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The American Vision Chapter 12 Terms

Terms in this set (38)

gross national product
The total value of goods and services produced by a country during a year
laissez-faire
"Let people do as they choose"; policy that government should interfere as little as possible in the nation's economy
entrepreneur
One who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise
Edwin Drake
The man who drilled the first oil well near Titusville, Pennsylvania in 1859.
Alexander Graham Bell
A Scottish immigrant who invented the telephone in 1876.
Thomas Alva Edison
The leading pioneer in new technology who invented the phonograph (1877) and lightbulb (1879). He also invented and improved the battery, dictaphone, and motion picture. At the time of his death, he held more than one thousand patents.
Morrill Tariff
The piece of legislation passed by the Republican-controlled Congress after the Southern states seceded which greatly increased tariff rates.
time zone
A geographical region in which the same standard time is kept
land grant
A grant of land by the federal government especially for roads, railroads, or agricultural colleges
Pacific Railway Act
An act signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1862 which provided for the construction of a transcontinental railroad by two corporations. To encourage rapid construction, the government offered each company land along its right-of-way.
Grenville Dodge
An engineer and former Union general who directed the Union Pacific company which built west from Omaha, Nebraska in 1865.
Leland Stanford
A Sacramento grocer who made a huge fortune by investing stock into the Central Pacific Railroad Company. He became the governor of California, served as a U.S. senator, and founded a university which bears his name.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
One of the most successful railroad consolidators who had merged railroads to offer service between Buffalo and New York and the first direct rail service between Chicago and New York. He began building New York's Grand Central Station in 1871.
Jay Gould
The most notoriously corrupt railroad owner who became infamous by manipulating stock.
Credit Mobilier
A construction company for the Union Pacific that acted as a "front" company for the wealthiest owners of the Union Pacific. The company diverted profits from building the railroad to a small group of investors. By greatly inflating prices for building, the railroad itself made little money while this company's owners made millions. Owners paid off congressmen and local officials. This scandal erupted in 1872.
James J. Hill
Built and operated the Great Northern Railroad fairly and without any federal land grants or subsidies.
corporation
An organization that is authorized by law to carry on an activity but treated as though it were a single person
stock
Money or capital invested or available for investment or trading
economics of scale
The reduction in the cost of a good brought about especially by increased production at a given facility
vertical integration
The combining of companies that supply equipment and services needed for a particular industry
horizontal integration
The combining of many firms engaged in the same type of business into one corporation
monopoly
Total control of a type of industry by one person or one company
trust
A combination of firms or corporations formed by a local agreement, especially to reduce competition;
a legal agreement that allows one person to manage another person's property
holding company
A company whose primary business is owning a controlling share of stock in other companies
Andrew Carnegie
A Scottish immigrant who opened a steel company in Pittsburgh in 1875 using the Bessemer process. He used vertical integration in his steel company that became the largest such company in the U.S.
John D. Rockefeller
The famous industrialist who founded his Standard Oil Company and achieved almost complete horizontal integration of his industry. His company controlled about 90% (almost a monopoly) of the oil-refining industry in the United States.
deflation
A decline in the volume of available money or credit that results in lower prices, and, therefore, increases the buying power of money
trade union
An organization of workers with the same trade or skill
industrial union
An organization of common laborers and craft workers in a particular industry
blacklist
A list of persons who are disapproved of or who are to be punished or boycotted
lockout
A company tool to fight union demands by refusing to allow employees to enter its facilities to work
arbitration
Settling a dispute by agreeing to accept the decision of an impartial outsider
injunction
A court order whereby one is required to do or to refrain from doing a specified act
closed shop
An agreement in which a company agrees to hire only union members
Marxism
The ideas of Karl Marx that the basic force shaping capitalist society was the class struggle between workers and owners.
Knights of Labor
An organization founded in 1869 led by Terence Powderly who opposed strikes, preferring to use boycotts to pressure employers, supported arbitration, an eight-hour workday, equal pay for women, the abolition of child labor, and the creation of worker owned factories, and welcomed women and African Americans as members. The Haymarket Riot undermined this organization's reputation.
American Federation of Labor
The dominant union of the late 1800s created in 1886 which focused on promoting the interests of skilled workers.
Samuel Gompers
The first president of the American Federation of Labor, a position he held until 1924. He tried to steer way from controversy and stay focused on "bread and butter" issues -- wages, working hours, and working conditions.
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