Unit 1 American Industrialization

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, historical figures, laws, economic practices, and social movements of Unit 1 American Industrialization.

American Civil War

1861-1865: War between North (union states) and South (confederate states) over slavery and secession.

Union

The North in the Civil War

Confederacy

The South in the Civil War

Abraham Lincoln

The 16th president of the U.S. who led the Union during the Civil War and whose support for ending slavery helped transform the South's economy and set the stage for America's rapid industrial growth after 1865.

Slavery

The condition of being owned by another person and being made to work without wages

Secede

To withdraw formally from membership in a union, alliance, or a political organization.

Industrialized

A country, region, or society that has developed a highly advanced economy based on mass production, factories, and technology rather than traditional agriculture.

Abolition

Movement to end slavery

13th Amendment

The January 1865 amendment to the constitution that abolished or made slavery illegal.

1st Industrial Revolution

The greatly increased output of machine made goods that began in England in the 1700s.

2nd Industrial Revolution

In the mid 1800s, the Industrial Revolution spread from England to continental Europe, Japan, and the United States where the U.S. concentrated on expanding their power, post-Civil War, through industrializing.

Bessemer Process

A way to manufacture steel quickly and cheaply by blasting hot air through melted iron to quickly remove impurities.

Assembly Line

Method in factories that broke down production into a series of simple, repetitive tasks to make good faster and cheaper.

Laissez Faire Capitalism

The "hands free" approach that the economy and industries will function best if the government does not interfere, like with restrictions on business.

Tariff

A government tax on imports or exports to reduce competition for domestic products.

Rugged Individualism

Idea that it was a person's responsibility to make themselves succeed and if they failed it was up to them to pick themselves up and try again.

Entrepreneurship

The process of starting, organizing, managing, and assuming the responsibility for a business.

Social Darwinism

Philosophy based on Charles Darwin "survival of the fittest" that those who worked hard would become wealthy and those who did not work hard would sink to the bottom of the society.

Railroads

A revolutionary method for mass-producing steel that was stronger, lighter, and more flexible than iron, enabling the construction of railroads, bridges, and skyscrapers.

Oil Industry

Became a major U.S. industry starting in 1859; petroleum was used for kerosene and later to fuel machines and engines, powering industrial growth and creating jobs.

Thomas Edison

Inventor of the electric lightbulb and founder of one of the first research labs, which produced innovations like the phonograph and motion picture camera.

Alexander Graham Bell

Inventor of the telephone, which allowed people to speak directly across long distances, revolutionizing communication.

Lewis Howard Latimer

African American inventor who improved Edison's lightbulb with a carbon filament, making it more practical and affordable; also contributed to early telephone designs.

Madam C.J. Walker

Entrepreneur who built a successful haircare business for African American women and used her wealth to support civil rights and empower others.

Josephine Cochrane

American inventor who created the first commercially successful dishwasher, turning an everyday household problem into an invention that laid the foundation for modern dishwashing machines.

Mass Production

The ability to produce goods quickly and cheaply, increasing efficiency and profits, and transforming how businesses operated.

Electricity

A transformative force that allowed factories to operate longer, homes to be lit safely, and enabled inventions like streetcars, appliances, and communication systems.

Capitalism

An economic system based on private ownership, competition, and profit-driven businesses, which encouraged innovation and industrial expansion.

Market Economy

An economy where supply and demand determine production and pricing, with limited government control, allowing private businesses to grow and compete.

Planned Economy

An economy where the government controls production, pricing, and distribution decisions, contrasting with the U.S. market economy.

Wealth Gap

The growing economic divide between rich industrialists and poor laborers, which became a major issue during the Second Industrial Revolution.

Urbanization

Movement of people from rural areas to cities

Ellis Island

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

Angel Island

The immigration station at San Francisco Bay, California where immigrants, mostly Chinese, gained admission to the U.S. Questioning and conditions at Angel Island were much harsher than Ellis Island in New York.

Push Factor

Things that pushed immigrants out of their home countries like religious persecution, political persecution, poverty, famine, land shortages, and unemployment.

