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APUSH Chapter 24

Terms in this set (53)

Union Pacific Railroad
the railroad company commissioned by Congress to build westward from Omaha, NE; eventually met the Central Pacific near Ogden, UT. Company was granted 20 square-miles of land for every mile of track built, also given large federal loans. Employed Irish labor gangs. Was involved in the Credit Mobilier scandal, when insiders reaped millions in profits.
James J. Hill
driving force behind the construction of the Great Northern Railway
Cornelius Vanderbilt
leader in the enterprise of connecting eastern railworks with western ones, as well as expanding and improving the former. He turned from steamboat to railroad enterprise late in life, and with his clear vision he offered better railroad service at lower rates, earning him $100 million. Popularized the use of steel rails.
Jay Gould
a financier adept at making multimillion-dollar deals, booming and busting the stocks of massive railroads for thirty years.
Stock watering
Originally referring to cattle, term for the practice of railroad promoters exaggerationg the profitability of stocks in excess of its actual value. Railroad managers were forced to charge great rates and wage competitive battles to pay off large financial obligations.
Pool
is an informal agreement between a group of people or leaders of a company to divide the business in an area and share the profits. The Interstate Commerce Act in 1887 made railroads publicly publish their prices and it outlawed the pool.
Wabash case
1886 Supreme Court case that decreed that individual states had no power to regulate interstate commerce
Alexander Graham Bell
United States inventor (born in Scotland) of the telephone (1847-1922)
Thomas Edison
One of the most prolific inventors in U.S. history. He invented the phonograph, light bulb, electric battery, mimeograph and moving picture.
Andrew Carnegie
the greatest of the industrial-era steelmasters gifted at organizing and administrating his organization, which at its peak consisted of forty Pittsburgh millionaires. Created his empire using vertical integration. Sold his organization for $400 million to J.P. Morgan and became a prominent philanthropist
John D. Rockefeller
Was an American plutocrat, industrialist and philanthropist. Revolutionized the oil industry with his Standard Oil Company through a mastery of horizontal integration and trust-building. Soon cornered the world's petroleum industry.
J. Pierpont Morgan
the "bankers' banker" who bought out Carnegie Steel and renamed it to U.S. Steel. Consolidated rival enterprises by putting his officers on their board of directors, called interlocking directorates.
Vertical integration
absorption into a single firm of several firms involved in all aspects of a product's manufacture from raw materials to distribution
Horizontal integration
absorption into a single firm of several firms involved in the same level of production and sharing resources at that level
Trust
a consortium of independent organizations formed to limit competition by controlling the production and distribution of a product or service
Interlocking directorate
the consolidation of rival enterprises, to ensure harmony officers of a banking syndicate were placed on boards of these rivals
Bessemer process
an industrial process for making steel using a Bessemer converter to blast air through through iron and thus burning the excess carbon and impurities. Actually invented by American William Kelly but was named after a Briton who discovered it in the 1850s
United States Steel
founded by J.P. Morgan in 1901 by combining the Carnegie Steel Company with Gary's Federal Steel Company and Moore's National Steel Company for $492 million. At one time, was the largest steel producer and largest corporation in the world. Maintained the labor policies of Carnegie, which called for low wages and opposition to unionization.
Gospel of Wealth
This was a book written by Carnegie that described the responsibility of the rich to be philanthropists. This softened the harshness of Social Darwinism as well as promoted the idea of philanthropy.
New South
The rise of a South after the Civil War which would no longer be dependent on now-outlawed slave labor or predominantly upon the raising of cotton, but rather a South which was also industrialized and part of a modern national economy
Yellow-dog contracts
solemn agreements signed by workers assuring they would not join a labor union.
National Labor Union
one of the first national-scale unions organized in the industrial world; was organized in 1866. Attempted to unify members across trades yet barely included women and blacks. Won the eight-hour workday for government workers. Was killed during the depression of the 1870s.
Haymarket riot
an incident that began with a protest against alleged police brutality. A dynamite bomb was then thrown, killing several dozen people, including police. Led to the arrest of eight anarchists; five were sentenced to death and three pardoned by John P. Altgeld
American Federation of Labor
an association of self-governing national unions formed in 1886; brainchild of Samuel Gompers. Attempted to speak for all workers but did not represent all of them, leaving unskilled workers to fend for themselves.
Samuel Gompers
labor leader (born in England) who was president of the American Federation of Labor from 1886 to 1924. Fought for more wages, better working conditions, and less hours. Used walkouts and boycotts.
