Industrialization

Transcontinental Railroad

• Term used to describe replacement workers. Unions did not like these people who took the jobs of striking workers because they reduced the impact of the strike.
• Railroad connecting the west and east coasts of the continental United States. It was completed in 1869.
• A painter and inventor who developed an electric telegraph. In 1838 he and his friend Alfred Vail developed a code for sending telegraph messages.
• He founded Standard Oil which came to control most of America's oil refineries by eliminating the competition. His strategy to control the oil industry was called horizontal integration and involved buying out his competitors.

Interstate Commerce Act

• Term used to describe replacement workers. Unions did not like these people who took the jobs of striking workers because they reduced the impact of the strike.
• He founded Standard Oil which came to control most of America's oil refineries by eliminating the competition. His strategy to control the oil industry was called horizontal integration and involved buying out his competitors.
• This 1887 act was created to regulate the railroad industry. It required that railroad rates be "reasonable and just." Thus the railroad industry became the first industry to be regulated by the federal government.
• This act prohibited any company that attempted to restrain trade. It was not worded clearly enough to break up giant corporations called trusts that swallowed up the competition.

Panic of 1893

• This economic downturn forced many railroads into bankruptcy. As a result bankers like J.P. Morgan consolidated many railroad companies.
• This union for skilled workers, led by Samuel Gompers, wanted higher wages and better working conditions. By 1901 this organization had over a million members.
• An influential banker and businessman who bought and reorganized companies. His U.S. Steel company would buy Carnegie Steel and become the largest business in the world in 1901.
• This strike occurred near Pittsburgh at a steel plant after wages were cut by 20%. The strikers were met by Pinkertons who broke up the strike with violence.

J.P. Morgan

• An influential banker and businessman who bought and reorganized companies. His U.S. Steel company would buy Carnegie Steel and become the largest business in the world in 1901.
• This theory advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole rather than individuals. It became more popular around 1900 as the difference between the rich and the poor increased.
• This man established the Knights of Labor. He pushed hard for the eight hour day for the workers he represented.
• This belief about economics suggested that the government should not regulate the economy because businesses will be self-motivated to create reliable products at low prices.

Robber Barons

• He founded Standard Oil which came to control most of America's oil refineries by eliminating the competition. His strategy to control the oil industry was called horizontal integration and involved buying out his competitors.
• Negative term applied to industrialists who gained huge profits by paying their employees extremely low wages. They 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.
• He was the creator of the American Federation of Labor. He provided a stable and unified union for skilled workers.
• This belief about economics suggested that the government should not regulate the economy because businesses will be self-motivated to create reliable products at low prices.

Captains of Industry

• A steamboat and 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.
• Belief held by Carnegie and others suggesting that the wealthy have a God-given responsibility to practice philanthropy and help the common man.
• A positive term given to company owners such as Carnegie and Rockefeller by people who believed they steered the economy towards prosperity. Some use this term to describe Carnegie because he gave millions of dollars to build libraries and research institutes.
• Railroad connecting the west and east coasts of the continental United States. It was completed in 1869.

Bessemer Process

• He was the creator of the American Federation of Labor. He provided a stable and unified union for skilled workers.
• This strike occurred after a company that made railroad cars cut wages. A boycott tied up train travel across the country and the federal government decided to step in to stop the strike.
• This strike occurred near Pittsburgh at a steel plant after wages were cut by 20%. The strikers were met by Pinkertons who broke up the strike with violence.
• A technological breakthrough which blasted air through molten iron to produce high quality steel much more cheaply than previous methods.

Andrew Carnegie

• This Scottish immigrant became a millionaire by revolutionizing the steel industry. He employed vertical integration to control the steel industry.
• This union for skilled workers, led by Samuel Gompers, wanted higher wages and better working conditions. By 1901 this organization had over a million members.
• A worker association that bargains with employers about wages, benefits, and working conditions. Many of these organizations were established in the late 1800s.
• This union, founded by Terence Powderly, was open to all workers including women and blacks. It lost popularity after the Haymarket Riot.

John D. Rockefeller

• He was the creator of the American Federation of Labor. He provided a stable and unified union for skilled workers.
• The idea that natural selection and survival of the fittest should be applied to the marketplace. This theory suggested Standard Oil should naturally control the oil industry because they are the most powerful oil company.
• An influential banker and businessman who bought and reorganized companies. His U.S. Steel company would buy Carnegie Steel and become the largest business in the world in 1901.
• He founded Standard Oil which came to control most of America's oil refineries by eliminating the competition. His strategy to control the oil industry was called horizontal integration and involved buying out his competitors.

Standard Oil

• A worker association that bargains with employers about wages, benefits, and working conditions. Many of these organizations were established in the late 1800s.
• This man established the Knights of Labor. He pushed hard for the eight hour day for the workers he represented.
• John D. Rockefeller's company that gained a monopoly over the petroleum market by swiftly eliminating the competition. Eventually this company became known as Esso and eventually Exxon.
• This Supreme Court decision ruled that the Sherman Anti-Trust Act only applied to commerce and did not apply to manufacturing.