US History Chapter 13

scabs

negative term for a worker called by an employer to replace striking laborers

cartel

loose association of businesses that make the same product

trust

a group of separate companies that are placed under the control of a single managing board

Bessemer process

a process for making steel more efficiently, patented in 1856

Samuel F.B. Morse

artist and inventor; developed telegraph and More code in 1844

monoply

complete control of a product or service

John D. Rockefeller

created standard oil and standard oil trust (barrels, refineries, pipe lines, and railroads)

social Darwinism

derived from Darwin's theory of natural selection, the belief that society should do as little as possible to interfere with people's pursuit of success

Henry Bessemer

developed a new process for making steel; received the first patent for the Bessemer process

Andrew Carneigie

first worked for Vanderbilt; built bridges out of stronger steel (railroad ties); sold steel to JP Morgan; used the method of vertical consolidation

robber barons

implies that the business leaders built their fortunes by stealing from the public; they drained the country of its natural resources and persuaded public officials to interpret laws in their favor

George Pullman

inventor; developed luxury sleeping cars (Pullman cars), maintained remarkable health and sanitation conditions, athletic programs, and a military band; a strict man

Thomas Edison

inventor; developed the light bulb, the phonograph, and hundreds of other inventions in the late 1800s and early 1900s

Alexander Graham Bell

inventor; developed the telephone in 1876; one of the founders of American Telephone and Telegraph

JP Morgan

investment banker; invested in Thomas Edison; created General Electric; built the Panama Canal (invested and provided steel for it)

labor unions

organization of workers formed to protect the interest of its members

collective bargaining

process in which workers negotiate as a group with employers

horizontal consolidation

process of bringing together many firms in the same business to form one large company

vertical consolidation

process of gaining control of the many different businesses that make up all phases of a product's development

mass production

production of goods in great amounts

yellow dog contracts

promised that workers would never join a union or participate in a strike

transcontinental railroad

railway extending from coast to coast

Cornelius Vanderbilt

started a shipping empire; invested everything into the railroad

captains of industry

suggests that the business leaders served their nation in a positive way (increasing the supply of goods, raising productivity, and expanding markets)

Henry Ford

transformed the auto invention into reality; developed the assembly line