History ch 24 Flashcards
More observation than actual question, but did our authors actually use the word “trackage”? Is that a
real word?
The authors did not use the word trackage. Trackage is a real word.
What are the three reasons the author suggests it was necessary for the government to be involved in
financing the building of the transcontinental railroad?
America was having problems with transportation. Different forms of transportation were discussed but a railroad seemed like the only good option. One reason that the transcontinental railroad needed help funding from the government was because “it was the only real solution to the problem.” (The American Pageant pg 399) The second reason that the government needed to have helped fund the transcontinental railroad was that it would help “distribute public lands under the Homestead Act, and support higher education under the Morrill Land-Grant College Act.” (The American Pageant pg 469) The third reason is that the “Republicans assured the Democrats a place at the presidential patronage trough and support for a bill subsidizing the Texas and Pacific Railroad’s construction of a southern transcontinental line.” (The American Pageant pg 530)
What were three major national benefits for the completion of the transcontinental railroad?
Three national benefits were a faster route, national unity, and economic growth.
Other railroads were built across the continent—did they receive help from the government?
None of them secured monetary loans from the federal government, as had the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific.
What two developments “proved a boon” to the growth, expansion of railroads?
The two significant improvements were the steel rail and the standard gauge.
What are some of the illustrations of “wrongdoing in railroading?”
Some illustrations were the Credit Mobilier, Gould boomed and busted the stocks of Erie, the Kansas Pacific, the Union Pacific, and the Texas and Pacific in an incredible circus of speculative skullduggery, and stock watering.
What was the significance of the
Wabash case? What did it lead to?
It decreed that individual states had no power to regulate interstate commerce. It led to the Interstate Commerce Act.
In addition to railroads, what were the four reasons for the sudden upsurge in industrial expansion
after the Civil War?
Liquid capital was now becoming more abundant, Innovations in transportation fueled growth, a shipping system and, the size of the American market encouraged innovators to invent mass-production methods.
Name three new industries that gained prominence in the era. Which was most prominent?
The three new industries were the petroleum market, steel, and banking. The most prominent one was steel because they used it for railroads, and new construction materials.
What was meant by the authors’ subtitle: “Rockefeller Grows an American Beauty Rose?”
Originally Rockefeller was lanky, shrewd, and ambitious. His family did not have a steady income. But when he organized the Standard Oil Company of Ohio, he became more popular and more wealthy.
How successful was the Sherman Anti-Trust Act? Why? Despite its intent, what was it used to
prosecute?
The law proved ineffective, largely because it had no baby teeth or no teeth at all, and contained legal loopholes through which clever corporation lawyers could wriggle. “Early prosecutions of the trusts by the Justice Department under the Sherman Act of 1890, as it turned out, were neither vigorous nor successful.” (The American Pageant pg 509)
How much effect did industrialization have on the South? What industry began to grow there?
Industrialization did not have much effect on the South. Cotton textiles began to grow.
Standard of living
“Though the average height and weight of Americans declined somewhat in the turbulent earliest decades of industrialization, by century’s end the American standard of living was rising sharply.” (The American Pageant pg 513)
Federal authority
The lang arm of federal authority was now committed to decades of corporation curbing and trusting-busting.” (The American Pageant pg 513)
Older ways of life
“Rural American migrants and peasant European immigrants, used to living by the languid clock of nature, now had to regiment their lives by the factory whistle.” (The American Pageant pg 513)
Most profoundly affected group
“Probably no single group was more profoundly affected by the new industrial age than women.” (The American Pageant pg 513)
Accentuated class
“The clattering machine age likewise accentuated class division” (The American Pageant pg 514)
Strong pressure for
“Strong pressures for foreign trade developed as the tireless industrial machine threatened to saturate the domestic market.”
