CHAPTER 6 -- gilded age vocab

Jim Fisk and Jay Gould

Corrupt Gilded Age financiers who tried to corner the gold market in 1869, leading to the “Black Friday” financial panic.

John D. Rockefeller

Powerful Gilded Age industrialist who founded Standard Oil and created a monopoly in the oil industry through trusts and ruthless business tactics.

Andrew Carnegie

Gilded Age steel magnate who built Carnegie Steel, used vertical integration to dominate the industry, and later became a major philanthropist.

J.P. Morgan

Influential Gilded Age banker and financier who organized corporate mergers (like U.S. Steel) and stabilized markets during financial crises.

Cornelius Vanderbilt

Shipping and railroad tycoon who consolidated railroads and became one of the wealthiest men of the Gilded Age.

Thomas Reed

Republican Speaker of the House during the “Billion Dollar Congress” (1890s), known for strengthening the power of the Speaker and passing high-spending legislation like the McKinley Tariff and veterans’ pensions.

Thomas Edison

Inventor and businessman of the Gilded Age best known for the phonograph, motion picture camera, and practical electric light bulb.

Upton Sinclair

Muckraking author of The Jungle (1906), which exposed unsanitary conditions in the meatpacking industry and led to food safety reforms.

Jacob Riis

Muckraking journalist and photographer who exposed urban poverty and tenement conditions in How the Other Half Lives (1890).

Ida Tarbell

Muckraking journalist who exposed the unfair practices of Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company, helping lead to its breakup.

Pendleton Act (1883)

Civil service reform law that created a merit-based system for federal jobs, reducing corruption from the spoils system.

McKinley Tariff Act (1890)

Law that raised tariffs to historically high levels, protecting industry but angering farmers and consumers by raising prices.

Wilson-Gorman Tariff (1894)

Reduced tariff rates slightly but added a 2% income tax on high incomes; largely ineffective and unpopular.

Credit Mobilier Scandal (1872)

Political scandal where Union Pacific Railroad insiders created a fake construction company, Credit Mobilier, to overcharge the government and bribe congressmen with shares.

Whiskey Ring (1875)

Scandal during Grant’s presidency where government officials bribed revenue agents to avoid paying federal taxes on liquor. This lost the government lost of money

Civil Rights Act of 1875

Law that banned racial discrimination in public accommodations and jury service, but was later struck down by the Supreme Court in 1883.

Compromise of 1877

Agreement that ended Reconstruction by allowing Rutherford B. Hayes to become president in exchange for the withdrawal of federal troops from the South.

Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)

Law that banned Chinese laborers from immigrating to the U.S. and was the first major restriction on a specific immigrant group.

Homestead Steel Strike (1892)

Violent labor strike at Carnegie Steel in Pennsylvania over wages and union recognition, crushed by private security and state militia.

Panic of 1873

Severe economic depression triggered by railroad overbuilding, bank failures, and the collapse of the financial sector, leading to widespread unemployment.

Depression of 1893

Major economic crisis caused by railroad bankruptcies and a banking collapse, resulting in high unemployment and widespread business failures.

Farmers’ Alliance

Organization of farmers in the late 19th century that promoted cooperative buying and selling, fought high railroad rates, and laid the groundwork for the Populist Party.

Populist Party (1892)

Political party representing farmers and laborers that called for bimetallism, government regulation of railroads, and other reforms to challenge big business and the elite.

Jim Crow Laws

State and local laws in the South that enforced racial segregation and limited the rights of Black Americans after Reconstruction.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Supreme Court case that upheld racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine.

Muller v. Oregon (1908)

Supreme Court case that upheld limits on women’s working hours to protect their health, using the “Brandeis brief.”

Lochner v. New York (1905)

Supreme Court case that struck down a law limiting bakers’ working hours, ruling it interfered with “freedom of contract.”

Pinkerton Detectives

Private security and detective agency often hired by businesses during the Gilded Age to break strikes and protect company property.

Wabash Case (Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railroad v. Illinois, 1886)

Supreme Court case that limited states’ ability to regulate interstate railroad rates, leading to the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Interstate Commerce Act (1887)

Law that regulated railroads to ensure fair rates and prevent discrimination, creating the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC).

Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)

Law that banned monopolies and business practices that restrained trade, aiming to promote competition.

Knights of Labor

Labor organization in the late 1800s that sought to unite all workers, skilled and unskilled, to fight for an eight-hour workday, equal pay, and safer working conditions.

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

Labor union founded by Samuel Gompers that focused on skilled workers, collective bargaining, higher wages, shorter hours, and better working conditions.

Haymarket Square Riot (1886)

Violent clash in Chicago during a labor protest for an eight-hour workday, leading to deaths, arrests, and a backlash against labor movements.