Unit 6: Important Figures Flashcards
Benjamin Harrison
President, didn’t really do much… PUT STUFF HERE IF YOU FIND IT
Andrew Carnegie
Born into a poor(ish) family, he lead the iron monopoly through vertical expansion, buying every step of the iron process, and wrote the “Gospel of Wealth” calling on the rich to improve society.
John D. Rockefeller
Oil baron, used horizontal expansion and bought all the oil companies that became part of the trust. Monopolized 90 percent of oil in America.
Thomas Edison
Inventor, he made a huge number of patents, contributing to the age of invention and forward progress in technology into a new era.
Samuel Gompers
Leader of the union “American Federation of Labor,” he worked for craft unions and skilled labor. hated socialists even though he lead a union, because his people weren’t freeloaders or “scabs.”
Horatio Alger
Supporter of Gospel of Wealth, famous author in which every book talked about a boy who worked hard, befriended a old rich dude, and got a lot of money.
Charles Darwin
Scientist, created the idea of Darwinism and survival of the fittest, important because his ideas would lead to similar economic ideas in which the poor will always be poor.
Jacob S. Coxey
Marched a group of people to their arrest for trespassing, what a dingus.
William Jennings Bryan
Represented by the Cowardly Lion in the wizard of Oz, gave a lot of speeches, the first senator of a third party that got over a million votes.
Susan B. Anthony
Women’s rights (aka not important)
Grover Cleveland
President, also don’t know what he did.
Jay Gould
Archetypical Robber-Baron, made his way in the world by scamming and working with contacts, worked with Fisk to corner the gold market and subsequently made “Black Friday”
Alexander Graham Bell
Inventor of the telephone, which exploded in popularity after around 1920-30. Pretty much his thing.
Terence V. Powderly
Head of the Knights of Labor, he lead the more open and socialist in nature union, ended up leading his union into the ground.
Jane Addams
Women’s rights movement (aka not important)
Jacob Riis
Muckraker, he uncovered a lot about poor living conditions and bad economic stuff happening during the times.
Henry George
Created Georgism, a tax system where it was based on how much people own in land, and was a system that would be fairer to everyone.
Joseph F. Glidden
Made barbed wire, killed off cattle drives, and subsequently the cowboys, requiescat en pace.
Mother Jones
Avid labor activist, major journalist of the time, and wrote a lot about of the issues of the time.
James A. Garfield
President had big goals, but was shot in the back by crazy lawyer. Replaced by Chester A. Arthur
“Boss” Tweed
Corrupt New York politician, convicted of stealing huge sums of money from new york taxpayers, huge part of the state of New York at the time.
J Pierpont Morgan
Made money by being good with money. In all deals where the economics were at stake, he would be a meidator and handle money. Described as pretty much the pied piper.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Pretty much waldo, popping up wherever he damn well pleases, owned all the steamboats and presumabely the parallel railroad line, need confirmation on that.
Booker T. Washington
Civil rights activist, public speaker and famous orator in that respect, talked about, you know, civil rights, that was his thing man…
Mark Twain
First “American Author” avid anti-slave supporter and wrote Huckleberry Finn along with many firsts for American literature that would later be the cornerstones in what we consider “American”
Helen Hunt Jackson
Wrote a century of dishonor, the only thing ever sympathetic to Native Americans. No one cared until that whole “Humanitarian” stuff became a thing.
William McKinley
25th president and helped maintain a nation of gold standards, promoted tariffs to support business, and supportive of industries, shot in the back by an anarchist. Replaced by Theodore Roosevelt.
Eugene V. Debs
Socialist candidate for president and a Union leader (IWW), made a good way into politics even with his socialist platform.
