APUSH Chapter 24 Vocabulary: Industry Comes of Age (1865–1900)

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, figures, court cases, laws, and concepts from APUSH Chapter 24 (Industry Comes of Age, 1865–1900).

Transcontinental Railroad

The railroad completed at Promontory Summit, Utah, in 1869 when the Union Pacific and Central Pacific lines met, connecting the eastern and western United States economically.

Cornelius Vanderbilt

A powerful railroad businessman who bought and combined major eastern railroad lines into large consolidated systems, acquiring immense wealth and influence.

Wabash v. Illinois (1886)

A Supreme Court ruling stating that individual states could not regulate railroad traffic crossing state lines because interstate commerce falls under federal authority.

Interstate Commerce Act (1887)

A federal law intended to regulate unfair railroad practices by requiring published rates, banning price discrimination, and establishing the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)

The federal agency created in 1887 to oversee interstate railroad operations, serving as an early effort by the federal government to regulate private business.

Alexander Graham Bell

The inventor who developed the telephone in 1876, enabling direct voice communication over long distances and significantly increasing business speed.

Thomas Edison

An inventor known as the "Wizard of Menlo Park" who developed practical electric lighting, the phonograph, motion pictures, and electrical systems.

Andrew Carnegie

An industrialist who built Carnegie Steel into a dominant steel manufacturing empire by utilizing vertical integration before selling his business to J. P. Morgan.

Bessemer Process

A industrial method that made steel cheaper and faster to produce by blowing air through molten iron to eliminate impurities.

Vertical Integration

A business strategy where a single company controls multiple consecutive steps in the production and supply chain to lower manufacturing costs.

John D. Rockefeller

An industrialist who founded Standard Oil in 1870 and acquired control of the majority of American oil refining through horizontal integration.

Horizontal Integration

A business strategy in which one company buys or absorbs competitor businesses operating at the same stage of production within an industry.

J. P. Morgan

A banker and financial leader who controlled companies using interlocking directorates and purchased Carnegie Steel to establish U.S. Steel in 1901.

Interlocking Directorates

A arrangement in which individuals linked to a financial institution or individual sit on the boards of directors of multiple competing corporations.

U.S. Steel

A steel corporation formed by J. P. Morgan in 1901 after acquiring Carnegie's steel company, becoming the first American enterprise valued at over $1 billion.

Trust

A business arrangement that places several companies under a single managing board of trustees to limit competition.

Monopoly

A market condition where a single business entity holds near-total control over an entire industry or product market.

Social Darwinism

An ideological concept applying biological theories of natural selection to human economic life to argue that economic success resulted from inherent fitness.

Gospel of Wealth

Andrew Carnegie's belief that wealthy individuals should act as guardians for the public and use their excess wealth to establish philanthropic institutions like libraries and schools.

Plutocracy

A society or political system ruled or heavily influenced by wealthy individuals using financial resources and political leverage.

Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)

A federal law intended to prevent business combinations that restricted economic competition, though initial enforcement was weakened by legal loopholes.

J. B. Duke

An industrialist who built a major tobacco company by utilizing specialized machinery for mass cigarette production.

National Labor Union

An early national labor organization created in 1866 that sought workplace reforms such as higher wages and an eight-hour workday.

Knights of Labor

A broad labor union established in 1869 that welcomed skilled workers, unskilled workers, women, immigrants, and Black workers.

Terence V. Powderly

The prominent leader of the Knights of Labor who led the organization as it grew into a broad reform-oriented movement.

Haymarket Square (1886)

A labor demonstration in Chicago that turned deadly after a bomb was thrown at police, creating public backlash that associated unions with violence and harmed the Knights of Labor.

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

A labor federation founded in 1886 that focused mainly on skilled trade workers and direct workplace improvements.

Samuel Gompers

The long-serving president of the American Federation of Labor who advocated for practical workplace goals rather than political social restructuring.

Bread-and-Butter Unionism

The AFL strategy focused strictly on practical, immediate workplace objectives: higher wages, shorter working hours, and better working conditions.

Closed Shop

A business agreement under which an employer agrees to hire exclusively union members, giving the labor union greater bargaining leverage.