The Gilded Age-Unit 9

laissez-faire policies

businesses are able to regulate with minimal government regulation

John D Rockefeller

Was an American industrialist and philanthropist. Revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of modern philanthropy.

Cornelius Vanderbilt

United States financier and philanthropist who accumulated great wealth from railroad and shipping businesses (1794-1877)

J.P. Morgan

A highly successful banker who bought out Carnegie. With Carnegie's holdings and some others, he launched U.S Steel and made it the first billion dollar corporation. Also, General Electric

Thomas Edison

American inventor best known for inventing the electric light bulb, acoustic recording on wax cylinders, and motion pictures.

Protective Tariffs

A tariff designed to shield domestic producers of a good or service from the competition of foreign producers

Patents

licenses that give an inventor the exclusive right to make, use, or sell an invention for a set period of time

Bessemer Process

A process for making steel more efficiently, patented in 1856. Suspension bridges, Skyskrapers, Railroads

mass production

Process of making large quantities of a product quickly and cheaply

Corporation

A business owned by stockholders who share in its profits but are not personally responsible for its debts

trust

A group of corporations run by a single board of directors

Cartel

a formal organization of producers that agree to coordinate prices and production. Limit production and keep prices high

Monopoly

Complete control of a product or business by one person or group

Horizontal Integration

system of consolidating many firms in the same business

Vertical Integration

Practice where a single entity controls the entire process of a product, from the raw materials to distribution

Robber Barons

Refers to the industrialists or big business owners who gained huge profits by paying their employees extremely low wages. They also drove their competitors out of business by selling their products cheaper than it cost to produce it. Then when they controlled the market, they hiked prices high above original price.

Captains of Industry

men in charge of big businesses; John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan. positive influences on society, Plenty of jobs, Low prices, Stimulate innovation, Philanthropy

Sweatshops

Places where workers labored long hours under poor conditions for low wages

collective bargaining

negotiation of wages and other conditions of employment by an organized body of employees.

Socialism

a political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

Knights of Labor

labor union that sought to organize all workers and focused on broad social reforms

Uriah Stephens

founded the Knights of Labor in 1869

worker's cooperatives

owned and operated by workers (providing employment = priority)

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

1886

*Combination of national craft unions representing labor interests in wages, hours, and safety

*Individuals were members of their local unions, which in turn, were members of the AFL

*Rather than revolutionary changes, they sought a better working life; their philosophy was "pure and simple unionism"

*First president was Samuel Gompers

Anarchists

people who oppose all forms of organized government

Haymarket Riot

100,000 workers rioted in Chicago. After the police fired into the crowd, the workers met and rallied in Haymarket Square to protest police brutality. A bomb exploded, killing or injuring many of the police. The Chicago workers and the man who set the bomb were immigrants, so the incident promoted anti-immigrant feelings.

Homestead Strike

A union at a Carnegie Steel plant goes on strike for higher wages, Carnegie's partner, Henry Frick, brings in a private police force called the Pinkertons, During a two-week standoff, many strikers were killed or wounded, Then on July 23rd, 1892 an anarchist tried to assassinate Frick

New Immigrants

immigrants who had come to the US after the 1880s from southern and eastern europe

Steerage

A large open area beneath a ship's deck, often used to house traveling immigrants

Ellis Island

An immigrant receiving station that opened in 1892, where immigrants were given a medical examination and only allowed in if they were healthy

Angel Island

The immigration station on the west coast where Asian immigrants, mostly Chinese gained admission to the U.S. at San Francisco Bay. Between 1910 and 1940 50k Chinese immigrants entered through Angel Island. Questioning and conditions at Angel Island were much harsher than Ellis Island in New York.

americanization programs

Volunteer organizations known as settlement houses ran them. These programs helped immigrants learn English and adapt to the new culture. Immigrant groups settled together in tight communities. They preserved their traditions, but children of immigrants represented an entirely new culture

Nativism

A policy of favoring native-born individuals over foreign-born ones, "new immigrants"

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

law that suspended Chinese immigration into America. The ban was supposed to last 10 years, but it was expanded several times and was essentially in effect until WWII. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the first significant law that restricted immigration into the United States of an ethnic working group. Extreme example of nativism of period

Frederick Law Olmstead

Architect of New York's Central Park, first major public park in the United States. Helped harmonize the city and bring rural beauty. Influenced the behavior of lawless and unfortunate people. Built in the 1850s.

mass transit

streetcars powered by overhead electric cables (precursor to subway lines), New industries would revolve around these public systems that transported people all around the city

safety elevator

developed by Elisha Otis, To help in Skyscrapers

Interstate Commerce Act (1887)

Law that was designed to regulate the railroad industry; created the Interstate Commerce Commission to railroads and ensure that they complied with the new regulations.

Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)

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

Tenements

Poorly built, overcrowded housing where many immigrants lived