Gilded Age Study Guide: Industrialization, Big Business, Labor, and Populism Flashcards

Flashcards covering industrialization, major tycoons, labor unions, political corruption, immigration, and the Populist movement during the Gilded Age.

Interchangeable parts

The manufacturing concept where machine components are produced to standard sizes so any part can replace another of the same type, serving as the foundation for mass production.

Samuel Slater

Industrialist often called the "father of the American factory system" who memorized British textile machine designs and rebuilt them in Rhode Island in 1793.

Division of labor

The process of breaking down production into small, specialized steps assigned to different workers, increasing output speed while reducing the need for highly skilled craftsmen.

Assembly line

A manufacturing method featuring a continuously moving line where a product passes from worker to worker, with each person adding a specific component.

Henry Bessemer

Developer of the Bessemer process, a fast and inexpensive method of converting iron into steel by passing air through molten iron to burn off impurities.

Samuel F.B. Morse

Inventor of the telegraph and Morse code, enabling instant long-distance communication across national supply chains and markets.

Cyrus Field

Leader of the project that successfully laid the first transatlantic telegraph cable, directly connecting North America and Europe.

Alexander Graham Bell

Inventor who created the telephone in 1876, advancing communication from coded messages to direct voice conversation.

Thomas Edison

Prolific inventor credited with the practical incandescent light bulb, phonograph, electrical power systems, and the creation of the corporate industrial research lab.

Gilded Age

Term coined by Mark Twain for the period from roughly the 1870s to 1900, describing how glittering wealth and progress masked underlying social corruption, inequality, and bad working conditions.

Andrew Carnegie

Steel magnate who founded Carnegie Steel and built his empire using vertical integration, later advocating for the "Gospel of Wealth."

Vertical integration

A business strategy involving ownership of every stage of production—from raw material extraction to transport and manufacturing—to cut costs and eliminate middleman expenses.

John D. Rockefeller

Founder of Standard Oil who created an oil empire through horizontal integration and anti-competitive practices like secret railroad rebates.

Horizontal integration

A business practice of buying out or driving out competing businesses in the same market to control an entire industry as a monopoly or trust.

J.P. Morgan

Dominant financier of the era who consolidated power by financing, reorganizing, and controlling company debt and stock, famously bailing out railroads and the U.S. Treasury.

Social Darwinism

A theory applying biological "survival of the fittest" to human society, claiming the wealthy were naturally superior and that government should not interfere in business or assist the poor.

Business cycle

The recurring economic pattern featuring periods of expansion, rising prices, and low unemployment followed by contractions, recessions, and job loss.

Inflation

A general rise in overall prices or a corresponding decrease in the purchasing power of money.

Knights of Labor

An early national labor union that grew rapidly in the 1880s by accepting skilled and unskilled workers, as well as women and Black workers, before declining after the Haymarket Riot.

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

Labor union founded by Samuel Gompers that organized only skilled workers into craft-specific unions, focusing strictly on pragmatic economic goals like wages and hours.

Haymarket Riot (1886)

A labor rally in Chicago for an 8-hour workday that turned deadly after a bomb was thrown at police, creating public backlash that associated unions with radical violence.

Homestead Strike (1892)

A violent strike at Carnegie's Pennsylvania steel plant triggered by wage cuts, during which management hired armed Pinkerton guards to confront striking workers.

Pullman Strike (1894)

A nationwide railroad strike stemming from wage cuts in a company town, which was crushed when federal troops intervened under the premise of protecting mail delivery.

Anarchists

Political radicals who advocated abolishing all state government and hierarchical authority in favor of voluntary cooperation.

Communists

Followers of Karl Marx who argued that capitalism inherently exploits workers, advocating that laborers collectively seize control of industrial factories and property.

Social Gospel Movement

A religious reform movement asserting that Christians had a moral duty to solve societal problems like poverty and unsafe working conditions through direct action.

Tammany Hall

The political machine in New York City that dominated Democratic politics by exchanging favors, jobs, and social support for political votes while extracting graft.

William "Boss" Tweed

Infamous leader of Tammany Hall who stole tens of millions of dollars from public municipal projects through inflated contracts and bribery.

George Washington Plunkitt

Tammany Hall politician who famously made a public distinction between illegal "dishonest graft" and insider-knowledge-based "honest graft."

Abraham Ruef

Political boss who controlled San Francisco's local government in the early 1900s through business extortion and widespread bribery.

Credit Mobilier scandal

A fraudulent scheme where insiders of the Union Pacific Railroad formed a dummy construction firm, overcharged federal subsidies, and bribed congressmen with company stock.

Erie Railroad scandal

A financial fight for control of the Erie Railroad involving corporate stock manipulation, fake share issuances, and bribery of state judges and legislators.

Southern Pacific scandal

The corporate domination of California's state government by the Southern Pacific Railroad through bribery to gain favorable land grants and avoid state regulation.

Whiskey Ring

A federal scandal during President Grant's administration where liquor distillers bribed government tax officials to avoid paying federal taxes on alcohol.

Ellis Island

The main East Coast federal processing center in New York Harbor that handled millions of immigrants arriving from Southern and Eastern Europe.

Angel Island

The West Coast immigration processing facility in San Francisco Bay designed primarily to detain and screen Asian immigrants under restrictive immigration laws.

Restrictive covenants

Clauses inserted into private real estate deeds that legally prohibited selling or renting homes to specific racial, religious, or ethnic groups.

The Grange

The first major organization of American farmers, initially created for social purposes, which grew into a political force that passed state laws regulating railroad rates.

Farmers' Alliances

Regional organizations of agricultural workers that organized politically to combat tight credit, high railroad charges, and falling crop prices, directly leading to the Populist Party.

Populists (People's Party)

A third political party formed in 1892 that campaigned for an expanded money supply, federal control or regulation of railroads, and a progressive income tax.

Interstate Commerce Act (1887)

The first federal law regulating private industry, which created the Interstate Commerce Commission to oversee railroad pricing and prevent discrimination.

"Gold Bugs" vs. "Silverites"

The core Gilded Age monetary policy debate separating supporters of a strict gold-backed currency from those who wanted silver coined ("free silver") to cause mild inflation to help debtors.

Coxey's Army (1894)

A protest movement of unemployed workers led by Jacob Coxey who marched on Washington, D.C. during a severe depression to demand federal public works employment.

Progressive income tax

A system of taxation where the tax percentage rate increases proportionally as a taxpayer's income grows higher.

William Jennings Bryan

Democratic and Populist presidential nominee in 1896 who delivered the "Cross of Gold" speech defending free silver and agrarian economic interests.