Chapter 18

Question 1

Haymarket affair

Answer 1

the rally and subsequent riot in which several policemen were killed when a bomb was thrown at a peaceful worker’s rights rally in Chicago in 1886

Question 2

holding company

Answer 2

a central corporate entity that controls the operations of multiple companies by holding the majority of stock for each enterprise

Question 3

horizontal integration

Answer 3

method of growth wherein a company grows through mergers and acquisitions of similar companies

Question 4

Molly Maguires

Answer 4

a secret organization made up of Pennsylvania coal miners, named for the famous Irish patriot, which worked through a series of scare tactics to bring the plight of the miners to public attention

Question 5

monopoly

Answer 5

the ownership or control of all enterprises comprising an entire industry

Question 6

robber baron

Answer 6

a negative term for the big businessmen who made their fortunes in the massive railroad boom of the late nineteenth century

Question 7

scientific management

Answer 7

mechanical engineer Fredrick Taylor’s management style also called “stop-watch management,” which divided manufacturing tasks into short, repetitive segments and encouraged factory owners to seek efficiency and profitability over any benefits of personal interaction

Question 8

social Darwinism

Answer 8

Herbert Spencer’s theory, based upon Charles Darwin’s scientific theory, which held that society developed much like plant or animal life through a process of evolution in which the most fit and capable enjoyed the greatest material and social success

Question 9

trust

Answer 9

a legal arrangement where a small group of trustees have legal ownership of a business that they operate for the benefit of other investors

Question 10

vertical integration

Answer 10

a method of growth where a company acquires other companies that include all aspects of a product’s lifecycle from the creation of the raw materials through the production process to the delivery of the final product

Question 11

Which of these was not a successful invention of the era?
A. high-powered sewing machines
B. movies with sound
C. frozen foods
D. typewriters

Answer 11

B. movies with sound

Question 12

What was the major advantage of Westinghouse’s “alternating current” power invention?
A. It was less prone to fire.
B. It cost less to produce.
C. It allowed machines to be farther from the power source.
D. It was not under Edison’s control.

Answer 12

C. It allowed machines to be farther from the power source.

Question 13

How did the burst of new inventions during this era fuel the process of urbanization?

Answer 13

the pushed for the development of other personal and business products. It also created technology that could be adapted to be used in other areas of life. Increased jobs in factories in the city, because people were now no longer dependent on water for power and cities, began to really take off.

Question 14

Which of the following “robber barons” was notable for the exploitative way he made his fortune in railroads?

A. Jay Gould
B. Cornelius Vanderbilt
C. Andrew Carnegie
D. J. Pierpont Morgan

Answer 14

A. Jay Gould

Question 15

Which of the following does not represent one of the management strategies that John D. Rockefeller used in building his empire?

A. Horizontal integration
B. Vertical integration
C. Social Darwinism
D. The holding company model

Answer 15

C. social Darwinism

Question 16

Why was Rockefeller’s use of horizontal integration such an effective business tool at this time? Were his choices legal? Why or why not?

Answer 16

He eliminated the competition leaving his products the only ones available. It doesn’t seem legal because he forged documents to obtain lower prices and used harassment as a way to get what he wanted.

Question 17

What differentiated a “robber baron” from other “captains of industry” in late nineteenth-century America?

Answer 17

robber barons were businessmen just like other captains of the industry, however, the barons believed in exploiting workers and bending the law in order to get what they wanted

Question 18

What was one of the key goals for which striking workers fought in the late nineteenth century?

A. Health insurance
B. Disability pay
C. An eight-hour workday
D. Women’s right to hold factory jobs

Answer 18

C. an eight-hour workday

Question 19

Which of the following was not a key goal of the Knights of Labor?

A. An end to convict labor
B. A graduated income tax on personal wealth
C. Equal pay regardless of gender
D. The creation of cooperative business enterprises

Answer 19

B. a graduated income tax on personal wealth

Question 20

What were the core differences in the methods and agendas of the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor?

Answer 20

KOL: opened their base to more members, including African Americans and women. worked toward an eight-hour workday, equal pay regardless of gender, the elimination of convict labor, and the creation of greater cooperative enterprises with worker ownership of businesses. “One Big Union” that welcomed anyone which was a break from the traditional unions.
AFL: focused its efforts on economic gains for its members. did not interfere with individual union’s businesses but rather disputes between unions. a loose affiliation of different unions.

Question 21

Which of the following did not contribute to the growth of consumer culture in the United States at the close of the nineteenth century?

A. Personal credit
B. Advertising
C. Greater disposable income
D. Mail-order catalogs

Answer 21

C. Greater disposable income

Question 22

Briefly explain Roland Marchand’s argument in the Parable of the Democracy of Goods.

Answer 22

Marchand argues that in the new era of consumerism, workers’ desire for access to consumer goods replaces their desire for access to the means of production of those goods.

Question 23

Consider the fact that the light bulb and the telephone were invented only three years apart. Although it took many more years for such devices to find their way into common household use, they eventually wrought major changes in a relatively brief period of time. What effects did these inventions have on the lives of those who used them? Are there contemporary analogies in your lifetime of significant changes due to inventions or technological innovations?

Answer 23

Lights allowed people to work later or earlier and not just when the sun was out. This meant more could be produced and things could be made in less time. The phone allowed for people to order things over the phone and reach places that were not within their normal reach.

Question 24

Industrialization, immigration, and urbanization all took place on an unprecedented scale during this era. What were the relationships of these processes to one another? How did each process serve to catalyze and fuel the others?

Answer 24

Industrialization leads to the creation of new things which sparked excitement but also lead to new technologies. The technologies lead to more advancements and more industrialization. Industrializing created more and bigger factories that lead people to move toward urban areas. The excitement enticed people to immigrate over.

Question 25

Describe the various attempts at labor organization in this era, from the Molly Maguires to the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor. How were the goals, philosophies, and tactics of these groups similar and different? How did their agendas represent the concerns and grievances of their members and of workers more generally?

Answer 25

The end goals were to advocate for workers and better conditions, wages, and hours. The goals of the unions were innocent and had the best intentions however, violence was brought into the equations and led to a distaste for the unions. Police and the general population didn't like the unions and were not supportive for the most part.

Question 26

Describe the various violent clashes between labor and management that occurred during this era. What do these events reveal about how each group had come to view the other?

Answer 26

The management did not listen to the union's requests and instead tried to replace the workers in order to continue the work of the factory. They did not work toward better wages or conditions. The laborers usually lashed out violently and did not gain any support and ended up making no strides forward and resulted in laborers begging for their jobs back.

Question 27

How did the new industrial order represent both new opportunities and new limitations for rural and working-class urban Americans?

Answer 27

Industrialization made it so now any class could keep up with the upper class. However, the new techniques such as credit made it so that it played with the finance of the average person and led to more distress than benefit.

Question 28

How did the emergent consumer culture change what it meant to be “American” at the turn of the century?

Answer 28

To be an American at the turn of the century was all about becoming just like everyone else. Now things were cheaper so they were easier to access at any income level and anywhere in the country almost.