Chapter 13 Terms, People, Key Questions

EAH Honors, Sophomore, 24-25

Entrepreneur

A person who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise. EX: Rockefeller, Carnegie, Vanderbilt.

Protective Tariff

A tax on imported goods implemented by the U.S. Government to make imported goods more expensive than domestically produced foods, protecting American industries from foreign competition.

Laissez Faire

“Allow to do” in French, referring to a policy where the government interferes as little as possible in the nation’s economy.

Patent

A government-issued grant that gives an inventor the exclusive right to make, use and sell an invention for a set period of time.

Thomas Edison

An American Inventor, known for the lightbulb. He had over 1,000 patents.

Bessemer Process

A revolutionary process for making steel, made by Henry Bessemer. The process was crucial to the growth of railroads, skyscrapers, and bridges.

Suspension Bridge

The deck (road) is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. The development of strong steel made it possible to build longer and stronger suspension bridges. EX: Brooklyn Bridge

Time Zone

A geographical region that observes a uniform standard time, as more railroads came about, it became necessary to standardize time to prevent confusion and ensure accurate schedules.

Mass Production

A method of efficiently producing large quantities of standardized goods, typically using assembly lines and specialized machinery. It dramatically lowered the cost of goods, making them accessible to a wider market.

Corporation

A legal entity that is separate from its individual owners, corporations can own property, gain debt, and enter into contracts, offering investors limited liability (only responsible for the amount of their investment, they don’t loose more than they invest).

Monopoly

The exclusive control by one company over an entire industry (from raw material to consumers buying), there is no competition, allowing it to dictate prices and control supply.

Cartel

An association of industry producers that all agree to control the production and sale of a product, often by limiting supply and maintaining high prices.

John D. Rockefeller

An American industrialist that founded the Standard Oil Company. He became one of the wealthiest Americans in history by building a near-monopoly in the oil refining industry, mainly through horizontal integration and the use of trusts.

Cornelius Vanderbilt

An American industrialist that built his fortune in shipping and later in railroads.

J.P. Morgan

A powerful American financier and banker who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation.

Horizontal Integration

A strategy where a company acquires or merges with other companies that produce the same type of product.

Trust

A legal arrangement in which control over separate companies is transferred to a single board of trustees. Allows companies to circumvent laws against monopolies by pooling their resources and acting as a single entity.

Andrew Carnegie / “Gospel of Wealth”

A Scottish immigrant that was a master of vertical integration and became one of the wealthiest men in America. He wrote the “Gospel of Wealth”, arguing that the wealthy had a moral obligation to use their fortunes where they see fit to help society.

Vertical Integration

A strategy where a company gains control over all stages of production, from raw materials to manufacturing, distribution, and retail. EX: Andrew Carnegie in steel industry (owned coal mines, iron ore deposits, steel mills, and railroads).

Social Darwinism

Applies Charles Darwin’s concept of “survival of the fittest” to human society and economic competition. The wealthy are naturally superior and the poor are unfit.

ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission)

First federal agency designed to regulate big business, initially its purpose was to oversee railroad activities, but it was weak.

Sherman Antitrust Act

The first federal law to outlaw monopolistic business practices. It aimed to prevent combinations and conspiracies in restraint of trade, making it illegal for businesses to form trusts or other arrangements that stifled competition.

Sweatshop

A factory or workshop, especially in the garment industry, where manual workers are employed at very low wages for long hours under poor, unsafe, and unsanitary working conditions.

Company Town

A settlement built and owned by a company for its workers. These towns are often provided workers with housing, stores, and other services, but workers were frequently paid in scrip (company currency) that could only be used a company stores, trapping them in a cycle of debt and dependency.

Collective Bargaining

A process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees (usually represented by a labor union) to reach agreements on working conditions, wages, hours, and other employment terms.

Strike

A work stoppage by employees as a form of protest, typically in an effort to force an employer to agree to their demands, like higher wages or better working conditions. A key tactic of collective bargaining.

Socialism

A political and economic theory advocating that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole, rather than by private individuals or corporations.

Knights of Labor

One of the most important labor organizations in the United States founded by Uriah Smith Stephens, initially operating secretly. It admitted all workers, regardless of skill, gender, race, or ethnicity. They had broad goals, but declined after the Haymarket Riot.

Terrance V. Powderly

Led the Knights of Labor union from 1879 to 1893.

Uriah Smith Stephens

Founder of the Knights of Labor in 1869.

Samuel Gompers

An American Labor Union leader that founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in 1886 and served as its president for nearly 40 years.

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

Founded in 1886 by Samuel Gompers. It focused on higher wages, shorter hours, and better working conditions for skilled workers.

Haymarket RIot

A violent confrontation in Haymarket Square, Chicago on May 4, 1886 during a labor demonstration for an 8-hour workday. A bomb was thrown, and several police officers and protesters were killed. Anarchist labor leaders were convicted and executed, and the incident severely damaged the Knights of Labor reputation, linking them with radicalism and violence.

Homestead Strike

A violent industrial lockout and the strike that occurred in 1892 at Andre Carnegie’s Homestead Steel Works in Homestead, Pennsylvania. Workers went on strike over wage cuts, Carnegie’s manager, Henry Clay Frick, brought in Pinkerton guards to protect the plant. The state militia was eventually called in to break the strike, and the union was defeated, weakening the steelworkers’ union for decades.

Eugene V. Debs

A prominent American Labor organizer and socialist leader. He helped found the American Railway Union (ARU) and led the Pullman Strike.

Pullman Strike

A nationwide railroad strike in 1894, sparked by wage cuts and high rents in George Pullman’s company town near Chicago. Workers walked out, and the ARU launched a boycott of pullman cars. It paralyzed rail traffic across the country. President Grover Cleveland sent in federal troops to break the strike on the grounds that it was interfering with the delivery of mail, leading to violence and the defeat of the union.

What factors spurred industrial growth in the late 1800s?

Abundant natural resources, growing workforce, technological innovation, government support, capital for investment, expanding markets, and entrepreneurial spirit.

How did new technologies shape industrialization?

Increased production efficiency, new industries, improved transportation, urbanization, changes in work, and standardization.

What impact did industrialization have on Americans?

Economic growth and wealth, urbanization, new social classes, changed nature of work, increased consumer goods, immigration, social problems, and the rise of labor movement.

What strategies did corporations use to decrease costs and increase profits?

Economies of scale, horizontal integration, vertical integration, trusts/cartels, lower labor costs, technological innovation, and exploiting transportation.

What arguments did people use to support or oppose big business?

In support = efficiency/innovation, job creation, national wealth and power, “captains of industry” (shrewd, hard-working industrialists), philanthropy, and social Darwinism. In opposition = monopolies/unfair practices, exploitation of workers, concentration of wealth, political influence, and “robber barons” (opponents called industrialists this because they gained their wealth through unethical means and exploited others)

How did the federal government respond to labor disputes? Regulate business?

To labor disputes - Sent in federal troops, issued injunctions, supported employers. Regulate Business - initial laissez-faire, early attempts at regulation, limited effectiveness.

How did various labor unions differ in their goals?

Knights of Labor - Broad, aiming for social and economic reform for all workers, no matter their skillset (skilled or unskilled), gender, or race. American Federation of Labor - Wanted higher wages, shorter hours, and better working conditions. Only for skilled workers. Industrial Workers of the World (IWW - Wobblies) - Want one big union for all workers, skilled, unskilled, migrants, etc. They wanted more radicalism.

Why did workers increasingly turn to the strike as a tactic to win labor gains?

Power imbalance, poor conditions, lack of legal protection and recognition, influence of unions, and perceived injustice.