Chapter 6 Industrialization

Edwin L Drake

successfully used a steam engine to drill for oil near Titusville, Pennsylvania

Bessemer Process

a cheap and efficient manufacturing process which involved injecting air into molten iron to remove the carbon and other impurities

Henry Bessemer

British manufacturer that created the Bessemer Process

Thomas Edison

pioneer that established the world’s first research lab, invented a workable light bulb, invented an entire system for producing and distributing electrical power.

Christopher Sholes

invented the typewriter in 1867 and changed the world of work

Alexander Graham Bell

invented the telephone

Transcontinental Railroad

railroad that connected the Eastern and Western US.

George Pullman

designed a town for the employees of his railroad-car factory.

Interstate Commerce Act

reestablished the right of the federal government to supervise railroad activities and set up a five-member Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)

Credit Mobilier

a joint-stock company that built the Union Pacific Railroad

Munn v. Illinois

Supreme Court case that established the government’s power to regulate private industries that affect the public interest

Andrew Carnegie

American Industrialist who led to the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century

Cornelius Vanderbilt

key figure in the expansion of the regional railroads

J.P. Morgan

a banker that created holding companies

John D. Rockefeller

an American business magnate who created trusts

Sherman Antitrust Act

made it illegal to form a trust that interfered with free trade between states or with other countries

Samuel Gompers

led the Cigar Makers’ International Union to join other craft unions in 1886

American Federation of Labor

able to reach written agreements on wages, hours, and working conditions

Eugene v. Debs

attempted to form such an industrial union with the railway workers

Mary Harris Jones

most prominent organizer in the women’s labor movement

Vertical Integration

business strategy where a company controls multiple stages of production

Horizontal Integration

a business strategy in which companies gain ownership

Social Darwinism

the idea that certain people become powerful in society because they are innately better

Haymarket Riot

after explosion during a demonstration in Haymarket Square, labor leaders were arrested and put on trial.

Homestead Strike

Carnegie and Frick decided to “break” the union and locked out workers from Homestead Steel works when they failed to negotiate a new contract

Pullman Strike

Pullman workers went on strike when Pullman lowered wages but not prices in his company town

Ideology

A system of beliefs about society and government

Capitalism

Market-based economic system in which individuals or corporations privately own the means of production

Socialism

ideology in favor of government ownership of the means of production to improve conditions for workers

Communism

ideology calling for revolution by workers to overthrow the “bourgeoisie” and establish a classes society

Anarchism

A radical political theory opposing all forms of government in favor of self-governing communities