Gilded Age: Industrialization, Urbanization, and Immigration

Vocabulary study cards covering key topics from the Gilded Age review sheet: industrialization, labor movements, and immigration.

Transcontinental railroad

A continuous railway network completed in 1869 that linked the eastern United States to the Pacific coast, dramatically accelerating national trade, settlement, and industrialization.

Entrepreneurs

Individuals who organize, manage, and assume the financial risks of starting and expanding business enterprises during periods of rapid industrial growth.

Robber Barons

A derogatory term used in the late 19th century to describe wealthy industrialists and monopolists accused of using ruthless, corrupt, and exploitative practices to amass wealth.

Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie, an industrialist who spearheaded the expansion of the American steel industry through vertical integration and became a prominent philanthropist.

Social Darwinism

The application of the biological concept of 'survival of the fittest' to society and economics, used by elites to justify extreme wealth inequality and unfettered competition.

Gospel of Wealth

An 1889 article by Andrew Carnegie asserting that extremely wealthy individuals have a moral obligation to manage and distribute their surplus wealth for the benefit of the community.

Rockefeller

John D. Rockefeller, an industrialist who founded the Standard Oil Company and monopolized the American oil refining industry primarily through horizontal integration and trusts.

Monopoly

A market condition in which a single commercial enterprise controls the entire supply of a product or service, effectively eliminating competition.

Trust

A business consolidation structure where stockholders assign their stock to a central board of trustees, effectively operating multiple competing corporations under single unified control.

Shift among workers

The transition of the labor force from independent agricultural and artisanal work to mechanized, disciplined, and wage-dependent factory employment in urban centers.

Upton Sinclair

A muckraking author whose 1906 novel 'The Jungle' exposed unsanitary conditions and brutal labor exploitation in the Chicago meatpacking industry.

Laissez-faire economics

An economic doctrine advocating minimal to no government intervention, regulation, or interference in business affairs and market operations.

Labor unions

Organized associations of workers established to protect their collective interests and negotiate with employers for fair wages, reasonable work hours, and safer working conditions.

Strike

A collective, organized cessation of work by employees designed to force an employer to meet specific labor demands regarding compensation, safety, or hours.

Great Railway Strike (B&O RR)

A nationwide railroad strike in 1877 that originated on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad following steep wage cuts, resulting in violent protests and federal military intervention.

Haymarket Riot

An 1886 labor rally in Chicago's Haymarket Square that erupted in violence when a bomb was thrown at police, creating public backlash and associating labor unions with anarchism.

American Federation of Labor

A national labor alliance founded in 1886 by Samuel Gompers that united skilled craft unions and prioritized practical 'bread-and-butter' goals like higher pay and eight-hour workdays.

Homestead Strike

An 1892 industrial lockout and strike at Carnegie's steel mill in Homestead, Pennsylvania, culminating in an armed clash between striking workers and private Pinkerton detectives.

Pullman Strike

An 1894 nationwide railroad strike initiated by workers at the Pullman Palace Car Company following wage reductions without rent cuts, ultimately crushed by a federal injunction and troops.

Where from until the 1870s? (Immigration)

Prior to the 1870s, immigrants ('Old Immigrants') arrived predominantly from Northern and Western Europe, including Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, and Scandinavia.

Mainly from during 1890-1920? (Immigration)

During the 1890–1920 wave, immigrants ('New Immigrants') arrived primarily from Southern and Eastern Europe, including Italy, Poland, Russia, and Greece.

Primary religions (Immigration)

The major faiths of incoming immigrants during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which shifted from primarily Protestant to predominantly Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Jewish.

Religious prejudice

Hostility and social discrimination directed by established native-born Protestant groups against newly arriving Catholic, Jewish, and Orthodox immigrants.

Americanization

A social movement and educational initiative designed to assimilate immigrants into mainstream American culture through instruction in the English language, customs, and civic values.

Ellis Island

The premier federal immigration inspection station located in New York Harbor, which processed over 12 million European immigrants between 1892 and 1954.

describe ppl from Ellis Island

Chiefly European immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, typically traveling in steerage class, who arrived seeking industrial employment, economic advancement, and refuge from religious or political persecution.

Criteria for entry

The legal and physical requirements enforced at immigration stations, including passing physical and mental health exams, proving financial viability, and having no criminal record.

Angle Island

The primary West Coast immigration processing station in San Francisco Bay, known for strict detentions and rigorous interrogations primarily targeting Asian immigrants.

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

A federal law that prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers into the United States, representing the first major federal legislation to ban an entire ethnic group.

Tenements (what they were, conditions)

Narrow, multi-family urban apartment dwellings where low-income and immigrant families lived, characterized by extreme overcrowding, poor ventilation, scarce plumbing, and high fire hazards.

Nativists

Native-born individuals who held anti-immigrant views and favored policies that prioritized the rights and interests of native-born citizens over incoming foreign populations.

Settlement House

An urban neighborhood center established to provide social, recreational, educational, and medical services to poor urban residents and immigrants, such as Jane Addams' Hull House.

Push-Pull factors

The opposing forces influencing migration: push factors (such as poverty, famine, war, or persecution) compel people to leave, while pull factors (such as economic opportunities and freedom) attract them to a destination.

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

A lethal 1911 fire in a New York City garment workshop that claimed the lives of 146 trapped workers, spurring widespread industrial safety reforms and stringent labor laws.