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Andrew Carnegie

Industrial leader in steel; used vertical integration; promoted the Gospel of Wealth; major philanthropist who funded libraries and universities.

Cornelius Vanderbilt

Railroad and shipping magnate; consolidated rail lines; improved efficiency and corporate structure; one of the richest Gilded Age figures.

J.P. Morgan

Powerful banker; organized major mergers like U.S. Steel and GE; loaned money to the U.S. government; symbol of big finance's influence.

John D. Rockefeller

Founder of Standard Oil; used horizontal consolidation to dominate oil refining; created the first major trust; major philanthropist later in life.

Horizontal Consolidation

Buying out or merging with competitors in the same industry to increase market share, often leading to monopolies.

Vertical Integration

Controlling every step of production from raw materials to distribution, increasing efficiency and lowering costs.

Monopoly

A single company that controls an entire industry, eliminating competition and potentially raising prices.

Merger

When companies combine into one to reduce competition or increase efficiency.

Trusts

Groups of corporations controlled by one board, used to hide monopolistic practices during the Gilded Age.

Gilded Age

Late 1800s period of industrial growth, wealth, corruption, and a large gap between rich and poor; 'gilded' means shiny outside, corrupt inside.

Sherman Anti-Trust Act

First federal law against monopolies; weak at first but later used to break up trusts; sometimes misused against unions.

Clayton Anti-Trust Act

Strengthened the Sherman Act; banned unfair business practices; protected labor unions from being classified as trusts.

Unions

Worker organizations fighting for better wages, hours, and conditions; formed in response to unsafe industrial labor.

Great Strike of 1877

First major nationwide railroad strike caused by wage cuts; federal troops intervened after violence.

Haymarket Square

1886 labor rally in Chicago; a bomb killed police and civilians; unions were blamed, hurting the labor movement.

Pullman Strike

1894 nationwide railroad strike due to wage cuts; led by Eugene Debs; federal troops broke the strike, showing government support for business.

Yellow Dog Contracts

Employment agreements where workers promised not to join unions; used to suppress organizing.

I.W.W. (Industrial Workers of the World)

Radical union ('Wobblies') that welcomed all workers and aimed to overthrow capitalism through direct action.

Eugene Debs

Leader of the American Railway Union; led the Pullman Strike; later became a prominent Socialist presidential candidate.

Samuel Gompers

Founder of the AFL; focused on skilled workers and practical improvements like wages and hours.

Knights of Labor

Early union open to all workers; demanded broad reforms like 8-hour days; declined after being blamed for Haymarket.

Tenements

Overcrowded, unsafe apartments housing poor immigrants; associated with disease and poor sanitation.

Settlement Houses

Community centers in poor areas helping immigrants with education, English classes, and childcare.

Jane Addams

Founder of Hull House; major Progressive reformer involved in social work, child labor laws, and women's rights.

Muckrakers

Journalists who exposed corruption and social problems; key figures include Upton Sinclair, Ida Tarbell, and Jacob Riis.

Jacob Riis

Muckraker who exposed tenement life through How the Other Half Lives; pushed for housing reform.

Americanization

Movement to assimilate immigrants by teaching English and American customs; sometimes criticized for erasing cultures.

Theodore Roosevelt

Progressive president and 'trust-buster'; supported conservation and consumer protection.

Square Deal

Roosevelt's domestic policy focusing on controlling corporations, protecting consumers, and conserving natural resources.

Pure Food and Drug Act

Required accurate food labels and safety standards; inspired by Upton Sinclair's The Jungle.

Upton Sinclair

Author of The Jungle; exposed unsanitary meatpacking conditions; influenced food safety laws.

Woodrow Wilson

Progressive president; created the Federal Reserve; promoted antitrust reforms and New Freedom policies.

New Freedom

Wilson's plan to break up monopolies, lower tariffs, and strengthen banking and antitrust laws.

Initiative

Process that allows citizens to propose laws directly through petitions.

Referendum

Process where citizens vote directly on laws passed by legislators.

The Grange and the Populists

Farmer movements fighting railroad abuses and economic inequality; Populists supported silver coinage, direct senator elections, and income tax; many ideas later adopted by Progressives.

Booker T. Washington

African American leader who supported vocational training and gradual economic progress for equality.

Susan B. Anthony

Leader of the women's suffrage movement; helped pave the way for the 19th Amendment.

Assembly Line

Production method where each worker performs one specific task as a product moves down a line; greatly increased efficiency and lowered costs; popularized by Henry Ford in automobile manufacturing.

17th Amendment

Constitutional amendment (1913) that allowed citizens to directly elect U.S. senators instead of state legislatures choosing them; increased democracy and reduced corruption.

Social Darwinism

Belief that "survival of the fittest" applies to society and business; used by wealthy industrialists to justify monopolies, inequality, and lack of government regulation.