AMYAWP 16

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877

the country's first major rail strike and witnessed the first general strike in history. The strikes and the violence it spawned briefly paralyzed the country's commerce and led governors in ten states to mobilize 60,000 militia members to reopen rail traffic.

Economic Change

In the mid-1800s the industrial revolution shifted jobs from the farm to the factory. During the industrial revolution, entrepreneurs invented machines to make production faster and cheaper. Factories opened along rivers and in cities. Many people moved from farms to cities to get jobs. Crop failures, drops in cotton prices, reckless railroad speculation, and sudden plunges in the stock market

Taylorism, Mass Production, and Economies of Scale

Taylorism increased the scale and scope of manufacturing and allowed for the flowering of mass production. Mass production makes it possible to manufacture things faster, often at less cost. Economies of scale are cost advantages reaped by companies when production becomes efficient. Companies can achieve economies of scale by increasing production and lowering costs.

The Corporation

an unusual amount of capital was required to build and operate factories, by the 1820s corporations had begun to replace individuals and limited partnerships as the primary mechanism of business ownership. In part, these developments grew out of legal changes that made incorporation more attractive.

The Great Merger Movement

In industry after industry previously competing firms merged into giant consolidations that held dominant shares of the markets in which they operated.
Companies merge with or acquire other companies for growth.

The "Robber Barons"

America's Gilded Age to describe successful industrialists whose business practices were often considered ruthless or unethical. Included in the list of so-called ______ are Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and John D. Rockefeller.

Social Darwinism

the idea that certain people become powerful in society because they are innately better. _________- has been used to justify imperialism, racism, eugenics, and social inequality at various times over the past century and a half.

Industrial Working Conditions

Many workers in the late 1800s and early 1900s spent an entire day tending a machine in a large, crowded, noisy room. Others worked in coal mines, steel mills, railroads, slaughterhouses, and other dangerous occupations. Most were not paid well, and the typical workday was 12 hours or more, six days per week.

Unionization

Joining together in unions enables workers to negotiate for higher wages and benefits and improve conditions in the workplace.

The Knights of Labor

The _______, founded in 1869, was the first major labor organization in the United States. The _____ organized unskilled and skilled workers, campaigned for an eight-hour workday, and aspired to form a cooperative society in which laborers owned the industries in which they worked.

The Haymarket Affair

The _______, also known as the _____, was a violent confrontation between police and labor protesters in Chicago on May 4, 1886, that became a symbol of the international struggle for workers' rights.

The American Federation of Labor

The ______ was a national umbrella trade union organized in support of labor reform. The ___'s members were skilled laborers representing a variety of trades and crafts.

The Homestead Strike

a violent labor dispute between the Carnegie Steel Company and many of its workers that occurred in 1892 in Homestead, Pennsylvania. The striking workers were all fired on July 2, and on July 6 private security guards hired by the company arrived.

The Pullman Strike

a widespread railroad strike and boycott that disrupted rail traffic in the U.S. Midwest in June-July 1894.

The Farmers' Alliance

an American agrarian movement during the 1870s and '80s that sought to improve the economic conditions for farmers through the creation of cooperatives and political advocacy.

The People's Party (The Populists)

is a self-described progressive political organization in the United States aimed at "forming a major new political party free of corporate money and influence."

The Omaha Platform

a platform that indicted the corruptions of the Gilded Age and promised government policies. farmers believed they were treated unfairly by the Democrats and the Republicans. practical solutions for fixing economic problems impacting American farmers.

William Jennings Bryan

supported prohibition and opposed Darwinism (most notably in the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial). was an American lawyer, orator, and politician a dominant force in the populist wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as the Party's candidate for President of the United States (1896, 1900 and 1908). He was perhaps the best-known orator and lecturer of the era. Beginning in 1896, he emerged as a dominant force in the Democratic Party, running three times as the party's nominee for President of the United States in the 1896, 1900, and 1908 elections.

Free Silver

advocacy of unlimited coinage of silver. The movement was precipitated by an act of Congress in 1873 that omitted the silver dollar from the list of authorized coins.

Eugene V. Debs

Socialist. Led the Pullman Strike. American Railway Union. 6 months in jail. was an American socialist, political activist, trade unionist, one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and five-time candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States. he was a labor leader who helped organize the American Railroad Union