Leland Stanford
One of the "Big Four" tycoons who reaped millions from his involvement in the Central Pacific railroad; was an ex-governor of California who used his political connections for dubious reasons
Collis P. Huntington
One of the Big Four with Leland Stanford, he was involved in both railroads and shipping. He founded Newport News Shipping, the largest privately owned shipyard in the United States.
Terence V. Powderly
head of the Knights of Labor who denounced the abuse of the working class by the wealthy and advocated a "cooperative commonwealth." He shunned socialism yet urged laborers to save to purchase places of employment, like mines or stores. This would create a utopia because labor would own the enterprises, and labor-capital conflict would disappear.
John P. Altgeld
Was the governor of the U.S. state of Illinois from 1893 until 1897. He was the first Democratic governor of that state since the 1850s. A leading figure of the Progressive Era movement, he improved workplace safety and child labor laws, pardoned three of the men convicted of the Haymarket Riot, and, for a time, resisted calls to break up the Pullman strike with force.
land grants
broad belts of land given to railroads as donations; they were to choose alternate mile-square sections in a checkerboard fashion lining the tracks, but until they chose all the land was closed to settlement.
capital goods
buildings, machinery, tools, and other goods that provide productive services over a period of time.
plutocracy
a political system governed by the wealthy people
injunction
(law) a judicial remedy issued in order to prohibit a party from doing or continuing to do a certain activity
Grange
an association formed by farmers in the last 1800s to make life better for farmers by sharing information about crops, prices, and supplies, Social and educational organization through which farmers attempted to combat the power of the railroads in the late 19th century.
William Graham Sumner
He was an advocate of Social Darwinism claiming that the rich were a result of natural selection and benefits society. He, like many others promoted the belief of Social Darwinism which justified the rich being rich, and poor being poor.
Central Pacific Railroad
the California-based railroad company led by the Big Four, which included Leland Stanford and Collis P. Huntington, who walked away with millions in profits. Received the same government benefits as the Union Pacific. Employed Chinese laborers in building lines across the mountains. Started in Sacramento, and connected with the Union Pacific Railroad near Ogden, UT.
Paddies
the Irish who made up the construction gangs in the Union Pacific; often came from fighting in the Civil War
The Great Northern
the only railroad company that did not receive land grants from the government. Was the last 19th-century transcontinental railroad to be completed (in 1893). It ran from Duluth to Seattle ; its construction was led by Canadian-American James J. Hill, who organized his enterprise so well that it avoided financial difficulties.
Pullman cars
railcars advertised as "gorgeous traveling hotels" that were widely introduced in the 1860s. Condemned by some as "torture chambers" and "funeral pyres" because they had kerosene lamps.
time zones
the division of the continent into four sections each with a time staggered by one hour. Used to counteract the organizational nightmare that varied local times supplied to operators.
Interstate Commerce Commission
a body formed in 1887 that was designed to "administer and enforce new legislation" but really was only an "orderly forum" where business conflicts were resolved without harmful rate wars.
Mesabi Range
a Minnesota area that contained rich iron deposits, from which it was transported to Chicago and Cleveland, becoming the cornerstone of the steel industry
heavy industry
the concentration on making capital goods, like railroads, as opposed to consumer goods, like clothes and shoes. The former was dominant in late 19th-century industrialization
kerosene
first major product of the nascent oil industry that caused an oil boom; by the 1870s it was America's fourth most valuable export. Rendered whale oil obsolete but was rendered obsolete itself by the electric light bulb
Social Darwinism
the argument that individuals won their stations in life by competing based on natural talents; the wealthy and powerful were determined by "natural selection" and "survival of the fittest." Perpetuated by Herbert Spencer and William Graham Sumner.
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
1890 law that outlawed "combinations in restraint of trade"; had little legal bite, however, partially because of the plethora of loopholes it contained.
scabs
strikebreakers who were brought in to work where a strike was going on
lockout
when employers would lock their doors against striking workers and starve them into submission
black list
a list where owners would write the names of striking of rebellious workers and send it to other employers to prevent the hiring of that worker
company town
a settlement owned by a company for its workers that would feature its own high-priced stores; workers would be paid sometimes in "easy" credit for the stores, sinking them in debt
Knights of Labor
a society formed in 1869 under cover of secrecy, one which would remain until 1881. Sought to include all workers, including women and blacks, yet did not include "nonproducers." Campaigned for social and economic reform.
closed shop
all-union labor; a major goal of Gompers was a "trade agreement" authorizing this.
Mother Jones
fierce agitator for the Knights in Illinois cornfields
THIS SET IS OFTEN IN FOLDERS WITH...