Shared Flashcard Set

Details

Modern American History
The end of reconstruction and the second Insdustrial revolution
52
History
Undergraduate 1
01/27/2014

Additional History Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
Presidential Campaign of 1896
Definition
Republican McKinley (defender of modern urban-industrial values) vs. Democrat Bryan (defended America's rural past).
McKinley Victory
Term
1869-1899
Definition
population tripled
farm production doubled
value of manufactured goods increased 6x's
Term
Late 19th century
Definition
America became a commercial, industrial and agricultural giant because of natural resources, technological advances, population growth, and little government regulation
Term
1900
Definition
America dominated the steel, oil, wheat, and cotton industries
Term
Mergers
Definition
companies who joined forces with competitors to dominate industries
Term
natural resources
Definition
population, rivers, forests, and minerals
Term
technology
Definition
mass production techniques, labor saving machinery, telephones, telegrams, undersea telegrams, phonograms, standardized machinery and parts, and steamships
Term
Government during the industrial revolution
Definition
politicians encouraged the growth of big businesses by imposing tariffs on foreign goods. Provided land and money to railroads, massive land grants, and 160-acre plots to settlers through the Homestead Act of 1862
Term
What government didn't do during the revolution
Definition
regulate big business, provide oversight of working conditions or operations by accepting bribes from big businesses.
Term
Gilded Age
Definition
1870's to 1900 when corporations were the most common form of business and labor unions started becoming strong
Term
First Industrial Revolution
Definition
Britain during the late 18th century, coal powered steam engine, textile machines, and blast furnaces
Term
Second Industrial Revolution
Definition
Occurred at the end of and after Reconstruction ended began around the 1870's in the US and Germany, due to transportation and communications improvements, electricity, and the application of scientific research to industrial processes.
Term
Railroads
Definition
spurred the use of wristwatches, and helped create international time zones. Transcontinental railways spanned the country and caused part of the financial panic of the 1890's.
America's first big business. Created political 'lobbying'.
Term
Pacific Railway Act 1862
Definition
Authorized the construction of a rail line along a north-central route.
Term
"coolie" laborers
Definition
immigrant laborers drawn to America to work under dangerous conditions for low wages.
Term
First Transcontinental line
Definition
Ended in Utah in 1869
Term
Second Transcontinental line
Definition
ended in Southern California in 1881
Term
Trunk lines
Definition
The 5 rail lines added to the transcontinental lines after their completion
Term
Robber Barons
Definition
name for the shady financial partakings of railroad executives and other captains of industry
Term
Jay Gould
Definition
Prince of the railroad "Robber Barons". Bought rundown railroads, cosmetized them, and resold them to make a profit. He also used corporate money to line his own pockets.
Term
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Definition
"the Commodore". Formed the first major eastern railroads. New York Central company.
Term
Rail companies by 1900
Definition
2/3 of the railroads were under the control of only 7 companies
Term
Alexander Graham Bell
Definition
Patented the Telephone in 1876
Term
Thomas Alva Edison
Definition
Invented the phonograph and the light bulb.
Term
George Westinghouse
Definition
invented the air brake for railroads and the first alternating current electric system.
Term
John D. Rockefeller
Definition
Created the Standard Oil company of Ohio. Organized the Standard Oil trust with thirty-seven stock holders investing in 9 trustees. Gave most of his fortune away to fund education and medicine.
Term
Andrew Carnegie
Definition
developed military telegraph system. Dominated the Steel industries. Gave money to universities, helped to build libraries, funded hospitals, parks, meeting halls and concerts, swimming pools, and churches. Also donated Church organs.
Term
Briton Sir Henry Bessemer
Definition
Bessemer Converter. Made steel from pig iron.
Term
J. Pierpont Morgan
Definition
channeled European capital into the US as a financer. Acquired and reorganized major rail lines. Controlled 1/6 of the railroads. Consolidated the Steel industry. The US Steel Corporation became the first billion dollar corporation.
Term
Sears and Roebuck
Definition
dominated the mail-order industry.
offered goods by mail in the 1890's at low prices to save people money.
Term
The Nation's Wealth
