Industrialization, Railroads, Big Business, and Labor Unions

Vocabulary flashcards covering key inventions, industrial leaders, business practices, railroad expansion, and labor union concepts during American industrialization.

Industrialization

The growth of factories, machines, mass production, and industry.

Edwin L. Drake

The inventor who built the steam engine drill, enabling more efficient oil drilling at greater depths and helping establish the petroleum industry.

Steam Engine Drill

An invention created by Edwin L. Drake that allowed people to drill for oil more efficiently and at greater depths.

Henry Bessemer

The individual who developed the Bessemer Process for producing steel quickly and cheaply.

Bessemer Process

A method of producing steel quickly and cheaply, which aided railroad expansion and enabled cities to build taller and stronger structures.

Thomas Edison

The inventor of the practical light bulb, which provided electric lighting and allowed people to work and live after dark.

George Westinghouse

An inventor and businessman associated with alternating-current (AC) electricity.

Alternating-Current (AC) Electricity

A form of electricity useful for long-distance transmission, allowing factories to operate more efficiently and be built farther from power sources.

Christopher Sholes

The inventor of the typewriter, which accelerated document production and helped create more office jobs.

Alexander Graham Bell

The inventor of the telephone, which allowed instant communication over long distances.

Transcontinental Railroad

A railroad connecting the eastern and western United States that encouraged western settlement and made transportation faster.

Union Pacific and Central Pacific

The two railroad companies that built the Transcontinental Railroad.

Promontory Summit, Utah

The location where the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroad lines met to complete the Transcontinental Railroad.

Crédit Mobilier

A railroad construction company involved in a scandal where insiders overcharged the government for construction and used bribes to influence members of Congress.

Farmers v. Illinois

A Supreme Court case regarding railroad rates in which the court ruled that states could regulate businesses that served the public interest.

Interstate Commerce Act

A federal law designed to regulate railroads and prevent unfair practices, serving as one of the first major federal attempts to regulate big business.

Vertical Integration

A business strategy where a company controls different stages of producing and distributing its product to lower costs, control production, and ensure reliable supplies.

Horizontal Integration

A business strategy where a company buys or controls other companies that produce the same product to eliminate competition and control more of the market.

Monopoly

A market condition where one company controls nearly all of a market.

Holding Company

A company created to control other companies by owning their stock.

J.P. Morgan

A powerful banker and businessman who controlled major companies and investments and created U.S. Steel.

U.S. Steel

A major steel company created by J.P. Morgan.

Trust

In Gilded Age business, a group of companies controlled together to reduce competition.

John D. Rockefeller

The industrialist who controlled Standard Oil and used horizontal integration to control prices, production, and much of the American oil industry.

Standard Oil

John D. Rockefeller's major oil company.

Andrew Carnegie

A major industrialist who became wealthy through the steel industry using vertical integration and donated much of his wealth to public causes.

Gospel of Wealth

Andrew Carnegie's belief that wealthy people had a responsibility to use their money to benefit society.

Labor Union

An organization of workers that negotiates with employers to fight for better wages, shorter hours, and safer working conditions.

Collective Bargaining

The process of workers negotiating together with employers for wages and working conditions.

Strike

An action where workers stop working to demand changes from their employer.