Industrialization

Transcontinental Railroad

• A Scottish-born American inventor, scientist, and teacher of the deaf whose foremost accomplishment was the invention of the telephone.
• A painter and inventor who developed an electric telegraph. In 1838 he and his friend Alfred Vail developed a code for sending telegraph messages.
• Railroad connecting the west and east coasts of the continental United States. It was completed in 1869.
• These people were private guards who would put down strikes. They were armed and were used by management to help put down the Homestead Strike.

Interstate Commerce Act

• 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.
• 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.
• A riot that occurred in Chicago when police attempted to break up a union rally. People died when a bomb was thrown and, as a result, many people began to associate unions with violent activity.
• 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.

Panic of 1893

• 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 Scottish immigrant became a millionaire by revolutionizing the steel industry. He employed vertical integration to control the steel industry.
• 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 economic downturn forced many railroads into bankruptcy. As a result bankers like J.P. Morgan consolidated many railroad companies.

J.P. Morgan

• 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.
• 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.
• American fur trader and financier, he founded the fur-trading post of Astoria and the American Fur Company.

Robber Barons

• A riot that occurred in Chicago when police attempted to break up a union rally. People died when a bomb was thrown and, as a result, many people began to associate unions with violent activity.
• This economic downturn forced many railroads into bankruptcy. As a result bankers like J.P. Morgan consolidated many railroad companies.
• 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.
• Led the American Railway Union which organized the Pullman Strike. He was arrested and put in jail when he did not comply with the order to stop the strike.

Captains of Industry

• 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.
• Perhaps the most famous United States inventor. His inventions include the phonograph, incandescent electric light, and the microphone.
• 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.
• 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.

Bessemer Process

• This union, founded by Terence Powderly, was open to all workers including women and blacks. It lost popularity after the Haymarket Riot.
• 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 was the creator of the American Federation of Labor. He provided a stable and unified union for skilled workers.
• A technological breakthrough which blasted air through molten iron to produce high quality steel much more cheaply than previous methods.

Andrew Carnegie

• This economic downturn forced many railroads into bankruptcy. As a result bankers like J.P. Morgan consolidated many railroad companies.
• This Scottish immigrant became a millionaire by revolutionizing the steel industry. He employed vertical integration to control the steel industry.
• 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 painter and inventor who developed an electric telegraph. In 1838 he and his friend Alfred Vail developed a code for sending telegraph messages.

John D. Rockefeller

• 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.
• Led the American Railway Union which organized the Pullman Strike. He was arrested and put in jail when he did not comply with the order to stop the strike.
• 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.

Standard Oil

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.