The Triumph of Industry Study Guide – Chapter 4
Vocabulary:
1. Patent – licenses to make, use, or sell an invention; exclusive rights to an inventor to develop, use, sell an invention for a set period of time
2. Productivity – the amount of goods and services created in a given period of time
3. mass production – manufacture of goods in large amount by breaking the production process into many repetitive segments
4. monopoly – When a company has no competition in selling its product
5. cartel – a loose arrangement of similar businesses formed to control production and keep prices high; differs from monopoly in that businesses making the same product agree to limit production
6. trust – A group of separate companies placed under the control of a single managing board
7. business cycle – what economists call periods of boom or bust, may be described as expansion followed by recession
8. piecework – the method of providing payment based on the number of items created, favored young and strong workers
9. scab – workers called in to replace striking workers
10. economies of scale – As production increases, the cost of each item produced is often lower…producers can then charge less
11. collective bargaining – when workers negotiate as a group with employers
12. anarchist – political radicals who oppose all government
13. Protective Tariff – helped fuel economic growth by encouraging people to buy American goods
14. Capitalism – encouraged entrepreneurs to establish businesses
People:
15. Thomas Edison – the inventor who established the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, major accomplishment…making electricity more widely available
16. George Westinghouse – developed the alternating current to aid in the spread of electricity; electricity extended the number of hours in a day that Americans could work and play
17. John A Roebling – designed the Brooklyn Bridge
18. Andrew Carnegie – the industrialist who preached the “Gospel of Wealth” stating that the wealthy should display moral responsibility in the use of their God-given money, argued that the success of wealthy industrialists helped the entire nation; pioneered the technique of vertical integration in the steel industry; United States Steel was the first billion-dollar corporation
19. John D. Rockefeller – the industrialists who established Standard Oil, he attempted to create a monopoly, cartel and trust in that industry, gained control over much of the oil industry by managing a trust made up of Standard Oil and allied companies; reacted to government restrictions on business by placing his company under the control of boards of trustees
20. Fredrick Winslow Taylor – studied worker productivity as the foundation for his system for the scientific management published in his 1911 book, The Principles of Scientific Management
21. Karl Marx/Friedrick Engels – German philosophers who wrote the Communist Manifesto which opposed capitalism, later used by Communists, founders of modern communism and socialism
22. August Spies - anarchists and newspaper editor who stirred up anger among the workers during the Haymarket Riot
Identification Terms:
23. Transcontinental Railroad – the railway extending from coast to coast completed on May 10, 1869, the government contributed to the building by awarding loans and land grants to private companies; the greatest economic consequences was that it united the nation into a single, integrated national market; single it was the greatest factor to spur industrialization
24. Bessemer process – developed by inventor Henry Bessemer as a cheaper and more efficient method of producing steel, steel made the construction of skyscrapers and other wonders possible including the symbol of American success the Brooklyn Bridge; the steel industry owed much to the inventive genius of Henry Bessemer
25. Telegraph – invented and patented by Samuel F.B. Morse, revolutionized American communications in the late 1800s
26. Telephone – invented by Alexander Graham Bell who established the American Telephone and Telegraph company, revolutionized American communications in the late 1800s
27. Brooklyn Bridge – symbol of American success made possible by the Bessemer process
28. Social Darwinism – the theory that discouraged government interference in economic matters; the theory stated that government should stay out of the affairs of business and the best would create success that would benefit society as a whole
29. Standard Oil – company owned by John D. Rockefeller
30. Sherman Anti-Trust Act – first primarily used to curb the power of labor unions; passed by Congress to keep industry from cutting off competition; imposed limitations upon large corporations; prohibited private corporations or organization from engaging in “combinations in restraint of trade”
31. horizontal consolidation/ Integration – the process of bringing together many firms that are in the same business to form one large company; consolidates many firms involved in the same business into one giant company Example: John D. Rockefeller, illegal
32. vertical consolidation/ Integration – the process of gaining control of the many different businesses that make up all phases of a product’s development; Example: Andrew Carnegie, legal
33. division of labor – Breaking a job down into separate tasks and having each worker perform a different task
34. socialism – the philosophy that advocates public rather than private control of property
35. Knights of labor - first labor organization; hoped to organize all working men and women, skilled and unskilled, into a single union; leader Terrence Powderly; Union members grew disillusioned as newspapers printed articles blaming workers for the violence that occurred at Haymarket Square
36. Wobblies – focused on unskilled workers, was a radical union that included many Socialists among its leadership
37. Haymarket Riot – the 1886 labor-related violence in Chicago, resulted from a conflict between labor and management interests; anarchist accused of throwing a bomb into a crowd of police; resulted in the execution of four anarchists and the decline of the Knights of Labor
38. Homestead Strike – the 1892 strike in Pennsylvania against Carnegie Steel; Pinkertons called in
39. Pullman Strike – lead by popular labor organizer Eugene Debs who called for a boycott of Pullman cars leading to a strike, the government responded to the strike by using federal troops to control the workers
Other Topics/People to Consider: also on the test…study this as well
40. Jacob Riis - this social reformer wrote the book Children of the Poor to draw attention to child labor practices in 1892
41. Samuel Gompers – labor leader that began the American Federation of Labor; opposed letting women join the American Federation of labor because he believed that women in the work force would drive the wages down; developed the AFL into the largest labor union in the US by concentrating on higher wages and better working conditions
42. American Federation of Labor – limited membership to skilled craftspeople and focused on economic reforms…lead by Samuel Gompers (no women or minorities); the most effective and most enduring labor union of the post-Civil War period and is still active today
43. Philanthropist – a person who donates money to worthy causes
44. Yellow Dog Contracts – some employers forced workers to sign agreements not to join labor unions…they would not become a “yellow dog”
45. Robber Baron – critic of the powerful industrialist, a negative term of description; those who found fault with the captains of industry argued they built their corporate wealth and power by exploiting workers
46. Captain of Industry – positive term for big business leaders, their support for technology benefited the economy
47. Technological Advances – made possible the American industrial growth in the late 1800s, along with financial investments sparked the expansion of American industry
48. Distribution of Wealth – industrial growth led to the concentration of wealth being in the hands of a few industrialists
49. Children – often worked in factories because families needed the income to survive
50. Nation’s first major labor strike – The Railway strike of 1877 began due to railway workers becoming angered by wage cuts
51. Interstate Commerce Commission – formed by the federal government to oversee railroad operations across the country; first federal regulatory agency designed to protect the public interest for business combinations
52. Industrial workers – faced low wages and long hours in unsafe working conditions; they tolerated this treatment because they could easily be replaced by other workers; the federal government denied unions recognition as legally; protected groups supporting employers during times of unrest; greatest change in their lives was the need for them to adjust to the time clock; women worked for economic necessity
53. Corporation – important advantage is reducing the financial risk for individual investors; the Supreme court interpreted the Constitution in such a way as to favor corporations in the late nineteenth century
Possible short answer/open response:
54. Explain why American industrialists of the late 1800s were called both “robber barons” and “captains of industry.” What viewpoint do you think most accurately depicts nineteenth-century industrialists?
55. Describe the theory of social Darwinism and its connection to big business. Do you agree with the philosophy of social Darwinism? Why or why not.
40. During the railroad strike, one newspaper accused the strikers of carrying out “a revolution… to undermine American institutions.” How did this characterization highlight the public’s view of labor unions? What does this tell us about American society during this time period?