Unit 3 Flashcards
mass production
production of goods in large numbers through the use of machinery and assembly lines
protective tariffs
a tax on imported goods that raises the price of so people will buy domestic goods
wall street
A street in New York City famous for being the location of the New York stock exchange
Homestead Act
1862 law that gave 160 acres of land to citizens willing to live on and cultivate it for five years
Transcontinental Railroad
Railroad connecting the west and east coasts of the continental US
Andrew Carnegie
industrialist who founded the Carnegie Steel Company in 1892. By 1901, his company dominated the American steel industry.
Thomas Edison
American inventor best known for inventing the electric light bulb, acoustic recording on wax cylinders, and motion pictures.
Henry Frick
Successful and brutal businessman - chairman of Carnegie Steel - anti-union
John D. Rockefeller
Established the Standard Oil Company, the greatest, wisest, and meanest monopoly known in history
Standard Oil Company
John D. Rockefeller’s company, formed in 1870, which came to symbolize the trusts and monopolies of the Gilded Age. By 1877 Standard Oil controlled 95% of the oil refineries in the U.S. - had become a target for trust-busting reformers, and in 1911 the Supreme Court ordered it to break up into several dozen smaller companies.
Horizontal integration
Type of monopoly where a company buys out all of its competition. Ex. Rockefeller
Vertical Integration
An approach typical of traditional mass production in which a company controls all phases of a highly complex production process.
Laissez-faire
Policy that government should interfere as little as possible in the nation’s economy.
Sherman Antitrust Act
an 1890 law that banned the formation of trusts and monopolies in the United States - used by Theodore Roosevelt for trust-busting
Pools/Trusts/Holding Companies
Businesses consolidating companies selling the same goods made certain agreements about how each one produces and shares its profits.