Definition
richest 2% owned 1/3+ of the nations wealth and the top 10% owned 3/4 of it.
90% OF THE POPULATION IS LIVING OFF OF 25% of the nation's money.
Term
Workers
Definition
Immigrants, women, and children were at the bottom of the workforce working under the harshest conditions and receiving the least pay.
Term
Work Conditions
Definition
59 hour work weeks (10 hour work days)was the average.
Steel workers worked seven-day eighty four hour work weeks (12 hours a day).
Term
Living conditions
Definition
Tenements became crowded, death rates rose in cities, factories had poor health and safety conditions,high accident rates and fatality rates. No worker's compensation.
Term
Child Labor
Definition
increased as a need to help provide for their families increased. Children were receiving little or no education and very little time for nurturing and play. Laws regulating child labor were ignored or rarely abided by.
Term
The Molly Maguires
Definition
An Irish group that used intimidation, killings, and beatings to right wrongs against Irish workers. Miners' National Association (union) was destroyed when the trials of the Maguires led to 24 convictions and 10 hangings of Mollies.
Term
The Great Railroad Strike of 1877
Definition
1st major inter-state strike in American History. Railroad strikes due to wage cuts led to violence, death, and property damage all over the country. Had to be disbanded by federal troops. The strike failed.
Term
The Sand Lot incident
Definition
Working class political movement that ended in attacks on passing Chinese immigrants and then anti-Chinese riots that led to a cease in Chinese immigration in 1882
Term
Anti-Chinese riots
Definition
Common on the west coast when white workers attacked Chinese immigrants. The Geary Act required immigrants to carry papers that acted as a passport punishable by deportation or hard labor. Chinese civil disobedience was the largest act of civil disobedience in American history.
Term
National Labor Union
Definition
More interested in political and social reform than in bargaining with employers. Disbanded by 1872. Enacted the 8 hour work day for federal employees
Term
Contract Labor Act 1864
Definition
encouraged the importation of labor by allowing employers to pay for the passage to America. Repealed due to the NLU.
Term
Knights of Labor
Definition
became a national organization in 1878 that endorsed workmen's reforms, payment of salaries, elimination of convict-labor competition, 8-hour work days, and the use of paper currency. Called for equal pay for men and women. Went into decline after failed railroad strike and disbanded in 1893.
Term
Anarchism
Definition
Believed that government was an abusive device used by the rich to exploit and oppress the working poor, and wanted to disband the government all together through acts of violence.
Term
The Haymarket Affair
Definition
McCormick Reaper Work's Plant violence led to two strikers being killed. During a protest a few days later, a bomb was thrown that killed 7 and wounded 60 others. America's first terrorist bombing.
Term
Samuel Gompers
Definition
founder of the American Federation fo Labor (AFL)
Term
Foran Act of 1885
Definition
penalized employers who imported contract labor
Term
AFL
Definition
federation of national organizations. Focused on economic gains, higher wages, shorter hours, better working conditions and avoidance of politics to get there. Worked mainly with agricultural industries.
Term
The Homestead Strike
Definition
1892. A lockout of unionists in the steel industry attacked Carnegie's plant. 14 hour battle in which the Pinkerton's surrendered and the strike breakers were hired to restore production.
Term
Pullman Strike
Definition
1894. Paralyzed 27 state and territorial economies because workers of the Pullman plant were required to live in the town, pay high rent and utility costs and buy overpriced goods from company stores. Pullman cut wages and laid off workers that started the strike. The American Railway Union and due to a lack of willingness to negotiate on Pullman's part most of the Midwest railroads shut down due to the strike.
Term
Eugene V. Debs
Definition
President of the ARU. Attempted to negotiate in the Pullman strike and faced jail time for interfering with the delivery of the mail.
Term
Mother Jones
Definition
"The most dangerous woman in America". The mother of the fledgeling labor movement. Led a walk to DC with Child Labor Workers to get the attention of the president.
Term
Industrial Wrokers of the World (IWW)
Definition
Wobblies. attempt to revive undustrial unionism. Main goal was syndicalism: the destruction of the government and it's replacement by a union. Most of the leaders were jailed for conspiracy.
Supporting users have an ad free experience!