Unit 6 Key Terms Flashcards
Second Industrial Revolution
1870-1914
* A phase of rapid scientific and technological discoveries
* Characterized by mass production and industrialization
Gilded Age Politics
- Big businesses paid off republican politicians to cause legislative decisions to be biased towards them
- Known as gilded-age politics and is considered one of the clearest forms of corruption
Laissez-Faire Economic Policies
- A policy by the US government that said there should be low interference in economics
- Believed it would allow the economy to stabilize itself, instead led to lots of corruption and big businesses prospering at the expense of others
Discovery of Electricity (Industrial)
1876
* Discovery meant factories no longer had to stay near bodies of water and could move to other areas
* Workers ended up exploited because light meant they could work longer hours
* Lighted-up streets led to increased transportation and decreased crime
Invention of the Telephone
1876
* Created by Alexander Graham Bell
* Allowed for quicker and global communication
* Later led to the radio which allowed people to reach the masses
Transcontinental Railroad
1869
* Stretched from Omaha, Nebraska to Sacramento, California
* Created to allow goods to be transported a lot more efficiently and quickly
Creation of the Typewriter and Sewing Machine
1867
* The typewriter allowed for texts to be printed much quicker than before and increased literacy rates
* The Sewing Machine worked similarly for cloth and allowed for much more efficiency
Creation of Time Zones
- Made business hours more effective depending on one’s region, but it wasn’t fully adopted until WW1.
Corporation Shareholders
- Multiple people in a company own shares who each receive a share of profits and ownership of a company based on share size
- Gave good structure as one shareholder going bankrupt usually didn’t destroy the company
John D. Rockefeller
- Known as the Bear of Business
- became rich off oil, held a monopoly
Andrew Carnegie
- A Scottish Immigrant who became successful after discovering how to turn iron into steel
- Is still the richest person to have lived in the US to date
Monopolies and Integrations
- Monopolies (horizontal integration) refer to controlling an entire market for a good
- Vertical integration meant you not only controlled a market but also controlled the entire process of producing the product
Herbert Spencer and Social Darwinism
- Social Darwinism exercised survival of the fittest, Herbert interpreted it as the poor deserve to die while the rich deserve to prosper
- Was the main idea at the time
The Gospel of Wealth & Philanthropy
1889
* Andrew Carnegie wrote the Gospel of Wealth countering Spencer, saying the rich should support and provide for the poor
* Called philanthropy, where people donate high amounts of money to institutions to help people
* Carnegie and Rockefeller competed to be the bigger philanthropist, effects can be seen in New York
Worker Strikes/Riots
- Most people in the working class worked in poor conditions with low pay, and people were beginning to get upset
- Workers began staging strikes, forming unions, and even rioting for better treatment
Samuel Gompers and the AFL
1886
* Samuel Gompers formed the American Federation of Labor (AFL) which made efforts for changes like 8-hour work days and better pay/conditions
* Urged workers to unionize and work together to get better conditions for working
* One of the first labor unions ever created, made a big development for workers’ rights
Trickle-Down Economics
- A theory that by letting big companies do what they want, they would spend more money which would “trickle down” to lower classes
- Similar to Lassez-Faire, usually didn’t work and led to corruption
Birds of Passage
- Popular in the 1880s and 1920s with immigrants (mainly men) to the US
- Worked in the US for a few years and then went back to their home country with the money to prosper there
Controversies with Employment
- White Americans generally got better opportunities than their colored and immigrant counterparts
- Colored people and immigrants usually competed for jobs and worked in bad conditions
- There was lots of xenophobia in the US from people who thought immigrants were “stealing their jobs”
Chinese Exclusion Act
1882
* There was an influx of Chinese people immigrating to the West Coast, received lots of xenophobia
* The Chinese Exclusion Act was passed to limit the number of Chinese people immigrating to the US for 10 years (would be extended well into the 20th century)
Working Conditions for Immigrants
- Immigrants often took jobs requiring lots of hard labor, usually didn’t form unions, and had little job security
- Most lived in tenement housing, which were small and cramped with only enough room to sleep
Jacob Riis and How the Other Half Lived
- Jacob Riis was an immigrant who photographed the living conditions of immigrants and exposed them to the world in a book called How the Other Half Lived
The Middle Class
- As the working class expanded, a new economic class called the working class was created
- Consisted of people in professions like engineers, managers, and accountants
Women in the Workforce
- Women usually took jobs involving lots of typing (secretaries, teachers) because it was believed their long fingers made them type faster
- Usually stressed with work combined with taking care of the family, doctors instead diagnosed them with “neurasthenia”
- Neurasthenia was used to argue women should leave the workforce and leave things up to men
