Chapter 16: Business and Labor in the Industrial Era (1860-1900)

Second Industrial Revolution

Beginning in the late nineteenth century, a wave of technological innovations, especially in iron and steel production, steam and electrical power, and telegraphic communications, all of which spurred industrial development and urban growth

Standard Oil Company

Corporation under the leadership of John D. Rockefeller that attempted to dominate the entire oil industry though horizontal and vertical integration

American Federation of Labor

Founded in 1886 as a national federation of trade unions made up of skilled workers

Homestead Steel Strike (1892)

Labor conflict at the Homestead steel mill near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, culminating in a battle between strikers and private security agents hired by the factory's management

Pullman Strike (1894)

A national strike by the American Railway Union, whose members shut down major railways in sympathy with striking workers in Pullman, Illinois; ended with intervention of federal troops

monopoly

Corporation so large that it effectively controls the entire market for its products or services

laissez-faire

an economic doctrine holding that businesses and individuals should be able to pursue their economic interests without government interference

Knights of Labor

A national labor organization with a broad reform platform; reached peak membership in the 1800s

Haymarket Riot (1886)

Violent uprising in Haymarket Square, Chicago, where police clashed with labor demonstrators in the aftermath of the bombing