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History Chapter 4 Vocab

Terms in this set (32)

Entrepreneur
A person who organizes, manages, and takes on the risks of a business.
Protective Tariff
A tax on imported goods that raises the price of imports so people will buy domestic goods
Laissez-faire
Idea that government should play as small a role as possible in economic affairs.
Patent
(n.) exclusive rights over an invention; copyright; (v.) to arrange or obtain such rights; (adj.) plain, open to view; copyrighted
Thomas Edison
American inventor best known for inventing the electric light bulb, acoustic recording on wax cylinders, and motion pictures.
Bessemer Process
A way to manufacture steel quickly and cheaply by blasting hot air through melted iron to quickly remove impurities.
Suspension Bridge
bridge that has a roadway suspended by cables
Time zone
any of the 24 longitudinal areas of the world within which the same time is used
Mass production
the efficient production of large numbers of identical goods
Corporation
A business owned by stockholders who share in its profits but are not personally responsible for its debts
Monopoly
A market in which there are many buyers but only one seller.
Cartel
a formal organization of producers that agree to coordinate prices and production
John D. Rockefeller
Established the Standard Oil Company, the greatest, wisest, and meanest monopoly known in history
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 group of corporations run by a single board of directors
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.
Vertical Integration
Practice where a single entity controls the entire process of a product, from the raw materials to distribution
Soical Darwinism
The application of the idea of survival of the fittest to war and economic competition
ICC
Interstate Commerce Commission, a federal regulatory agency that governed over the rules and regulations of the railroading industry.
Sherman Antitrust 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
Sweatshop
A shop or factory where workers work long hours at low wages under unhealthy conditions
Company town
community whose residents rely upon one company for jobs, housing, and shopping
Collective bargaining
Process by which a union representing a group of workers negotiates with management for a contract
Socialism
A system in which society, usually in the form of the government, owns and controls the means of production.
Knights of Labor
1st effort to create National union. Open to everyone but lawyers and bankers. Vague program, no clear goals, weak leadership and organization. Failed
Terence V. Powderly
led the Knights of Labor, a skilled and unskilled union, wanted equal pay for equal work, an 8hr work day and to end child labor
Samuel Gompers
He was the creator of the American Federation of Labor. He provided a stable and unified union for skilled workers.
AFL
A labor union formed in 1886 by Samuel Gompers in order to voice the working class (only highly skilled laborers). It fought against labor forces and debated work conditions for skilled workers. Utilized Strikes.
Haymarket Riot
1886 labor-related protest in Chicago which ended in deadly violence
Homestead Strike
1892 steelworker strike near Pittsburgh against the Carnegie Steel Company. Ten workers were killed in a riot when "scab" labor was brought in to force an end to the strike.
Eugene V. Debs
Leader of the American Railway Union, he voted to aid workers in the Pullman strike. He was jailed for six months for disobeying a court order after the strike was over.
Pullman Strike
in Chicago, Pullman cut wages but refused to lower rents in the "company town", Eugene Debs had American Railway Union refuse to use Pullman cars, Debs thrown in jail after being sued, strike achieved nothing
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