Triumph of Industry

Social Darwinism

19th century of belief that evolutionary ideas theorized by Charles Darwin could be applied to society.

Laissez-Faire

Policy that government should interfere as little as possible in the nation's economy.

Mass Production

Process of making large quantities of a product quickly and cheaply

Capitalism

An economic system based on private ownership and on the investment of money in business ventures in order to make a profit.

J.P. Morgan

An influential banker and businessman who bought and reorganized companies. His US Steel company would buy Carnegie steel and become the largest business in the world in 1901 (he had MORE MONEY)

Vertical Integration

Buying out all the suppliers in an industry to control all the parts of the process (you don't buy FROM your suppliers, you BUY your suppliers)

Horizontal Integration

Buying out your competition to make a monopoly

Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)

Federal regulatory agency often used by rail companies to stabilize the industry and prevent ruinous competition

American Federation of Labor

A "union of unions" organized by Samuel Gompers in 1886 to organize skilled workers from many different trade or craft unions.

Andrew Carnegie

A Scottish-born American industrialist and philanthropist who founded the Carnegie Steel Company in 1892. (CARs are made of STEEL)

Corporation

A business owned by stockholders who share in its profits but are not personally responsible for its debts

Company Town

A community set up and run by a company for its workers

Monopoly

A company that controls all production and sales of a particular product or service.

Patent

A document granting an inventor sole rights to an invention

Trust

A group of corporations run by a single board of directors

Cartel

A group of independent businesses formed to control production, pricing, and marketing of goods

Entrepreneur

A person who risks time and money to start and manage a business

Socialism

A political ideology based on strong support for economic and social equality. Socialists traditionally envisioned a society in which major businesses were taken over by the government or by employee cooperatives

Samuel Gompers

A poor English immigrant who formed the American Federation of Labor, a skilled workers union, in 1886

Second Industrial Revolution

A second wave of industrialization in the late 1800s characterized by an increased use of steel, electricity, and railroads.

Time Zone

A segment of the worldwide system for standardizing time; the U.S. has seven.

Sweatshop

A shop or factory where workers work long hours at low wages under unhealthy conditions

Protective Tariff

A tax on imported goods that raises the price of imports so people will buy domestic goods

Suspension Bridge

A type of bridge in which the deck hangs from wires attached to thick cables.

Bessemer Process

A way to manufacture steel quickly and cheaply by blasting hot air through melted iron to quickly remove impurities.

Thomas Edison

American inventor best known for inventing the electric light bulb, the phonograph, and motion pictures.

Wabash, St. Louis, & Pacific Railway Company v. Illinois (1886)

An 1886 Supreme Court decision that severely limited the rights of states to control interstate commerce. It led to the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Sherman Anti-Trust Act

An 1890 law that banned the formation of trusts and monopolies in the United States

Homestead Strike

An 1892 Pennsylvania steelworkers' strike that resulted in violence between company police and strikers.

Pullman Strike

An 1894 strike by railroad car builders that stopped rail service in most of the West. President Cleveland intervened because it was halting mail delivery.

Haymarket Riot

Labor protest in Chicago in 1886 that ended in deadly violence. It led to the downfall of the Knights of Labor.

Knights of Labor

Labor union founded in 1869 that sought to organize all workers, including blacks and women, and focused on social reforms.

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.

Terence V. Powderly

Leader of the Knights of Labor who opposed strikes in favor of boycotts and negotiations with employers.

Assembly Line

Manufacturing process in which each worker does one specialized task in the construction of the final product

Capital

Money used to start and run a business

Collective Bargaining

Negotiations between representatives of labor unions and management to determine pay and acceptable working conditions.

John D. Rockefeller

Was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. (OIL comes from the ROCKS)