APUSH Chapter 17: Business and Labor in the Industrial Era

Standard Oil Company

Corporation under the leadership of John D. Rockefeller that attempted to dominate the entire oil industry through horizontal and vertical integration.

horizontal integration

The process by which a corporation acquires or merges with its competitors.

Bessemer Converter

Apparatus which blasts air through molten iron to produce steel in very large quantities.

vertical integration

The process by which a corporation gains control of all aspects of the resources and processes needed to produce and sell a product.

Carnegie Steel Company

Corporation under the leadership of Andrew Carnegie that came to dominate the American steel industry.

J. Pierpont Morgan and Company

An investment bank under the leadership of J. Pierpont Morgan that bought or merged unrelated American companies, often using capital acquired from European investors.

Tariff

Taxes on goods imported from other nations, typically used to protect home industries from foreign competitors and to generate revenue for the federal government.

Laissez-faire

(“leave things alone”) An economic doctrine holding that businesses and individuals should be able to pursue their economic interests without government interference.

child labor

The practice of sending children to work in mines, mills, and factories, often in unsafe conditions; widespread among poor families in the late nineteenth century.

Great Railroad Strike

A series of demonstrations, some violent, held nationwide in support of striking railroad workers in Martinsburg, West Virginia, who refused to work due to wage cuts.

National Labor Union

A federation of labor and reform leaders established in 1866 to advocate for new state and local laws to improve working conditions.

Knights of Labor

A national labor organization with a broad reform platform; reached peak membership in the 1880s.

Haymarket Riot

Violent uprising in Haymarket Square, Chicago, where police clashed with labor demonstrators in the aftermath of a bombing.

American Federation of Labor

Founded in 1881 as a national federation of trade unions made up of skilled workers.

Homestead Steel Strike

Labor conflict at the Homestead steel mill near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, culminating in a battle between strikers and private security agents hired by the factory’s management.

Pullman Strike

A national strike by the American Railway Union, whose members shut down major railways in sympathy with striking workers in Pullman, Illinois; ended with intervention of federal troops.