American History Chapter 4 Section 2 – Flashcards

-group ownership of a business/industry -more than one person shares the ownership of a business -allowed investors to take advantage of expanding markets -important: solved the problem of expanding businesses

-complete control of a product or service -corporations bought out their competitors/drove them out of business

-businesses making the same product agree to limit their production (same amount) and keep prices high (same amount) -each business sells the same amount of product and earns the same amount of profit

-oil tycoon -built oil refineries and competed with other businesses by buying them out or driving them out of business -business practices led to the passing of antitrust laws

-system of consolidating (putting into one) many industries in the same business (selling the same product) -lower production costs

-system of gaining ownership of an industry's previous supplier/distributor -allowed many businessmen to gain control of the many different businesses that make up all phases of a product's development -therefore companies paid less for the production of their product and charged higher prices to competitors

-private operating agreement -companies assign their stock to a board of trustees who combine them into a new organization

-the belief that wealth was a measure of one's inherent value and those who had it were the most fit -based off of Charles Darwin's idea that "animals evolved by a process of natural selection" -often used to fuel discrimination

-oversaw railroad operations -first federal body ever set up to monitor American business operations -could only monitor railroads that crossed state lines -important: led to other federal bodies being set up

-outlawed any trust that operated "in restraint of trade or commerce among the several states" -provision was seldom enforced -ICC and Sherman Antitrust Act began a trend toward federal limitations on corporation's power

-used railroads to transport goods/products and expand their business across the country (which increased profit)

-businessmen wanted to make PROFIT -to do this, businessmen tried to drive their competitors out of business/buy out their competitors

-small businesses believed the systems like trusts/monopolies/cartels gave businessmen an unfair advantage -consumers were harmed by unfair prices set by monopolies/cartels -became known as "robber barons" because of their capacity to swindle the poor -other people believed that business leaders served the nation positively, thus calling them "captains of industry"

-when government regulated business, no effective laws were placed -big business allowed businessmen to be in charge of the economy, and of their own business -this also led to businessmen taking over and attempting to drive out their competitors, thus making unfair prices for consumers