Gilded Age

Question 1

Gilded Age

Answer 1

Period of extreme economic growth and industrialization after the Civil War (1864) until around 1896. Named by Mark Twain.

Question 2

Industrial Revolution

Answer 2

Period of scientific and technological development in the 18th century that transformed largely rural, agrarian societies into industrialized, urban ones. Goods that had once been crafted by hand started to be produced in mass quantities by machines in factories, thanks to the introduction of new machines and techniques in textiles, iron making and other industries.

Question 3

Agricultural Revolution

Answer 3

A shift from hand labor to machine farming, and from subsistence to commercial agriculture. Between 1860 and 1910, the number of farms in the United States tripled, increasing from 2 million to 6 million, while the area farmed more than doubled from 160 million to 352 million hectares.

Question 4

Demand

Answer 4

Goods and services that people want
The law of demand holds that other things equal, as the price of a good or service rises, its quantity demanded falls.
The reverse is also true: as the price of a good or service falls, its quantity demanded increases.

Question 5

Unions

Answer 5

Organizations of workers that became common as industry and big businesses expanded rapidly in the late 1880s and 1890s.
They are advantageous because workers are able to negotiate higher wages and possible benefits and better working conditions.

Question 6

Factors of production

Answer 6

Land
labor
capital
entrepreneurship

Question 7

Communism

Answer 7

a political and economic system that seeks to create a classless society in which the major means of production

Question 8

Factors that shift the demand curve include:

Answer 8

Change in consumer incomes
Population change
Consumer preferences
Prices of related goods:
Substitutes: goods consumed in place of one another
Complements: goods consumed jointly

Question 9

Factors that shift the supply curve include:

Answer 9

Change in input costs
Increase in technology
Change in size of the industry

Question 10

Trusts

Answer 10

Name for large corporations that managed to control each aspect of the item produced. Many were monopolies and had complete control over an industry.

Question 11

Monopoly

Answer 11

The practice of controlling an entire industry. During the Gilded Age, a number of businessmen made large sums of money by gaining control of whole industries such as railroads, banking, or oil.

Question 12

Cartel

Answer 12

When a group or business agree to act together rather than against each other, generally not good for consumers as it reduces competition and leads to higher prices for goods and services.
It can be beneficial for a business owner as it allows them to collectively control the market and set higher prices, resulting in increased profits.

Question 13

Eli Whitney

Answer 13

American inventor, widely known for inventing the cotton gin, one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution that changed how the South did farming

Question 14

Textile manufacturing

Answer 14

The creation of fabric or cloth materials, large mills were built, many in the south, and supported immigrant workers—sweatshops with poor pay and working conditions

Question 15

Spinning Jenny and water frame

Answer 15

Industrial Revolution inventions for spinning thread or yarn from fibers such as wool or cotton in a mechanized way.

Question 16

Agricultural Revolution innovations

Answer 16

The seed drill, invented by Englishman Jethro Tull in 1701
The threshing machine, usually credited to Scotsman Andrew Meikle in 1786
The cotton gin, invented by New Englander Eli Whitney in 1793
The mechanical reaper, invented by Virginian Cyrus McCormick in 1831
The self-polishing steel plow, invented by John Deere in 1837

Question 17

Steam Engine

Answer 17

Industrial Revolution machine that uses heat and steam pressure to create mechanical motion
played an important role in increasing production in factories and allowing goods to be transported faster and farther by new means of transportation

Question 18

Food production

Answer 18

Able to be mass produced and transported great distances due to the inventions of the agricultural and Industrial Revolution

Question 19

Strikes

Answer 19

People organized and refusing to work until they get better conditions, pay, or benefits
Labor stoppage by workers who use it as a tactic to press demands on their employer
Normally used as a last resort by workers

Question 20

Haymarket Strike

Answer 20

May 4, 1886, when a labor protest rally in Chicago’s turned into a riot after someone threw a bomb at police. At least eight people died as a result of the violence that day.
Viewed as a setback for the organized labor movement in America, which was fighting for rights like the eight-hour workday

Question 21

Socialism

Answer 21

a political and economic theory of social organization which promotes that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

Question 22

Capitalism

Answer 22

an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit

Question 23

Utilitarianism

Answer 23

focuses on the consequences of an action performed by an individual or a society.

Question 24

Opportunity Cost

Answer 24

The cost of giving up an opportunity in order to take another one.

Question 25

Robber Barons

Answer 25

Powerful 19th-century American industrialists and financiers who made fortunes by monopolizing huge industries through the formation of trusts, engaging in unethical business practices, exploiting workers, and paying little heed to their customers or competition.

Question 26

Silver standard

Answer 26

The silver standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed weight of silver

Question 27

Gold Standard

Answer 27

the system by which the value of a currency was defined in terms of gold, for which the currency could be exchanged.

Question 28

Immigration

Answer 28

The new groups arriving by the boatload in the Gilded Age, including Greek, Italian, Polish, Slovak, Serb, Russian, Croat, and others. Until cut off by federal decree, Japanese and Chinese settlers relocated to the American West Coast. Worked in factories and built railroad lines.

Question 29

Reform Laws

Answer 29

Changes and improvements to a law.
Ex. Women’s Suffrage Law
The women’s rights movement was a major legacy of radical reform. At the outset of the century, women could not vote or hold office in any state, they had no access to higher education, and they were excluded from professional occupations.
Ex. Sherman Anti-Trust Act
The Sherman antitrust act is a federal law in the US that was passed by Congress in 1809. The law prohibits monopolies and other anti competitive business practices that restrict or interfere with free trade and ocmpetition in the marketplace.