DCUSH 2.1-2.3 Vocab

Entrepreneurs

People who build and manage businesses or enterprises in order to make a profit, often risking their own money or livelihoods

Free enterprise

freedom of private business to organize and operate for profit in a competitive system without interference by government beyond regulation necessary to protect public interest and keep the national economy in balance

Laissez-faire

the absence of government control over personal and economic life

Protective tariffs

the taxes on imported goods designed to protect domestic industry

Patent

official rights given by the government to an inventor for the exclusive right to develop, use, and sell an invention for a set period of time

Thomas Edison

an american inventor; held over 1,000 patents for inventions, including the light bulb, an early movie camera, and an alkaline battery

Bessemer process

method developed in the mid-nineteenth century for making steel more efficiently

Suspension bridges

bridges that have a roadway suspended by cables

Time zones

divisions of the globe along meridians that establish local time, one for each hour of the day, created in 1884 by delegates from 27 countries

Mass production

production of goods in large numbers through the use of machinery and assembly lines

Cash crop

crop grown for sale

Corporation

company recognized as a legal unit that has rights an liabilites seperate from each of its members

Monopoly

exclusive control by one company over an entire industry

Cartel

association of producers of a good or service that prices and controls stocks in order to monopolize the market

John D. Rockefeller

an American industrialist and philanthropist; beganthe Standard Oil Company & dominated the oil industry with innovative, aggressive business practices; also contributed money to different causes through the Rockefeller Foundation

Horizontal integration

system of consolidating many firms in the same business

Trust

group of separate companies that are placed under the control of a single managing board in order to form a monopoly

Andrew Carnegie

an American industrialist and philanthropist who began Carnegie Steel, a corporation that dominated the American steel industry; created charitable trust foundations and provided money for cultural and educational institutions

Vertical integration

system of consolidating firms involved in all steps of a product's manufacture

Social Darwinism

the belief held by some in the late nineteenth century that certain nations and races were superior to others and therefore destined to rule over them

Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)

first federal agency monitoring business operations, created in 1887 to oversee interstate railroad procedures

Sherman Antitrust Act

1890 law banning any trust that restrained interstate trade or commerce

Sweatshops

small factories where employees have to work long hours under poor conditions for little pay

Company towns

communities in which residents rely upon one company for jobs, housing, and buying goods

Collective bargaining

process in which employers negotiate with labor unions about hours, wages, and other working conditions

Socialism

system or theory under which the means of production are publicly controlled and regulated rather than owned by individuals

Knights of Labor

laber union that sought to organize all workers and focused on broad social reforms

Terence V. Powderly

an American labor leader who led the Knights of Labor for several years in the late nineteenth century with the goal of leading American workers out of what he saw as the bondage of wage labor

Samuel Gompers

an American labor leader and the first president of the American Federation of Labor; advocated organized strikes and boycotts to achieve the organization's goals.

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

labor union that organized skilled workers in a specific trade and made specific demands rather than seeking broad changes

Haymarket Riot

1886 labor-related protest in Chicago which ended in deadly violence

Homestead Strike

1892 strike against Carnegie's steelworks in Homestead, Pennsylvania

Eugene V. Debs

a labor organizer and social leader who advocated for the rights of railway workers; ran for president five times between 1900 and 1920 as a candidate for the Socialist Party.

Pullman Strike

violent 1894 railway workers' strike which began outside of Chicago and spread nationwide