The Gilded Age

Vocabulary flashcards reviewing core economic concepts, technologies, industrial business practices, immigration, labor actions, and political events of the Gilded Age.

Supply and Demand

The two factors that affect prices under capitalism, which reflect both the amount of a product or service that is available and how much people want that product or service.

Wright's Law

As a product (especially technology) is produced in greater quantities, it gets cheaper at a predictable rate.

Free Market / The Invisible Hand

The idea that in an ideal capitalist economy, people will act in their own self-interest and supply and demand will work smoothly, without the need for government interference/regulation.

Private Property

The vast majority of goods, resources, buildings, and land are owned by individuals and businesses, rather than the government.

Profit Motive

Individuals and businesses are incentivized to improve many things (efficiency, the value of their property, etc.) because they will keep the rewards from it.

Division of Labor

Workers learn specific jobs, so that each person can work separately to meet the needs of a company or a community.

Two Class System

The idea that capitalist society is broadly divided into two groups: the workers who provide labor to companies in exchange for wages, and the business owners who invest money into companies and collect profits.

Boom and Bust Cycle

The idea that capitalist countries historically experience alternating periods of economic growth and decline, which still result in overall growth in the long term.

Gilded Age vs. Golden Age

The idea that the late 1800s looked like a time of great prosperity on the outside, but digging a little deeper revealed not everyone had access to that new wealth.

Railroads

A major new technology of the Gilded Age, it increased the amount of goods that could be transported, and how far away they could be delivered, effectively raising both supply and demand across most industries.

Telecommunications

A major new technology of the Gilded Age, it increased the efficiency of the supply and demand system by moving information more quickly.

Electricity/Lighting

A major new technology of the Gilded Age, it was perfected by Thomas Edison and allowed factories to use more machines and stay open longer, increasing supply.

Corporations

When a group of people form a single separate business entity, which is legally a person. Investors (shareholders) receive part of the company's profits (profit sharing), without being responsible for the company's debts (limited liability).

Supply Chain

A list of all the steps to make and sell a product.

Vertical Integration

A major strategy companies used in the Gilded Age to maximize profits, it involves a company owning every step of the supply chain.

Horizontal Integration

A major strategy companies used in the Gilded Age to maximize profits, it involves a company owning all (or at least most) of a single step of the supply chain. A company that fully achieves this is called a monopoly.

Captains of Industry

One of the two major terms for wealthy tycoons of the Gilded Age, it applied to someone who positively impacted society with their business and wealth.

Robber Barons

One of the two major terms for wealthy tycoons of the Gilded Age, it applied to someone who negatively impacted society with their business and wealth.

Taylorism

Also called "scientific management," it involved observing workers scientifically and making changes to improve efficiency, including maximizing division of labor and hiring more middle managers.

Child Labor

Increased substantially during the Gilded Age, as the greater division of labor in factories made tasks much simpler and easier to learn.

Push Factors

The reasons that motivate an immigrant to leave from their home country.

Pull Factors

The reasons that motivate an immigrant to choose to arrive in a new country.

The New Colossus

Poem placed at the bottom of the Statue of Liberty describing the United States as a welcoming place for new immigrants.

The Chinese Exclusion Act

The only major immigration law passed during the Gilded Age, it banned all immigrants from one specific country until World War II.

Urbanization

The process of cities becoming larger, which accelerated during the Gilded Age.

Social Mobility

The idea that somebody born into one class can work hard enough to rise to another class.

Panic of 1893

The biggest economic crash/bust in US history up until that point, it was far worse than previous crashes because the Gilded Age made way more people reliant on their jobs.

Wealth Inequality

The gap between rich and poor, which is roughly as bad today as it was in the Gilded Age.

The Gospel of Wealth

The idea that rich men have a moral obligation to use their superior wisdom and money to improve the lives of the poor through targeted charity.

Social Darwinism

The idea that like biological species, societies evolve through individuals competing with one another - "survival of the fittest." Eliminating inequality will destroy civilization, because it will stop progressing.

Trade Unions

A group of all the members of a specific job in one area, which can negotiate with the employer for contracts on behalf of all workers at the same time (collective bargaining). If members don't feel that the employer is negotiating fairly, they can organize a strike (refuse to work until demands are met). Became popular after the failed Great Railroad Strike.

Great Railroad and Homestead Strikes

The two largest labor actions in the Gilded Age, both started based on companies trying to cut wages, and both ended with the government forcing workers to accept them and go back to work.

Populist Party

A political party formed in the Gilded Age, won several state elections and influenced presidential elections. Proposed several ideas that were rejected then, but widely accepted now, like public railroads and utilities, a federal income tax, and a more powerful US treasury department.

Election of 1896

A presidential election defined by the issues of the Gilded Age, with Republican William McKinley running as a probusiness, gold standard, top-down candidate against Democrat William Jennings Bryan running as a pro-worker, silver standard, anti-monopoly candidate. McKinley ultimately won.