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The Industrial Age - 1865 - 1914
Covers the Industrial Boom in the U.S.
44
Social Studies
8th Grade
11/12/2013

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Term
Consolidation
Definition
Companies were bought out or driven out of business by bigger ones, reducing competition
Term
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Definition
Owned most of railroads from NYC to Great Lakes. Very aggressive (unfair?) business tactics are not regulated by government.
Term
Rebates
Definition
secret discounts given to important customers forced smaller competition out of business
Term
Pools
Definition
several companies work together to set high rates and increase profits. These were illegal, but government did little to stop robber barons
Term
Telegraph
Definition
invented in 1844 and used wires to transmit electrical pulses in Morse Code
Term
Transatlantic Cable (1866)
Definition
telegraph cable laid across the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, linking news from Europe and North America in a matter of seconds.
Term
Telephone
Definition
Alexander Graham Bell invents the phone in 1876. Allows voice to travel via wires. Businesses were the first to use them and by 1890s, he had sold hundreds of thousands of phones. Homes would come soon after.
Term
Patent
Definition
government approval of a product that prohibits others from copying the item
Term
Thomas Edison
Definition
called the Wizard of Menlo Park, he owned an invention factory in Menlo Park, NJ. His company created the phonograph (record player), motion picture projector, storage battery and the electric light bulb.
Term
Kodak Camera
Definition
(1888) by George Eastman of Rochester, NY allows regular people to take pictures. Portable.
Term
George Westinghouse
Definition
a competitor to Edison. Takes Edison’s light bulb further by creating alternating current (AC) in 1885. This allowed for electric power to travel safely over long distances, allowing for lighted buildings, trolleys, factories, and street lamps.
Term
Gasoline-Powered Automobile
Definition
Karl Benz had invented the gasoline-powered automobile in Germany in 1888. Cars were only available to the very wealthy.
Term
Henry Ford
Definition
seeks to make a car affordable for the masses. In 1908, he introduced the Model T, a car he’d continue to make for 18 years.
Term
Assembly Line
Definition
To keep costs down, Ford created the assembly line. The parts moved past workers who would puts the pieces of the Model T together as it went by. This was boring, physically difficult work. Ford sold 15 million Model Ts in 18 years, all of which were black and identical.
Term
Mass Production
Definition
producing identical items in large numbers to drive costs down for consumers.
Term
Mail Order (1863)
Definition
Stores began to sell items via catalogues and mail items to homes across the U.S. Montgomery Ward, and Sears and Roebuck do this well.
Term
Chain Stores
Definition
F.W. Woolworth’s and Kresge’s open 5 and 10 Cent stores across the U.S. selling cheap merchandise
Term
Land
Definition
space and natural resources must be available. The U.S. has a wide variety of natural resources.
Term
Labor
Definition
large numbers of workers are needed. The U.S. doubled in population from 1860 to 1900.
Term
Capital
Definition
Money for investments must be present to buy machines, factories, and pay the labor force
Term
Corporations
Definition
in an effort to raise money, companies began to sell stock, a share of the ownership of the company. These businesses are called corporations and are said to be public because anyone can buy stock.
Term
Shareholders
Definition
owners of stock in a business
Term
Law of Supply and Demand
Definition
Price increases as demand (people who want an item) increases and/or supply (the amount of the item available) decreases
Term
John D. Rockefeller
Definition
creates the Standard Oil Company. This was one of the most powerful companies in the world and used horizontal integration
Term
Horizontal integration
Definition
combining competing companies into one organization. This creates a monopoly and results in high prices and huge profits.
Term
Standard Oil Trust
Definition
Rockefeller drives out competition by lowering prices, pressuring customers to avoid his competition, and asking railroads for rebates. Other oil companies were forced to join the Standard Oil Trust to survive, creating a monopoly in the oil industry for Standard Oil.
Term
Bessemer Process
Definition
new technique allows steel to be produced quicker and more cheaply.
Steel industry springs up around the sources of iron ore in western PA and eastern Ohio.
Pittsburgh becomes the Steel Capital of the U.S.
Term
Andrew Carnegie
Definition
Son of a Scottish immigrant, he is a rags to riches story who invests in a steel plant near Pittsburgh. By 1890, he dominates the steel industry using vertical integration.
Term
Vertical integration
Definition
owning all levels of production from the ground where ore exists to the transportation of the ore to the factories where steel is made to the warehouses where completed steel is stored before shipping.
Term
Philanthropy
Definition
Carnegie, Rockefeller and other industrial millionaires became interested in using their money to help society.
Term
Robber Barons
Definition
Extremely wealthy business leaders are called “Robber Barons.” They are accused of mistreating workers, unfairly driving up prices, and taking advantage of their size, wealth and power to eliminate competition.
Term
Sweatshops
Definition
crowded and dangerous businesses, usually in the garment industry
Term
Labor Conditions in late 1800s
Definition
As mass production increased, companies grew larger and less personal
Industrial laborers worked 10 to 12 hour days, six days a week.
Workers could be fired at any time for any reason and often were replaced with immigrants who would work for lower pay.
Factories were uncomfortable, dark, dirty, and unsafe.
If you were hurt, you were fired. There were no insurance or unemployment benefits.
Term
Child Labor
Definition
Hundreds of thousands of children under 16 worked in factories. Some states passed laws prohibiting children under 12 from working, but these laws were widely ignored by employers.
Term
Labor Unions
Definition
Workers began to get together to demand improved pay, hours, and conditions.
Term
Knights of Labor
Definition
led by Terence Powderly, this national group sought unskilled workers and included women, African-Americans, and immigrants. It had 700,000 members by 1886. It lost power by the 1890s because of strikes and violence.
Term
American Federation of Labor (AFL)
Definition
led by Samuel Gompers, this union was made up of skilled workers (workers who needed specific training like carpenters). The AFL survived a bad public image and by 1904 had 1.4 million members.
Term
Mary Harris Jones
Definition
called “Mother Jones,” she supported women who were not allowed in some unions. Spent 50 fighting for workers rights.
Term
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (1911)
Definition
Fire broke out in a NYC sweatshop of immigrant, young women garment workers. 150 died, some when jumping out of high windows because windows on lower floors had bars on them to prevent workers from leaving. Doors were locked as well. Led to many changes in workplace rules.
Term
Strikes
Definition
union action where workers refuse to work in hopes of getting improvements from the company. Sometimes turned violent.
Term
Strikebreakers
Definition
“scab” workers or thugs hired to beat up striking workers
Term
Haymarket Square Riot
Definition
workers for McCormick Harvester Company in Chicago held a rally. When police showed up, a bomb killed an officer. More were killed in the ensuing riot. Many Americans blamed the unions, who lost power.
Term
Homestead Strike
Definition
Workers in Carnegie’s Homestead, PA plant went on strike. Carnegie hired strikebreakers to beat up workers and brought in scabs. 10 people were killed in the fighting.
Term
Pullman Strike
Definition
The Pullman Railcar Company had a company town – the workers worked in the factory and lived in homes owned by the Pullman Company. The company cut wages but kept the rent the same. American railroad workers refused to work if a train had a Pullman car, bringing transportation to a standstill in the U.S. Union leader, Eugene Debs was sent to jail and still refused to end the strike. President Grover Cleveland sent federal troops to break up the strike, hurting the power of unions.
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