Unit 4, Chapter 24 Flashcards
Interstate commerce act (1887)
- congressional legislation that establish the interstate commerce commission, compel the railroads to publish standard rates, and prohibited rebates and pools
- railroads quickly became a adept to using the act to achieve their own ends but it gave the government an important means to regulate big business
Vertical integration
-The practice perfected by Andrew Carnegie of controlling every step of the industrial production process in order to increase efficiency and limit competition
Wabash, St. Louis and pacific railroad company vs Illinois (1886)
- A Supreme Court decision that prohibited states from regulating the railroads because the constitution grants Congress the power to regulate interstate commerce
- as a result reformers turned their attention to the federal government which now held sole power to regulate the railroad industry
Horizontal integration
-The practice perfected by John D Rockefeller of dominating a particular phase of the production process in order to monopolize a market often by forming trusts and alliances with competitors
Trust
- A mechanism by which one company grants control over its operations through ownership of it stock to another company
- The standard oil company became known for its practice in the 1870s as it illuminated its competition by taking control of smaller oil companies
Standard oil company (1870-1911)
- John D Rockefeller’s company formed in 1870 which came to symbolize the trust and monopolies of the gilded age
- by 1877 standard oil controlled 95% of the oil refineries in the United States
- One of the first multinational corporations and at times distributed more than half of its kerosene production outside the United States
Interlocking directorates
- The practice of having executives or directors from one company serve on the Board of Directors of another company
- introduced by J.P. Morgan to eliminate banking competition in the 1890s
Social Darwinists (popular in the late 19th century)
- believers in the idea that people gain wealth by survival of the fittest
- this theory provided one of the popular justifications for US imperial ventures like the Spanish-American war
Sherman anti-trust act (1890)
- A law that forbade trusts or combinations in business
- One of the first congressional times to regulate big business for the public good
National labor union (1866-1872)
- first national labor organization in US history
- devoted much of its energy to fighting for an eight hour workday before it dissolve in 1872
Nights of labor
- Second national labor organization
- Secret society and open for public membership in 1881
- known for their efforts to organize all workers regardless of his skill level, gender, or race
Haymarket square (1866)
- May day rally that turned violent when someone threw a bomb into the middle of the meeting
American federation of labor (AFL)
- The national Federation of trade unions that included only skilled workers
- Led by Samuel Gompers
- sought to negotiate with employers for a better kind of capitalism that were awarded workers fairly with better wages, hours, and condition
Closed shop
- A union organizing term that refers to the practice of allowing only unionized employees to work for a particular company
- AFL became known for negotiating closed shop agreements with employers
Bessemer process
Creation of steel
