Industrialism/Gilded Age Vocab

Vocab from Unit 3 US History

Capitalism

An economic system based on private ownership of capital

Bessemer Process

A cheap and efficient process for making steel, developed around 1850

Factors of Production

Land, Labor, Capital

Capital

Any financial asset including money, machines, buildings used in production

Corporation

Company recognized with the ability to own property, borrow money, sue or be sued

Monopoly

A company that dominates an industry

Trust

A set of companies managed by a small group known as trustees, who can prevent companies in the trust from competing with each other

Horizontal Integration

System of consolidating many firms in the same business

Vertical Integration

Practice where a single entity controls the entire process of a product, from the raw materials to distribution

Laissez-faire

Policy that government should interfere as little as possible in the nation's economy

Social Darwinism

The belief that only the fittest survive in human political and economic struggle

Sherman Antitrust Act

An 1890 law that banned the formation of trusts and monopolies in the United States

Guilded Age

Widespread poverty, America looked good on outside but most people were poor(like the immigrants), period of greed and corruption

Entrepreneur

A person who starts up and takes on the risk of a business

Robber Baron

An American capitalist of the latter part of the 19th century who became wealthy through exploitation

Philanthropist

A person who gives money to support worthy causes

Patent

(n.) exclusive rights over an invention; copyright;

Captains of Industry

A name that was given to company owners such as Carnegie and Rockefeller by people who believed they steered the economy into prosperity.

Imperalism

A policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force.

Henry Ford

1863-1947. American businessman, founder of Ford Motor Company, father of modern assembly lines, and inventor credited with 161 patents.

Samuel Morse

United States portrait painter who patented the telegraph and developed the Morse code (1791-1872)

Thomas Edison

American inventor best known for inventing the electric light bulb, acoustic recording on wax cylinders, and motion pictures.

Andrew Carnegie

A Scottish-born American industrialist and philanthropist who founded the Carnegie Steel Company in 1892. By 1901, his company dominated the American steel industry.

John D. Rockefeller

Established the Standard Oil Company, the greatest, wisest, and meanest monopoly known in history

sweatshop

A shop or factory where workers work long hours at low wages under unhealthy conditions

Child labor

Children were viewed as laborers throughout the 19th century. Many children worked on farms, small businesses, mills and factories.

strike

Nonviolent refusal to continue to work until a problem is resolved.

upheaval movement

A series of violent strikes that broke out across America during the late 1800's.

"bread and butter" objectives

Better pay, less hours and better working conditions

Tenement

A building in which several families rent rooms or apartments, often with little sanitation or safety

collective bargaining

Process by which a union representing a group of workers negotiates with management for a contract