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What did Congress do to support the growing demand in Railroads?
Congress began to financially support the cost of railroad construction and gave unused public land to the railroad companies.
Who did Congress select to build the Transcontinental Railroad? Where did the track start?
In 1862 Congress selected the Union Pacific Railroad company; started in Omaha, Nebraska.
Who was responsible for laying out the track for the Transcontinental railroad in California?
The Central Pacific Railroad Company.
What was a big benefit to the Transcontinental Railroad? WHEN WAS IT COMPLETED??
It increased trade with Asia and opened up the West for expansion; completed in 1869.
What were the names of the 5 Transcontinental Railroads?
The Northern Pacific Railroad, Atchison, Topeka, Santa Fe, The Southern Pacific, and the Great Northern.
What were some advancements that helped the development of railroads? What was the guys name who helped in the east?
The steel rail and a standard gauge of track width helped the advancements. Cornelius Vanderbilt improved Eastern railroads.
Why was the transcontinental railway system helpful?
It increased immigration and created new trading routes.
What happened in Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railroad Company vs. Illinois?
Many farmers protested against railroaders who ran the farmers into bankruptcy which led Midwestern legislatures to try and regulate the railroad monopoly. In 1886, the Supreme Court ruled that these states cannot regulate interstate commerce (making many farmers mad).
What was the Interstate Commerce Act?
In 1887, this act prohibited railroad companies from dividing their businesses and sharing the profits and required the railroads to publish their rates openly.
What was the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)?
In 1887, it allowed competing businesses to resolve their conflicts in peaceful ways (instead of engaging in price wars).
Who and when was the telephone created? What did it allow?
In 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell. It caused huge news to be spread instantly
Who and when was the electric light bulb created?
In 1879 by Thomas Alva Edison.
What is vertical integration? Who was famous for it?
It was a way of combining phases of manufacturing into one organization. Andrew Carnegie used this to control every aspect of production (from mining to marketing) to improve efficiency.
What is horizontal integration?
Allying with competitors to monopolize a given market.
What is trust? What is an example?
When one company takes control of another company’s stock. This led to bigger monopolies. An example was Rockefeller.
What is interlocking directorates?
A tactic of putting your employees on the board of directors of rival companies to gain additional information about them.
What was the king of the industrial era?
Steel
What was the Bessemer Process?
It simplified the steel production process and reduced the price of steel.
Who was Andrew Carnegie?
He used the Bessemer Process to produce ¼ of the nation's steel (1900)
Who was J.P Morgan?
He financed the reorganization of railroads, insurance companies, and banks.
What was the United States Steel Corporation?
Created in 1901 by Andrew Carnegie & J.P Morgan, it was Americas first billion dollar company.
Who was John D. Rockefeller?
Created the Standard Oil Company of Ohio in 1870 and by 1877, he controlled 95% of all the oil refineries in the nation.
What is Plutocracy?
When a government is controlled by the wealthy.
What was the Sherman Anti-Trust Act?
In 1890, it forbade business activities that the government deemed as anti-competitive. It required the government to investigate trusts. (didnt actually happen)
How was the south during the start of the industrial era?
It was still lacking behind the North but did receive a boost when cigarette machines started to be used.
Who created the American Tobacco Company and when?
James Buchanan Duke in 1890.
What was the Pittsburg Plus?
A pricing system that negatively effected the South during the steel industry because the North found coal and iron rather than the South.
What was the agricultural industry replaced by?
Manufacturing
How did the new industrial age affect woman?
It was very positive for them economically and socially. It gave them many jobs as inventions arose (ex: typewriter and the telephone switchboard)
What were Ironclad Oaths and Yellow-Dog Contracts? Why was this created?
It was agreements made out to employees that they could not join a labor union to rebel (created because many rebelled over low wages).
What happened if companies owned the "company town”
They would increase prices of basic living expenses so that the company could make more money (grocery stores, banks, etc).
What was the National Labor Union?
Created in 1866, the purpose of the union was to organize workers across different trades and challenge companies for better working conditions.
What was the Colored National Labor Union?
Similar to the National Labor Union, it organized mostly colored people to advocate for better working conditions.
Note: They did not ally with the National Labor Union because it had Republican supporters who were racial white unionists.
What was the Knights of Labor?
Founded in 1869, sought better working conditions and 8 hour work days. They were VERY inclusive and lost support in the Haymarket Riot.
What happened that Negatively Affected the Knights of Labor?
An organized riot that went terrible when people threw pipe bombs, killing 9 people. This caused a lot of people to look away from Unions
What was the American Federation of Labor?
It composed of skilled workers (non inclusive) and was founded in 1886 by Samuel Gompers. It sought for better wages, hours, and working conditions. They collectively bargained and did worker strikes.
What is closed shop?
Where an employer could only hire union employees and all of the employees had to be in a union (EX: American Federation of Labor Union).
When was Labor Day created?
1894
What did Jim Fisk and Jay Gould do?
In 1869 they attempted to raise the price of the gold market by hoarding a ton of it to drive up the price. Unfortunately, they were forced to sell their reserves on Black Friday (1869).
What is the Tweed Ring?
"Boss" Tweed (American Politician) employed bribery, and fraudulent elections to milk New York of as much as $200 million. Tweed was eventually put into prison.