Pull Factor

Things that pulled immigrants into the United States like safety, economic opportunity, freedom, political stability, and abundance of jobs.

Xenophobia

Fear of foreigners

1882 Chinese Exclusion Act

First major law banning immigration based on nationality which prohibited Chinese laborers from entering the U.S. and denied Chinese immigrants the right to become U.S. citizens.

Immigration Act of 1924

Also known as the Johnson-Reed Act, which set strict quotas on how many immigrants could come from each country, especially from Southern and Eastern Europe. It also banned all immigration from Asia, including Japan, India, and China.

Assimilation

The expectation of immigrants to adopt American customs, language, and values and often to abandon their traditional or native culture.

Nativism

A policy of favoring native-born individuals over foreign-born ones

Tenement

A multistory building divided into crowded apartments in which several families rent rooms or apartments, often with little sanitation or safety.

Tenement House Act of 1867

This act required new tenement buildings to provide a narrow air shaft between adjacent structures, windows that open into the shaft, two toilets on each floor, and a one square yard window in each room. This represented the first major housing code in the United States.

Tenement House Act of 1901

A reform bill to improve living standards of people in the tenements. It gave more strength to the 1867 guidelines and called for increased ventilation, limits on the number of people per residency, fire safety measures, and improved sanitation.

1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

March 25, 1911 fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in New York City which killed 145 workers. The tragedy brought widespread attention to the dangerous sweatshop conditions of factories, and led to the development of a series of laws and regulations that better protected the safety of workers.

Jacob Riis

A Danish immigrant, he became a reporter who pointed out the terrible conditions of the tenement houses of the big cities where immigrants lived during the late 1800s. He wrote How The Other Half Lives in 1890.

The Gilded Age

A period from roughly 1870-1900 that featured rapid economic growth and industrialization masked by severe poverty, widespread political corruption, and extreme wealth inequality

Corporation

A business owned by investors through shares of stock

Entrepreneurs

People who risk their time, money, and other resources to start and manage a business or to invest money in a product or enterprise in order to make a profit.

Collective Bargaining

Negotiating as a group for higher pay and better working conditions.

Captains of Industry

Term given to industrialists and entrepreneurs who expanded the economy, created jobs, and gave back to society

Robber Barons

Term given to industrialists and entrepreneurs who used ruthless tactics, paid low wages, and built monopolies that hurt competition

Monopoly

When a single company completely controls an entire industry, with no significant competition at all.

Vertical Integration

Practice where a single group or company controls the entire process of a product, from the raw materials to distribution. Ex: Andrew Carnegie's steel empire—he owned iron mines, railroads, steel mills, and shipping lines.

Horizontal Integration

A strategy where a company buys out or merges with competitors in the same industry. Ex: John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil—he acquired rival oil companies to control the oil market.

Andrew Carnegie

A Scottish-born American industrialist and philanthropist (a person who gives money, time, or resources to charitable causes) who founded the Carnegie Steel Company in 1892. By 1901, his company dominated the American steel industry.

John D. Rockefeller

An American industrialist and philanthropist who revolutionized the oil industry when he established the Standard Oil Company, one of the greatest monopoly known in history. He also defined the structure of modern philanthropy.

Cornelius Vanderbilt

A railroad owner who built a railway connecting Chicago and New York. He popularized the use of steel rails in his railroad, which made railroads safer and more economical.

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.

Trusts

A group of corporations run by a single board of directors for the purpose of reducing competition and controlling prices (establishing a monopoly).

Sherman Antitrust Act

1890 law that made it illegal for companies to create monopolies or trusts

Patronage

Political favors and contracts were exchanged for votes or money.

Political Machine

A group who controlled the politics in a city who offered services to voters & businesses in exchange for political or financial support.

Tammany Hall

Most well known political machine, in New York, headed by Boss Tweed.

Muckrakers

Investigative journalists who sought to expose corruption or scandal

Reform

To make changes in something, especially an institution or practice, in order to improve it.

Pendleton Civil Service Act

A law that required that certain federal jobs be filled based on merit, using competitive exams instead of favoritism or corrupt deals.