American History: The New Industrial Age, Labor, and the Gilded Age

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering the rise of corporate power, industrialization, labor unions, historical strikes, immigration trends, urban political machines, and Populism in the Gilded Age.

Monopoly

A group of companies joined together in a specific field of business to gain complete control over an industry, leaving consumers with only one option (such as the Sugar company dominating the sugar industry).

Conglomerate

A legally recognized corporate entity formed by merging a few different, unrelated corporations together.

Trust

A large-scale combination where a group of corporations is controlled under a single board of people (e.g., John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Trust Co.).

Robber Barons

A derogatory term used for wealthy nineteenth-century industrialists who hoarded profits, exploited workers, and eliminated competition, often defending their fortunes through philanthropy.

Social Darwinism

A philosophy applying 'survival of the fittest' to society and business, asserting that working hard enough guarantees success and serving as justification for eliminating competition and hurting others to reach the top.

Horatio Alger

An author who wrote literature promoting the idea that individual hard work and determination will inevitably lead to success.

Andrew Carnegie

An immigrant who rose through the steel industry, owned $80\%$ of U.S. steel, gave away $90\%$ of his wealth ($325\text{ Million}$ in charity), and sold his industry to J.P. Morgan in $1901$ for $250\text{ Million}$.

John D. Rockefeller

Industrialist who ran an oil refining business, established the Standard Oil Trust Co., controlled $90\%$ of all oil refining companies by $1882$, and donated $500\text{ Million}$ to public causes.

J.P. Morgan

A powerful banking titan who took over bankrupt railroad companies, controlled shipping and insurance, and bought Andrew Carnegie's steel company.

Conspicuous Consumption

The highly visible, outward display of immense wealth by industrial magnates and Gilded Age elites.

Laissez-faire

A 'hands-off' governmental approach where people make all business decisions and the government enforces zero regulatory restrictions on the economy.

National Labor Union (NLU)

A labor union founded in $1866$ by William Sylvis that sought to unite all small trade unions into a larger organization, but excluded African American and female workers.

Colored National Labor Union

The first major Black workers' labor union, organized specifically in protest against white unions that barred African American members.

Knights of Labor (KOL)

A union founded by Uriah Stephens open to all workers regardless of gender, race, or skill level, advocating 'An injury to one is an injury to all!', an $8\text{-hour}$ workday, and equal pay for men and women.

Craft Unionism

A labor union model organizing only skilled workers from specific trades, exemplified by Samuel Gompers's American Federation of Labor (AFL), which used collective bargaining and shorter workweeks.

Industrial Unionism

A union organizing model uniting all workers within an entire industry regardless of individual skill level, founded in the railroad sector by Eugene Debs via the American Railway Union.

Industrial Workers of the World (IWW / 'The Wobblies')

A radical socialist union formed by over $150{,}000$ men and women seeking a complete worker takeover to operate industry directly for the benefit of the people.

The Great Strike of 1877

A nationwide railroad strike provoked by wage cuts that shut down $50{,}000\text{ miles}$ of track until President Hayes deployed federal troops to crush the strike.

Haymarket Riot

A protest in Chicago's Haymarket Square where a thrown bomb killed police and civilians, causing eight workers to be convicted and permanently associating the labor movement with radicalism.

Pullman Strike

An $1894$ rail strike triggered when George Pullman cut wages without reducing rent in his company town; it was broken when President Cleveland dispatched troops, resulting in Eugene Debs's arrest and worker blacklisting.

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

A lethal garment factory blaze where locked exit doors and absent sprinklers caused widespread worker deaths, prompting stricter fire safety laws and pushes for shorter workweeks.

Yellow Dog Contract

An agreement forced upon prospective employees by company bosses requiring workers to promise never to join a labor union or participate in a strike.

Chinese Exclusion Act

Federal legislation that halted Chinese immigration following rising anti-Chinese riots and resentment after Chinese laborers had built railroads and participated in the Gold Rush.

Gentlemen's Agreement

An informal pact between the United States and Japan where Japan agreed to halt emigration of laborers in exchange for reduced discrimination and avoidance of formal U.S. exclusion laws.

Nativism

Overt favoritism toward native-born inhabitants accompanied by hostility toward immigrants, prompting restrictive efforts like an English literacy test vetoed by President Cleveland.

Social Gospel Movement

A religious reform movement preaching that individuals could secure personal salvation through service and aid to the urban poor.

Settlement Houses

Community service centers in poor urban areas providing educational classes, childcare, and social services, pioneered by Jane Addams with Chicago's Hull House to assist immigrants.

Political Machine

An organized party apparatus controlling municipal politics by dispensing city jobs, patronage, and services to voters and immigrants in exchange for political support.

Tammany Hall

The powerful Democratic political machine in New York City, famously led by Boss Tweed, which systematically handed out patronage jobs and engaged in corruption.

Graft

The illegal use of political power, office, or public influence to secure personal financial enrichment.

The Grange

An organization of farmers established to combat railroad monopolies, corrupt shipping tariffs, and grain elevator price-fixing.

Populist Party

A political movement championing farmers and working-class citizens whose platform demanded the direct election of senators, a graduated income tax, an $8\text{-hour}$ workday, government ownership of railroads, and Free Silver.

Free Silver

A monetary policy backed by agrarian reformers to coin unlimited silver alongside gold, deliberately causing inflation to ease debt repayment burdens for farmers.

William Jennings Bryan

The Populist and Democratic presidential candidate who ran on the Free Silver platform, famously arguing against crucifying mankind upon a cross of gold.

Yellow Journalism

Sensationalist, exaggerated, or fabricated newspaper reporting pioneered by Joseph Pulitzer's New York World and William Randolph Hearst's New York Morning Journal to outsell rivals.

The Gilded Age

A term coined by Mark Twain describing late nineteenth-century America ($1870\text{--}1900$), characterized by dazzling economic growth and mass culture that concealed widespread poverty, political corruption, and exploitation.