American Capitalism

2nd Industrial Revolution

A period of time in American history between 1865-1920 in which a prolific increase in inventions, newcomers, and industry dominate the American scene. People move from farms to cities for work.

Gilded Age

late 19th century; time period looked good on the outside (lots of wealth & materialism), despite the corrupt politics & growing gap between the rich & poor

Laissez-faire economics

hands off approach to government; the government should not interfere in the economy

Monopoly or Trust

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

Vertical Integration

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

Horizontal Integration

Type of monopoly where a company buys out all of its competition. Ex. Rockefeller

Captains of Industry

men in charge of big businesses; John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan

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.

Big Business

Term used to describe the corporations and monopolies since the industrial revolution of the late 1800s.

Corporation

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

Urbanization

Movement of people from rural areas to cities, growth of cities

Gilded Age inventions and innovations

Alexander Graham Bell- Telephone

Edison - Lightbulb/Electricity (plus Nikola Tesla)

Bessemer - Steel - Skyscrapers

Wright Brothers - airplane

Ford - assembly line/automobile

Edison - Phonograph

Labor Unions and Strikes

Labor unions were groups of workers who wanted to obtain better working conditions, strikes were held in order to obtain such conditions.

collective bargaining

Process by which a union representing a group of workers negotiates with management for a contract and better working conditions and wages

American Dream

The widespread belief that the United States is a land of opportunity and that individual initiative and hard work can bring economic success.

self-made

achieving wealth or influence through one's own effort rather than being born to a privileged family

stocks and shares

parts of the ownership of companies which people buy as investments in the hope of making a profit

hostile takeover

the acquisition of a company over the opposition of its management

Vanderbilt

Entrepreneur- in charge of railroad and steamship lines; 3rd richest American; Controlled a majority of the railroads; King of Shipping aka "Commodore"

Rockefeller

Entrepreneur- that created a monopoly in oil refineries; Standard Oil; Richest American in history; Horizontal monopoly - bought out other oil refineries to eliminate competition; this allowed him to raise prices to maximize profits

Carnegie

Entrepreneur-Steel industry; 2nd richest American in history; Scottish immigrant; self-made man; Vertical monopoly- bought up businesses for every step of the process of making steel to maximize profits

J.P. Morgan

An influential banker and businessman who bought and reorganized companies. His US Steel company would buy Carnegie steel and become the largest business in the world in 1901

Eugene V. Debs, Socialist Party

An American union leader, one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World and was the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States.Through his presidential candidacies, as well as his work with labor movements, He eventually became one of the best-known socialists living in the United States.

Henry Frick

Successful and brutal businessman - chairman of Carnegie Steel - anti-union; Was an industrialist who headed the Carnegie Steel Company and the United States Steel Corporation;

agriculture

farming

Industrialization

the process of developing machine production of goods in a factory

patent

exclusive rights over an invention

Exports

Goods and Services sold to other countries

Pinkertons

A private detective agency founded in 1850. During the labor unrest of the late 19th century, Pinkertons were hired to infiltrate labor unions, and as security guards. They were well known for their involvement in the Homestead Strike, where they protected the strikebreakers.

Strikebreakers (Scabs)

Non-union workers hired as replacements for striking employees in order to break a union.

Pull Factors of Immigration

A factor that draws or attracts people to another location

Push Factors of Immigration

reasons people emigrate and leave their homes such as economic troubles, overcrowding, poverty

ethnic enclave

A place with a high concentration of an ethnic group that is distinct from those in the surrounding area - Ex: Chinatown , Little Italy, German Village

Nativists

Americans who feared that immigrants would take jobs and impose their Roman Catholic beliefs on society; They are anti-immigration and suspicious of immigrants; It's people who want to keep the country for white, American-born Protestants

Progressive Era

time at the turn of the 20th century in which groups sought to reform America economically, socially, and politically

President Teddy Roosevelt

Progressive President-Square Deal - Control Corporations (Trust Buster- Enforced the Sherman Antitrust Act), Consumer Protections (FDA/Pure Food & Drug Act & Meat Inspection Act) and Conservation (Save the environment - US Forest Service; supported women's suffrage in 1912

President Howard "Big Boy" Taft

Continued Teddy Roosevelt's progressive policies for the most part; busted more trusts such as Standard Oil; Created the Children's Bureau to investigate working conditions for children; continued conservation efforts (environment)

President Wilson

Progressive president- "New Freedom"-Clayton Anti-Trust Act; Keating-Owen Child Labor Act-limiting working hours for children & forbidding the interstate sale of goods made by child labor; 8-hour work day for railroad workers; Established National Park Service; 16th-19th amendments were ratified under Wilson

Muckrakers

Progressive era: A group of investigative reporters who pointed out the abuses of big business and the corruption of urban politics

Ida Tarbell, History of the Standard Oil Company

This 1904 book exposed the monopolistic practices of the Standard Oil Company. Strengthened the movement for outlawing monopolies. A muckraker novel. Eventually leads to the break up of Standard Oil

Upton Sinclair, The Jungle

The author wrote a book about the horrors of food production in 1906, the bad quality of meat, and the dangerous working conditions. The Pure Food & Drug Act is a result

Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives

His photography helped capture the hardships faced by the poor. Resulted in improved building codes, sanitary laws

Lincoln Steffens, The Shame of the Cities

His book exposed corruption in city government and led to many reforms that helped to clean up politics and do away with party bosses.

Lewis Hines

muckraker; photographer tried to end child labor

Ida B. Wells

African-American female journalist who led the fight against lynching

Settlement Houses

institutions that provided educational and social services to poor people

laissez-faire capitalism

This was the style of capitalism in which the government had no interference with the economy; private ownership

government intervention

The practice of government to intervene in markets, preventing the free functioning of the market, usually for the purpose of achieving particular economic or social objectives. Inserting rules/regulations

Great Migration

(internal migration) movement of over 300,000 African American from the rural south into Northern cities between 1914 and 1920

Angel Island and Ellis Island

location of two main immigration stations in the U.S. (Angel Island in CA - immigrants to America mostly from China, Japan and other Asian countries) (Ellis Island in NY - immigrants to America from Europe)

Immigration in Gilded Age and Progressive Era

explosion of immigrants filling the need for labor