants, blacks, women and unskilled workers. He wanted to make the world a better place for both workers and employers. He did not believe in strikes. He relied on rallies and meetings.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
The railroad owner who built a railway connecting Chicago and New York. He popularized the use of steel rails in his railroad, which made railroads safer and more economical. This man was one of the few railroad owners to be just and not considered a "Robber Barron", American business leader who controlled the New York Central Railroad and up to 4,500 miles of railroad track. He later donated $1 million to a Tennessee university
Samuel Gompers
United States labor leader (born in England) who was president of the American Federation of Labor from 1886 to 1924 (1850-1924), led the AFL (American Federation of Labor), a skilled craft union, fought for wages and working conditions, they went on strike, boycotted and used collective bargaining
Herbert Spenser
most popular supporter of Social Darwinism; British philosopher; evolution of people required social struggle which should not be interfered with, -social darwinism -believed that we should not interfere with natural evolution of society ie the strong will survive, and that society would naturally evolve from lower to higher form. By helping the poor we affect the natural evolution of society
Eugene V. Debs
Leader of the American Railway Union, he voted to aid workers in the Pullman strike. He was jailed for six months for disobeying a court order after the strike was over., He was the president and the organizer of the American Railway Union. He organized the Pullman Strike and helped organized the Social Democratic party.
Horace Greeley
An American newspaper editor and founder of the Republican party. His New York Tribune was America's most influential newspaper 1840-1870. Greeley used it to promote the Whig and Republican parties, as well as antislavery and a host of reforms.
George M. Cohan
An American songwriter and entertainer of the early twentieth century, known for such rousing songs as "Over There," "Yankee Doodle Dandy," and "You're a Grand Old Flag.", changed the definition of a Broadway leading man- first great American song-and-dance man from Vaudeville who wrote earliest American musicals - developed unique musical performance style - athletic (libretto- the book) Yankee Doodle Dandy, Give my Regards to Broadway AABA Song Structure
Joseph Pulitzer
United States newspaper publisher (born in Hungary) who established the Pulitzer prizes (1847-1911), His New York World newspaper was the first newspaper to exceed a million in circulation. Filled newspaper with stories of crimes and disasters and feature stories about political and economic corruption.
Upton Sinclair
United States writer whose novels argued for social reform (1878-1968), muckraker who shocked the nation when he published The Jungle, a novel that revealed gruesome details about the meat packing industry in Chicago. The book was fiction but based on the things Sinclair had seen.
Daniel Burnham
Architect who designed Flatiron Building. Transformed mucky swamp area into "White City" for Chicago's 1893 World's Columbian Expidition.
D. W. Griffith
An innovative American filmmaker of the early twentieth century. He is famous for his epic silent films, such as The Birth of a Nation, which required huge casts and enormous sets.
Montgomery Ward
United States businessman who in 1872 established a successful mail-order business (1843-1913), United States businessman who in 1872 established a successful mail-order business (1843-1913), and brought retail to small towns
William Marcy Tweed
1866-71; the "Boss" of Tamany Hall and the Democratic political machine in NYC until sent to prison in the 1870s; the symbol and epitome of political corruption in an era of excessive corruption.