Innovation
an improvement of an existing technological product, system, or method of doing something.
Rule of Law
you can't just up and change the law. the law is the law, and the Supreme Court makes the laws.
Protection of Private Property
your land can't be taken away.
Government Protection
we champion/protect small businesses.
Open and Free Markets
you can produce what you want, trade, and have the ability to get materialist labor.
GDP
Gross Domestic Product- the total market value of all final goods and services produced annually in an economy.
produces a higher living standard.
Expansion of Industry
1920- U.S. was leading industrial power in the world.
we grew due to:
natural resources
government support
urbanization
Black Gold
1859- Edwin Drake used steam engine to drill for oil.
oil boomed in the mid-west.
oil was used for kerosene, lanterns, and substitute for gasoline.
Bessemer Steel Process
1880- process of removing impurities and carbon from iron to make steel by blasting the melted iron with hot air.
invented by Henry Bessemer and William Kelly
Steel
light, flexible, and rust resistant.
used for:
bridges
railroads
buildings
barbed wire
farm equipment
etc.
Thomas Edison
1876- created the first incandescent light bulb in a research lab in New Jersey.
Office Life
1867- office work was changed/opportunities for women due to typewriters(1890), telephones(Alexander Bell and Thomas Watson), and telegraphs.
Time
1869- Prof. C.F. Dowd proposed having 24 time zones.
1883- each community had its own time-zone. railroads then synchronized their watches across the U.S.
1884- International Conference adopts railroad's time zones.
Railroads effects on Industries
influenced iron, coal, steel, lumber, and glass businesses as they tired to meet demands of railroad construction.
growth of towns, new markets, and opportunity.
Monopoly
complete control of a product, service, or industry.
Rockefeller Standard Oil Company
1870- Rockefeller Standard Oil Company owned 2% of U.S.'s crude oil.
1880- Rockefeller Standard Oil Company owned 90% of U.S.'s crude oil.
John D. Rockefeller
1839-1937
John D. Rockefeller owned the Rockefeller Standard Oil Company.
"Robber Baron"
Kept most of his profits, but gave some to establishing the Rockefeller Foundation and in funding the University of Chicago.
Andrew Carnegie
1835-1919
Andrew Carnegie
made his own fortune.
gave most of his money(90%) to charity and to build libraries and schools.
George Pullman
1880- built a factory for manufacturing sleepers and other railroad cars in Illinois.
built a town, Pullman, for factory workers. a company town.
Pullman had many rules and was very strict.
1894- lowered wages, but not rent, led to a violent strike
Credit Mobilier Scandal
1867- when a railroad construction company's stockholders used funds that were supposed to be used for the building of the Union Pacific Railroad for their own personal use.
to avoid conviction, stockholders bribed congressmen and the vice president.
The Grangers
farmers banded together who protested land deals, price fixing, and charging different rates to different customers.
Granger Laws
1871- passed to protect farmers.
states were given regulation control of railroads by the courts.
Social Darwinism
the belief that only the fittest survive in human political and economic struggle.
riches was a sign of God's favor while poverty was a sign of inferiority and laziness.
Interstate Commerce Act
1887- law passed to regulate railroad and other interstate businesses.
Interstate Commerce Commission(ICC) was a 5 member group who regulated the act.
Poor Working Conditions
worked 6-7 days
no sick days or vacation days
no compensation for injuries which were common at the end of the 1800's.
National Labor Union
1866- first large-scale, organized group of workers.
the NLU had 640,000 workers by 1868.
Colored National Labor Union
1866- after refusal of several colored workers, the NCLU was formed.
Craft Unions
unions that represent workers of a certain, skilled trade.
Samuel Gompers
1886- led the Cigar Makers' International Union to join other craft workers.
became president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL).
focused on collective bargaining to improve conditions, wages, and hours.
Industrial Unionism
the movement to form labor organizations that represent every worker in a single industry, regardless of his or her level of skill.
Eugene Debs
1894- attempted Industrial Union with the railway workers.
Socialism
an economic and political system based on government control of business and property and equal distribution of wealth among all citizens.
International Workers of the World
the International Workers of the World (IWW), or Wobblies, was a socialist union.
The Great Strike of 1877
workers for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad struck to protest wage cuts. other workers struck in sympathy.
federal troops were called in to end the strike.
Haymarket Affair
1886- 3,000 people gathered at Chicago's Haymarket Square to protest police's treatment of striking workers.
a bomb went off killing 7 police officers and several workers.
radicals were rounded up and executed for the crime.
The Homestead Strike
1892- conditions and wages were not good in Andrew Carnegie's steel plant in Pennsylvania and workers struck.
Carnegie hired Pinkerton detectives to guard the plant.
detectives and workers clashed- 3 decetives and 3 workers were killed.
National Guard res
Scabs
strikebreakers hired by employers as replacement workers when union workers went on strike.
The Pullman Strike
1894- George Pullman cut wages by 25% and refused to lower rent and laid off thousands of workers.
Eugene Debs lead a strike against the Pullman Company which turned violent.
Pullman hired scabs and fired workers- federal troops brought in.
Debs was jaile
Yellow Dog Contracts
contracts that force employees to agree to not to join a union or participate in any union activity as a condition of employment