Industrialization and the American Labor Movement

Vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts, industrialists, legislation, and labor conflicts of the American Industrial Revolution.

Industrial Revolution

The transformation from hand production to machine-powered factories, which changed how goods were made and how people lived and worked.

Laissez-faire

The belief that the government should interfere as little as possible in the economy.

Protective tariff

A tax on imported goods intended to help domestic businesses compete with foreign producers.

Patent

A legal right that protects an invention for a limited period.

Time zone

A geographical region that follows the same standard time; standardized time zones helped railroads coordinate schedules.

Corporation

A business legally recognized as a separate entity from its owners.

Monopoly

A situation in which one company controls all or nearly all of a market, limiting competition.

Horizontal integration

A business strategy in which a company buys or combines with competing businesses at the same stage of production.

Vertical integration

A business strategy in which a company controls multiple stages of producing and distributing a product.

Mass production

The manufacturing of large quantities of standardized products, often using machinery and specialized tasks.

John D. Rockefeller

An industrialist who built Standard Oil into a dominant oil business; associated with oil, trusts, and horizontal integration.

Andrew Carnegie

An industrialist who built a major steel business; associated with steel and vertical integration.

Sherman Antitrust Act

An 1890 federal law intended to prohibit trusts and certain monopolistic business practices that restrained competition.

Sweatshop

A workplace with poor conditions, often involving low pay, long hours, and inadequate safety.

Collective bargaining

Negotiations between workers' representatives and employers over wages, hours, benefits, and working conditions.

Strike

When workers collectively stop working to pressure an employer to address their demands.

Socialism

A political and economic philosophy favoring social or collective ownership or control of major productive resources.

Haymarket Riot (1886)

A Chicago labor rally amid demands for an eight-hour workday turned violent after a bomb was thrown; the event led to a backlash against radical labor activists.

Homestead Strike (1892)

A labor conflict at Carnegie Steel in Pennsylvania over wages and union power; the strike failed and the union was weakened.

Pullman Strike (1894)

A labor conflict following wage cuts and worker grievances at the Pullman company; a boycott of Pullman railcars disrupted rail traffic, and federal intervention helped end the strike.

Pattern of outcomes for labor union strikes

Major strikes often faced employer resistance, replacement workers, court orders, or government intervention and frequently ended in setbacks for unions, while drawing attention to workers' demands.