Chapter 18 Vocab Flashcards
John D. Rockefeller
In 1870, he founded the Standard Oil Company of Ohio, which was his first step in creating his vast oil empire. Eventually, he perfected the idea of a holding company: a company that controlled other companies by holding all or at least a majority of their stock. During his lifetime, he donated over $500 million in charitable contributions.
Standard Oil Company of Ohio
John D. Rockefeller found this company in 1870, which grew to monopolize 90-95% of all the oil refineries in the country. It was also a “vertical monopoly” in that the company controlled all aspects of production and the services it needed to conduct business. For example, they produced their own oil barrels and cans as well as own their own pipelines, railroad tank cars, and oil-storage facilities.
Andrew Carnegie
He was a steel magnate who believed that the general public benefited from big business even if these companies employed harsh business practices. This philosophy became deeply ingrained in the conventional wisdom of some Americans. After retiring, he devoted himself to philanthropy in hopes of promoting social welfare and world peace.
J. Pierpont Morgan
As a powerful investment banker, he would acquire, reorganize, and consolidate companies into giant trusts. His biggest achievement was the consolidation of the steel industry into the United States Steel Corporation, which was the first billion-dollar corporation.
Knights of Labor
Founded in 1869, the first national union picked up many members after the disastrous 1877 railroad strike, but lasted under the leadership of Terence V. Powderly, only in the 1890s; supplanted by the American Federation of Labor.
Samuel Gompers
He served as the president of the American Federation of Labor from its inception until his death. He focused on achieving concrete economic gains such as higher wages, shorter hours, and better working conditions.
American Federation of Labor (AFL)
founded in 1881 as a federation of trade unions made up of skilled workers, the AFL under president Samuel Gompers successfully pushed for the eight-hour day.
Homestead steel strike
A violent labor conflict at the Homestead Steel Works near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, that occurred when its president, Henry Clay Frick, refused to renew the noon contract with Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers. The strike cultivated in an attempt on Frick’s life (murder) and was swiftly put down by state militias. The strike marks one of the great setbacks in the emerging industrial-union movement.
Pullman strike
Strike against the Pullman Palace Car Company in the company town of Pullman, Illinois on May 11, 1894, by the American Railway Union under Eugene V. Debs; the strike was crushed by court injunctions and federal troops two months later.
Eugene V. Debs
He founded the American Railway Union, which he organized against the Pullman Palace Car Company during the Pullman strike. Later he organized the Social Democratic Party, which eventually became the Socialist Party of America. In the 1912 presidential election, he ran as the Socialist party’s candidate and received more than 900,000 votes.
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)
A radical union organized in Chicago in 1905, nicknamed the Wobblies; its opposition to World War I led to its destruction by the federal government under the Espionage Act.
