Flashcards in Chapter 17: The Rise of Industrial America 1865-1900 Deck (39)
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1
Trunk Lines
The major route between large cities; smaller branch lines connected the trunk lines with outlying towns
~Vanderbilt ("Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt) used his millions to merge local railroads to the New York Central Railroad
2
Crédit Mobilier
Insiders gave stock to influential members of Congress to avoid investigation of the profits they were making from government subsidies for building the transcontinental railroad
~As high as 348%
3
Union Pacific
Railroad company chartered to build the eastern half of the transcontinental railroad
~Was to build westward across the Great Plains starting from Omaha, Nebraska
4
Central Pacific
Railroad company chartered to build the western half of the transcontinental railroad
~Took on the formidable challenge of laying track across mountain passes in the Sierra Nevadas by pushing eastward from Sacramento, California
5
Southern Pacific
Another transcontinental railroad constructed across the West
~Tied New Orleans to Los Angeles
6
Northern Pacific
Another transcontinental railroad constructed along the West
~Connected Duluth, Minnesota with Seattle, Washington
7
Jay Gould
A speculator who went into the railroad business for quick profits and made millions by selling off assets and watering stock
8
Watering Stock
Inflating the value of a corporation's assets and profits before selling its stock to the public
9
Pools
An attempt by railroaders to increase their profits
~Competing companies agreed secretly and informally to fix rates and share traffic
10
JP Morgan
Banker who moved in to take control of the (now) bankrupt railroads and consolidated them
~With competition eliminated they could stabilize rates and reduce debts
~Created regional railroad monopolies
11
William Vanderbilt
Inherited his father's (Cornelius Vanderbilt) transportation empire
12
Henry Bessemer/William Kelly
Discovered that blasting air through molten iron produced high-quality steel
~Able to produce large quantities of steel
13
Andrew Carnegie
A shrewd business genius who gained leadership of the fast-growing steel industry
~Began manufacturing steel in Pittsburgh and soon outdistanced his competitors by a combination of salesmanship and use of the latest technology
~Employed a business strategy known as vertical integration
~Carnegie Steel climbed to the top of the steel industry
14
Vertical Integration
A company would control every stage of the industrial process: from mining raw materials to transporting the finished product
15
U.S. Steel
The first billion dollar company and the largest enterprise in the world
~Controlled over 3/5 of the nation's steel business
16
John D. Rockefeller
Founded a company that would come to control most of the nation's oil refineries by eliminating its competition
~Applied latest technologies and efficient practices
~His company Standard Oil Trust controlled 90% of the oil refinery industry
17
Standard Oil
Rockefeller's oil refinery company who owned the monopoly on oil refineries
~Able to keep prices low for their consumers due to the monopoly
18
Trusts
Consists of the various companies acquired all managed by a board of trustees the main company controlled
19
Horizontal Integration
Where former competitors were brought under a single corporate umbrella
20
Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890)
Prohibited any "contract, combination, in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy in restraint of trade or commerce"
~Unable to stop the development of trusts
21
United States v. E.C. Knight & Co. (1895)
Court ruled that the Sherman Anti-Trust Act could not be applied only to commerce, not manufacturing
~The U.S. Department of Justice secured few convictions until the law was strengthened in the Progressive Era
22
Laissez-Faire
If a government kept its hands off the economy, businesses would be motivated by their own self-interest to offer improved goods and services at low prices
23
Herbert Spencer
Influential Social Darwinist who thought Darwin's survival of the fittest should be applied to the marketplace
~Englishman
~Concluded that the concentration of wealth in the hands of the "fit" was a benefit
24
William Graham Sumner
American Social Darwinist who taught at Yale
~Argued that help for the poor was misguided because it interfered with the laws of nature and would only weaken the evolution of the species by preserving the unfit
25
Gustavus Swift
Used refrigerated railroad cars and canning to change the eating habits of Americans
~Mass produced meat and vegetable products
26
Horatio Alger
Author who publicized the growing class distinctions by romanticizing the American dream
~Each Alger novel portrayed a young man of modest means who became rich and successful through honesty, hard work, and a little luck
~Rags to Riches stories like Andrew Carnegie's were unusual
27
Black List
Tactic used by employers to defeat the Unions
~Names of pro-union workers circulated among employees
28
Yellow Dog Contracts
Tactics used by employers to defeat the Unions
~Workers being told, as a condition for employment, that they must sign an agreement to not join a Union
29
Great Railroad Strike (1877)
Railroad companies cut wages to reduce the costs
~Strike that spread across 11 states and shut down 2/3 of the country's rail trackage
~First strike to be put down using federal troops; violent
~Employers addressed some of the worker's demands while others took a hard line by busting worker's organizations
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