US History: unit 2

entrepreneur

people who invest money in a product or enterprise in order to make a profit

protective tariff

taxes that would make imported goods cost more than those made locally

laissez faire

a policy which allowed businesses to operate under minimal government regulation

patent

a grant by the federal government giving an invent the exclusive right to develop, use, and sell an invention for a set period of time

Thomas Edison

an inventor and creative genius who received more than 1,000 patents for new inventions

bessemer process

a process for purifying iron resulting in strong, but lightweight, steel

suspension bridge

bridges in which the roadway is suspended by steel cables

time zone

twenty-four zones around the world, one for each hour of the day

mass production

systems that depended on machinery to turn out large numbers of products quickly and inexpensively

corporation

a form of group ownership in which a number of people share the ownership of a business

monopoly

complete control of a product or service

cartel

an arrangement in which businesses making the same product agree to limit production to keep prices high

John D. Rockefeller

an oil tycoon who made deals with railroads to increase his profits

horizontal integration

a system of consolidating many firms in the same business to lower production costs

trust

a situation in which companies assign their stock to a board of trustees who combine them into a new organization

Andrew Carnegie

a steel tycoon who used vertical integration to increase his power

vertical integration

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

social darwinism

an application of Charles Darwin’s work which held that wealth was a measure of one’s inherent value and those who had it were the most “fit”

ICC

the Interstate Commerce Commission, a government body set up to oversee railroad operations

Sherman Antitrust Act

a bill passed in 1890 which outlawed any trust that operated “in restraint of trade or commerce among the several states”