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Leland Stanford
One of the Big Four financial backers of the Central Pacific railroad. He was the ex-governor of California who had useful political connections. He kept clean of bribery and drove the ceremonious "last gold spike" into the connected transcontinental railroad.
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.
Alexander Graham Bell
He was an American inventor who was responsible for developing the telephone. This greatly improved communications in the country.
Thomas Edison
American inventor best known for inventing the electric light bulb, acoustic recording on wax cylinders, and motion pictures.
John D. Rockefeller
Was an American industrialist and philanthropist. Revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of modern philanthropy.
JP Morgan
Banker who buys out Carnegie Steel and renames it to U.S. Steel. Was a philanthropist in a way; he gave all the money needed for WWI and was payed back. Was one of the "Robber barons"
Terence Powderly
led the Knights of Labor, a skilled and unskilled union, wanted equal pay for equal work, an 8hr work day and to end child labor
Samuel Gompers
He was the creator of the American Federation of Labor. He provided a stable and unified union for skilled workers.
Philip Armour
Pioneered the shipping of hogs to Chicago for slaughter, canning, and exporting of meat.
Charles Darwin
English naturalist. He studied the plants and animals of South America and the Pacific islands, and in his book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859) set forth his theory of evolution.
James Buchanan Duke
Southern industrialist behind the American Tobacco Company and Southern Power Company who made great advances in the businesses of tobacco and hydroelectric power.
land grant
a tract of land given by the government, as for colleges or railroads.
standard time zones
A condition created by the railroad companies because efficient RR transportation needed to be regulated and directed
vertical integration
Practice where a single entity controls the entire process of a product, from the raw materials to distribution
horizontal integration
An act of joining or consolidating with ones competitors to create a monopoly. Rockefeller was excellent with using this technique to monopolize certain markets. It is responsible for the majority of his wealth.
trust
A monopoly that controls goods and services, often in combinations that reduce competition.
interlocking directorates
A board of directors, the majority of whose members also serve as the board of directors of a competing corporation
plutocracy
society ruled by the wealthy
injunction
A judicial order to a party to do or stop doing something
company town
A town or city in which most or all real estate, buildings (both residential and commercial), utilities, hospitals, small businesses such as grocery stores and gas stations, and other necessities or luxuries of life within its borders are owned by a single company.
Social Darwinism
A description often applied to the late 19th century belief of people such as Herbert Spencer and others who argued that "survival of the fittest" justifies the competition of laissez-faire capitalism and imperialist policies.
"survival of the fittest"
Process by which individuals that are better suited to their environment survive and reproduce most successfully; also called natural selection
scabs
Stirkebreakers hired by employers as replacement workers when unions went on strike
lockout
When management closes the doors to the place of work and keeps the workers from entering until an agreement is reached
yellow dog contract
an agreement some companies forced workers to take that forbade them from joining a union. This was a method used to limit the power of unions, thus hampering their development.
blacklist
A list circulated among employers containing the names of persons who should not be hired
nonproducers
Bankers and merchants; use connections to increase wealth to the disadvantage of producers (farmers/artisans); Whigs; Federal economic development include tariffs, national bank, and internal improvements; bankers, businessmen, farmers in good regions, wealthy planters;
anarchists
people who oppose all forms of organized government
socialism
A system in which society, usually in the form of the government, owns and controls the means of production.
craft union
union made up of skilled workers in a specific trade or industry
closed shop
A company with a labor agreement under which union membership can be a condition of employment.
Union Pacific Railroad
Congress commissioned this railroad to push westward from Omaha, Nebraska to California
Central Pacific Railroad
A railroad that started in Sacramento , and connected with the Union Pacific Railroad in Promentary Point, Utah
Crédit Mobilier
a joint-stock company organized in 1863 and reorganized in 1867 to build the Union Pacific Railroad. It was involved in a scandal in 1872 in which high government officials were accused of accepting bribes.
Pullman Palace Cars
luxury passenger cars that were built and were very popular for travelers
Grange
an association formed by farmers in the last 1800s to make life better for farmers by sharing information about crops, prices, and supplies
Wabash, St. Louis, and Pacific Railroad Company v. Illinois
A Supreme Court decision that severely limited the rights of states to control interstate commerce. It led to the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission.
Mesabi Range
A section of low hills in Minnesota owned by Rockefeller in 1887, it was a source of iron ore for steel production.
Standard Oil Company
Founded by John D. Rockefeller. Largest unit in the American oil industry in 1881. Known as A.D. Trust, it was outlawed by the Supreme Court of Ohio in 1899.
Bessemer process
A way to manufacture steel quickly and cheaply by blasting hot air through melted iron to quickly remove impurities.
United States Steel
Created by J.P. Morgan from Carnegie's holdings; became the first billion dollar Corporation
Gospel of Wealth
This was a book written by Carnegie that described the responsibility of the rich to be philanthropists. This softened the harshness of Social Darwinism as well as promoted the idea of philanthropy.
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
First federal action against monopolies, it was signed into law by Harrison and was extensively used by Theodore Roosevelt for trust-busting. However, it was initially misused against labor unions
American Tobacco Company
A company formed by the Duke family of Virginia after the invention of a machine for rolling cigarettes. The invention of the machine and the growing popularity of cigarettes provided a market for the company's ready-made cigarettes. Tobacco was the one industry that the South dominated in the late 19th century.
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
National Labor Union
The first large-scale U.S. union; founded to organize skilled and unskilled laborers, farmers, and factory workers.
Knights of Labor
Led by Terence V. Powderly; open-membership policy extending to unskilled, semiskilled, women, African-Americans, immigrants; goal was to create a cooperative society between in which labors owned the industries in which they worked
Haymarket Square
Labor disorders had broken out and on May 4 1886, the Chicago police advanced on a protest; alleged brutalities by the authorities. Following the hysteria, eight anarchists (possibly innocent) were rounded up. Because they preached "incendiary doctrines," they could be charged with conspiracy. Five were sentenced to death, one of which committed suicide; the other three were given stiff prison terms. Six years later, a newly elected Illinois governor recognized this gross injustice and pardoned the three survivors. Nevertheless, the Knights of Labor were toast: they became (incorrectly )associated with anarchy and all following strike efforts failed.
American Federation of Labor
1886; founded by Samuel Gompers; sought better wages, hrs, working conditions; skilled laborers, arose out of dissatisfaction with the Knights of Labor, rejected socialist and communist ideas, non-violent.
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