How was the government corrupt?
Caused Boss Tweed who built a courthouse and charged people like crazy. He would then go to the bank and get a loan, pay them, but really just take from the bank.
What was the Credit Mobilier scandal?
In 1872 Union Pacific Railroad insiders formed this construction company and then hired themselves at inflated prices to build the railroad line, earnings a lot of money. The company paid off members of Congress and the Vice President (one way the government was corrupt)
What was the Liberal Republican Party?
Formed in 1872 in response to the political corruption in Washington and their dissatisfaction with military Reconstruction.
Who did each party choose for the election of 1872?
Democrats: Horace Greeley
Liberal Republicans: Horace Greeley
Republicans: Ulysses S. Grant (he won)
What is the The Amnesty Act?
Caused by the Liberal Republicans in 1872 it removed political restrictions from most of the former Confederate leaders. Congress also reduced high Civil War tariffs.
How was the panic of 1873 caused?
Over-speculation was the primary cause because banks gave too many imprudent loans to support over-expansion. When profits failed to materialize, people were unable to pay back their loans.
What is the Resumption Act of 1875?
Supported by advocates of hard money (coin money), this required the government to withdraw greenbacks (paper money with runaway inflation) from circulation and to turn all paper money to gold in 1879.
What was Contraction?
Involved the Treasury accumulating gold stock to replace the greenbacks (increased the value of greenbacks).
How did Republicans hard-money ramifications affect the government?
It had a huge negative effect for republicans and caused the Democrats to lead the House of Reps. in 1874.
What is the Gilded Age?
Biggest period of growth that created the Middle Class after the civil war and was dominated by rich people
Possible Quiz Questions…
Government Corruption
Fabulous Wealth
What is patronage?
The principle of giving jobs to your political supporters
What did Republican voters strive for? Where did most live?
Strict codes of personal morality an the government playing a role in regulating the economic and moral affairs of society. They were located in the Midwest and Northeast.
What did Democratic voters strive for? Where did most live?
They also opposed the government imposing a single moral standard on the entire society. Democrats were found in the South and in the northern industrial cities.
Who did the two parties choose for the election of 1876?
Republicans: Rutherford B. Hayes
Democrats: Samuel J. Tilden.
What happened in the Election of 1876?
Tilden won the popular vote, but was 1 vote shy from winning in the Electoral College (184 of 185). One ballot count said that the Republicans had won, while the other count said that the Democrats had won.
What was the Compromise of 1877?
Following the disputes in the Election of 1876, the Compromise created an Electoral Count Act, which set up an electoral commission consisting of 15 men from the Senate, HOR, and Supreme Court. The commission ultimately gave the election to Hayes (Republican).
What was the Civil Rights Act of 1875?
It was meant to guarantee equal accommodations in public places and prohibited racial discrimination in jury selection but was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
They stated that the 14th Amendment only prohibited government violations of civil rights, not the denial of civil rights by individuals.
What is the crop-lien system?
When small farmers who rented land from the plantation owners were kept in perpetual debt and forced to continue to work for the owners.
What is sharecropping?
Used for former slaves, it was a system where the landlord/planter allowed a black person to use the land in exchange for a share of the crop.
What were Jim-Crow laws?
Segregated black people even though they had legal freedom. They could barely vote (tests were made), they were lynched
What did the South do to ensure black people could not vote?
They enacted literacy requirements, voter-registration laws, and poll taxes to ensure that Southern blacks could not vote.
What was Plessy vs. Ferguson (1869)?
When the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the South’s segregation declaring that separate facilities for black people were acceptable.
What did President Hayes do that angered railway workers?
He cut their wages.
What was the Chinese Exclusion Act?
It happened when people on the West Coast created economic and social difficulties for the hated Chinese. This led Congress to pass this in 1882.
What happened after Garfield won in the Election of 1880?
He was assassinated by Charles J. Guiteau at a Washington railroad station. It was thought that after Arthur (VP) took over as president, he would replace the Half-Breed Republican employees with Stalwarts Faction.
What happened with many politicians after Garfield’s death?
They began to reform the spoils system (where supporters of a party who won presidency could work in the government).
What was the the Pendleton Act of 1883?
It established a merit-based system (promoting people, awarding them) for hiring and promoting federal employees without regard to race and stated that people can’t just be fired for no reason.
What did Grover Cleveland do as President (1884)?
He tried to convince Congress a big tariff in 1887 (failed) and replaced thousands of federal employees with Democrats while believing the government should not support the people.
What is the Billion-Dollar Congress?
Happened when speaker of the House, Thomas B. Reed, used intimidation to get Congress to pass several debated bills. This Bill gave pensions to Civil War veterans, increased government purchases on silver, and passed the McKinley Tariff Act of 1890.
What is the McKinley Tariff Act of 1890?
It significantly raised tariffs and financially hurt farmers. Farmers were forced to buy expensive products from American manufacturers while selling their own products into the highly competitive world markets.
It caused the Republican Party to lose public support.
Who was Lincoln Steffens?
Uncovered some ways the government was corrupt such as looking in ballots and finding out dead people would vote.
Summarize the working conditions…
They were at an all time high and used everyone (even children and woman). Work was long and pay was low (even cut like in the Railway company).
Note 
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