Term
| 1900 US as Industrial Power |
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Definition
| Surpassed 3 largest rivals (Great Britain, France, & Germany) |
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Term
| Reasons for rapid growth of US economy (4% a year) |
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Definition
-US = Treasure house of natural resources (coal, iron ore, copper, lead, timber, & oil)
-had abundant amount of labor
-plentiful in capital
-developing technology |
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-had greatest impact on American economic life
-created nationwide market
-encouraged mass production, mass consumption, and economic specialization
-promoted settlement beyond Mississippi river |
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Term
| Transcontinental Railroad |
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Definition
-Union Pacific = to build Westward across Great Plains starting from Omaha, Nebraska
-Central Pacific built Eastward from Sacramento, CA |
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-launched the rise of heavy industry
-1850s - Henry Bessemer in England & William Kelly in the US discovered that blasting air through molten iron produced high-quality steel |
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Leader of Steel Industry
1850s worked way up from poor Scottish immigrant to superintendent of Pennsylvania RR
1870s manufactured steel & used Vertical integration to control all of process |
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| Carnegie wanted to retire and devote self to philanthropy... sold company in 1900 to J.P. Morgan's company ~ New Company = United States Steel |
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| 1859 - Edwin Drake - Pennsylvania |
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1863 - took charge of oil refinery
- undercut competition to drive them out of business & take control
1881- known as: Standard Oil Trust & controlled 90% of oil refinery business |
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1880s - Trusts = under attack & scrutiny
- Middle Class American Feared unchecked power and urban elites... feared increasing influence of the new rich
1890- Congress passes Sherman Antitrust Act - prohibited any "contract, combination, in form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy in restraint of trade or commerce"
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Term
| Conservative Economic Theories |
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Definition
If govt kept hands off, businesses would be motivated by own self-interest to offer improved goods and services at low prices
AKA Laissez-Faire Capitalism |
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Term
| Justifications for Success of Industrialists & Bankers |
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Definition
-Social Darwinism
-Gospel of Wealth / Religion |
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-Telegraph: Samuel F.B. Morse - 1844
-Telephone: Alexander Graham Bell - 1876
-Typewriter - 1867
-Cash Register - 1879
-Calculating machine - 1887
-Adding Machine - 1888
-Kodak Camera: George Eastman - 1888
-Fountain Pen: Lewis E. Waterman - 1884
-Safety Razor & Blade: King Gillette - 1895 |
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1877 - During an economic depression, RR companies cut wages inorder to reduce costs ~~~ Strike <-- shut down 2/3 of American RRs
Had to use federal troops to end labor violence |
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1866 - 1st attempt to organize all workers in all states
-Championed goals of higher wages and 8hr day & broad social program
-Chief Victory = 8hr day
-Lost support after depression in 1873 & unsuccessful strikes in 1877 |
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1869 - Secret Society
1881 - under Terence V. Powderly - went public
-Worked for abolition of Child Labor and abolition of trusts and monopolies |
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Chicago 1886 w/ knights of labor
May 4th, Workers held a public meeting @ Haymarket Square... as police = trying to break up meeting, someone threw a bomb <-- killed 7 police officers
Knights of Labor lost support & Americans concluded labor/union movements = radical & violent |
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Term
| American Federation of Labor |
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Definition
| Concentratedon attaining practical economic goals (eg. higher wages & improved working conditions) |
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| Henry Clay Frick (manager of Andrew Carnegie's Homestead Steel Plant near Pittsburg) precipitated a strikein 1892 by cutting wages almost 20% |
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| 1894 - George Pullman announced general cut in wages and fired leaders of workers' delegation that came to bargain with him |
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