Industrial America, 1865-1900 Flashcards
Name some reasons what the U.S. economy rapidly grew post Civil War.
- Plentiful natural resources/raw materials.
- Abundant labor supply/immigrants.
- Advanced transportation network.
- Capital and investment was available.
- New technologies.
- Business friendly government policies.
This was the nation’s first big business, which created a market for goods and sparked the growth of other industries like coal and steel. Began the modern stockholder corporation.
Railroads
This wealthy businessman used his millions to merge local railroads into trunk lines (a major route between large cities).
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Western railroads connected which areas, creating one great national market.
Great Plains linked with the West and East
The federal government provided railroad companies with huge federal land grants which led to poor construction and led to widespread corruption in government. What construction company is the best example of this corruption.
Credit Mobilier
These railroads would go across the U.S. and connect the Union with California. Thousands of Irish and Chinese immigrants were used to build these railroads.
Transcontinental Railroads
This wealthy speculator made millions by buying railroad companies and inflating the value of their stock.
Jay Gould
This wealthily banker bought bankrupt railroads and consolidated (merged) them to create railroad companies. This created very powerful men and corporations.
J.P. Morgan
This wealthy individual inherited his father’s transportation empire. Customers often felt they were the victims of financial schemes and ruthless business practices.
William Vanderbilt
Early factories in the U.S. produced textiles, clothing, and leather products. During the Second Industrial Revolution (after the Civil War) which industries began to dominate?
Heavy industries: Steel, Oil, Electric Power, Industrial Machinery
This individual founded the Bessemer Process, which was a technological breakthrough when he figured out how to cheaply produce high-quality steel.
Henry Bessemer
This individual was a business genius that worked his way up from being a poor Scottish immigrant to a wealthy entrepreneur. He used vertical integration to control every stage of the industrial process from the raw materials to shipping the product. He bought out his suppliers. Founded U.S. Steel.
Andrew Carnegie
This individual drilled the first oil well in 1859.
Edwin Drake
This individual founded Standard Oil a monopolistic oil trust. He temporarily cut his prices to force his rivals to sell out. Eventually he would control 90% of the oil refinery business. Used horizontal integration, when a business buys out all of its competitors.
John D. Rockefeller
This federal law in 1890 was an attempt to oppose monopolies by prohibiting any contract, trust, or conspiracy in restraint of trade or commerce.
Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)
This economic system is when there is no government regulation of business.
Capitalism (Laissez-Faire)
This individual wrote The Wealth of Nations (1776), where he explains that businesses should be regulated, not by the government, but by the “invisible hand” of the law of supply and demand. Competition would provide the regulation. Businesses, on their own, would improve goods and services at low prices.
Adam Smith
Herbert Spencer used Charles Darwin’s ideas of natural selection and applied survival of the fittest to business. What is the term used to describe Darwin’s theory in the business world.
Social Darwinism
Some Americans found religion more convincing than Social Darwinism to justify great wealth. John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie used God to explain why they were rich. What is idea called?
Gospel of Wealth
This individual wrote novels about a young man from a poor background that became rich through honesty and hard work. Rags-to-riches story was uncommon.
Horatio Alger
Most Americans worked 10 hours a day, 6 days a week and barely made enough to support a family. Families depended on the income of who else?
Women and children
Frederick W. Taylor emphasized speed and efficiency in the workplace and eliminated wasted motion. Workers worked like machines. This term is used to describe the scientific management used in factories. Later, assembly lines would be introduced.
Taylorism (scientific management)
Factory work was repetitive and monotonous. Workers began to unite to fight for what three things?
- Higher wages.
- Shorter hours.
- Safter conditions.
In the 19th century, the country experienced the most violent labor conflicts in the nation’s history. Many feared class warfare between which two groups?
Capital and Labor
