Chapter 12 - Industrialization

Bessemer Process

A way to manufacture steel quickly and cheaply by blasting hot air through melted iron to quickly remove impurities.

Thomas Edison

American inventor best known for inventing the electric light bulb

Alexander Graham Bell

Invented the telephone

Edwin Drake

American pioneer in oil industry; became first to drill for oil using a steam engine

Transcontinental Railroad

Railroad connecting the west and east coasts of the continental US

Cornelius Vanderbilt

A railroad owner who built a railway connecting Chicago and New York. He popularized the use of steel rails in his railroad, which made railroads safer and more economical.

Credit Mobilier

A fraudulent construction company created to take the profits of the Union Pacific Railroad. Using government funds for the railroad, the Union Pacific directors gave padded construction contracts to Congress members

Interstate Commerce Act

Established the ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission) - monitors the business operation of carriers transporting goods and people between states - created to regulate railroad prices

standard time

the time zones devised by railroad companies to divide the world into 24 even time zones

George Pullman

American inventor of the Pullman sleeping car and founder of Pullman, Illinois

Grangers

An organization of farmers who tried to get the government to regulate the railroads and pass other farm friendly policies.

Munn v. Illinois

The Supreme Court upheld the Granger laws. The Munn case allowed states to regulate certain businesses within their borders, including railroads, and is commonly regarded as a milestone in the growth of federal government regulation.

Robber Barons

Refers to the industrialists or big business owners who gained huge profits by paying their employees extremely low wages. They also drove their competitors out of business by selling their products cheaper than it cost to produce it. Then when they controlled the market, they hiked prices high above original price.

Social Darwinism

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

Andrew Carnegie

Successful businessman who owned a large steel company; famously used vertical integration to create his monopoly

Verticle Intergration

system of consolidating businesses involved in all steps of a product's manufacture

Horizontal Integration

Type of monopoly where a company buys out all of its competition

J.P. Morgan

Banker who buys out Carnegie Steel and renames it to U.S. Steel

JD Rockefeller

owner of the Standard Oil monopoly and trust

Monopoly

Complete control of a product or business by one person or group

Trust

A group of corporations run by a single board of directors

Sherman Antitrust Act

First federal action against monopolies, it was signed into law by Harrison and was extensively used by Theodore Roosevelt for trust-busting