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APUSH Period 6- Industry and Business

Terms in this set (32)

Cornelius Vanderbilt
A railroad owner who built a railway connecting Chicago and New York. He popularized the use of steel rails in his railroad, which made railroads safer and more economical.
Credit Mobilier
1872, This was a fraudulent construction company created to take the profits of the Union Pacific Railroad. Using government funds for the railroad, the Union Pacific directors gave padded construction contracts to Congress members
Transcontinental Railroad
Railroad connecting the west and east coasts of the continental US
JP Morgan
An influential banker and businessman who bought and reorganized companies. His US Steel company would buy Carnegie steel and become the largest business in the world in 1901
Interstate Commerce Act
1887, a law that made a federal Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate unfair railroad practices
Interstate Commerce Commisssion
Former independent agency of the U.S. government, established in 1887; it was charged with regulating the economics and services of specified carriers engaged in transportation between states. Surface transportation under the it's jurisdiction included railroads, trucking companies, bus lines, freight forwarders, water carriers, oil pipelines, transportation brokers, and express agencies. After his election in 1904, Theodore Roosevelt demonstrated support of progressive reforms by strengthening this.
Andrew Carnegie
A Scottish-born American industrialist and philanthropist who founded the Carnegie Steel Company in 1892. By 1901, his company dominated the American steel industry. Robber baron bought out by JP Morgan
US Steel
The largest steel company of the US, created by J.P. Morgan by merging Andrew Carnegie's Carnegie Steel and several other steel companies together; at the time, the largest corporation in existence.
Vertical Integration
Company took over all different businesses on which it relied for its primary function (Carnegie Steel came to control not only steel mills but mines, railroads, etc)
Edwin Drake
American pioneer in oil industry; became first to drill for petroleum
John D Rockefeller
An American industrialist and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of modern philanthropy. In 1870, he founded Standard Oil Company and aggressively ran it until he officially retired in 1897. Greatest, wisest monopoly ever established.
Standard Oil
American oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world. Example of horizontal integration. Started by John D. Rockefeller.
Horizontal Integration
A technique used by John D. Rockefeller. It is an act of joining or consolidating with ones competitors to create a monopoly. Rockefeller was excellent with using this technique to monopolize certain markets. It is responsible for the majority of his wealth.
Monopoly
A market in which there are many buyers but only one seller.
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
First federal action against monopolies, it was signed into law by Harrison and was extensively used by Theodore Roosevelt for trust-busting. However, it was initially misused against labor unions.
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