APUSHch17

Question 1

Cornelius Vanderbilt

Answer 1

Made millions from steamboat business, and used the money to merge local railroads to the New York Central Railroad.

Question 2

Union and Central Pacific

Answer 2

These railroad companies were chartered to work together to create the first transcontinental railroad. One was to begin in Omaha, Nebraska, and end in California. Irish men were the main labor force. The other began in California and Chinese men laid the tracks.

Question 3

rebates

Answer 3

Developed in the 1880s, a practice by which railroads would give money back to its favored customers, rather than charging them lower prices, so that it could appear to be charging a flat rate for everyone.

Question 4

J. Piermont Morgan

Answer 4

Banker who took over railroads during the depression of 1893. Improved railroading systems by: taking them over, reorganizing their administration, refinancing their debts, and building system alliances. Also founded US Steel Corporation.

Question 5

William Vanderbilt

Answer 5

Son of Cornelius Vanderbilt, He took over his father’s railroad company and doubled the family fortune. Was known for his greed. Responded to critics, “The public be damned.”

Question 6

Andrew Carnegie

Answer 6

Scottish-born industrialist who developed the U.S. steel industry; his is a rags-to-riches story as he made a fortune in business and sold his holdings in 1901 for $447 million. He spent the rest of his life giving away $350 million to worthy cultural and educational causes.

Question 7

vertical integration

Answer 7

Practice in which a single manufacturer controls all of the steps used to change raw materials into finished products

Question 8

John D. Rockefeller

Answer 8

An American industrialist and philanthropist, in 1870, Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Company and ran it until he retired in the late 1890s. Often forced rival companies to sell out by drastically lowering his own prices. At one point he controlled 90% of the oil business. He became the world’s richest man and first U.S. dollar billionaire.

Question 9

horizontal integration

Answer 9

A technique used by John D. Rockefeller. Horizontal integration 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.

Question 10

Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)

Answer 10

A federal law that committed the American government to opposing monopolies, it prohibits contracts, combinations and conspiracies in restraint of trade.

Question 11

United States v. E.C. Knight

Answer 11

1895 Supreme Court case-ruled that the Sherman Antitrust Act could only be applied only to commerce, not to manufacturing. As a result, the U.S.Department of Justice secured few convictions until the law was strengthened during the Progressive Era

Question 12

gospel of wealth

Answer 12

The idea that wealth is God-given and that those who have wealth are obligated to carry out projects of civic philanthropy for the benefit of society

Question 13

Samuel F.B. Morse

Answer 13

Invented the telegraph which allowed faster communication over longer distances. He also developed Morse code

Question 14

Alexander Graham Bell

Answer 14

He was an American inventor who was responsible for developing the telephone. This greatly improved communications in the country.

Question 15

Thomas A. Edison

Answer 15

Established lab at Menlo Park, NJ for the purpose of inventing new technologies (first modern research lab); introduced concept of mechanics and engineers working on a project as a team rather than as lone inventors. He invented the light bulb in 1879. He also invented or improved: generators, voltage regulators, electric meters, and insulated wiring. Phonograph, mimeograph, microphone, motion picture camera and film, battery, etc

Question 16

George Westinghouse

Answer 16

Inventor responsible for the manufacture of the rail car air brake system, also worked with electricity and developed alternating current

Question 17

Sears, Roebuck, Montgomery Ward

Answer 17

Large mail-order companies used improved rail system to ship everything from hats to houses ordered from their thick catalogs known as the “wish book.”

Question 18

Horatio Alger

Answer 18

Popular novelist during the Industrial Revolution who wrote “rags to riches” books praising the values of hard work

Question 19

scab; lockout; blacklist; yellow dog contract; injunctions

Answer 19

Tactics used for defeating unions:

Question 20

Scab

Answer 20

worker who refuses membership in labor union; employee who works while others strike; person hired to replace striking worker

Question 21

Lockout .

Answer 21

withholding of employment; used by employers to hinder union organization; literally locking employees out of workplace

Question 22

Black list

Answer 22

list of persons or organizations that have incurred disapproval or suspicion or are to be boycotted or otherwise penalized.

Question 23

Yellow dog contract .

Answer 23

agreement b/w employer and employee where employee agrees not to join union; prohibited by federal law

Question 24

Injunction

Answer 24

A court order prohibiting a party from a specific course of action

Question 25

Great Railroad Strike of 1877

Answer 25

A violent but ultimately unsuccessful interstate strike, which resulted in extensive property damage and many deaths. The first major interstate strike in us history. The panic of 1873 caused railroad lines to cut wages which caused workers to walk off the job and block the tracks- it eventually turned violent. Federal troops finally quelled the violence. After workers turned violent the public began to blame them for the looting and violence and they lost all sympathy

Question 26

National Labor Union

Answer 26

1st major union, wanted higher wages, 8 hr workday, equal rights for women and blacks, monetary reform, and worker cooperatives. Won the 8 hr workday, but lost support after the depression in 1873 and the Great Railroad Strike of 1877.

Question 27

Knights of Labor; Terence Powderly

Answer 27

Begun in 1869 as a secret society, went public in 1881. Led by Powderly, advocated abolition of child labor, worker cooperatives, and abolition of trusts and monopolies. Did not support strikes. Membership dropped after Haymarket bombing.

Question 28

Haymarket Bombing (1886)

Answer 28

Chicago was the site of the first May Day labor movement; Anarchists were there who advocated the violent overthrow of all government; labor violence broke out and when police tried to disperse the meeting, someone threw a bob and killed 7 officers; 8 anarchist leaders tried and 7 sentenced to death; public opinion turned against labor, which it saw as “radical and violent”

Question 29

American Federation of Labor; Samuel Gompers

Answer 29

Founded in 1886, Samuel Gompers as president. Went after basics of higher wages and better working conditions. Told wokers to walk out until employer agreed to negotiate.

Question 30

Homestead Strike (1892)

Answer 30

It was one of the most violent strikes in U.S. history. It was against the Homestead Steel Works, which was part of the Carnegie Steel Company, in Pennsylvania in retaliation against wage cuts. The riot was ultimately put down by Pinkerton Police and the state militia, and the violence further damaged the image of unions.

Question 31

Pullman Strike (1894)

Answer 31

Strike against the Pullman Palace Car Company in the company town of Pullman, Illinois in 1894 when wages were cut by 1/3 and those who asked to bargain were fired. American Railway Union under Eugene V. Debs got involved, the strike caused rail cars to stop. By attaching federal mail cars to the Pullman cars the company made it a federal offense to obstruct the mail; this was supported by the US attorney general who swore to keep the railroads running. The strike was crushed by court injunctions and federal troops two months later.

Question 32

Eugene V. Debs; In re Debs

Answer 32

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. Supreme Court approved use of court injunctions against strikes which gave employers a very powerful weapon to break unions; Debs later turned to the American Socialist Party in 1900