Quiz Study Guide: Industrialization & Gilded Age (Modified)

Corporation

An organization owned by many people but treated by law as though it were a single person.

Industry

economic activity concerned with the processing of raw materials and manufacture of goods in factories.

Alexander Graham Bell

An inventor credited with inventing the telephone

Thomas Edison

An inventor who developed many devices, including the light bulb

Cornelius Vanderbilt

One of the wealthiest and most powerful businessmen during the industrialization period. He was a key figure in the expansion of the American railroad system and also made significant contributions to the shipping industry.

Robber Baron

American industrialists who became wealthy by unethical means, such as questionable stock market operations and treating workers poorly.

Captain of Industry

self-made men who had helped build the nation and in the process created many jobs for American workers.

Vertical Integration

Purchase of companies at all levels of production.

Horizontal Integration

Purchase of competing companies in the same industry.

Monopoly

total control of an industry by one person or company.

Union

An organization of workers formed to protect workers' rights and improve their working conditions.

Great Railroad Strike

The Great Railroad Strike was a nationwide violent labor protest against wage cuts in the railroad industry. This was the first nationwide labor protest in American history.

Pullman Strike

A nationwide railroad strike that started at the Pullman Company in Chicago, protesting wage cuts and high rents in company-owned housing.

Ellis Island

processing center in New York City where immigrants underwent medical examinations and legal checks to determine their eligibility for entry into the US

Tenements

multi-family apartments in cities that were typically overcrowded and had poor living conditions.

How the Other Half Lives

a book by Jacob Riis that exposed the harsh living conditions of the urban poor in New York City, particularly in the tenements.

Gilded Age

a period in US history from the 1870s to 1900. The term 'Gilded Age' refers to a time marked by significant industrial growth, technological advancement, and the emergence of a wealthy elite amid widespread poverty and corruption in American society.

gilded

Something is gilded if it is covered with gold on the outside but made of cheaper material inside.