Early Reform in America

Dix conducted a statewide investigation of how Massachusetts cared for the insane poor. In most cases, towns contracted with local individuals to care for people with mental disorders who could not care for themselves, and who lacked family and friends to provide for them. Unregulated and underfunded, this system produced widespread abuse. After her survey, Dix published the results in a fiery report to the state legislature:

"I proceed, Gentlemen, briefly to call your attention to the present state of Insane Persons confined within this Commonwealth, in cages, stalls, pens! Chained, naked, beaten with rods, and lashed into obedience."

The outcome of her lobbying was a bill to expand the state's mental hospital in Worcester. Her success in MA convinced her to continue the crusade throughout the rest of the US.

A federally chartered university for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing located in Washington, D.C.

Also known as a patronage system, a practice where a political party, after winning an election, gives government jobs to its supporters as a reward for working toward victory, and as an incentive to keep working for the party—as opposed to a merit system, where offices are awarded on the basis of some measure of merit, independent of political activity. The term was derived from the phrase "to the victor go the spoils" by New York Senator William L. Marcy, referring to the victory of the Jackson Democrats in the election of 1828, with the term spoils meaning goods or benefits taken from the loser in a competition, election or military victory.

On the morning of July 2, 1881, as President Garfield was shot twice from behind, once across the arm and once in the back, by an assassin, Charles J. Guiteau, a rejected and disillusioned Federal office seeker. The GOP had denied Guiteau, having no qualifications, a Federal appointment as the US consul in Paris and had banned him from the White House for his aggressive behavior in seeking an appointment. Guiteau believed that a short speech he had partially presented before a small group of people during the presidential election campaign was in fact the cause of Garfield's election to the presidency and which, therefore, justified his appointment. When the appointment did not materialize, Guiteau believed he, the Republican Party, and the country had been betrayed and that God repeatedly told him that he could save the party and the nation if President Garfield was "removed." Guiteau stalked Garfield for weeks, armed with a .44 caliber Webley Bulldog revolver.

Ended the spoils system by requiring competitive exams for hiring in government positions. Established the Civil Service Commission to administer tests. Banned practice of political parties forcing government employees to contribute money for campaigning.

The People's Party, also known as the "Populists", was a short-lived political party in the United States established in 1891 during the Populist movement. Based among poor, white cotton farmers in the South and hard-pressed wheat farmers in the plains states, it represented a radical crusading form of agrarianism and hostility to banks, railroads, and elites generally. It sometimes formed coalitions with labor unions, and in 1896 the Democrats endorsed their presidential nominee, William Jennings Bryan. The terms "populist" and "populism" are commonly used for anti-elitist appeals in opposition to established interests and mainstream parties.

The state of Maine passed a total ban on the manufacture and sale of liquor.

The Prohibition Party (PRO) is a political party in the US best known for its opposition to the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages, and was an integral part of the temperance movement.

The WCTU was created to bring about a "sober and pure world" by abstinence, purity and evangelical Christianity. Thus, their attempts to rid their surroundings of what they saw as the dangers of alcohol. They viewed alcoholism as a cause and consequence of larger social problems, rather than as a personal weakness or failing.

Rev. Howard Hyde Russell founded the Anti-Saloon League in 1893. Under the leadership of Wayne Wheeler the ASL stressed political results and perfected the art of pressure politics. It did not demand that politicians change their drinking habits, only their votes in the legislature.

In 1869, out of fear that the social unrest would lead to revolt, the Illinois state government passed an act to require railroads to charge only "just, reasonable, and uniform rates." This would lead to the passage of similar legislation in a dozen more mid-western states.

US federal law that was designed to regulate the railroad industry, particularly its monopolistic practices. The Act required that railroad rates be "reasonable and just," but did not empower the government to fix specific rates. It also required that railroads publicize shipping rates and prohibited short haul or long haul fare discrimination, a form of price discrimination against smaller markets, particularly farmers. The Act created a federal regulatory agency, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), which it charged with monitoring railroads to ensure that they complied with the new regulations. The Act was the first federal law to regulate private industry in the US. It was later amended to regulate other modes of transportation and commerce.

A landmark federal statute in the history of US business regulation that prohibits certain business activities that federal government regulators deem to be anticompetitive, and requires the federal government to investigate and pursue trusts. It has since been used to oppose the combination of entities that could potentially harm competition, such as monopolies or cartels.